Contributions should be sent to:
Watsonville Pilots Association
P.O. Box 2074
Freedom, CA 95019-2074
Please make checks payable to “WPA” and in the check memo section write “legal fund.”

Best regards,
Max Trescott
President, SiliconValleyGA

Monday, August 11, 2008
RHV Terminal Building
Please print, read, and bring the Legal Options document

John Blair
Vice President
Coalition for Responsible Airport Management & Policy

“4. The County May Seek Congressional Relief
Notwithstanding the FAA’s position as outlined above, the County may seek relief through its congressional delegation. The City of Rialto, California, for example, was able to secure a provision in a federal transportation bill that directed the FAA to permit Rialto to close the Rialto Municipal Airport, with certain restrictions on the proceeds of the sale of the property.

CONCLUSION
Should the Board determine that it wishes to pursue the sale or lease of the Reid-Hillview Airport, the legal procedures would be extremely complex and lengthy. In addition to the administrative processes of the FAA and possible ensuing litigation, the County would be required to adhere to CEQA processes.”

You can bet that Supervisor Alvarado is working as hard as she can to get Representatives Lofgren and Honda to legislate away the contracts.

Here’s agenda item 41:

“41. Consider recommendations relating to Reid-Hillview Airport.

Possible action:

• Under advisement from March 18, 2008 (Item No. 17): Accept report from the Office of the County Counsel relating to legal options relating to Reid-Hillview Airport.
• Direct the Administration and/or County Counsel to take any action the Board deems appropriate.
• Accept report from the Roads and Airports Department relating to grants accepted from the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) for acquisition and development of Reid-Hillview Airport.

Transmittal CC02 081208 : Report Back on Legal Options Relating to Reid-Hillview Airport
Transmittal RA05 081208 : Reid-Hillview Airport Grant History
Map of Reid-Hillview Airport Property Parcels (Miscellaneous)
Reid-Hillview History Summary (Miscellaneous)
Reid-Hillview Airport Grant Summary 1962-present (Miscellaneous)”

Here’s the link to the full agenda on the County’s website:
http://www.sccgov.org/portal/site/scc/boardagenda?contentId=52914c96e3a9b110VgnVCM10000048dc4a92____&agendaType=BOS%20Agenda

I highly recommend that you read the Legal Options document in its entirety.

John Blair
Vice President
Coalition for Responsible Airport Management & Policy

You can find out what County and City district you are in by going to
http://www.smartvoter.org/ca/scl/
and entering your address/zip code on the right side of the screen and clicking “Find Ballot and Polling Place.”

County Supervisor Races:

District 2
This is the single most important race for the fate of RHV. This is the seat currently held by Supervisor Blanca Alvarado and is the district in which RHV is located. As a matter of professional courtesy, the other Supervisors will always look to this Supervisor to initiate any policies dealing specifically with RHV. This is why Supervisor Alvarado has had so much power over RHV for the past 13 years. Thank god for term limits.

There are six candidates running for District 2. As a result, there will almost certainly be a runoff in November. (If a candidate gathers more than 50% of the votes cast in the primary, s/he wins outright. Otherwise the two top vote-getters run against each other in November.)

CRAMP-PAC’s strong recommendation and endorsement is for George Shirakawa. We spoke with George last week at the airport. George is personal friends with Supervisor Alvarado, but he disagrees with her on the issue of RHV. He demonstrated this in 1996 when he was on the San Jose City Council. CRAMP met with George several times during this lead-up to the County’s 1996 vote to close RHV. Despite heavy direct appeals and lobbying by Supervisor Alvarado, George voted in favor of the City’s resolution declaring RHV “an irreplaceable asset” and calling on the County to cease all efforts to close the airport. If elected, George will immediately see what can be done to reverse the years of active neglect that Supervisor Alvarado has imposed upon the airport. CRAMP-PAC has donated generously to George’s campaign and we encourage the aviation community to do the same. You can contribute at George’s website:
http://www.georgeshirakawa.com/contribute.html

District 3
This is the district currently held by Supervisor McHugh who is leaving due to term limits. There are only three candidates so it is possible that a winner can be decided at the primary.

