Category: default || By jt3y

Today, it's a very special episode of Good Government ... On The March! And our fickle finger of fate points at the Allegheny County Airport Authority. As you may have heard, the airport authority (Motto: "Bending over for US Airways for more than 20 years") plans to demolish 15 hangars at the county airport in West Mifflin that it considers old and "uncompetitive" and replace them with 12 spiffy new hangars.

That sounds pretty good until you learn that, er, the county doesn't own the hangars it plans to tear down. These hangars are privately owned by various individuals and companies that base aircraft at AGC.

It seems that the county has been leasing the land to the hangar owners. Originally, the land was on long-term lease, which spurred major companies and private plane owners to invest money in permanent improvements and hire personnel. Several years ago, the county announced that it would only renew the rental contracts on a month-by-month basis.

"Ah!" I hear you say. "But the county plans to compensate the owners of the hangars for their losses, right?"

Au contraire, propeller-heads. The county's attitude is "take it and git." Decades of private investment will be destroyed; many of the hangars are being vacated this month. Tenants have until May 1 to leave the premises.

The Allegheny County Airport Authority says that the 12 new hangars (to be built by Voyager Jet Center, one of the charter companies with a base at AGC) would be the "first new development" at the West Mifflin field in "at least 25 years." But that's a little disingenuous, since the county was only renewing leases on a monthly basis --- and if you owned a hangar at the airport, would you invest any more money under those circumstances?

It gets even worse for the taxpayers of West Mifflin Borough and school district. Right now the hangar owners pay real-estate property taxes, but after the Voyager hangars are erected, the airport authority will ask the county to make them tax-exempt. West Mifflin officials are already engaged in a messy tax tug-of-war (largely of their own creation) with Kennywood Park; they've asked for county officials to meet with them to discuss the airport hangars and have gotten no satisfaction, according to the Post-Gazette.

This comes, of course, after years of neglect at Allegheny County Airport, and several service cuts, including the closure in 2004 of one runway and the airport's fire station. The latter move shifted the burden of fire protection onto West Mifflin Borough --- which, of course, is now going to take it in the shorts again with the loss of the property tax revenue.

The airport authority says the changes are necessary to attract business to Allegheny County Airport (already one of the busiest in Pennsylvania), but many of the hangar owners being chased away say they're going to other fields in Westmoreland County (Rostraver, after all, is only a few air miles away).

And although Kent George, executive director of the airport authority, says the county will offer "incentives" to get the planes back, it doesn't seem likely that someone who's had thousands of dollars of investment destroyed by a land grab would ever want to do business with Allegheny County again.

Not to mention the fact that the airport authority plans to double the rent, according to pilots and plane owners interviewed by Lynn Cullen on WPTT (1360) this past Tuesday.

George says that the airport authority is just trying to reverse "bad management of the past" and restore "professionalism" to the operation of Allegheny County Airport. Well, who has been running the Allegheny County Airport Authority (and before that, the county Aviation Department) for the past nine years? Why, step forward, Kent George!

On behalf of hundreds of private pilots and airplane owners, and thousands of West Mifflin taxpayers, the Tube City Almanac salutes the Allegheny County Airport Authority for its unfailing ability to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory.

Your unswerving devotion to shooting yourself in the foot has made you another sterling example of Good Government ... On The March!

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To Do This Weekend: If you're not a hangar owner who's moving this weekend, there's country line dancing tonight at the Palisades, Fifth Avenue at Water Street. Boot-scoot your way to a phone and call (412) 678-6979. ... On Saturday, drop by the Bost Building, East Eighth Avenue in Homestead and see the exhibit "Masters of Their Domain: Little Steel, 1750-Present." Call (412) 464-4020 ... And if you think you're funny, the McKeesport Little Theater is having open auditions for its upcoming performance of the play "Curious Savage." That's at the theater, 1614 Coursin St., from 7 to 9 p.m. Sunday and Monday. You should be prepared to deliver a one to two minute comic monologue. Call (412) 673-1100.