"Frederick Wilson" wrote in message
news:6k93c.150469$4o.182969@attbi_s52...
[...]
Normally the situation is the opposite. The people move in by and airport
and try to close it. This time the airport moved in by the people and are
now mandating controls on peoples rights and space.

What are your thoughts?

My first thought is "well, it's about time an airport got to play the 'I
just showed up, and now you're screwed' card".

Of course, that's not really all that useful, and that's just the evil,
emotional side of me saying that. I don't really believe that's a fair
approach, no more than I believe it's fair for new housing developments to
unfairly restrict airports after they show up.

Now, all that said...

It's true that, just as when other new pieces of the national transportation
infrastructure go in, there are adverse effects on the neighbors, it's not
surprising that there will be adverse effects for the neighbors when an
airport goes in.

I'm sure there was some sort of public process involved in the creation of
this "new" airport (if it's the 2R2 in Indianapolis, it's been there over
two years now), and if the general population felt that the benefits of
having an airport didn't outweigh those adverse effects, it would have been
better to voice those concerns when the airport was being planned. Or
perhaps they did, but the majority of the constituency still felt that the
airport was warranted.

That's pretty much how it goes in a democracy. If every person who was
adversely affected were allowed to prevent something from happening, we'd
never get anything done.

I think that to some extent, it would be reasonable of the neighbors to
expect the airport authority to provide compensation for the changes
required to bring the neighborhood up to standards. Paying for painting
barn roofs, lopping trees, providing for alternate solutions for man-made
structures that need to be removed, that sort of thing.

But! The neighbors need to understand that they need to be willing to
compromise. The airport is there, and was created lawfully, and the safety
of those using the airport needs to be provided for. Frankly, I think most
class action suits are stupid, and the one that sounds like it's brewing in
your dad's neighborhood probably is too. If they decide to take things to
court, the airport will probably decide that since they're going to have to
pay a bunch of lawyers anyway, they might as well refuse to pay for anything
until a judge tells them to, and that judge might well find in favor of the
airport on most or all claims.

Sounds to me like the neighborhood is setting up for the usual situation
where no one but the lawyers come out ahead.

Pete