Here we go again. Did you know Tweed airport is planning to expand and build a terminal in East Haven? If House Bill 7143 is not defeated on March 4, the impact on East Haven could be severe.
New Haven Mayor Harp has ripped up the 2009 memorandum between East Haven and New Haven, which settled the town's legal battle with the city almost a decade ago and caps Tweed's
main runway at 5,600 feet. Though Harp and Tweed officials have promised to only expand to 6,600 feet and inside current fence lines, there is nothing to enforce this limit or stop the airport from the planned expansion to 7,200 feet laid out in its Master Plan. As the video above shows, this will also include a new terminal on the East Haven side. HB 7143 is the first step in this expansion and must be stopped.
We need a clear message to be sent:
Find out what's happening in East Havenfor free with the latest updates from Patch.
- Not one more foot of paving!
- Not one more dollar of debt!
Paving the wetlands is an environmental disaster. Going into further debt service to do so is an economic disaster.
Please take 5 minutes to take one action:
1. Make one (or more) phone calls or emails to the following leaders to say...
Find out what's happening in East Havenfor free with the latest updates from Patch.
Not one more foot of paving! Not one more dollar of debt!
- Mayor Joe Maturo | 203-468-3204 | eh.mayor@att.net
- Representative Len Fasano | 860-240-8800 | Len.Fasano@cga.ct.gov
- Senator Martin Looney | 860-240-0375 | looney@senatedems.ct.gov
- Representative Al Paolillo | 860-240-8585 | Alphonse.Paolillo@cga.ct.gov
- Representative Roland Lemar | 860-240-8585 | Roland.Lemar@cga.ct.gov
2. Submit testimony against House Bill 7143 by end-of-day on March 4. Even short testimony helps! E-mail your testimony to tratestimony@cga.ct.gov, with "Testimony for HB 7143" in the subject and "To the Chair of the Transportation Committee" in the body. Examples:
"Tweed is not economically viable and expansion will not chang e that. MIT’s International Center for Air Transportation has performed a series of studies in the last 7 years examining small airports. These studies have concluded that commercial service will continue to decline at these airports - no matter what the airports do - as the industry has fundamentally changed how it does business..." - Dr. Kevin Buterbaugh
"There are known, well-researched negative health impacts of noise levels generated by the airplanes. The EPA -mandated efforts by Tweed Airport to insulate houses does nothing for people (or animals) when we are out of doors. Additionally, the noise abatement only impacts those homes with health-impacted levels of noise damage. There is a much wider sphere of residents who are impacted; and the numbers impacted will rise if the paving goes forward...." - Rachel Heerema
"The Economic Impact Analysis for Tweed by SH&E (paid by Tweed itself in 2011) includes dubious calculations. While visitors come to New Haven via the airport, they do not come because of the airport... The analysts speculated for example that each of the about 13,875 out-of-state-visitors arriving at Tweed would spend about $600 in the New Haven area. This total annual spending of $8,325,000 is presented by the authors as economic output thanks to the airport. Many of these visitors, however, are in town because of Yale, not because of Tweed..." - Dr. Claudia Bosch
Sean O'Brien grew up on Richmond Street in East Haven and now lives in Morris Cove. He may be contacted at sean@webio.me
