HomeMy WebLinkAbout03 31 1989 Some councilmen work hard at eliminating airport,:Sebastian Sun Week of March 31,1989 Pg. 4-A
EDITORIAL
IYour Opinion:
6*,-)(ome councilmen will work
Dear Editor,
The three R's - Robert McCarthy, Robert McCollum (the "second') and
Re deaufiche -seem to believe they can re -perform the miracle of the loaves and
the fishes. They think they can make whatever is available stretch to fill the
need.
majority on board, we had a perfect example of brazen poliAt the first meeting of the council, with the Citizens Airport Watch (CAW)
tical payback and
an inkling of the tricky tactics to come with McCarthy shunning the agenda to
effectively squelch any opposing public input. There was no chance to expose
how far these proponents of killing the airport plan to go.
The first step is to deprive the airport of its current means of support. With
only $250,000 in the kitty, they propose to fund these projects:
• Pay for a Washington legal expert estimated to cost at least $ I50 an hour,
plus travel time and expenses, to defend the city against the suits to 0 brought
by aviation interests that believe the referendum is illegal. They give no idea
of how many suits or how many hours are involved or what damages must be
}laid, if the city loses.
• Pay to resurface a runway, either 100 x 4,000 feet or 150 x 4,000 feet.
• Pay to remove the airport lights. (If the weather turns bad, or if a plane is
hard at eliminating airport
in trouble, has to land, cannot see the runway and crashes, what is the liability
of the city?) Sebastian airport is in the national general aviation network to help
Prevent such an occurrence.
• Pay $15,000 a year to an airport director, who will work 10 to 15 hours a
week.
Not mentioned at this meeting, but included in the referendum, is the need
to establish a bureaucracy with personnel and equipment to monitor sound
levels and enforce payment of landing fees 24 hours a day. The fines of $1,000
Per occurrence for exceeding the noise level will go into a general fund and
cannot be used by the airport. (This is obviously a ploy to prevent subsidization
by sympathizers who might be tempted to donate to airport income by
incurring fines. That CAW thinks of everything!) The $5 landing fees are
intended to dramatically decrease traffic. If they succeed in doing so, rather
than add to airport income, their collection will add to expense.
The above is an indication of what three elected representatives plan to do
for the CAW and the Roseland property owners. I wish they were as thorough
to their plans for the citizens of Sebastian!
Bill Markham
Sebastian