Another chapter was written in the shady history of the Biddeford Municipal Airport at the (Feb. 17) council meeting. At the Feb. 3 meeting, the order authorizing the airport safety projects, acceptance of FAA and state grants, and the contract with Gale Associates was tabled until a study could be done on how else the airport’s 127 acres could be utilized. Councilor Brad Cote made the motion to table and it was approved 5-4. Prior to last night’s meeting the Finance Committee discussed an order to do the study at the airport. The request did not state the other possible uses of the airport property and the vote to recommend it to the council was 2-2.
The order was presented to the council and was defeated. The council then voted to remove the order for the safety projects from table and approved it 7-2. Councilman Cote then voiced his frustration on how he had been seeking an independent study of other uses at the airport for three years and was not receiving any cooperation from the administration.
Councilman Cote then said that he could not serve on the council any longer and that he was resigning his position. The pilots in the audience showed their lack of respect by clapping. That disrespect was also evident in a letter that the president of Arundel Machine Tool sent in answer to a questionnaire from a member of the Airport Committee. He said that flying out of Biddeford was convenient for him, saving him 30 minutes from Sanford or 25 minutes from Portland. He ended his letter by calling the opponents of the airport “bad apples.”
So the City Council keeps voting to put more money in the airport while most of the pilots show their disrespect and utter disregard for the taxpayers. The people of Biddeford voted to keep the airport open in 2008 because they didn’t want to spend the $3 million to close it. If the mayor’s plan to make it a regional airport is realized that amount will look like a bargain.
Ray Tardif, Biddeford
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