20% of Local Towns Supporting YNG SCASD
Posted on July 8, 2007
Filed Under General
Just 20% of local towns, cities, and villages have sent letters to the DOT in support of the YNG SCASD. Town’s like Austintown and Canfield have no excuse for not sending in letters of support for this grant. The stinking letter is already pre-written, all you have to do is pop your signatures on it, like the 18 communities so far have done.
I am going to post this Editorial by the Youngstown Vindicator on my blog, you know I don’t normally post stuff that I don’t write, but this needs to be put across the net everywhere for local communities to see. I encourage you to call your local trustees or mayor in your town and ask them if they have not sent a letter of support in for the YNG SCASD, to do so.
YOUNGSTOWN VINDICATOR Editorial
At the very least, the U.S. Department of Transportation should receive 91 letters from the Mahoning Valley in support of an $800,000 grant application submitted by the Youngstown-Warren Regional Airport. The money would be used to persuade a commercial airline to offer regular service at the Vienna Township airport.
Why 91? Because that’s the number of cities, townships and villages in Mahoning, Trumbull and Columbiana counties; each of them has a stake in the economic future of the region. As of last week, only 18 local governments had submitted letters backing the airport’s application for a Small Community Air Service Development Grant administered by the federal department of transportation. We hope the July Fourth holiday had something to do with the lack of response from the rest.
The economic viability of the region requires, among other things, a full-service airport. As we noted in an editorial in May, Delphi Packard Electric is proof that air transportation is an integral part of a major corporation’s operation.
In announcing the relocation of its top executives in global operations from Warren to Streetsboro, Delphi said proximity to Cleveland Hopkins International Airport was one or the reasons for the decision. Delphi, once a shining star of the Valley’s manufacturing might, is undergoing a major retrenchment that could result in job losses in this area. Having top executives leave, not for greener pastures but for convenience, makes Delphi’s shrinkage a bitter pill to swallow.
Commercial airline service
Securing the $800,000 federal grant would enable the Western Reserve Port Authority, which governs the airport, to make a pitch to commercial airlines that offer regional service.
Steve Bowser, director of aviation at the airport, said the goal is to have 50-90 seat aircraft flying from Youngstown-Warren to Chicago or Atlanta, catering to business travelers.
While competition for the Small Community Air Service Development Grant money is expected to be stiff, the regional port authority can make a persuasive case for its application — if federal transportation department officials consider past performance in judging viability.
In 2004, the airport received $250,000 for a marketing campaign that ultimately resulted in Allegiant Air launching scheduled flights to Sanford, Fla., twice a week. The service began in May 2006, and since that time the passenger count at Youngstown-Warren has topped 12,000. The federal government’s standard for grant eligibility is 10,000.
In his pitch for local support for the $800,000 grant application, Bower says in a letter, “The USDOT is targeting small communities for this program. Therefore, community support is most essential as this type and caliber of community support will be highly considered in the initial and subsequent review phases.”
U.S. Sen. George V. Voinovich, R-Ohio, U.S. Rep. Tim Ryan of Niles, D-17th, state Sen. John Boccieri and Reps. Sandra Harwood, Tom Letson and Mark Okey have sent letters, as have the Trumbull County commissioners and the cities of Warren and Youngstown.
We would hope that by this time next week, the list of supporters will have grown to such an extent that the U.S. Department of Transportation can’t ignore the value the people of the Mahoning Valley place on the Youngstown-Warren Regional Airport.
THANKS-FlyYNG
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3 Responses to “20% of Local Towns Supporting YNG SCASD”
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And comments about the editorial in the same paper don’t hurt the cause either. It gets the newspaper subscribers reading, thinking, and pondering a subject they may not have known anything about. Your point of view in the paper is critical on this issue. This is a wider circulation avenue that cannot be overlooked.
Let’s see how many local communities step up to send in their support for SCASD. I will be all over Austintown and Canfield township/city this week if they do not send a support letter in; there should be NO EXCUSE!
I have questioned for the longest time why metropolitan Y’town has not been able to do more with the airport. I cringed when I would hear local “activists” on the radio calling for the closure of the airport. Obviously their insight was poor and their political motives were reckless and shameful.
If Canton-Akron airport were to have given up on themselves due to the notion they were much too close to Cleveland Hopkins, they’d never be experiencing the success they currently have.
So, why not Y’town? If CAK can do what they’re doing, I say let’s get after it. If you’re reading this and part of this community, get behind this effort and do what’s best for the entire valley. Tell your local community leaders to support YNG SCASD!