Jeopardy: Topic-Venice Airport, Answer: $1,000,000, !

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1 The October 2009 Volume 15, Issue 8 Established 1991 The official Newsletter of the Venice Aviation Society, Inc. Mission Control: The VASI *AIM* To promote, support, and encourage the continued use of the Venice Municipal Airport as a general aviation facility. To educate concerned citizens as to the airport s importance to the public welfare. To provide a forum whereby those concerned with utilization of the facility may voice their concerns. To advise the appropriate authorities regarding safety, security, utilization, and other concerns at the airport. To provide a forum for the flying public regarding aviation matters. To support the city, county, state, and federal authorities in carrying out their duties regarding aviation and the utilization of the Venice Municipal Airport in disaster, welfare, and other public service. Jeopardy: Topic-Venice Airport, Answer: $1,000,000, ! Question: How much money has been or will be spent without correcting safety deficiencies, repairing anything of significance, cutting down one pepper tree plant or repairing a single pothole at the airport? More than One Million Dollars public funds spent on the airport and not one safety concern corrected! NOT ONE! $1,000,000 + spent and the main taxiway is still a FOD hazard, runway fences overgrown with pepper tree plants that block runway sight lines and runway and taxiway markings completely faded or non effective. How do you spend more than ONE MILLION DOLLARS and not fix anything? Count the ways: First Master Plan Update (MPU) completed, rejected and sent to the FAA as a work product $350,000. Second MPU aka ALP, $300,000 +; to demonstrate fiscal responsibility City Council split this into two ($200,000 & $100,000) projects, with more to come. Develop a landscaping plan along Airport Ave. $100,000. Purchase the aircraft counting equipment $109,000 and three more years of counting operations 3@$30,000 = $90,000 ($ 200,000) and of course the City CFR Part 16 Defense currently $150,000 and getting ready to spiral out of control! One Million Dollars! This excludes costs associated with the two legal opinions that Council ignored prior to the Part 16 complaint being filed. The good news: the airport is self sufficient; it does not require city taxpayer money (yet). The bad news: Runway 4-22 continued decline, combined with a sub-rosa agenda to break the airport bank, completely run down the airport s physical plant and cripple its operation. Angle The VASI Board President Nick Carlucci Vice President Buck Settles Secretary David Ansley Treasurer Albert Paul Directors: Judy Jeynes, Joseph Rand, MD, Bebe Teichman, Paul Hollowell, Brett Stephens, Nick Piscitelli

2 Friends of Venice Municipal Airport and fellow pilots, VNC CTAF/UNICOM President s Letter October 2009 The Fall Flying Season what a great time of year. Now is the time to introduce someone to the joy of flight. Smooth cool clear air share the freedom and joy of flight with others. Now, more than ever, enjoy your time at VNC. Welcome back our seasonal flyers on Saturday October 24 at the VASI Cook Out. The public and non-member pilots are always welcome at our meetings. Invite them to attend, make them feel welcome. Enthusiasm for flying is contagious; help spread it around. Wednesday, October 21st is our Meet the Candidates Forum. It begins at 7:30pm, Council Chamber, Venice City Hall and will feature three of the four candidates seeking election to City Council. Resident or nonresident, attend our October meeting, bring others with you. Parking is free, listen to the candidates, ask questions and decide for yourself who to support. A copy of the invitation sent to the candidates is included in this newsletter. Our September meeting featured Fred Watts, VNC Airport Director and Jeff Snyder, Director of City Finance. Terrific information exchange at this meeting. Thank You to both Fred and Jeff. VASI is participating in the Sun Fiesta Parade on Saturday October 17. You can assist Bebe Teichman ( or, Bebe- Teichman@verizon.net) in passing out gliders to children by joining us as a parade participant. The parade starts around noon and is guaranteed to be fun. Contact Bebe or signup on the parade sheet at the Jet Center and Bebe will contact you. At the October 7 FAA Wings Safety Program Designated Pilot Examiner and ATP Dave Whittman presented a review of Operations at Non-Towered Airports to over 60 attendees. He also led a discussion on night operations at Venice (spatial disorientation) with special emphasis on factors to consider for runway selection. Thank You Dave for your support of the