Letter to the Editor: Scrap Astorino's Airport Plan

To the editor:

Rob Astorino’s airport master plan needs to be scrapped. The trumped-plan calls for dramatic expansion and massive flight increases, in violation of existing county law.

It proposes $462 million in construction, including $92 million of development within the Kensico watershed, which provides drinking water for over 9 million people - most of Westchester and New York City!

Yet, the plan simultaneously purports, with no justification, that development will not adversely impact water quality or increase the airport’s greenhouse gas emissions.

Written in secret on the taxpayers’ dime, it’s no coincidence that this proposal was released at the same time that Astorino is attempting to lease off the airport. The airport master plan is a dangling carrot for profit-seeking bidders looking to capitalize on Astorino’s privatization scheme. For the sake of Westchester’s communities and environment, our county legislators have an obligation to reject it.

Food & Water Watch is a member of the coalition to oppose privatization and expansion of the Westchester County airport, which is spearheaded by Citizens for a Responsible County Airport (crcairport.org), and includes Sierra Club Lower Hudson, Westchester for Change, WESPAC Foundation, Federated Conservationists of Westchester County, Purchase Environmental Protective Association, Grassroots Environmental Education, We Persist, Indivisible Westchester, and Lower Hudson Valley Progressive Action Network.

Greta Zarro

New York Organizer, Food & Water Watch