Westchester airport plan ‘deeply flawed,’ locals say

Deadline to submit public comments is only 3 weeks away – August 17, 2017 at 5PM. Email or Mail:
[email protected]

Westchester County Department of Public Works & Transportation
ATTN: Airport Draft Master Plan Comments
148 Martine Ave, Room 518
White Plains, NY 10601

On July 27th 2017 at the County Center, about 300 local residents attended the first public Westchester County Airport Master Plan Public Hearing since 2013.

See the public comments on video

In their Executive Summary, the county consultants insisted that there will be no expansion at the airport because:
– Preservation of operations within the existing Airport footprint
– No new runways, no runway extension
– Gate count remains the same, with bridged count at four and unbridged count at two
– Terminal Use Agreement remains in effect
They also noted that the curfew remains in place.

There were 29 speakers at the public hearing, 28 of which expressed major concerns about the airport master plan. Nearly all of these concerns centered on the expansion detailed in the document. The speakers criticized the consultants for failing to perform meaningful analysis, risking the environment and public health, increasing noise pollution, conflicts of interest (the master plan consultants are also bidding for the airport), and assisting in a corporate giveaway scheme at taxpayer expense.

County Legislator Ken Jenkins (District 15) spoke out against the efforts to hide the master plan not only from public but also from the county legislators’ view. County Legislators David Gelfarb (District 6), Catherine Parker (District 7), Alfreda Williams (District 8), Catherine Borgia (District 9), and MaryJane Shimsky (District 12) were also in attendance.

At his Ask Astorino Town Hall in New Rochelle on July 24, County Executive Astorino discussed airport privatization, then at minute 7:12, he discusses the master plan, noting “what is mostly the case, is this master plan sits on a shelf somewhere in Washington, and is never utilized.” Either Astorino wasted $1.4 million of taxpayer money on the plan, or he is being disingenuous and trying to sneak his terrible plan past public opposition.

Journal News, “Westchester airport plan ‘deeply flawed’, locals say. July 28 2017.

A 2-page handout about the Airport Master Plan can be found here.

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