Mayor Emanuel on Thursday unveiled final designs from five architecture firms competing for the $8.5 billion expansion of O’Hare airport.

Less than a week later, the public comment period is already closing, so if you want to chime in with your thoughts, the time is now.

While citizens have to act quick in order to be heard, the public is also being locked out of the selection process in another way, argues Chicago Tribune architecture critic Blair Kamin.

“A city-appointed evaluation committee heard presentations from the architects on Tuesday and Wednesday, yet the city is declining to make public the identities of the committee’s members. Worse, the committee will prepare a report, but that report won’t be made public,” he writes.

Morning Shift digs into way the public feedback and scrutiny is and is not being incorporated into the O’Hare expansion plan.

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More information on the designs in all five proposals can be viewed on line at VoteORD21.com. Voting will continue through Jan. 23.

GUEST: Blair Kamin, Chicago Tribune architecture critic

LEARN MORE: O’Hare Design Process Smells Of Backroom Deals. The Public Deserves To Know Who’s Evaluating The Plans (Chicago Tribune 1/17/19)

Arriving At O’Hare: A New Global Terminal (Chicago Architecture Center 1/17/19)

Videos Of 5 Finalists For O’Hare Expansion (Chicago Department of Aviation 1/17/19)