So I finally got through all of the FOIA public comment submissions last night.
I have to say, now that I have read them, I feel much much better about them.
For starters, as I said earlier, most all of them could be classified as either:
1) The self entitled, "this is my airport" crowd
or
2) The "lack of knowledge" submissions, ie, the "your going to do WHAT here? type emails."
As I said, I can't help the self entitled crowd that believe they have a greater right to the airport than anyone else. "Sorry" is the best I can do for those people complaining that I want to play in THEIR sandbox.
But the lack of knowledge letters are interesting. It's alot of private pilots that simply don't know any more about parachute operations than what Mr. Hemmel and the LAA want them to know, which is very very very little. And that's okay, I promise you all, all of you in the latter category of submissions, that I will work with every one of you directly and personally. You can tell me your thoughts, even yell at me if you like,
, and then when the emotion is out and gone, we can sit down and work together to educate each other (yes I said "each other", you can educate me too) on what we both need to feel good about this situation.
Now, of course, I'll be the first to say, there were some good letters in there too, and not just "for us", but also a couple of good letters "against us", so to speak. I never said this was a black and white issue, a lot of it is very grey. And for the small group of negative comments based on knowledge and experience, they were very thought provoking letters. I really wish the LAA hadn't turned this process into a tug or war, because I would have really liked to sit down and talked with the people that brought good questions and concerns to the table. Whether we ended up agreeing in the end or not, I would have genuinely enjoyed the opportunity to see and hear knowledgable thoughts without the emotional charge of "NO WAY!, NOT HERE" that most of the letters amplified. And a few of those letters were genuinely sincere attempts to understand the process and how it would affect us all.
My favorite submission of all actually came from a pilot at the FBO down the end of the north taxiway. His letter was filled with both his personal experiences and what questions he had concerning the integration of our proposal onto the airport. It was most definitely an "against" letter, but it was fair, without emotion, and inquisitive. It was brilliant. I read it three times, and I hope some day that he and I get a chance to talk about the letter. I'd really like to offer him answers from my perspective and get his unbiased feedback.
So I give Mr. Hemmel and the LAA credit, the majority of the letters were just what they wanted. Emotional stand offs based on very little factual information.
What I find disappointing, and what those of you that sent those letters should find INFURIATING, is that most of you, the property owners and private pilots, and even some of the commercial pilots writing in, were used as PAWNS by the LAA in this process. And here is how:
When the airport manager sent you all that email asking for your submissions to the comment period, ending it with the underlined:
"
Your opinions count", she never once referenced that she had a volume of information on the topic that we provided her back in 2008. And we didn't just provide her our facts, we provided her AOPA's facts and the FAA's facts.
It is by no coincidence that her last line failed to say "Your EDUCATED and INFORMED opinions matter."
The LAA didn't want you casting informed and educated opinions in that public comment, they wanted you to cast uninformed hysterical opinions. If I were you, I would be FURIOUS that you got that email from the airport manager without the inclusion of a request to view all of the data available to you and making it available to you.
That public comment period that received over 80, "mostly negative" responses was an orchestration of fact omission responses. As I said before, the LAA wants your hysteria on this one, not your well thought, educated, unbiased opinions. And that is what they set out to collect, and thanks to that email from the manager of the airport going out without suggesting you educate yourself, that is exactly what the LAA got.
For those of you that sent in letters against us, if you did not read the AOPA article that we submitted to the LAA for instance, then you played right into the hands of the LAA. It's really that simple. It's unfortunate, but it's reality.
But in the end, the comments have all been thrown out, the good ones and the bad ones. That's the FAA's fault for even asking for them in the first place. The local FAA wasted everyone's time and energy by even asking for them. That's your local ADO. That's your local government.
As I depart now for Boston in a few hours, I want to leave you all with a thought.
While I believe it to be educated and without bias, I am only offering my opinions on this public comment process. I challenge everyone of you that either believes me or especially if you don't believe me. Make your own FOIA request. It's cheap, it's quick and simple. Get your own copy of the 80+ comments, get your own copy of the airport manager's email to 40+ locals telling them their "opinions matter" without providing them knowledge she has materials they can review.
Get it for yourself, read it all, and then make an informed decision about this minority public hysteria against Skydive Laconia. The facts are out there. The more you get the more you will shake your head at this entire process and the lengths to which the LAA have gone to oppose us.
This is America, it's still the land of the free, you have a right and an obligation to demand transparency and accountability within your government, a government of the people, by the people and FOR the people.
What is your government doing for YOU in this process.
Your "educated and knowledgable" opinion matters. Go ahead, give it to them.
Blue skies to all and to all a good flight,
Tom