The following letter to the editor was submitted to Santa Monica Patch on Monday by Colleen Londoño:
Last week, a student pilot crashed into a Santa Monica home. Why on earth do we allow student pilots to learn to fly in such a densely populated area? Each time I drive by the airport, it kills me (pun intended) to see the sign that reads "$89 for your first flight lesson."
Santa Monica touts itself as a sustainable community. Many of us bike, use public transportation, compost, stay local, etc. Private jets are the most unsustainable method of transportation! One hour in a private jet is the equivalent of an entire year of driving!
Why are so many of us doing our best to reduce our carbon imprint, only to allow the super-rich to squelch all of our efforts with one flight? How can we consider ourselves a sustainable city and allow for so many private jets out of our airport?!?
On top of all of this, most piston planes are still using leaded fuel. This is absolutely unconscionable!
I support the movement to close the airport. In the meantime, we need to stop allowing flight schools to use our homes as their training ground, to ban leaded fuel from being used at the airport, and to sharply reduce the number and the size of the jets taking off from the airport.
I first moved into Sunset Park as a child in 1985. Yes, it's true, the airport was here before I got here. Some will argue that since it was here before me, I have no right to complain about it. This argument always makes me think of when I read The Lottery by Shirley Jackson as a Samohi student. Are we really going to continue a mindless practice because this is the way it has always been?
The airport is unnecessary and unsustainable, and a significant health threat to our community and to the planet. Let's close it down in 2015 and show the world Santa Monica is a truly sustainable and mindful city. There are many other ways we could use that incredibly valuable piece of land to generate jobs and revenue that do not have such a major negative impact.
I hope you have taken the time to read the Santa Monica Airport Health Impact Assessment, prepared by pediatricians from my alma mater, UCLA Medical School.
Sincerely,
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