St. Pete Votes to SAVE Airport!!!

ready2fly

Well-Known Member
GREAT day for General Aviation!! The voters of St. Petersburg, Florida voted overwhelmingly "YES" to save Albert Whitted Airport and voted "NO" to allocate the land for (yet another) park.

<font color="red">St. Petersburg Votes To Keep Airport
By CARLOS MONCADA
cmoncada@tampatrib.com

ST. PETERSBURG - Nearly three of four voters said ``yes'' Tuesday to retaining the city's beleaguered downtown airport, defeating by an even wider margin an effort to replace the 75-year-old facility with a waterfront park.
Voters also easily returned two city council members to office in St. Petersburg's first fall election after voters in 2001 approved a shift from spring elections.

With all 118 precincts reporting, an <font color="red">overwhelming 73 percent of voters approved a proposed city charter amendment to keep Albert Whitted Airport open ``forever.''
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A related amendment on whether to accept federal grants to maintain the airport passed with 67 percent of the vote.

Meanwhile, <font color="red">78 percent of voters rejected an initiative to replace the airport by building a public park </font> on half of its 110 prime bayfront acres.

Mayor Rick Baker, who recommended that voters reject both the airport and the park question, nonetheless said he's pleased the issue finally has been put to rest.

Airport supporters said it sends a message to leaders of the Bay area's second-largest city, which has debated the airport's future for decades.

``It certainly says the citizens of St. Petersburg want to keep and improve their airport,'' said Jack Tunstill, a pilot and deputy treasurer for the Albert Whitted Airport Political Action Committee. ``It's a convincing win for ours, and a convincing defeat for theirs.''

The campaign was particularly divisive and expensive. Both groups packed more than $100,000 into their war chests and traded charges that the other side was lying and resorting to scare tactics to win.

Airport advocates claimed the park proposal was a subterfuge to build high-rise condominiums on the prime inland acreage not converted to parkland. Park supporters argued their initiative would have given the airport land greater protection over such development because the decision on how to use the remaining acreage was reserved for voters.

``If we hadn't had to talk about condos, would it have come out differently?'' asked Peter Belmont, chairman of Citizens for a New Waterfront Park, which collected 15,000 voter signatures to put its initiative on the ballot.

``It wasn't about condos. It was about a vision for our future, for our community.'' </font>
 
TESTIFY!!
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like they need another "waterfront community"... they already have a sh*tload of condos and a beach at that!!
 
BAH!

I have heard that the military guys are landing more often at scottsdale now - hahahha
 
Ready2Fly

PLEASE change the color of your font....some of us still use the old blue backgrounds!
 
How about you change the color of your background?? Just as easy.
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Duly noted and changed per request.
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