"San Jose, California airport commissioner paints cloudy skies"

Monday, September 23, 2002   
 
Airport commissioner paints cloudy skies
By Leigh Weimers
The San Jose (CA) Mercury News


San Jose Airport commissioner Brooks Mancini isn't seeing many friendly
skies ahead. After hearing what he has to say, perhaps neither should
you.

In a speech to the Saratoga Men's Club last week titled ``Airport in
Jeopardy,'' Mancini outlined a number of dark clouds on Mineta San Jose
International Airport's horizon:

   . Although Congress has mandated that by Dec. 31 all passengers' bags
must go through explosive detection system (EDS) machines, ``We don't
have the machines. We don't have the money to put them in. And we have
no place to put them.''

   . An extension of that deadline is possible, but that still does
nothing to improve security.

   . Partial construction of the airport's planned single-concourse
building could provide room for the screening machines. But citizen
groups fear that would expand airport capacity, something they oppose.
And Mancini believes the present city administration is overly sensitive
to such concerns. ``This airport is a regional asset,'' he noted. ``It
shouldn't be held up by a neighborhood.''

   . Without an attitude adjustment, he said, expect no quick fixes.
Passengers still will have to schlep across the tarmac to get to planes.
The disabled still will need to be lifted ignominiously onto aircraft
instead of rolling wheelchairs down jetways. And visitors to San Jose
still will think they've landed in Podunk.

   . His prescription: Form an airport authority, similar to the Valley
Transportation Authority, to manage not only San Jose's airport but
airports countywide, independent of San Jose and ``independent of
politics.''

Don't expect to see something like that fly any time soon, either.


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