Letters
FAA bias exposed – now what?
Published on Thu, Feb 25, 2010 by Chris SaldittRead More Letters
Editor:
Now that Save Our Communities (SOC) has uncovered damaging e-mail and phone conversations showing at least one local FAA official biased in favor of Paine Field expansion, will we see County Executive Reardon and Snohomish County Council members rethink their decision to build a terminal at Paine Field?
It has been revealed that they were led by the FAA official to believe - falsely - that federal funding was in jeopardy if they did not act in favor of building a terminal and do business with Horizon, Alegiant, and all other interested airlines.
Paine Field Director Dave Waggoner has fooled no one with his obvious bias toward commercial flight operations, and his behavior should be questioned, especially since he reports to Mr. Reardon, who has professed to be against airport expansion.
Other e-mails and phone conversations accessed by SOC through the Freedom of Information Act expose the FAA's decision to fund the less than in-depth Environmental Assessment, not the more thorough Environmental Impact Study that many leaders and citizens are now demanding.
Hiring a consultant who has done much work for the FAA in the past, they were hoping for a quick conclusion to business leading to a change in status to Paine Field, so commercial airlines could begin their infiltration of our skies.
The FAA just needed to hold a couple of mandatory community meetings to present their "preferred outcome," (their words), answer people's comments, and be done with it and us.
All I can say is, thank you SOC!
Without your investigation and exhaustive work for the majority in our communities who absolutely do not want to open the door to commercial flights at Paine Field, we most likely would have been hoodwinked by those who would bring the airlines here.
The wishes of a few who stand to profit from such a change would trump the desires of the majority who wish to maintain the livability of our communities.
If you wish to learn more about the SOC investigation, get contact information to write our elected officials, and more, visit the SOC website: HYPERLINK "http://www.socnw.org/"www.socnw.org.
Please let your voices be heard.
Chris Salditt
Now that Save Our Communities (SOC) has uncovered damaging e-mail and phone conversations showing at least one local FAA official biased in favor of Paine Field expansion, will we see County Executive Reardon and Snohomish County Council members rethink their decision to build a terminal at Paine Field?
It has been revealed that they were led by the FAA official to believe - falsely - that federal funding was in jeopardy if they did not act in favor of building a terminal and do business with Horizon, Alegiant, and all other interested airlines.
Paine Field Director Dave Waggoner has fooled no one with his obvious bias toward commercial flight operations, and his behavior should be questioned, especially since he reports to Mr. Reardon, who has professed to be against airport expansion.
Other e-mails and phone conversations accessed by SOC through the Freedom of Information Act expose the FAA's decision to fund the less than in-depth Environmental Assessment, not the more thorough Environmental Impact Study that many leaders and citizens are now demanding.
Hiring a consultant who has done much work for the FAA in the past, they were hoping for a quick conclusion to business leading to a change in status to Paine Field, so commercial airlines could begin their infiltration of our skies.
The FAA just needed to hold a couple of mandatory community meetings to present their "preferred outcome," (their words), answer people's comments, and be done with it and us.
All I can say is, thank you SOC!
Without your investigation and exhaustive work for the majority in our communities who absolutely do not want to open the door to commercial flights at Paine Field, we most likely would have been hoodwinked by those who would bring the airlines here.
The wishes of a few who stand to profit from such a change would trump the desires of the majority who wish to maintain the livability of our communities.
If you wish to learn more about the SOC investigation, get contact information to write our elected officials, and more, visit the SOC website: HYPERLINK "http://www.socnw.org/"www.socnw.org.
Please let your voices be heard.
Chris Salditt