Plane Facts
WAAM's Weekly Update
Thursday August 28, 2003
This Week
1) Mike Moon, resigned as Airport Director effective September 5, 2003
2) The Martin County Commission appointed a noise committee this Tuesday as part of the continuing
FAR 150 process. This committee will among other things, decide if your property should be purchased
and/or insulated.
Want to know more?
Read "What does Purchase or Insulate mean to you?" at the end of this email.
Palm Beach Post Editorial
We have been asked by many of our new members to repost the Editorial that Sally Swartz wrote in the Palm Beach Post about Witham Field. Many of these folks are being affected by the continued growth at the airport had not seen this article. It is well worth reading. Have things changed since this editorial was written? The answer is yes - things are much worse!
THE PALM BEACH POST
Copyright (c) 2002
DATE: Wednesday, April 3, 2002
PAGE: 12A SECTION: OPINION
EDITION: MARTIN-ST. LUCIE
SOURCE: Sally Swartz
"LIVING, UNHAPPILY, WITH WITHAM"
Fumes, noise, stress under the flight path.
I always believed the Martin County folks who complained about airport noise. I lived near Witham Field for 20 years, and
the noise issue just was appearing on the radar screen when I moved away two years ago to get closer to my job. But nothing
I experienced, even during air-show weekends, prepared me for what airport neighbors are suffering now. Lynne Pine
invited me to a two-hour barbecue last Thursday evening to see what it's like.
Mike Carter's back yard was the gathering place, at the end of 18th Street in Stuart, just across Monterey Road from a major
runway. That street could be one the county earmarks to buy out - which may not be a solution. Some longtime residents
don't want to move.
Guests included airport neighbors from Sewall's Point and several sections of Stuart - many wearing "Move the Airport"
shirts - Sewall's Point Town Commissioner Richard Baron, Martin County Commission candidates Terry Nolan and Sarah
Heard, and members of Witham Airport Action Majority. WAAM wants the county to study the idea of moving the airport to
a rural area far west of Palm City.
The first small planes, at 5:07 and 5:08 p.m., narrowly missed a TV antenna on Mr. Carter's house and a tall slash pine in
his yard. They were noisy and flying so low that I ducked involuntarily. The board fence between Mr. Carter's house and the
airport doesn't block exhaust fumes or noise. Jet pilots revved their engines as they awaited takeoff on the runway a few
hundred feet away. The thick, heavy air smelled like lighter fluid. Normal conversation was just under a shout.
I counted seven more propeller planes. At 5:30, a huge roar drowned all conversation as a jet filled the sky above Mr.
Carter's back yard. I cringed. I ducked. When it was gone, there was a blast of "jet breeze" and fumes - and a
"cheated-death-again" exhilaration that it missed me. Common feeling, the airport neighbors said. Feeling that way
constantly, they said, is exhausting.
Jet landings after dark, Mr. Carter said, are worse. When an aircraft with its lights on flies over his house, he feels as if he
has been Xeroxed. Over the next hour and a half, another 15 jets landed and a few more took off, while we counted a total of
41 aircraft landings. When talking was possible, people told jet tales.
Neighbor Brad Hayden once watched a jet come in with its landing gear down. In sight of the runway, it suddenly swerved
and roared out of sight. There was no room to land; another plane was on the runway. Minutes later, I saw exactly
what he described.
The airport tower shuts down at 10 p.m., but jets and other planes land all night with no official traffic director. Everyone
worries about accidents. Adjusting to unpleasant reality is difficult. Jan Fogt, who lives at the other end of the runway, near
Indian Street and Old St. Lucie Boulevard, sleeps with earplugs. Fumes waft into Mr. Carter's house through closed
windows and make him sick. Lorraine White recalls a dinner party where jet noise rattled the dishes. "They call us
crybabies," she said, "but you could serve coffee to some of these pilots, they fly so low."
I believe them. By 7 p.m., I had a sore throat and a headache from breathing jet exhaust. My neck muscles hurt from the
constant cringing and ducking. I felt tired and stressed-out.
Residents in surrounding neighborhoods never imagined that Witham Field would become a busy jetport. Jet traffic is up
36.7 percent from 2000 and 21.5 percent from last year. Airport officials say 3,266 jets have taken off and landed this year,
an average of 37 per day. Monthly numbers have climbed from 201 jet takeoffs and landings in September to more than
1,220 in March.