Wings Program. Here is a peek ahead into a very busy VASI schedule of events: Our November 18 meeting will feature US Customs and Bahamas information. VASI will have a float in the Holiday Parade, Saturday, November 28. Mark you calendar and join us Thanksgiving weekend and help spread Holiday Cheer. Our next Bahamas adventure is December 4-6, a Fly Out to Paradise Island, Nassau, Bahamas. The Comfort Inn, directly across the street from the Atlantis but with unbelievably reasonable room rates is where we ll stay. Our Bahamas adventures are open to any pilot let your buddy from SRQ or VDF know about them. We are planning an Airport Open House in early December also. Last year over 3,000 people visited the Airport Open House. Help us make this year even better, get involved, contact me for more information. Keep yourself informed on airport issues. Airport MPU Workshops are scheduled for Thursday, November 12, 2-5 p.m. (same day as swearing in of new council members) and Thursday, December 10, 1:30-4:30 p.m. A Special City Council Airport Meeting is planned for Thursday, January 28, 1:30-4:30 p.m. Check the City web site for meetings and agenda items. Your ideas, comments and observations are solicited, agree or disagree, let us know help make VASI a stronger airport advocate. Why does VASI provide the information we do? Check the VASI *AIM* on the cover page. VASI exists, to support the airport. Lend your voice, check the contact list on page 7. We look forward to seeing you at the Candidates Forum and our other events. Fly Safe, Fly Friendly, Nick joecessna72@verizon.net, cell Upcoming Meetings The October meeting will be our traditional Meet the Candidates meeting. We give the candidates for mayor and city council the opportunity to address VASI on airport issues. We ask them specific questions and look for their comments. This is usually early in their political careers and is often a great opportunity to learn where they stand and how they present themselves. WINGS programs will continue to be held the every 3 months (Jan-April-July-Oct) on the first Wednesday of the month. These are regional programs and invitations for the WINGS programs are sent out by the FAA to any pilot living in the nearby area. VASI remains open to suggestions for content not only for the Member s Meetings but also for the WINGS programs. Please contact any board member at any time with comments or suggestions is the ARINC (Venice Jet Center) Page 2/8

3 AWOS Membership information: Individual membership rates: $20 a year. Receive the VASI Angle plus classified advertising privileges. Corporate membership rates: $100 a year. Covers up to 8 additional employees at reduced rate of $10 a year each. Business Card Size Ad in Angle, classified privileges plus a banner ad on the web. So Much Information, So Little Paper Check (VASI Homepage) for links to information about airport matters that will not fit in the VASI Angle newsletter. Read VASI comments about the recently submitted City Comprehensive Plan, the FAA land use inspection report, the complete City response to the inspection, the VASI concerns over the City response, the September 25 Airport Workshop slide presentation, read the Part 16 complaint, past issues of VASI Angle newsletters, frequently asked questions about VNC, and a link to the Venice Airport Business Association (VABA) website. There is more but visit the VASI site and discover the factual information available with a few key strokes. Try it, you ll like it. FLYING FRIENDLY Take a moment to point out to our seasonal visitors the newly erected signs posted near Safety or When is Night Night? Follow up on the October FAA Wings Program The FAA has divided night into three parts. The regulations refer to three different time periods for night ops : one for logging night hours, one for equipment/ lights and one for currency. Night is defined in Title 14 Code of Federal Regulations as the time between the end of evening civil twilight and the beginning of morning civil twilight, as published in the American Air Almanac, converted to local time. Civil twilight changes relative to your position. This time of year it s short in Florida but even shorter in New York. In the summer it may be close to an hour in Florida and 30 minutes in New York. Well you can only log as night flight that period between the end and beginning of those twilight periods. What about currency? Now night becomes one hour after sunset to one hour before sunrise so currency is three takeoffs and three full stop landings within the preceding ninety days with the pilot being the sole manipulator of the controls. Now consider your position/ navigation lights. They get turned