Officials Now Trying To Evict Non-Profit Museum Owner

For nine years, the Air Station Museum at Arlington Municipal Airport in Washington has been struggling to survive. It appears that struggle is over and the patient is in terminal condition.

Arlington city officials have locked the museum's doors and have now started proceedings to evict the it from its current set of WWII-era hangars.

The lockout and move to evict comes as Arlington airport leaders become more and more frustrated with the museum and what they see as its failure to upgrade its hangars as promised. Last year, the Everett Herald reported the airport tightened up the museum's lease, which had been fairly unrestricted before. It was a performance clause in the lease that led the city to lock the doors.

The city says the museum owes it about $8,000 in back rent. While the museum's lease ran out Friday, it could be some time before it's actually evicted from airport property, given the fact that the whole mess will probably end up in court.

The question now is, what will happen to the aircraft?

"We want to make sure we protect the belongings in the facilities," Kristin Banfield, assistant city administrator, told the Seattle Post-Intelligencer. "It could take a few weeks; it could take a couple of months. It'll be as long as it takes for planes (to be) relocated to a secure facility."

FMI: www.ci.arlington.wa.us/airport/index.htm