Taylor: We have a choice with the Federal Aviation Administration

We are seeing letters from the same group of people regarding the airport. They obviously speak for Pitkin County since many are on county boards, and all promote bigger.

The latest “party line” seems to be the public (represented by Aspen Fly Right and CABP) is somehow “playing chicken” with the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA). This is an interesting phrase to use considering the last time the FAA tried to bully Pitkin County into conforming to a standard that negates our situation, the BOCC (of old) held a firm line for the standards of the community.

It is not “playing chicken” to tell the FAA that we want them to do their job, to assure safety and access at our airport. They will continue to fund us with all the entitlement grants we are allowed (The BOCC is giving [temporarily?] millions of FAA [from ASE] grants to Colorado Springs today); this is basically public money. They are tasked with insuring safety … and we are … safe.

The FAA should not be telling us how to develop our valley, how many passengers we should transport, or what size airport we need to squeeze into our narrow slot canyon with one shared runway, high altitude air, and unexpected winds.

The FAA is also not in the habit of reclassifying airports down from the designation they have held for the past 50 years or so. They have stated as much.

Several people have suggested that people wanting “reliable” info about the airport should refer to the airport website. That is where you will find all the propaganda for expansion. It is written to make the public believe we “have no choice.”

We have a choice.

Rather than present all sides to the public, the BOCC has refused to show the options or allow the people to voice an opinion (vote) and has decided that five people should direct spending well over $100 million on our largest county asset. They could have put it on the ballot, but they are making their constituents do that as well — at the citizens’ expense.

We all agree that we need to “modernize” the airport and make travel into Aspen a pleasant experience. Not all of us use “modernize” and “expansion” interchangeably.

It would seem only the spokespeople for expansion do.

Susan Taylor

Woody Creek