As you’ve likely read, “Airport School” is officially over for the Mayor’s Airport Terminal Advisory Group (aka Task Force, aka Commission). We did not receive a diploma, nor was there a prom but it was educational. An RFP has been issued for a consultant for the group, in part to assist in questioning and verifying some of the numbers and information that we received from the Aviation Department, as well as address other concerns from stakeholders and the public.
The bulk of the information that we received is available online here. Additionally, the Show-Me Institute has been publishing articles throughout, questioning some of the information being put forth from the Aviation Dept. They can be found here.
Study up. Be informed.
Thankfully, the investigative reporting from the Show Me Institute provides details to illuminate the fog of obfuscation that new terminal proponents in the Aviation Dept continually generate. The general lack of critical engagement by the KCI ATAG members with these details is unfortunate to say the least – that looks like a combination of ill-formed process and ad hoc leadership.
One thing seems solid however, while the costs of new terminal building are left undetailed, the actual costs and achievements of the upgrades done since 1990 are in the books. By most appearances this airport has been well run and effectively modernized. At 40 years of age it is near the midpoint of its life cycle if older facilities such as City Hall or peers such as the sports stadiums are any indication.
I suggest that it is time to get some more active discourse going. The ATAG has promised that it would upgrade the 1990’s vintage website presence into something more useful for purposes of real time public engagement. As with so many things, those following the ATAG meetings have only IOU promises but no schedules and a website that is a day late and many dollars short in terms of clarity. There is no way for systematic input from the interested public and no reliable schedule of the future work.
It may be time to become more insistent on getting to a real public information portal. For example I’d love to see the RFP for the ATAG consultant – and some rationale for the reduction of the “survey” spreadsheets would be beneficial when it comes time to rate whether the ATAG is providing value or just muddying the waters – the voters will want to know.