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'Save the Hispanic children!'

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canyonblue

Everyone loves Southwest
Joined
Nov 26, 2001
Posts
2,314
'Save the Hispanic children!'

Kevin Cox had his game face on Wednesday afternoon, presiding over a 75-minute press briefing in Washington that had an exceptional amount of hyperbole and venom, even for the Wright Amendment.

Members of the press were outnumbered at least 4-to-1 by advocates who flew in to voice their support for the status quo. (Wonder how much of the tab was picked up by D/FW or American?)

At least 10 officials from assorted chambers of commerce were there, along with airport directors from Texarkana and San Angelo, and the mayor of Abilene.

If the tenor of the comments is any indication of what’s to come, the hearings ought to make for interesting viewing – and incredible claims. (Think somebody will blame bird flu on the Wright fight?)

Cox said that if Love is freed and departures soar there, landing fees will double at the big airport. “To attract a carrier to D/FW will be virtually impossible,” he said.

Passenger traffic will fall to levels seen 20 years ago, and it will take 19 years to get back to the base line. “We’ll pay a penalty of 39 years by abiding by the rules,” Cox said about Wright.

(That takes us back to origins of the airport. Consider the symmetry of that – and the absurdity. When D/FW is in full-crow mode, it claims it’s the third-largest airport in the country.)

Said Steve Luebbert, director of the Texarkana airport: “I represent the victims at the end of the food chain. Just as business is rebounding, along comes the Wright repeal.”

(And we thought high fuel prices were the problem.)
Monte Elliott of the Fort Worth black chamber said that minority and women-owned businesses would take a huge hit if Wright goes away. “Local MWBs stand to lose more than $455 million in contracts won over the last two years,” Elliott said.

(Is D/FW building anything else out there? Isn’t there enough empty space already?)

But no one went as far as Adelfa Callejo, former chair of the Dallas Hispanic chamber and for four years a member of the D/FW Airport board. She said Southwest had violated every one of the tenants of being a good corporate citizen, because expansion at Love would pose a safety and noise threat to more than 3,000 Hispanic students.

“The Latino community ... demands more honesty and integrity from Southwest Airlines and compassion for our Latino families and their children, who are the forgotten victims in this needless debate.”(What about all the Latinos who work for Southwest and the millions who save money on airline tickets? I asked. She said this was about the children.)

Back to her scripted comments, read to the crowd with vigor. “Southwest Airlines and its spin doctors are distorting the truth,” she said. “The airline’s ads lead people to believe that Southwest is being discriminated against ...“In fact, it is Southwest that is discriminating against all the citizens of Dallas by blackmailing the city and threatening to move its headquarters – and by failing to keep its promises to its neighbors and city leaders ...

“Bottom line – Southwest has never been a particularly good neighbor.” The audience broke out in loud applause, and Cox shook her hand heartily as she walked from the podium.

From my vantage, Cox seemed to say, “Thank you.”

Comments

I also was amazed (as Carter was) that it was the same old FUD from DFW, and I was especially amazed when Cox trotted out the same old "Southwest has a 97% monopoly at Love" BS. Maybe he should try reading DFW's own commisioned report and start using the -real- post-repeal number instead of today's "scary" one (and the one that makes 84% share look more acceptable).

I especially liked the part where Cox "selectively" quoted Herb, and Herb (being the good lawyer he is) took him to task for not quoting -all- the text to as to display the proper context. Herb was allowed to get the complete statement into the record.

Best comical moment? When Eddie Bernice Johnson said she was "principled" and then forgot (yet again) to mention that she had business interests at DFW and DAL, and forgot (yet again) to recuse herself.

Speaking of the Love Field Citizens Action Committee, did anyone besides me find it odd that their representative, Lori Palmer, doesn't even live in Dallas County, much less anywhere near Love Field?

What is so amazing to me is how repetitive the AA dog and pony show is. AA and DFW, right on key, trot out the scare tactics of noise, safety, and collapsing economy so that they can maintain thier monopoly. They did it in the early 90s they did it against Legend Airlines and here we go again with the same lies. During the Legend debate, the FAA studied the safety issue and issued a statement saying there was no safety problem whatsoever with increased traffic at Love Field.

I live next to Love Field and directly below the approach to runway 13L. I never hear anything from any of the commercial aircraft that use Love Field. The only time I hear aircraft noise is if I am outside and a corporate or general aviation aircraft is flying directly overhead. The corporate aircraft generate a far greater noise impact than any B737-700.

The one that really burns me the most is the often quoted and often paid Love Field Citizens Action Committee. This organization is not elected and will not return any of the attempts to contact them that myself and my neighbors have made. The Dallas Observer investigated them in the mid 90s and discovered they were being paid by American Airlines. Why do all the media outlets perpetuate the myth that they represent neighborhoods around Love Field? They won't even talk to us. What the neighbors really want is a limit on gates and flights and that is in the Love Field Master Plan. We want the Wright Amendment repealed because all it does is limit our choice of destinations. The Wright Amendment provides no limit on the number of gates or flights at Love Field.

This reminds me of Rep. E.B. Johnson's press conference over the summer at which she announced her interest in closing Love Field to protect minority contractors at DFW Airport.

When one of the reporters present asked something along the lines of "what about the minority contractors at Love Field, in your own district," she seemed to seethe with rage before dodging the question in its entirety. My point: plenty of poor Hispanics live under the flight paths to DFW, as well. As the guy cleaning my table at a local restaurant in Irving told me last night, "it's like the planes are landing on top of you... crazy!!" Yet, we never hear from those people (or their purported representative).

Moreover, if we're truly concerned about noise, then all this focus on Southwest is a wasted effort. They have replaced their fleet with 737-700s, which are the among the most quiet aircraft operating at Love Field. Besides that, Southwest accounts for less than 1/3 the air traffic at Love Field. If Ms. Callejo has suddenly developed a passionate interest in helping poor Latino children learn in a quiet environment, than her interests would be better served by:

1) addressing the existing noise problems associated with the far noisier corporate jets; and

2) fighting back against American Airlines, including its thinly-veiled threats made at a West Highland Park/Dallas neighborhood meeting last week during which John Carpenter of AA implied the airline would sue to crack Love Field wide open to heavy air traffic, after which they would then begin flying large numbers of much noisier MD-80s and 757s.

Where does she stand on those issues?

They apparently forgot to mention that Southwest is responsible for the kidnapping of the Lindbergh baby and the disappearances of both Judge Crater -and- Jimmy Hoffa...

I think their gloom and dooming is commensurate with both their desperation and the indefensibility of Wright.

Instead of C-SPAN broadcasting the hearings live, maybe someone can throw it on pay-per-view really quick. AA and DFW could use the proceeds to knock down some of that $20 billion of debt that they have. (I'm sure the $20 billion debt is also Southwest's fault...)
 
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