All Points Bulletins

SAN DIEGO INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT (Mar 29 04)

EXPLANATORY REMARKS (Nov 3, 03)

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You know I write a lot; to politicians, to academics, to newspapers, to magazines, to anyone who has an interesting idea to discuss. Some of you know I have been an afficianado and defender of Lindbergh Field forever. I wrote this letter September 15. The magazine printed most of it in the November issue on page 26. The parts in [brackets] were edited out before printing.

[Dear Editor Blair,]

For kicks, we reread part of the September, 2001 edition of San Diego Magazine, the one with the coverboy quarterback and an airport on page 82: the San Diego International Airport-Miramar to be exact. Then for kicks, we drove to the Marine Corps Air Station-Miramar to see how the airport-on-the-ground compares to the airport-in-the-article. What a difference two years and two wars make.
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We found General Gallineti and the Corps firmly entrenched at Miramar, with no inclination to leave[, no orders to move, no moving money, and no place to
go]. The only part of the airport-in-the-article that we could find was the
Marine's Quick Launch capability[. There is a Quick Launch capability, of
course;] and a slow launch and a middling launch too. Mitchell got that much
of the story right.
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We chuckled about the story two years ago when the magazine aired it, before
the awful events in New York and Afghanistan and Iraq. No one could have predicted our terrible tragedy two years ago, but we certainly predicted that Mitchell's story was wrong. We know Mitchell, know his work, and know that bad transportation policy is almost a genetic malady in San Diego. We once thought there was a connection between bad transportation policy and bad airport predictions, that they emanate from the same sources. We are convinced now. May one who isn't a 30 year veteran of transportation planning in San Diego but is a 30 year sufferor of San Diego's transportation, offer two predictions?
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Not in your lifetime or mine, or our children's or grand-children's lifetimes will Lindbergh Field close. San Diegans won't tolerate that, and every expensive downtown condominium we build is another vote to keep Lindbergh Field open. We love the luxury of a downtown airport.[ That's a political prediction from a pretty good political predictor.] Second, while Lindbergh Field is open, a full-blown separate airport is infeasible. That is an economic prediction from legions of very good airport economists, that Mitchell himself acknowledged in his article.
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[There you have them; two predictions. My youngest grandbaby is thirty months old, so you and I won't be here when his time comes. The prediction stands nevertheless. Maybe I should etch it in stone and leave it in a time capsule until 2081 or so.]
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[Whence come the increments of air cargo capacity we'll need later, to supplement Lindbergh Field and keep it open? Abelardo G. Rodriguez International Airport, of course. Where else?]
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THE FEDERAL AVIATION ADMINISTRATION REPORT (Mar 29, 04)

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This recaps a study conducted for the FAA by the MITRE Corporation, a national company that does such studies for a living. I received the e-mail from a friend who saw it at CNN.com and forwarded it. Guess which airport isn't on the list of those needing improvements or expansion.
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FAA REPORT LISTS AIRPORTS IN NEED OF EXPANSION
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(AP) -- The following airports will need to expand, according to a draft report by the Federal Aviation Administration and The MITRE Corp. Some airports appear more than once because planned expansion won't accommodate expected growth.
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AIRPORTS CURRENTLY CLASSIFIED AS OVERCROWDED
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--Atlanta Hartsfield-Jackson International
--Chicago O'Hare International Airport
--New York's LaGuardia Airport
--Newark Liberty International Airport (New Jersey)
--Philadelphia International Airport
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AIRPORTS THAT WILL NEED GREATER CAPACITY BY 2013
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--Albuquerque International Sunport Airport
--Burbank-Glendale-Pasadena Airport (California)
--Chicago O'Hare International Airport
--Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International
--Houston Hobby Airport
--New York's John F. Kennedy International
--John Wayne Airport (Orange County, California)
--LaGuardia Airport
--Long Beach/Daugherty Field Airport
--Newark Liberty International Airport
--Oakland International Airport
--Palm Beach International Airport (Florida)
--Philadelphia International Airport
--San Antonio International Airport
--San Francisco International Airport
--Tucson International Airport
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AIRPORTS THAT WILL NEED MORE CAPACITY BY 2013 IF IMPROVEMENTS ARE NOT MADE
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--Atlanta Hartsfield-Jackson International
--Baltimore-Washington International Airport
--Charlotte Douglas International Airport (NC)
--Chicago Midway Airport
--Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International
--George Bush Intercontinental Airport (Houston)
--Lambert-St Louis International Airport
--Las Vegas McCarran International Airport
--Los Angeles International Airport
--Minneapolis-St Paul International Airport
--Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport
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AIRPORTS THAT WILL NEED MORE CAPACITY BY 2020
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--Albuquerque International Sunport Airport
--Birmingham International Airport (Alabama)
--Bradley International Airport (Hartford, CT)
--Burbank-Glendale-Pasadena Airport (California)
--Chicago Midway Airport
--Houston Hobby Airport
--John Wayne Airport
--LaGuardia Airport
--Las Vegas McCarran International Airport
--Long Beach/Daugherty Field Airport
--Long Island MacArthur Airport (Islip, NY)
--Newark Liberty International Airport
--Oakland International Airport
--Ontario International Airport (California)
--San Antonio International Airport
--San Francisco International Airport
--T.F. Green Airport (Providence, Rhode Island)
--Tucson International Airport (Arizona)
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AIRPORTS THAT WILL NEED MORE CAPACITY BY 2020 IF IMPROVEMENTS AREN'T MADE:
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--Baltimore-Washington International Airport
--Charlotte Douglas International Airport
--Chicago O'Hare International Airport
--Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International
--Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport
--Denver International Airport
--Detroit Metropolitan Wayne County Airport
--Dulles International Airport (Washington, DC)
--Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International
--George Bush Intercontinental Airport
--John F. Kennedy International Airport
--Lambert-St Louis International Airport
--Logan International Airport (Boston)
--Los Angeles International Airport
--Memphis International Airport
--Miami International Airport
--Minneapolis-St Paul International Airport
--Philadelphia International Airport
--Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport
--Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport
--Salt Lake City International Airport
--Seattle-Tacoma International Airport
--West Palm Beach Airport (Florida)
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