Coalition for Responsible Airport
Management and Policy (CRAMP)

On April 1, 2008, Supervisor Pete McHugh spoke to the County Airports Commission to explain why he wanted to investigate closing RHV and using the money as a solution to the County’s financial problems. About 20 members of the aviation community attended and had the opportunity to ask questions of Supervisor McHugh after he finished speaking with the Commissioners. Since many of you were not able to be at the meeting, I requested a copy of the audio tape that the clerk made of the meeting and converted it to mp3. The total tape covers around 66 minutes which I have broken into three files.

1. Supervisor McHugh’s comments to the Commisioners (9:14, 1.4MB)
2. Supervisor McHugh’s Q&A with the Commisioners (28:24, 4.2MB)
3. Supervisor McHugh’s Q&A with the public (29:20, 4.3MB)

You may click on the link to play the sound file in your browser or right-click on the link to download the mp3 file to your computer and play it from there.

About 20 pilots attended yesterday’s County Airports Commission meeting and were treated with the opportunity to a frank and candid discussion with Supervisor Pete McHugh. Not only did he present his reasons for wanting to close Reid-Hillview Airport (RHV) to the commission, but he also agreed to answer questions directly from the members of the public. It was a very good meeting and the questions (and Pete’s answers) were honest and to the point. The aviation community helped its cause quite a bit by being respectful and thoughtful.

The short summary of Pete’s position is that the County has a $200M deficit and, while he has always been an airport supporter, he is not sure that the airport is the best use of the County’s land asset. He does not appear to have any other hidden agenda other than doing what he thinks is best for the County.

This is good. All we have to do is convince him that the airport is an important, irreplaceable asset, not just a convenient place for pilots to park their airplanes. I believe that the aviation community can easily make that case by working together and with other key organizations such as the City of San Jose, San Jose International Airport, the Silicon Valley Chamber of Commerce, and the Santa Clara Convention and Visitor’s Bureau.

When the referral on legal options comes back to the Board on June 3, Pete said that he will ask that it go to the Airports Commission for their comments before the Board takes further action.

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

Supervisor Pete McHugh has asked to speak before the County Airports Commission this Tuesday, April 1 (no fooling) to explain why he asked staff to look into closing the airport.

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