Plane Facts & Special Interests

By MICHAEL SCHENKLER

Lil, Allison and I returned last weekend from a vacation in Boca Raton, Florida. Yup, we were there in sunny, high 70 degree beautiful weather while you experienced the blizzard of ’03 (or whatever they were calling it). We missed a week’s worth of New York’s worst wintry weather – and I’m not sorry a bit. Allison, poolside, expressed some very brief misgivings about being denied some winter fun.

Arriving back home in last Saturday’s torrential downpour, which had washed away some of the snow accumulation, didn’t prevent us from renewing our annual winter vacation question: Why did colonists originally settle up north? Certainly the Fort Lauderdale harbor could have handled anything that New York harbor could have way back then. However, as we sigh and dismiss the fantasy of New York being on the east coast of Florida, we get back to reality and share the slush with you. Thank you very much!

Oh, in case you didn’t answer my rhetorical question as to the nation’s settlers finding a home down south, I assume it was a combination of the climate they were used to and the fact that air conditioning was not yet invented. When Mr. Carrier invented AC in 1902, he redrew the American map paving the way for the sun belt to eventually lead the nation — air conditioned summers and pleasant winters.

And we’re still here?

While in Boca visiting mom along with my sister Carole and brother-in-law Gil, I had the pleasure of flying with Gil in his 4 seat Cessna 182, from Fort Lauderdale Executive Airport to Boca Raton Airport — just a 15 minute flight but it turned out to be interesting nonetheless. I’ve been aloft with Gil previously in Florida and was somewhat familiar with the Boca Aviation facilities where Gil tied down.

After landing, as we taxied towards the building, it was apparent things had changed. Gil, who was there just the day before – expressed the same shock to see many dozens of private jets lined up in the spaces usually shared by Gil’s plane, similar small prop(peller) planes and an occasional small jet.

Not so last Wednesday.

As we walked through the Boca Aviation building, discovering spreads considerably more lavish than the norm, we learned that some 100 current and former CEOs of the nation’s major corporations had their jets sharing the tarmac with Gil’s “Seven, Mike, Charlie” – the abbreviated tail number by which traffic control referred to his Cessna. (There’s a whole alphabet of air traffic words which Allison and I learned for no reason at all: A: Alpha; B: Bravo; C: Charlie; D: Delta; E: Echo; F: Foxtrot.

The “Business Council” – or “[Alan] Greenspan’s meeting” as the ground crew referred to the Boca business gathering – was being held at the nearby Boca Raton Resort & Club. The airplane parking (tie-down) area showcased some of the most impressive private jets you’ll ever see, belonging to the nation’s business elite. Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist keynoted the meeting and they never did reach out for my input.

And as the business of the nation was quietly conducted in beautiful surroundings, it occurred to me, that the expensive, expansive network of air traffic controllers located at all the private airports like Boca and Ft. Lauderdale’s Executive are paid for by you and me.

I asked Gil the cost of registering a plane or the fees involved with filing flight plans or using the nation’s airports. He shrugged his shoulders and explained plane registration fees were nominal, the cost of the air traffic control system was borne entirely by the government (our taxes) and the modest airport tie down fees went to private service providers not the government.

So, I pondered, Gil and Carole, Alan Greenspan, the nation’s CEOs, and all airplane owners, land and take off, pass over airspace and are monitored by the network of many hundreds of air traffic controllers all at government expense. Hmmm!

Perhaps plane registration fees should include the cost of all government expenses to cover private corporate jets and wealthy hobbyists. Is it really the responsibility of our tax dollar to keep them aloft?

Or is this just another case of a powerful special interest group able to influence the government to pay their way?

I’ll pass the suggestion on to the Queens Congressional delegation and see how they react.

Carole and Gil however, should get a free pass.

