Your U.S. Senator from Missouri, Christopher "Kit" Bond, has attached an amendment to the FY98 Transportation Appropriations bill, H.R.2169, that would clear the way for closing Richards-Gebaur Memorial Airport near Kansas City. Sen. Bond's amendment would release Kansas City from its legal obligation to keep the airport open. The city signed this pledge when the government handed the former Air Force base to the city and the city accepted much sought-after federal airport grant money to help build and improve it - money from the Airport and Airway Trust Fund that comes from the taxes we pay on aviation fuel.
Sen. Bond attached the amendment during debate in the Senate Appropriations Committee, of which he is a member. Here is an excerpt from the Senate report on H.R.2169 used to justify the closure of Richards-Gebaur:
"Kansas City expended substantial funds to maintain the facility at Richards-Gebaur Memorial Airport and to develop and promote that facility.... After many years of such efforts and the expenditure of funds, the number of operations at the airport remains inadequate to support continued retention of the facility as a public airport. The city has determined that the highest and best use of the property would be for redevelopment as an intermodal transportation facility for freight distribution and processing."
Kansas City wants to give the airport to truck and rail interests. But traffic is up at Richards-Gebaur - an 8% increase in the first six months of 1997 compared to the same period last year, with 47,000 total operations in 1996 - and 75 aircraft are already based there.
This is about more than just one Missouri airport. In the last twenty years, the number of public use airports in the U.S. has dropped from 6,400 to 5,400. We must draw a line in the sand. Kansas City wants to tear down a perfectly good airport to build a rail yard. The city cannot be allowed to throw away something built with tax money - your money - simply because of a legislator acting solely on behalf of narrow local interests. If this is allowed to occur, a terrible national precedent would be set for general aviation airports across the country.
On behalf of pilots nationwide, I'm depending on you to contact Sen. Bond today and urge him to reconsider. Here's the address:
The Honorable Kit Bond
United States Senate
Washington, DC 20510
A House-Senate conference committee will meet shortly to finalize H.R.2169. Please take a few minutes to make this essential communication to Washington. The future of general aviation airports could depend on it! And please send a copy of your letter to me at AOPA Legislative Action, 500 E St., SW, Suite 250, Washington, DC 20024. Thank you.
Sincerely,
Phil Boyer