I received this via email this morning and wanted to share. I asked the author if I could post with his name and he graciously granted permission.

Thank you for putting this website together.

I’m concerned about this project for the following reasons. First, this re-building project has been spearheaded by developers who will profit from it, rather than from public frustration or concerns with the current airport.

Second, a few years ago when the proposal to re-model KCI was made public in the KCSTAR, the public response was outrage. Almost immediately afterwards, the airport made a conscious decision to put the busiest airlines into the same single terminal. In doing so, it assured that a once convenient parking situation became a nightmare for Kansas Citians as we were kept out of access to nearby parking lots when we needed to pick-up or drop-off travelers.

Third, the only people one hears publicly supporting this project are either developers who stand to profit from it, consultants who stand to profit from continuous consulting, or politicians whose re-election coffers can be filled by those who will profit from a new airport.

Finally, the defenders of the project falsely attribute the current drop of KCIs outgoing flights to problems with the airport. They conveniently ignore that, since 9/11, the industry has changed dramatically. Airlines continue to consolidate, gasoline costs have spiked ticket prices, resulting in fewer leisure travelers by air, and dramatic developments in tele-conferencing have impacted business travel considerably.

I read today Mark VanLoh, Director of Aviation, have the audacity to suggest that the reason we don’t have direct flights to Europe stems from the configuration of the airport. That’s complete nonsense. Cities the size of Kansas City’s metropolitan area simply don’t have direct flights to Europe. In the case of St. Louis, those flights resulted from a historical accident of TWA choosing the city as its base, and the fact that the St. Louis region was once much larger than its current rank among American metropolitan regions.

This whole project is a boondoggle worthy of “The Music Man.” It serves no public purpose, and will do nothing but put money into the pockets of greedy manipulators of the public.

So thank you for your efforts. I’ve contacted each of my local representatives with the same message today.

Sincerely,

Craig Prentiss, KCMO

 

Pin It on Pinterest