Editor, The News:
Re: Be not afraid of Pitt airport (Letters, Feb. 26).
I’d like to start by saying that name calling and condescension are tools used by those with budgeted intellect when making an argument.
I am one of those NIMBYS the author refers to, in his opinion, although I’m not quite sure how I could be because of lack of information and transparency on the part of all levels of government involved.
Our mayor, who is Pitt Meadows’ one and only advocate to the airport society, seems a bit complacent in the whole affair.
I don’t agree with his approach on how to fix the problem.
I have no idea what will be occurring in my back yard after the airport expansion is complete. I can, however, rebut some of the letter writer’s claims.
I live in the 119 Avenue, Mitchell Road area of Pitt Meadows and I can say with certainty that what now occurs in my back yard is far and away different than the writer claims.
Planes take off to the east far more than he claims, and quite often early in the morning on weekends.
Helicopters routinely hover over the neighbourhood.
I knew what I was getting into 16 years ago when I bought my house near the airport, but what the conditions were then certainly aren’t what they are now, never mind the proposed expansion.
My parents live off the west end of the airport on the family farm, which has been in the family for 90 years, long before any talk of an airstrip in Pitt Meadows.
What occurs there is vastly different from what the writer claims.
My grandparents before them had two crashes in their field. A Beechcraft airplane crashed in a blueberry field right behind the home of their nearby neighbour.
What makes them or any other citizens living in that area more able to receive the noise pollution and risk generated by planes taking off than the citizens to the east of the airport?
I think the writer should get a better picture of what occurs in the whole community as a result of airport activity, and that there are businesses and people other than his beloved airport who actively contribute for the economic benefit of the community, as well as the benefit of liveability within the community.
Am I offended by being called a NIMBY and a complainer? No, because I realize the writer is just as much in the dark regarding the community as a whole, as the community is with the airport, and he is way off the mark.
Maybe that’s just an indication of the attitude of the closed society that is Pitt Meadows Regional Airport.
Darrin Otsig
Pitt Meadows