Mpls. from the Southern communities (e.g., Mendota Heights, Eagan, Bloomington,
etc.) and did not approve the FAA's desired Performance Based Navigation (PBN)
in Mpls. but agreed it could be implemented in the Southern communities. The
PBN issue will be further studied to assess its impact on Mpls., Edina and
other North of the airport communities. There will be a much more thorough
process developed that will lead to a more informed residential body.
I would like to thank John Quincy (Mpls.'s representative to MAC's Noise
Oversight Committee) for his skillful behind the scenes handling of this issue
as well as thank CM Sandy Colvin Roy, Mayor Rybak, Sen. Dibble, and the other
elected officials who contributed to this process. I would like to thank the
MAC commissioners who voted for this motion and for their in-depth questioning
of the "flown-in" official from the FAA's Washington office who tied himself in
knots useing technospeak to not answer their questions. They persisted until
the fellow unraveled before our eyes. Gratifying.
And finally thank you to all of you who signed the petition (currently 3,808
signatures). I'm certain at least 3,000+ of these were from the readers of
these e-democracy forums. The petition was delivered to MAC by Mayor Rybak. You
may not know that each of the online signatures generated an automatic email of
the petition sent to a whole host of our elected officials and the MAC chair.,
Dan Boivin (who appeared to have a very respectful attitude toward the barrage
of emails he received).
This should not be viewed as the end of this process, but as an important pause
that will allow for a much wider study of the effects of this PBN technology.
Watch this space for additional updates as the weeks and months go by.
http://www.startribune.com/local/west/179945681.html?refer=y
Michael Kehoe
Community Activist
Powderhorn Park