Guest commentary: No basis to expect funds from airport

I would like to address the current issue concerning the Naples Municipal Airport.

My credentials are: I have been flying there since 1960; was a pilot for the Civil Air Patrol for 20 years and an aviation medical examiner for 40 years; was a member of the Naples Pilots Association and president of the Naples Flying Club for 15 years.

Further, I was one of the three pilots who appeared at a crucial Naples City Council meeting about 35 years ago and raised the whole question of an airport authority.

The airport was given to the city after World War II, so the city has no real investment in it. The City Council had no interest or skills in operating an airport and leased it to John Van Arsdale Sr., who owned Naples Airlines. This included hangar space and fuel sales. He ran a tight little airline, but gave the back of his hand to private and business aviation — and said so publicly.

The unfriendly reputation of Naples Municipal Airport spread up the East Coast and became a joke. Some pilots who were headed for Naples landed at Fort Myers and rented a car to complete the trip. Van Arsdale offered to build a terminal building in return for an exclusive 20-year lease. The pilots present at that meeting pointed out the un popular reputation of the airport and the fact that such an exclusive lease would prohibit any Federal Aviation Administration money being spent to develop the facility. The council sent out a fact-finding mission, and the airport authority was formed.

The new authority was given a 99-year lease that included the buildings and the fuel service. Many airports let each flight service sell fuel, but the Naples Airport Authority felt that the spread-out of small sales would help no one, and they badly needed the money to operate and improve the field.

Over 45 years we have seen tremendous improvements: a new terminal, a security force, prompt fuel service, two-way radio direct to ground control, improvements in runways and taxiways, and a modern tower. The authority provides a home for the Civil Air Patrol, Collier Mosquito Control and the county ambulance service. Hangar space has been expanded.

NAA member have fought with all their physical and legal means to minimize the noise generated. They added parking space and provided a location for car rental service — all of this without a penny of city tax money.

Now that it has built itself up entirely with aviation money, some citizens want to tax the land or the operation to provide money to the city. It might be legal — but not moral — since Naples invested no money in its development and therefore should expect no cash return.

The argument that it exists for use of a privileged few pilots is specious, since there are many more businesses and jobs out there than just pilots, and there is a much wider effect on the economic life of the city.

Also, the hundreds of planes that come and go bring passengers with money. They buy fuel, food, rooms, clothing, land, liquor and everything else Naples has to sell. They own condominiums and boats and play golf.

And they go to church.

Some stay a few months and their kids go to school. The airport traffic becomes an integral part of the community and pays its way by sending money into town.

"Used by a privileged few"? An active airport is part of the structure of a modern city and one does not expect every facility to be used by everyone.

The publicly owned beaches, parks, streets, sidewalks, libraries, fire service, police, pier and schools are not all used by everyone — but they are vital to the structure and operation of the city. Shall we charge them rent because they sit on valuable land?

And finally, there is a valid lease in effect. Does the City Council wish to tarnish its integrity by arbitrarily voiding this lease?