Tin Cup Replaces Tin Box

By HENRY STERN

For 10 months, I have been warning about New York City’s fiscal condition, and the slowness of the city’s reaction to it.  The prior columns are available at: www.nycivic.org.  The first one, “The Gathering Storm”, was published on April 29, 2002.  It seems it has taken even more time for the city to attack the fiscal problem than the President has taken to go to war.

Henry Stern

Of course, there are justifications for all these delays, rounding up allies or partners, giving others a chance to mend their ways, seeking alternatives, etc.  And one must resist the writer’s temptation to blame decent people for not doing things they may not have been ready, willing or able to do at an earlier time.

Nonetheless, there are certain externally imposed deadlines.  The Mayor’s executive (proposed) budget is due in April.  It must, by law, be balanced.  Even with the massive property tax increase, and the general belt-tightening that has been going on in city agencies, the budget is still over three billion dollars out of balance.  Something will have to happen relatively soon to narrow, and then close, this gap.

We begin with the four horsemen of budget reduction:

1.   Higher taxes, although they have already been raised.

2.   Lower labor costs, which requires union cooperation on schedule and rules changes.

3.             Additional state aid, which was not offered in the governor’s budget, except by passalongs of federal money and one shots (a quick fix for one year, non-recurring).

4.             Reducing the workforce by layoffs, pursuant to Civil Service rules.

There are other choices, possibly even less satisfactory than the four listed above:

1.            Borrowing money, which is letting our children pay, with interest, for our excesses.

2.   Sale of city assets, like the airports and the waterfront, maybe a few parks.

3.   Taking an advance against tobacco receipts, or other future revenue streams.

4.   The usual fiscal juggling, at which the city is necessarily expert, where certain revenues are collected before their due dates, and expenses deferred to the next fiscal year.

The longer it takes to decide what to do, the more severe the inevitable cuts must be. Time does not favor procrastination.  But, to be fair, no one official can solve this problem, and we will have to wait until agreement is reached. That conflict resolution may be induced by a sense of great urgency and impending disaster. “Nothing concentrates (or clears) the mind like the whisper of the axe.” (We couldn’t find the citation tonight; if someone gives us the source we will let you know.)

 Our governmental parent is located in Albany, where this year the ruling triumvirs are said to hold each other in unusually low regard. The State is unlikely to adopt its own budget for many months, long after the city’s deadline, which is June 30.  Our mayor tried to encourage quick action by issuing a budget message on January 28, one day before the release of the governor’s proposed budget.  That appeal has so far been ignored, which is a tad better than being rejected. Albany’s apparent attitude evokes the T-shirt message, “What part of no don’t you understand?”

The Mayor’s good manners did not, however, injure the city’s cause.  He could have wailed like a banshee, denounced Albany, promised revenge, threatened litigation, or engaged in traditional New York street theater.  That would have attracted attention, for which the city would ultimately have had to pay.  He was smart to be polite, especially considering that the state holds all the face cards. 

The core problem: How can a city survive and prosper in a federal union of sovereign states?

Are there any old or new ideas in cyberspace on how to deal with this issue?

P.S.: Secession is not the answer.  The South tried it in 1861, at enormous cost.  West Virginia seceded from Virginia in 1863, and made it stick with the help of the Grand Army of the Republic.  Staten Island tried it under Mayor Dinkins, but Shelly Silver, to his credit, frustrated their will, and the Island provided the votes to elect two Republican mayors, Giuliani and Bloomberg.

If we could secede, what would the remains of the state be called: Albania, Buffalonia, Ontario, Mohawk, Ronkonkoma? It could be named for its largest casino.  Remember, New York City is the straw that stirs the drink, the cash cow and the golden goose, all in one. “Once you have found her, never let her go.”

P.P.S.: If there is anything in this article you do not fully understand, please do not hesitate to call or e-mail Ginger Nut. He will cheerfully explain it you.

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Henry Stern was NYC Parks Commissioner for fifteen years and a Councilmember for nine. He is founder and director of NYCivic, a good government group. He can be reached at: starquest@nycivic.org