Says Jets 'Strafe Neighborhoods'

The tragic accident which occurred last Thursday which resulted in the fatal injury of a Blue Angels pilot has one city supervisor in San Francisco saying that the team should not fly over the city during Fleet Week in October.

Supervisor John Avalos said he would introduce a non-binding resolution by August that would restrict the team to flying over the San Francisco Bay during Fleet Week, according to a report posted online by SFGate.com.

“It’s about them crashing and hitting a building — a place where people live,” Avalos said. “It’s about the terror that they cause in people when they strafe neighborhoods. That’s something I hear about all the time when Blue Angels fly overhead.

“Flying over sailboats that choose to be about in the bay when the Blue Angels are flying — I don’t really have a problem with that,” he told SFGate.com.

Avalos admitted that this resolution is largely symbolic, and that the team has strong support on the Board of Supervisors. However, Supervisor Eric Mar said that he would back Avalos' measure because of the number of people who travel to the waterfront during the Fleet Week performances. Mar said the entire idea of fleet week "goes against the values of peace that San Francisco stands for. ... They promote militarism, and I don’t think a city like ours should be promoting that."

(Image from file)

FMI: www.sfbos.org