Residents Use "Questionable" Data To Fight Airport Expansion

Worried that an expanded airport will mean more noise and more pollution, folks who live in Livermore and Pleasanton (CA) are mobilizing against Livermore Municipal, supporting their claims with data that airport officials say is incorrect.

"The airport plan is not about turning this airport into a huge commercial enterprise," said airport manager Leander Hauri in an interview with the Freemont Argus.

But that's just what opponents claim. A flyer handed out by the Livermore Airport Community Group says the number of take-offs and landings will increase by 90-percent. The flyer says there's "nothing the city can do to prevent a larger amount of large jets."

C'mon, says Hauri. Right now, Livermore Municipal handles about 200,000 flights a year. While the high-end number of flights that will be accommodated by the expansion is pegged at 370,000, Hauri says that number will probably never be reached.

The plan calls for extending the shorter of Livermore's two runways, construction of new hangars (about 180 aircraft owners are now on a waiting list) and leasing out space surrounding the airport to interested businesses -- most of them aviation-oriented. Hauri says there are no plans at all to start scheduled service from Livermore.

But opponents just don't see it that way. "Property values will go down and we will have a lower quality of life," said Greg Takemura, who lives in Livermore.

Tom Hagen, who lives near Pleasanton, agrees. "I say there is a noise problem right now. I think the noise problem will be worse if they double the amount of aircraft in the air. The noise will be worse and the safety issues will be worse. Basically, what these people are doing is putting their enjoyment over the quality of life of the tens of thousands who are affected by that noise."

FMI: www.ci.livermore.ca.us/airport_info.html