"True fight on Boeing Field remains"

Wednesday, October 12, 2005

True fight on airport remains
By Danny Westneat - staff columnist
The Seattle (WA) Times


People were saying yesterday that Ron Sims showed "strong leadership" when
he nixed the idea of starting commercial airline flights out of Boeing
Field.

I suppose if strong leadership is doing the obvious. There's no doubt Sims
did the right thing in telling Southwest Airlines and Alaska Airlines they
can't build new terminals at Boeing Field.

The King County executive said he learned Monday the move would cost too
much money and bring an overload of jet noise and traffic to a heavily
populated area.

Right. These are things the people who studied this idea 12 years ago
already knew.

"We looked at expanding Boeing Field back then, and nobody in their wildest
dreams thought it was suitable for large commercial jets," said Bob Wallace,
a Bellevue developer. In the early '90s, Wallace headed a 36-person
committee to puzzle out the future of the Puget Sound region's air
transportation.

That exercise proved that nothing is more incendiary in local politics than
a new airport. One of the public hearings back then was the most boisterous
I've ever attended. More than 1,500 people jammed a SeaTac hotel, many
standing on chairs to jeer the idea of enlarging Sea-Tac airport.

In this hostile environment, elected officials did what we complain they
never do: They got some backbone. They settled on a plan. Many risked
political careers in backing it.

The first step was to build a third runway at Sea-Tac. Then, because that
airport would be full by 2020, the second step was to find a logical place
for another airport, in Snohomish or Pierce counties.

"We concluded we needed to get a site for a second airport, immediately,"
Wallace said. "Mind you this was 12 years ago."

Today, Sea-Tac's third runway finally is getting built. But our regional
leaders - Sims is at the top of this heap - have never done anything about
that second airport.

This is what vexed me most about expanding Boeing Field. It would have
become that second major airport by default. Even though it's less than five
miles from the main airport. And even though almost no one thought it was a
good idea.

So yes, Sims landed in the right place, as he usually does.

But that was a sideshow. The truly difficult task remains.

We need a second airport. We don't need it open for business today. But it's
past time to pick a site, as well as buy surrounding land.

Wallace thinks it's inevitable this second airport will be Paine Field in
Everett. He's probably right. But a case can be made for building an airport
in eastern Snohomish County or Pierce County.

Any of these will take an epic political fight - another reason it irks me
that Sims, always a good battler, just wasted his effort.

So Ron, glad you came around. But strong leadership - by you and others -
would be to take on the more brutal job of guiding us to that second
airport. How about it?


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