Moffett Air Cargo Proposal defeated

[Lenny Siegel <lsiegel@igc.org>]

Culminating more nearly two years of organizing, the neighbors of
Moffett Federal Airfield (formerly the Moffett Naval Air Station) won a
major victory Tuesday night.

The two city councils representing the communities in which Moffett lies
voted that commercial air cargo operations at Moffett were unacceptable.
The 7-0 vote in Sunnyvale was particuarly gratifying, because current
and past members of the Sunnyvale Council had pushed the air cargo
proposal. In Mountain View the vote was only 6-1, but that's because one
council member wanted to add wetlands restoration to the list of
acceptable uses. Other members felt that a study of the Moffett wetlands
should be done first.

The city council votes are technically advisory, but it's clear that
we've finally driven a stake through the heart of the air cargo
proposal. We still have to get the cities to do serious long-range
planning in case NASA decides to close the airfield. San Jose still
wants to convert Moffett into a general aviation reliever airport, and
the local communities oppose that.

The campaign against air cargo at Moffett is a classic example of how an
empowered, informed public can reverse decisions being made by powerful
people, which in this case made up a coalition of local government
officials, major business interests, and federal agencies.

Lenny
Lenny Siegel
Director, SFSU CAREER/PRO (and Pacific Studies Center)
c/o PSC, 222B View St., Mountain View, CA 94041
Voice: 650/961-8918 or 650/969-1545
Fax: 650/968-1126
lsiegel@igc.org