Atlantic City’s Bader Airport: Politics as Usual, New Jersey Style

GUEST EDITORIAL. The senior Senator from New Jersey, Frank Lautenberg, showed his true colors as an enemy of general aviation (not to mention a master of political skullduggery) when he recently attached a "rider" to a Senate transportation appropriations bill that would allow Atlantic City's Bader Airport (and Kansas City's Richards-Gebaur) to be closed by releasing those two cities from Federal grant assurance agreements that protect the FAA's investment in publicly owned public use airports. We think pilots everywhere should be outraged, and urge you to contact your congressional representatives about this travesty which could set a disastrous precedent affecting GA airports nationwide.

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Aerial photo of Atlantic City's Bader Field"Oh happy, happy, joy, joy!” we thought to ourselves as wesaw signatures of famous people in the FAA, N.J. Division of Aeronautics,and the City of Atlantic City on a “memorandum of understanding” about BaderAirport. The long nightmare was ending. The airport would survive for anotherdecade. In return for being allowed to proceed with constructing a baseballstadium on part of the airport property, the City had agreed to provisionswhich would benefit Bader and its long suffering users. So far, so good.

The City had agreed to maintain the airport and its approaches, return thefire station to airport use and replace ripped up ramp and tie down areas.Further provisions of the agreement would provide funding for airport operationsand maintenance from fair market ground rent for the property underlyingthe stadium. An FBO would be permitted to operate the airport and terms ofany FBO lease would not be so horrible that they would go broke in the firstmonth.

In balance it all seemed like a pretty good deal. If nothing else, the large,round shape of the stadium would clearly indicate Bader’s location. Old Bridgeis co-located with Englishtown drag strip. Andover has its lakes. How badcould a stadium be if the night lighting is controlled?

Don’t Celebrate Yet!

Our joy was short lived. Subsequent events surrounding Bader Airport areshaking our faith in democracy.

Sen. Frank Lautenberg (D-NJ)As you may have heard, Sen. Frank Lautenberg has weighed inon the “shut it down” side of the debate over Bader Airport, joining forceswith Atlantic City Mayor James Whelan, the local politico who lives 200 feetfrom the Bader property line. We were tipped off when the senior Senatorfrom New Jersey attended a June press conference at Bader. Lautenberg suddenlyveered off on a diatribe about how Bader was “unsafe” and should be closed.He went on to describe an arrival he had suffered through and extrapolatedhis experience in a cabin class twin to those of us who fly small aircraftthat are appropriate to Bader’s short runways. Lautenberg apparently reasonedthat if he couldn’t use Bader, nobody else should either.

MAAC responded to his comments in a letter to his to his office:

We are outraged that you have made a policy of using your position and influence to compromise the Federal Aviation Administration’s authority over public use airports. We remember all too well that you attempted to close Linden Airport with a rider attached to a last minute budget bill. We are also mindful that you have interfered with AIP funding for the improvement of Princeton Airport. The pilots of New Jersey would be most grateful if you would stop playing politics with our public use airports. As always, we would appreciate the courtesy of a reply.

Lautenbert’s Rider

The Senator’s reply was predictable. Lautenberg introduced a “rider” attachedto a Senate transportation appropriations bill that effectively allowed theFAA to release Atlantic City and Kansas City from Federal grant assuranceagreements that protect the FAA’s investment in publicly owned public useairports, opening the door for them to shut down Bader and Richards-GebaurMemorial, respectively.

We started hearing rumors about this rider right after the Bader pressconference. Those nasty rumors were corroborated by contacts in Washingtonwho told us that something was going on with the Senate transportationappropriations bill, and that the measure had Subcommittee Chairman Lautenberg’sname all over it. We called Lautenberg’s Washington staff and were told thatthere was no such rider. Other aviation advocacy groups were hearing thesame rumors and the Senator’s staff continued to deny them. One staffer toldus “You’re giving us ideas. If you don’t stop pestering us about this, wewill include a rider.” Well, either Senator Lautenberg’s staff was lyingor the Senator acted on his own without the benefit of staff. After the billmark-up session, Lautenberg’s staff acted as if they had been blindsided,too.

The language of the rider as adopted by the Senate Appropriations Committeewas clear in its intent. It says that the FAA may exempt Atlantic City andKansas City from any “agreements or memorandums of understanding” involvingBader Airport and Richards-Gebaur.

Perhaps Lautenberg left himself an out with the word “may”, but rest assuredthat pressure will be brought to bear on FAA to ensure that “may” is readas “will”. The FAA lives in a political world, too, and FAA personnel knowtheir bread is buttered on Capitol Hill.

What’s The Problem With Bader?

Atlantic City's Bader FieldThose who are familiar with Bader realize that the only thingwrong with the airport is Atlantic City’s consistent mismanagement of thefacility. Yes, there have been accidents, but many of those unfortunate eventsare directly attributable to pilots using the wrong runway. Proper reportingof wind velocity and direction would alert transient pilots to hazardousconditions. The presence of a fixed base operator to man the Unicom wouldminimize weather related problems, as would an automated weather stationon the field. Airport safety starts with an airport administration that worksto ensure that safe operating conditions prevail.

