The meeting was called to order by Mayor John
McArdle at 7:00 PM. Present were:
Senator Betsy Johnson, Mark Gardiner, Representative Vicki Berger, Fritz Graham
from Senator Wyden's office, Mitch Swecker, Gary Van Horn, John Horn, Kelly
Wilson, Ken Hardwick, Norm Rainey, and approximately 65 visitors.
Senator Johnson briefed the crowd after
introducing herself, going over current legislative and lobbying efforts to
keep the FAA from withdrawing their support for residential airparks. Mark Gardiner and Vicki Berger both added
their comments and their encouragement to the ongoing efforts to authorizing
TTF permanently. Fritz spoke
specifically about the current status of Federal legislation which is/was in
process, and said that the Senator had joined the Aviation Caucus: that got a
nice response from the crowd. John Horn
summed up the local viewpoints and the actions that were taken since the last
meeting we had a few months ago, saying that we were better off if only because
the FAA has actually visited Independence and there seems to be a change in
attitude, though certainly we need to keep fighting until our access is secured
by law. Gary Van Horn led off by asking
the crowd to give a hand to the Senators and representatives who attended
tonight.
Mayor McArdle then spoke, summing up the
political actions that had been taken and their impact. He explained the FAA's attitude and how it
changed when they visited this airpark and Aurora, for instance that they did
not know that the taxiways did not simply empty out onto the runway. He stated flatly that Independence is the
model for what an airpark should be like, and the FAA seems to be responding
positively by saying that this place is a good example.
Ken asked what the residents should be doing to
help. Senator Johnson spoke up, saying
that everyone should respectfully contribute to the lobbyist (from the
Tonkon-Torp Law Firm in Portland) and Dr. Brent Blue who founded
"throughthefence.org." She
also said that the AOPA has not been getting with the program to help out
financially with the ongoing legislative effort, and she asked the members in
attendance to get in touch with AOPA leadership and tell them to get on the
ball.
There was a question from the audience about
allowing future development of residential airparks. Senator Johnson was pessimistic about that, stating that the
Renton office of the FAO is dead set against future development of airparks,
and this needed to be legislated in order to have a future. Another question came up about what was so
objectionable from the FAA’s point of view regarding Through The Fence
operations, at Scappoose particularly.
Senator Johnson answered that the fundamental problem the FAA has had is
with the issue of airport control, and Scappoose was an example of private
money being used to develop outside of FAA control. Mark Gardiner stated that
they had pushed the FAA representatives for specific problems with TTF, and
each example the FAA gave had nothing to do with TTF at all. In the case of AOPA members being against
TTF, Mark said that those people were frightened of FAA funding being withdrawn
over this issue. The threat of FAA
funding cutoffs has frightened many municipalities into submission regarding
TTF.
Senator Johnson thanked Rep. Berger for getting
all of the legislators rounded up to sign the letter to the FAA, and Rep.
Berger thanked Senator Johnson for spearheading the movement. Fritz Graham read the stand-alone bill that
Senator Wyden's office is currently trying to make into law. Senator Johnson reminded everyone that they
needed to thank Senator Wyden for writing that legislation. The Mayor then closed by thanking everyone
for attending.
The meeting ended at 8:05 PM. Because of the significance of the Town Hall
meeting, regular ISAS business will be tabled until the meeting on July 12.
Respectfully submitted by Robert English, secretary.
Meeting0412.doc