Why you should not sign the airport initiative

The AVIATION INDUSTRY is funding a deceptive petition to change Santa Monica’s City
Charter so that they can keep using Santa Monica Airport for their private benefit – so that
they can continue to fly more and more PRIVATE JETS that violate noise limits and pollute the air – so they can continue to fly piston aircraft that use LEAD-POLLUTING GASOLINE.
Why is the initiative deceptive?
• The Aviation Industry claims that the initiative will give residents the right to vote on the future of the airport, but we already have that right through the REFERENDUM process. The purpose of the initiative is to make sure that NOTHING can change at the airport without a vote, and makes any change subject to frivolous lawsuits.
• The Aviation Industry says the purpose of the initiative is to stop development, but its purposes are to keep the airport land out of the hands of the community and in the hands of aircraft and jet owners and operators, who rent facilities from the City at pennies on the dollar compared to market rates, and to handcuff efforts to make necessary changes in the interest of public health and safety.
The Aviation Industry says the City will overdevelop the land, but the City Council has already initiated a process to make sure that ANY DEVELOPMENT ON THE AIRPORT LAND will be LOW-INTENSITY, a process that can lead to A GREAT PUBLIC PARK!
• Don’t buy the AVIATION INDUSTRY’S FEAR TACTICS! Not one community group in Santa Monica supports the initiative! The following are just some of the community groups that have advised their members not to sign the petition: Santa Monicans for RentersRights, Friends of Sunset ParkMid-City NeighborsNortheast NeighborsWilshire Montana Neighborhood Coalition, and Ocean Park Association.
Residents of Santa Monica own the Airport and should benefit from it. Many years ago, Santa Monica residents paid for the land with a PARKS BOND. Changes at the airport are imminent because the City’s agreements to operate the airport expire in 2015, a date the Aviation Industry has known about for 30 years.

Friends of Sunset Park has produced at flyer (pdf here) with the same message: