Foster: Aspen needs to at least catch up to today

In regards to the various advertisements and letters to the editor from Aspen Fly Right: Don’t be fooled by what they say.

I work at the airport, and I have some advice for the citizens of Aspen. They say the CRJ700 still has a 30-year lifespan. I don’t know about you, but in 30 years, I wouldn’t get on a CRJ700 — they are outdated already, and I can’t imagine what they will be like in 30 years. Yikes.

Why would we pass up free Federal Aviation Administration money? If we pay for it ourselves, that money has to come from somewhere. Yes, the fixed-base operator (FBO) makes the county money. That money now goes into community services. We are talking hundreds of millions of dollars. What services are we willing to cut to pay for the new airport?

Newer planes are far more fuel efficient and emit less noise pollution. Wider wing spans mean less fuel, less pollution, less noise. Electric planes are coming, and we will need a wider runway to accommodate the wider wingspan.

The majority of the noise and pollution now come from older, private jets. If you can hear the jet engines landing in town, it’s an older private jet. I don’t hear Aspen Fly Right lobbying to get rid of those. They want the county to manage the FBO. The county can’t even fix the washer and dryers at Truscott. How are they going to manage a multimillion-dollar, seriously complicated operation? 

Like a lot of things in Aspen, it’s not about looking into the future — first, we need to catch up to today.

Think straight shot into town or a train from Glenwood Springs, locals are being driven out of town by the billionaires and their hundred-million-dollar sixth houses. Think food court in the Armory.

Aspen has changed a lot. Let’s work on those problems. Aspen has grown; we are not even the Aspen of 10 years ago — thank Mark Hunt and RH for that.

But who are we to say people can’t come here? Most of us did. No matter how much Aspen Fly Right wants us to go backward, we must go forward, or we will be kicking ourselves in the future.

It is time for us to take our heads out of the sand.

David Newton Foster

Aspen