Airport Authority
Two opening volleys for 2009 on the airport controversy appeared in the CH Herald and the CH News respectively this Sunday.
An article by Neil Offen in the CHH ("National pilots group pushes for new airport") leads with: "A national pilots and aircraft owners group plans
to meet with UNC system President Erskine Bowles early this year to
push for the creation of a new airport in Orange County."
Link: http://heraldsun.southernheadlines.com/orange/10-1061492.cfm?
Okay, here’s where I’m thinking things stand regarding an
airport anywhere in Orange County, and just for a chuckle, I’ve handicapped the
scenarios as I see them. Note: I do not have insider information from anyone in any form, just conjecture based on history and a large dollop of cynicism.
1. Horace Williams Airport remains open, where it is, for
at least another 7-10 years and likely beyond. REVISED 3/24/11: Odds 95 in 100.
The meeting this evening in White Cross, near the top-ranked 'Site
H' for UNC air operations after RDU, was very well attended and full of
reasonable information, some of which was recently brought out in the
Indy. I encourage participation in further meetings organized by
http://preserveruralorange.org.
I was struck by the circular logic displayed by UNC Chancellor Holden Thorp in his Chapel Hill News interview. To me, (and I admit having researched the issue and made my mind up about it) the notion of taking land by eminent domain, tearing up the countryside and spending 40-50 million of my tax money is just not justified by a dodgy economic "working paper" and Thorp saying "It's better for us to have a regional airport".
CHN: If RDU was acceptable then and it's acceptable in the interim,
what difference does it make whether you take 35 minutes to get to an
airport or 25 minutes to get to an airport.Thorp: Because we can develop our own operations.
Yesterday the Chapel Hill News reported without questioning a study* saying that the economic benefit of a new airport in Orange County could be four times the impact of the current Horace Williams Airport. Would a new airport be four times as big and have four times the
traffic? Who would want that? And for that matter, who the hell would
use it?
I understand the benefit of the current airport to the University, the hospital, and the state. But I just don't see how having an alternative to Raleigh-Durham benefits the average Orange County resident. Most of us don't have private planes, and when we need to fly, we use the commercial airport. The tax benefit to local government is negligible compared to other possible uses of the land.
I'm just not buying this.
* This figure ($53,000,000) was based on a consultant's study. But they don't say whose consultant. UNC? Orange County? I
have been disappointed to see that County staffers have been speaking
out in support of a new airport. I doubt they are on the same page as
the County Commissioners.
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