CRAMP-PAC’s strong recommendation and endorsement is for Dave Cortese. As many of you are aware, the aviation community held a very successful fund-raiser for Dave at RHV this past Saturday. Thanks to all who came and contributed. At the fund-raiser Dave strongly supported the continued operation of RHV and maintaining its critical support role for SJC. CRAMP-PAC has donated generously to Dave’s campaign and we encourage the aviation community to do the same. You can contribute at Dave’s website:
http://www.cortese4supervisor.com/RemitForm.php

District 5
This is the district currently held by by Supervisor Liz Kniss who is running unopposed for reelection. PAO is in her district. In March 2008, when Supervisor McHugh proposed studying the legal requirements for closing RHV, Supervisor Kniss stated that she would not vote for any referral which included closure language.

San Jose City Council Races:
In addition to the County races, there are several elections for the San Jose City Council. This is very important for RHV because, even though the airport is owned by the County, all of the zoning and land use decisions for property surrounding the airport are made by the City. Urban encroachment is the single greatest threat to GA airports today.

CRAMP-PAC has not yet had time to interview candidates for the San Jose City Council. Our intent is to do this after the primary when the runoff candidates are known. However, we did meet Rose Herrera, candidate for the City’s 8th District (currently held by Dave Cortese) at a recent Chamber of Commerce mixer. The Chamber’s PAC has endorsed Rose (as well as Dave and George). Dave knows several of the candidates for his City district seat personally and has said that he will not make any endorsements until the runoff. In our informal discussion Rose did say that she was very supportive of RHV.

Democracy only works if you cast an informed vote. Please learn the issues and cast your ballot.

John Blair, Treasurer
Coalition for Responsible Airport Management & Policy
Political Action Committee (CRAMP-PAC)

Pete has always been a very strong supporter of Reid-Hillview Airport (RHV) and general aviation in the past, so this will be a great opportunity to hear why he has made this request.

I strongly encourage you to come to the meeting to hear what he has to say as well as to make your own comments to the Commission. However, please note the following:

• Pete has always been a pretty straight-up guy. The purpose here is for us to understand where he is coming from on this issue, not to criticize him. Please remain polite and respectful at all times.
• Pete will be discussing this with the Commission in the setting of a formal meeting. We (the public) may listen, and make our own statements to the Commission, but can not discuss this directly with Pete unless he does so voluntarily. Airport Commission meetings are often very informal because few people are in attendance, however the chair can always follow or revert to Robert’s Rules of Order in the interest of keeping the meeting in order.

This should be an interesting and informative meeting and I again encourage you to attend.

County Airports Commission Meeting
Tuesday, April 1, 2008
6:00 pm, Room 157
County Government Center
70 West Hedding Street
San Jose, CA 95110
(Located at 1st and Hedding. Park on Hedding)

Regards.
John Blair
Vice President
Coalition for Responsible Airport Management & Policy (CRAMP)

Note: Also posted the Airport commission meeting at Meetup.com…

http://aviation.meetup.com/79/calendar/7643335/

Date: Fri, 28 Mar 2008 16:54:37 -0700
Subject: Amended Airports Commission April 1, 2008 Agenda
From: Roy Stone <roy.stone@cob.sccgov.org>
To: Roy Stone <roy.stone@cob.sccgov.org>

Agenda Recipients:

An amended agenda for the April 1, 2008 regular meeting of the Airports Commission and supporting documents are attached.

Please note that Item No. 4 has been added and relates to a verbal report to be received from Chairperson McHugh regarding his original referral to Administration to request information associated with phasing out airport operations at Reid Hillview and developing the site for other uses.

Please respond via email if you have any difficulty in accessing the
documents.

—
Roy Stone
Deputy Clerk
(408) 299-5082