Letters

I write to you today as a private citizen, not representing any of the organizations with which I work professionally or personally.

The Press Sessions event held last week at Rowdy Hall, featuring a discussion of the future of East Hampton Airport, had a few telling moments, to my mind. The first was that aviation interests were present in force on the panel, and perhaps less so in the audience.

The second was that one of the panelists is a Connecticut business owner whose company serves East Hampton Airport but is not one I would call a local operation. This is an important distinction for people worried about economic impacts on local aviation businesses. Out-of-state business interests, to my mind, should have no input on the future of this municipally owned facility.

However, as an airport noise abatement advocate for nearly 30 years myself, and one who had never wished the airport closed, I was chagrined to see that local aviation interests were still unwilling to challenge helicopters, which are, in large measure, the primary aircraft noise issue.

I had hoped that those interested in maintaining a small rural airport might finally join forces with those small rural aviators. But that did not occur. I see this as the greatest vulnerability to local pilots trying to maintain their hobby or small business at this publicly owned facility.

Denying or ignoring the environmental impacts of aviation carbon emissions — some of the worst in the transportation sector — and ignoring the water pollution that has occurred at the airport separates them from their neighbors. Surely there is some concern about those kinds of pollutions in the aviation community and those who support their businesses. Why not acknowledge that and try to find a way to work it out?

Local pilots need to identify the real enemy to the future of this airport, which is big business. Not East End residents continually denied the right to the peaceful enjoyment of their homes and properties, clean air to breathe, and water to drink.

Olive branches have been extended time after time, but until the local aviators begin to reckon with the real problems, the airport may, in fact, be destined to close.

Thanks for the opportunity to weigh in.

Kathleen Cunningham

East Hampton