Private jet traffic, a safer way for the rich to travel, has increased since Sept. 11. But that's not the only factor. During the
past few years, while no one was paying attention, the Federal Aviation Administration gave the county grant money. Local
rules were changed. A tower went up, trees were cut down and runways were readied for jet use. "For sale" signs began to
go up on nearby homes.
Martin commissioners, past and present, let it happen. Now, the commission must consider solutions. That could include
moving the airport - before some of the area's most pleasant neighborhoods become areas ripe for blight, as homeowners
sell out and absentee landlords take over.
Sally Swartz is an editorial writer for The Palm Beach Post.
Her e-mail address is sally_swartz@pbpost.com
Airport Exploratory Study
The above editorial by Sally Swartz was instrumental in helping the citizens of Martin County obtain the Airport Exploratory Study (AES). WAAM had been asking for a study for some time, but this editorial brought the problems being experienced by local residents to the attention of everyone, whether you lived within a mile or 20 miles of the airport. The AES, an unbiased and factual study to answer whether the airport should move, close or downsize was recently completed and will be presented to the Martin County Board of County Commissioners on September 2, 2003. From the data contained in the AES, one solution became clear. WAAM supports the one option contained in the AES that is acceptable to almost every resident in Martin County.
WAAM supports the Downsize option
Who opposed this study and why?
Airport Business Interests opposed the AES because they feared that a fair, impartial and unbiased study might expose negative data about the airport. After years of propaganda from airport special interests about the value of the airport, the truth has finally been revealed. It turned out the airport special interests had reason to fear the truth.
What is the truth?
The airport is not a major economic engine to Martin County, but a cancer, destroying the peace and tranquility of residents. The airport causes unprecedented air pollution (proven cancer producing), noise pollution, and destroys property values. What economic value does the airport actually have to the community? Almost none because by federal law, all money earned on airport property must stay on the airport and be used for airport growth and maintenance only. The only benefit you as taxpayer get from the airport is called "trickle" down benefits, ie. the profit that 7-11 receives when they sell a beer to the worker on his way home. For this you receive nothing in the way of ad valorem taxes and almost nothing in the way of stimulating local businesses.
Do the wealthy live in Martin County because of the airport?
Are the wealthy attracted to Martin County because of an airport? That is a ridiculous claim made by those who profit from a growing airport. The wealthy come to and choose to live in Martin County for the beauty of the area - the beaches, waterways that surround almost every community and the unspoiled natural beauty that provides peace and tranquility to all. Everything a growing jetport destroys.
Information and Updates section on the WAAM
website
Visit - http://www.waam.ws
What does Purchase or Insulate mean to you?
What does it mean when you are told that your home is going to be purchased or insulated as a result of the FAR 150?
We feel this is such an important issue that we invite you to visit our website and read this once
again. This is the road map that leads to the destruction of your neighborhood.
The AOPA
The Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association (AOPA) continues to battle aircraft noise restrictions at airports to the
detriment of local residents everywhere.
In their zeal to protect aircraft owners and pilots, the stated position by AOPA as quoted below shows this organization's
disregard for the public good.
Here is the position the AOPA took on an airport in Minnesota proposing restrictions banning Stage 1 or Stage 2 Jets
between the hours of 10 pm and 6 am.
"AOPA strongly opposes the proposed restrictions because we believe they fail to meet the requirements of FAR Part
161 and are unjustly discriminatory aircraft access restrictions to a federally funded airport."
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In a continuing effort to keep our membership informed on airport issues, WAAM publishes a quarterly newsletter, periodic
email updates, notices in local newspapers, a bi-monthly newspaper feature called "Plane Talk" and a weekly email
update called "Plane Facts".
WAAM also maintains a website that covers airport issues in detail. You will find a wealth of information on our website.
This is your website and we welcome any comments you might have to make it even better and more informative. The
website has links to other sites to help you better understand the issues. You can also explore what other communities are
doing to combat the growing problem of airport growth in cities throughout the United States. To visit the WAAM website,
click on the link below.
Notice
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those who are interested in environmental and airport issues, particularly those that affect Martin County Residents.
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