Sonic Youth and the Feelies vs. A Giant Hole of Suck
Photo of the Day, November 23, 2009: Stark
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Sports Redux: One Goal, And One Goal Only
Sunday Happenings
Our Senators, Ted Kennedy and John Kerry, are catching some heat for an earmark on a transportation bill designed to help prevent delays at airport hubs. The earmark is for $8 million, which is peanuts in guv'mint terms, but that $8 million isn't going to Logan--it's going to airports in Barnstable and Nantucket. And Barnstable and Nantucket are hardly "hubs."
Money flowing into Massachusetts is a good thing, but an $8 million earmark for Barnstable and Nantucket seems high. Walter Brooks at Cape Cod Today, who has posted a piece CNN did on the subject, would agree: "It was ironic, at least, that a similar earmark of $3.5 million was added to the same bill by Alaska Senator Ted Stevens for the tiny Akutan airport in the remote Aleutian islands."
Wonkette referred to the $8 million as "airpork" and started cursing up a storm when they saw that $1 million of the money was going to the "Steamship Authority's Oak Bluffs Ferry Terminal Reconstruction."
Bostonist decided to hear the Senators' side of the story, and we reached Senator Kennedy's press office. We asked them why the earmark was as high as $8 million and why some of that wasn’t going to Logan, which is a "hub" according to the proper definition. The office returned the following statement:
Both towers [in Barnstable and Nantucket] are more than 40 years old, outdated, and need to be replaced to ensure safe operations in the years ahead. The Barnstable tower in particular presents visibility challenges for air traffic controllers. Senator Kennedy has been working for several years to secure funding to replace the towers and is grateful the Committee approved these important requests.
According to Google archives, Barnstable agitated for a new air traffic control tower back in 2004 and 2005. Anyone else know the state of air traffic control on the Cape?
Image from Wikimedia Commons.
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Hasn't increased use of regional airports been touted as the best plan to decongest Logan for years now? I remember an Ed. Humor front page cartoon from the late 90s where Santa shouts into a radio "What do you mean the only place to land is Logan?" Seems to me money to improve regional airports would be a key part of the plan to reduce traffic at Logan... what with Winthropites constantly bitching about airplane noise and thereby (self-defeatingly) constantly shooting down new runway construction. Granted, Barnstable and Nantucket doesn't do a lot for business traffic, but maybe it'll cut down on peak-season vacationer traffic. Meanwhile, the Steamship Authority's routes are apparently the only vehicle ferries to the Islands.
Romulus is misinformed. Cape Cod is the "end of the line", not a possible sub-hub for Logan or anywhere else.
When I founded Best Read Guides and began offering franchises to newspapers, I found I could not operate the franchise company from the cape and had to open an office in an area where people could fly into with dependability. I chose Orlando where clients could fly into even when Barnstable is shrouded in fog.
Nantucket and Barnstable are conveniences for the rich and powerful, and not even our tourists arrive by air.
Mr. Kennedy and Kerry are arrogant and selfish and deny Logan and other hubs much-needed funds.
I'm sure you could discuss this without insults.
It's clever to turn this into a pork project debate given the growing outrage over government spending. But, how much impact would $8 million have on upgrading Logan's facilities?
It seems farfetched that this $8 million will make Logan a state of the art 21st Century airport. Of course, the Barnstable and Nantucket airports probably aren't central to regional travel and these improvements do reek of a pet project for Teddy and his family and friends' travel needs.
It might be more important to help out at the Worcester airport before Barnstable and Nantucket.
This money will eventually be wasted on something else.
Nantucket and Barnstable are the 2nd and 3rd busiest airports in the state. Ranked by boardings nationally, Boston = 19, (Providence (Warwick) = 60, Manchester = 66), Nantucket = 154, Barnstable (Hyannis) = 172, Worcester = 357.
link
Not all the 206,980 boardings made at Barnstable in 2006 were Kennedy's or friends of the Kennedy's. Barnstable serves as the hub of the Cape & Islands air system with service to New York and Boston linking to points on the Cape and Islands.
Many of those trips are tourist based, and many of those tourists are monied, but last I checked, the state decided that tourism was a good way to support itself. Maybe that has changed, I don't know.
Many of those trips are not tourists though. There are a quarter million people living on the Cape & Islands and they have various reasons why they need to travel. Some drive to BOS or PVD, others use the Cape airports to get to the hubs, others fly direct to New York for connections to other flights... Having the airports on the Cape & Islands relieves the other regional airports.
There are also many people using the airport for work. I invite anyone to visit the Barnstable airport at 5am on a given weekday. The toolbelts far exceed the Kennedys on scene.
Anyone who thinks money for the Barnstable and Nantucket airports or the Steamship is pork, obviously doesn't know much about the Cape & Island's, their residents, or our place in New England's economy.
Woneffe,
Don't make me laugh.. your "place in New England's economy"??? ROFLMAO! You mean your place as the bleed on the New England economy? The slumlords who demand wages be gutted, worker's rights be gutted, when "yours" import illegal aliens from Brazil to work on the expansion of the yacht club on the Vineyard, rather than hire New England area carpenters, whose families face homelessness, hunger and privation because their ability to work in your brave new world economy is little more than the old world economy when democrats were the party of slavery.
John Kerry owns more stock in Microsoft (between 2 and 3 million) than any other member of congress (check opensecrets.org under candidates financial disclosures under investments) and he profits from his votes to give Bill Gates a never ending stream of visas. What about ethical standards? Apparently, Kerry the hypocrite believes that democrats have other option at the polls.. well, this dem will vote republican before ever voting for a bad dem like Kerry or Kennedy again.
Fat Teddy and hypocrite Kerry (and before anyone assumes, I'm a democrat who used to respect both senators) jump on planes to fly to cry crocodile tears with 300 illegals who were being deported after the raids at the Michael Bianco factory in New Bedford, but couldn't be bothered to haul their pampered posteriors down to speak with unemployed and underemployed American citizens in New Bedford. A friend contacted Kerry's office to complain about some votes of his, and the young trustifarian who answered the phone accused working poor and middle class citizens of participating in a pity party. I'll bet she's one of yours who lives on the Cape or on the Islands. Where would you all be without your corporate welfare pork?
Kerry, Kennedy and the rest are millionaire hypocrites. I see now that they are deserving of the negative stereotypes that democrats like myself defended them against all these years. They are selling us out to corporate and foreign interests just as Bush is.