on at sunset and off at sunrise. So here you are flying with your lights on at sunset but you do not log that as night flying for up to an hour after sunset (end of evening civil twilight) and to get current you must wait an hour after sunset to be in the dark. Three major operational safety concerns are a) your night proficiency, b) weather and c) runway selection. Consider all the environmental factors before choosing a particular runway. At VNC is a night launch into a black hole at the end of Runway 22 prudent? How about landing on Runway 4? Carry that third flashlight, use some oxygen above 5,000 feet at night it gets a lot brighter when you do and always remember Safety is an Attitude. the departure ends of the runways. Those signs provide Fly Friendly procedures specific to that runway. Let s lead by example and get others to Fly Friendly (FF). Departures: Runways 4/22 if you use this runway exercise caution due to the runway condition, maintain runway heading and best rate of climb (Vy) until 1,000 feet AGL (TPA) then depart the pattern. What s with the 1,000 feet? Recall the FAA Wings Program on Procedures at non-towered airports? The AIM has been revised and current procedure is to depart at TPA. Why 4/22? The FF Program is really an application of common courtesy by pilots to our neighbors on the ground. When departing Northbound on 22 follow these simple procedures instead of yanking and banking when airborne halfway down the runway and you avoid flying (Continued on page 4) Page 3/ is the ARINC (Venice Jet Center)

4 (Continued from page 3) VNC CTAF/UNICOM over the city at low level and high power settings. Departing 4 and holding runway heading accomplishes the same thing. Touch and goes on 4/22 - same idea- maintain runway heading, climb at Vy, turn Crosswind at 700 feet AGL. Yep, 700 feet AGL; under the old procedures that s the altitude you would depart the pattern (you know 300 feet below TPA) today that is the reduced noise way to fly touch and goes. Departures: Runways 13/31- Maintain runway heading and Vy until 500 feet AGL then- for 13 turn or sidestep right (west) over the Gulf, for 31 turn or side-step left (west) over the Gulf continue to climb to TPA. Why turn or side-step? Well where are you going? For example, if departing on 31 and you are going North by side-stepping you still go north but avoid low level over the city. If you are departing 31 and going East by turning you can make an overhead or downwind departure and as a bonus avoid flying low level over the city. Same holds true for 13. Side-step maneuvers are common where two runways use a common instrument approach. Touch and goes on 13/31- same idea- maintain runway heading and Vy, turn Crosswind at 500 feet AGL. Bahamas in December Join us for our 2nd Venice Fly-In to Paradise Island in Nassau hosted by The Bahamas Ministry of Tourism. We re staying again at The Comfort Suites located right next to the Atlantis Resort including use of the facilities at Atlantis Resort (includes magnificent waterscapes, pools, beach, waterslides, lazy river ride, tennis, health spa, casino, restaurants, and discovery Channel Camp for children). A $40.00 reservation fee entitles you to cocktail parties, souvenir tee shirts and VIP treatment. Rooms are $140 per night. Book early, space is limited. We depart Venice AP on Friday Dec 4 and return Sunday Dec 6. Great trip last year. Better this year. Contact Bill Zabielski for info: , n305bz@verizon.net. Reminder: Need English Proficient on your pilot certificate to fly international. Apply on line with the FAA. Remember: eapis, Customs & Border Protection. Look it up. A Bahamas trip is a great way to spread your wings, Internationally. Wings Credit Yes, computers will solve all our problems and save paper as well. Have you participated in the VASI sponsored wings programs and may be missing credit? Here is the solution to the Wings credit problem: Log into the FAA Wings web site; go to "Events/Programs" in the directory on the far left side of the page. It will open with lots of current programs, but you can find "Only Past Events" and search by using the following criteria - Zip code with a radius of 3 miles, State- Florida, then check the box for Old Programs. It will list the recent Wings presentations. Then click on the individual program and ask for validation. The result will show Nick Carlucci as a validator. The rest is automatic. {Thanks Nick, ed.} is the ARINC (Venice Jet Center) These are updated FF procedures. As always, safe flight operations are up to the pilot in command. Questions or comments, contact the Airport Director. Page 4/8

