Perzel Sets Sights on Philadelphia International Airport

Posted on Thu, Feb. 19, 2004 
 
Perzel Sets Sights on Airport
Philadelphia Inquirer, PA


Convention Center? Check.

Philadelphia Parking Authority? Check.

And next on House Speaker John Perzel's list of
agencies he sees as ripe for state control:
Philadelphia International Airport.

Just five weeks ago, Mayor Street said he might
consider selling the airport to help finance his
yet-unspecified, $500 million economic-development
initiative.

Now, Perzel is putting forth the state as an
interested buyer.

No dollar amounts have been mentioned, but yesterday,
the Republican from Northeast Philadelphia renewed his
push, which began in 2000, to convert the airport into
a state-owned facility managed by an independent
authority. The airport now is an agency of the city
Commerce Department.

Perzel described the airport - the nation's 18th
busiest in passenger traffic - as a "regional"
concern, because adding towers and runways would
likely mean stretching farther into Delaware County,
where half of the terminal space is now situated.

At the same time, he said, a state purchase could
generate a windfall for the cash-strapped Street
administration, which next fiscal year faces a
projected $144 million budget deficit. "The mayor's
budget address is coming in three weeks," Perzel said.
"If there is a fire in the hole, we start hearings."

In addition to its financial challenges, the city
faces pressure from the ongoing federal investigation
into several airport contracts as part of a larger
inquiry concerning possible municipal corruption,
including extortion and racketeering.

"The federal case would make [the city] more
vulnerable" in a fight to keep the airport, Perzel
said.

A Street spokeswoman said the Mayor's Office would
have no comment.

Street has made no secret of his frustration with
state moves that have shifted governing powers, at the
Convention Center and Parking Authority, from
Philadelphia to GOP lawmakers. Both actions were
surprise legislative proposals engineered by Perzel in
the last three years.

But the Convention Center and Parking Authority were
both established by state law. The airport belongs to
the city 100 percent.

"Every aspect of the airport is operating at a very,
very high level," outgoing City Commerce Director Jim
Cuorato said.

"I don't believe it is in the best interest of the
flying public to do anything to tamper with the
current operation," he said.

He said the airport's record over the last four years
is solid, citing the new $550 million international
terminal, the discount airfares available on Southwest
Airlines beginning in May, and a third straight
inspection rating as "error-free" by the Federal
Aviation Administration.

But Perzel intimated that discussions were already
rolling. He said he had spoken with Gov. Rendell twice
about the matter this year.

Rendell, in an interview, said he had told the speaker
he would look at the idea. He said he would support it
"under the right circumstances."

First, he said, he would have to be convinced that
members of any governing board would be a fair mix of
appointees from the city, surrounding counties, and
Harrisburg. Advocates would also have to convince him
that such an authority would be in the city's best
interest.

"Whenever you are asking someone to share control,
there has to be an up side for them," Rendell said.
"And I'd have to be convinced that there was a
significant up side before we ask the city to cede
control."

As mayor, Rendell said, he considered regionalizing
the airport under an authority-like structure. The
idea never went anywhere.

House Minority Leader Bill DeWeese (D., Greene) said
the idea amounts to "another Republican patronage
grab" and "a bold and daring swipe at [Street]."

Nonetheless, DeWeese acknowledged that Democrats in
the House, who are outnumbered by 108-94, would be
powerless to stop such a bill.

"This supererogation of power should, of course, be
denied by [Perzel's] own conservative caucus, who
campaign relentlessly year in and year out on the
theme of local control," DeWeese said. "But the
lickspittles and the Milquetoast who dominate his back
benches certainly will fold like a cheap Kmart table."

Senate approval would also be needed. "I think we can
get 26 Republicans," a majority, Perzel said, adding
that it then would not matter whether Philadelphia's
most powerful senator, Democrat Vincent Fumo, objected
to the deal.

Perzel explored the notion of snatching the city
airport in 2000. Acting then as the No. 2 House
Republican, he hired Alfred Testa Jr. - two weeks
after Street fired him as city aviation director - to
study the notion of privatizing the airport, as well
as to research airport parking rates.

With direct help from Perzel, Testa now is the
executive director of the 15-member local authority
that runs two airports in Harrisburg.

"Independent authorities are just the best way to
operate airports," Testa said.

Whether it was parking changes or purchase orders,
Testa said, whatever he tried to do as the head of
Philadelphia International, he was at the whim of city
officials.

"Every time we want to do something, we don't have to
go and see if the local politicians agree or don't
agree," Testa said of his current job.

Perzel complimented Charles J. Isdell, the city
aviation director, saying he was "doing a pretty good
job." But he said the state could likely do better at
running the airport, which has 21,000 employees.

He also criticized the airport's baggage operation,
saying it has taken him from five minutes to 21/2
hours to retrieve his luggage. "A little consistency
would be nice," Perzel said.

 

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