Does it really matter whether the existing airport
reaches capacity in 5 years or 15 years? Either way,
this community should now be finalizing plans for a
new airport, given the decades-long lead time, not
still quibbling about when or even whether a new
airport will be needed (news flash: modern,
convenient airports with ample capacity matter even
more in the Internet age, not less).
To make up for lost time, why not earmark a small % of
the MAC's annual budget � say, $1 million -- to fund
an international competition to design a new airport?
A similar public competition produced the design for
the Vietnam War Memorial.
A design competition would have three advantages over
a more traditional approach:
One. Better ideas. A well-publicized competition
would unleash far more creativity than a traditional
�beauty contest� dominated by high-powered (and
high-priced) consultants. Why not look for the civil
engineering equivalent of Maya Lin, wherever in the
world she or he may be?
Two. Less time and money. A �beauty contest�
complete with Requests for Proposals (�RFP�s�) would
be a drawn-out, exceedingly political process. So
would raising multi-millions via taxes, bonds, and
special assessments to pay the winner(s), whose
proposals would undoubtedly then take years to develop
and refine. Instead, select a qualified,
representative citizen group (ROAR?) to convene a
blue-ribbon panel of judges, and charge entrants a
nominal entrance fee to help fund the prize money.
Put the entire process online.
Three. Better public relations. Reining in noise at
the current airport is a laudable and necessary goal.
However, simply railing against an old and familiar
�evil� eventually becomes repetitive and tiresome � at
least to those not plagued by airport noise. With one
or more truly outstanding designs in hand, new airport
supporters would have a common rallying point, and a
tangible goal around which to coalesce.
Lost in the current airport debate is the cost of
doing nothing. Each year a new airport is delayed,
the cost to acquire appreciating land, located further
and further away from the Twin Cities, goes up. An
ever more distant airport also means more to-and-from
travel time, over more miles of expensive
highway/light-rail/train connections.
Just as important as re-starting the new airport
planning process is making sure that the process is
well-designed. This time, put citizens in charge, not
industry-controlled task forces operating out of the
public eye, and use creativity and technology to save
time and money.
Ross A. Kaplan
Fulton Neighborhood
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