Northwest Indiana Discussion

http://www.baynews9.com/content/36/2008 ... 75175.html

Nope. This article is not about the Gary airport. Not directly, at least. But read it. Sounds like a lot of the things people are saying about the Gary expansion. And we all know that St. Pete/ Clearwater actually is a desirable destination! Gary is not and there is not effective ground transportation to downtown Chicago so it's not even a good alternate airport.

Also keep in mind that over the last 10 years they've spent $millions and $millions in upgrades in Clearwater. One odd coincidence is they too had free parking. That fee based parking near the beginning of the airport's path to demise only paid off as long as ATA remained but now I doubt it's worth the salary of the guy collecting the parking fees.

And it too is a small plane preference to the nearby large Metro airport in Tampa. BTW it has a customs office too. About the only commercial flights anymore are for Canadian snowbirds. That's more than I can say for Gary.

So as we face all these budget challenges when these unelected government bodies come around looking for new ways to tax you to "improve" the Gary airport just say Hell No! It makes no sense tossing money into a pit when nobody has a clue what the hell they are doing. Is it any wonder airport director Chris Curry talked the unelected airport board into a golden parachute for himself? He knew the best thing for the airport was to eliminate him and the board and was afraid the state would take over or it would get sold to someone with a clue.

BTW how's that route to Mexico and the new multi $mil customs office coming along anyway?

) -- St. Petersburg Clearwater International (PIE) Airport officials say a multi-million dollar runway extension along with millions in new renovations will pay off down the road, following the departure of one of the airport's major carriers, USA 3000, a $1.3 million hit.

"Our first game plan is to get USA 3000 back," said Airport Executive Director Noah Lagos.

Opponents of the runway extension five years ago say it's still a waste of money today.

"A waste of money, plain and simple," said Dave Chicolte. "A waste of money."

"If the county had of listened to us citizens they wouldn't have wasted all this money on a 10,000 foot runway that's not being used," said Deborah Vanbrunt, another opponent of the runway extension five years ago.

More Information

St. Pete/Clearwater Airport
E-mail TV reporter Emily Maza
The runway extension was supposed to attract airlines.

Lagos says they're still waiting for an airline to take advantage of it.

"Some of those plans that we thought would have reached fruition by now have been put on the back burner," Lagos said.

"If you don't build it, they're not going to come," he added, saying the runway extension was not a waste of money but a must.

"There are no benefits that the expansion gives us," Chicolte said.

Chicote also wonders why $12 million is being spent on new renovations at the airport.

"They can dress up a pig all the time, put panties on it, put lipstick on it and it's still a pig," he said.

Lagos says the new renovations planned at the airport are also part of the plan to get business in and includes two new landing bridges.



[size=200[/size]

Sound familiar?

Gary's main runway is already longer than any at Midway.

Enough said?

Yeah but it's in Gary

Enough said?

Hey! If they keep expanding it maybe they can make a bid for the SST to land here. You know, those near earth orbit planes coming out in a few years that can go coast to coast in like 45 minutes. But who in their right mind would want to have that air traffic flying over all the time?

Maybe the Gary airport will have the railroad tracks relocated in time for the 2024 Olympics in Hammond

Or maybe we can make moving the tracks part of an event. Do they have a He-Man competition?

Get hold of ESPN, they hold the annual "worlds strongest man" contests

Can they get that guy who pulls trains with just his teeth? I bet Rudy would love seeing that. And he could sell tickets out of his Hummer since he says he conducts business out of it.

But he would probably charge $15 to see it though

And we all know that is to high

Maybe he can donate the video rights to Obama. Seems he charges $5 now to watch his campaign videos. Just think how much he could net with a good PPV! LOL

Maybe Rudy could shave the 70's style side burns on that PPV

Didn't he have those in his role in Original Gangstars?

Possibly.

But imagine the hype for the PPV