Airport Group Gives Hollywood Apology

Airport Group Gives Hollywood Apology
South Florida Sun-Sentinel, FL

Posted December 6 2003 

HOLLYWOOD · A lobbying group locked in a fight with Hollywood over airport 
expansion apologized for printing a brochure that wrongly claimed the city 
pocketed county money then reneged on promises to support a new south runway. 

Friends of the Airport leader Christopher Pollock sent a brief statement to the 
city on Thursday, outlining plans to remove all the "offending literature" from 
public places. The group will also place copies of the apology and retraction 
in the same locations it distributed the brochure, Pollack wrote in a letter to 
City Attorney Dan Abbott.

"You may use this letter as a public retraction of the unintentional and 
incorrect [material]," Pollack wrote.

Last week, Abbott wrote a stinging letter to Pollack, threatening to sue 
Friends of the Airport for libel by spreading its "intentionally false and 
defamatory publication." Friends of the Airport said Hollywood signed a 
contract agreeing to a south runway and received more than a $1 million in 
taxpayer money as part of a settlement.

While the information is fiction, the city has had a hard time getting people 
to understand that, Mayor Mara Giulianti said. The city favors runways to the 
north, and on Tuesday the Broward County Commission will vote on one of the 
plans.

The brochure has been a sore spot for months as the city battles the county 
commissioners to vote against expanding Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International 
Airport to the south, a plan it said threatens wildlife and could displace 
homeowners in Dania Beach.

But the city leaders did nothing about the brochure until Abbott fired off his 
letter last week. The mayor and two commissioners supported Abbott, but others 
thought he acted prematurely and voted not to go to court.

Abbott said that he's pleased with Pollock's response. 
 
 Do you have an opinion about this story?
Share it with other readers in our CAA Discussion Forums

http://www.californiaaviation.org/dc/dcboard.php

*****************************************