Bader could be a terrific magnet for the tens of thousands of pilots wholive within a two hour flight of the resort. The City has been activelydiscouraging traffic at Bader for the last decade. Despite this harrassmenttraffic at Bader has increased dramatically since the Friends of Bader gotout the word that the airport was open for business. On any given fair weatherweekend there are hundreds of aircraft operations and all this activity hasall been based on word of mouth. For more than a year Atlantic Flyer hasbeen running ads inviting folks to Bader. A budding Young Eagles programhas flown a few dozen local kids and made some fast friends for aviation.Things have been turning around. But Lautenberg wants to kill a goose thatcould lay golden eggs for Atlantic City if given half a chance.

Bader is located in one of the fastest growing urban regions of the State.Most approaches are over water and away from populated areas. Its locationon a peninsula is far enough away from residential development that it poseslittle hazard and aircraft noise is minimized. And it is within walking distanceof many Atlantic City attractions. If Bader closes, however, whatever remainswill be a permanent memorial to Senator Lautenberg’s shortsightedness. Wehope he can be made to see the light.

Implications: Far Beyond Bader Field

The really nasty thing about all this, however, is that the Senator’s treacherytranscends little Bader. Lautenberg’s actions threaten to compromise Federalauthority and the entire system of public use airports. With the languageand methods that may find their way into law, a very dangerous precedentcould be established that threatens the National Plan for Integrated AirportSystems (Fedspeak for public use airports). If Congress approves this, anytin pot local politico with a DC connection can point to Lautenberg’s rideras a means to get off the hook to the Feds.

Federal grant assurance agreements protect the FAA’s AIP investment in publictransportation resources. My tax dollars have been put into Bader Airportin Atlantic City and Richards-Gebaur Memorial Airport in Kansas City. I amnot a happy taxpayer when I realize that agreements that protect my publicinvestment are worthless.

Do you pay taxes? Are you happy?

What To Do?

As always, the only way for evil to triumph is for good people to do nothing.Express your sentiments on this immediately to your Congressman. You willfind their addresses below. Be sure to send a copy of all correspondenceto U. S. Rep. Frank LoBiondo who represents Bader’s Congressional district.You might also send a copy along to Senator Lautenberg so he knows he hasstruck a chord.

Also send letter copies to Pilots Against Lautenberg at Box 61, Green Village,NJ 07935 and receive a beautiful (free) bumper sticker put out by PAL.

Encourage the FAA to stand firm on Bader. Your money was invested there ingood faith. Those who have no concept of a good faith bargain are attemptingto take your airports away from you. The Eastern Region FAA Airports Divisionhas earned our complete respect for defending the situation. It must be verydifficult for them to see their work and authority undercut like this.

Because the State of New Jersey is party to the Bader Airport memorandumof understanding, encourage the Division of Aeronautics to ensure that itsprovisions are carried out. The Division has spent countless man days inmaking sure that Bader is safe. Division personnel have been quietly andcompetently policing Bader for the past few years. We applaud the commitmentshown by the Division in this. The mere presence of State officials has probablyprevented some really bad stuff from happening.

Who To Contact

Following are the mailing addresses and phone numbers for the New Jerseydelegation to the House of Representatives. Note that all are WashingtonDC 20515. Be sure to copy FrankLoBiondo!

  • Hon. Frank LoBiondo, 222 Cannon HOB, 202-225-6572 [email protected]

  • Hon. Robert Andrews, 2439 Rayburn HOB 202-225-6501 [email protected]

  • Hon. Bob Franks, 225 Cannon HOB 202-225-5361 [email protected]

  • Hon. Rodney Frelinghuysen, 228 Cannon HOB 201-225-5034 [email protected]

  • Hon. Robert Menendez, 405 Cannon HOB 202-225-7919

  • Hon. Frank Pallone, 420 Cannon HOB 202-225-4671

  • Hon. Michael Pappas, 1710 Longworth HOB 202-225-5801

  • Hon. William Pascrell, 1722 Longworth HOB 202-225-5751 [email protected]

  • Hon. Donald Payne, 2244 Rayburn HOB 202-225-3436

  • Hon. Steve Rothman, 1607 Longworth HOB 202-225-5061

  • Hon. Marge Roukema, 2469 Rayburn HOB 202-225-4465

  • Hon. James Saxton, 324 Cannon HOB 202-225-4765

  • Hon. Chris Smith, 2370 Rayburn HOB 202-225-3765

The New Jersey Senate delegation includes:

  • US Senator Frank Lautenberg, 506 Hart Senate Office Building, Washington DC 20501 202-224-4744 [email protected]

  • U. S. Senator Bob Toricelli, 728 Hart Senate Office Building Washington DC 20501 202-224-3224 [email protected]

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