They're like the energizer bunny...

Depression and despair rule the roost tonight in Iowa City.

After all the meetings attended, and all the editorials rebutted, and all
the interviews granted, and all the letters written -- our City Council
called a sudden, surprise joint meeting with our Airport Commission tonight,
and announced their intention of putting the dissolution of our independent
Airport Commission to a voter's referendum on the November ballot.

This signals the end of our airport, plain and simple. The independent
airport commission was set up after World War II SPECIFICALLY to protect the
airport from the political whims and vagaries of subsequent city
governments, and now the council has indicated that they intend to dissolve
the only body that protects our airport from the land developers and noise
nazis.

I knew when I found the meeting agenda on the city website this afternoon
(posted just hours before the meeting) -- and it listed NO topic for
discussion -- that we were in deep ****. Boy, were we ever.

Upon hearing about this (almost by accident, from a connection deep within
the bureaucracy) I immediately sent a bulletin email out to the "Friends of
Iowa City Airport" mailing list -- but it was too late. We only managed to
get about ten members to attend, and there was no opportunity for public
comment. We just had to sit there and take it, while they spewed their
political lies and slanted bull crap about how this change would "help the
airport in the long run"...

I'm tired, man. We fight, and fight, and fight, and we defeat them at every
logical level, both publicly and privately -- and then they pull together a
sneak attack like this. Hell, even the airport manager -- a city
employee! -- didn't know about this meeting until last Friday, and he didn't
know what it was going to be about until he walked in the door and was
broadsided.

I know what you'll say: Call AOPA. Hell, they're no help -- our local
"representative" is a commercial pilot -- who, in 7 years, I've never even
MET -- who only wants that title on his resume. I'm at the airport every
god danged day of my life, and I couldn't pick this guy out of a line-up...
Helluva job he's doing.

We are soooo screwed.
--
Jay Honeck
Iowa City, IA
Pathfinder N56993
www.AlexisParkInn.com
"Your Aviation Destination"