Attorneys for the west suburban village of Bensenville are expected to appear before a DuPage County judge later this morning. They say the city of Chicago has violated a court order by cutting down some trees with heavy machinery near O’Hare airport. Chicago Public Radio’s Mike Rhee reports.
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The piece of land in question is part of the O’Hare Modernization Plan. A judge ruled the city of Chicago could not start demolition there without studying the environmental health impacts first. But Bensevnille attorney Joe Karaganis says construction crews violated that order.
KARAGANIS: The cities of Chicago and Bensenville are required to follow the rule of law and we followed it by going to court and obtaining a judicial protection. And somebody in the city of Chicago, we don’t know who as of yet, decided to ignore the judge’s order.
Karaganis says the heavy machinery disturbed the soil, which was also protected by the judge’s order. Meantime, Rosemarie Andolino, head of the O’Hare expansion project, says city crews did nothing wrong. She admits an asphalt driveway cracked accidentally under some equipment that drove over it, but workers did nothing to intentionally disturb the ground.