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8 VASI Editors: The city vehicles stored on the airport mentioned below have since been moved. The relative significance of what looks to be derelict city vehicles stored in currently unused airspace is not the parking but rather the city response and then the actual city action. The city has been storing derelict vehicles there for a number of years. The FAA report identifying this issue, among others, was dated August 11, 2009 (the FAA report can be found on the VASI Website). The city response to the FAA was that the vehicle would be removed by November 9, Nearly three months to remove one vehicle? The actual response as noted below was to add three more vehicles. The issue of parking derelict city vehicles on airport property without compensation to the airport is petty in the grand scheme of things. However, if it is a reflection of the official city attitude towards the airport then that action takes on more significance. The vehicles were promptly removed when the VASI to the FAA was sent to the city. But the absence of any sense of urgency regarding the much more pressing safety issues remains. We thank Nick Carlucci, VASI President, for his commitment to the VASI *AIM* and for the . We also thank those of you who have taken the time to point out many of the issues at the airport that should be addressed. Please continue to report those issues. David Ansley will add them to his spread sheet. Some in City Hall have accused VASI of picking fights with the city. Nothing could be farther from the truth. We just ask the city to step up to its responsibilities to our airport. Venice Aviation Society, Inc. (VASI)1 335 Horizon Rd. Venice, Florida September 24, 2009 Mr. Bart Vernace Assistant Manager FAA Orlando Airport District Office 5950 Hazeltine National Dr., Suite 400 Orlando, Florida Dear Mr. Vernace: I am writing to outline our concerns regarding apparent contradictions between the Venice Municipal Airport (VNC) Land Use Inspection Report Corrective Action Plan of 4 September, 2009 and the City of Venice s Comprehensive Plan (Comp Plan), submitted to the Florida Department of Community Affairs (FDCA) on 25 August, Additionally, there is an obvious lack of urgency in correcting acknowledged safety deficiencies. A number of pressing issues exist but we have chosen to focus on certain pertinent safety and land use questions. On May 20 and 21, 2009, a land-use compliance inspection was conducted at Venice Municipal Airport. The City s Corrective Action Plan was submitted to the FAA Orlando

9 Airport District Office (FAA) on 4 September, Ten days earlier, the Venice Comprehensive Plan (a land use planning document required by the State of Florida) was submitted to the Florida Department of Community Affairs (FDCA) for review and approval. Under Florida Statute, once approved, the Comprehensive Plan becomes the preeminent governing document for zoning and land use within the city. VASI provided comments throughout the preparation of the Plan. A copy of our final comments was provided to your office on 14 September The following are significant concerns relative to the City s response and lack of compliance with obligatory deed reservations and restrictions and FAA grant assurances: Inspection Finding A: Municipal Uses Your report identified several City nonaeronautical uses of Airport property. The City uses a portion of the Airport for festivals, overflow parking and for special events. You have stated that While the area is not currently being used for aeronautical purposes, it may be needed to accommodate future aeronautical development. Therefore, any non-aeronautical use of this property should be temporary unless otherwise approved by the FAA. City Response: Agree. Festival Grounds (page 9): A use agreement will be drafted by October 31, 2009 between the City of Venice and Airport for continuing to hold festivals on an interim temporary basis until aeronautical development demands require use of this area. The Comprehensive Plan does not allude to this area as a permanent festival ground. A written request for the Comprehensive Plan to reflect the interim temporary nature of use will be sent to the Planning and Zoning Department Director by the end of 2009 to record such a request. VASI Comment: The most recent City Comprehensive Plan, sent to FDCA on 25 August, 2009, does state that the City intends to establish this area as a Permanent Fairground area under Parks and Recreation land use,: Objective 14 Planning Area Practices, 14.6 C. The airport as a permanent location for a festival/fairground. Please note, during the current Airport Master Plan Update (MPU) process, VASI submitted a recommendation to the City to develop a portion of this area as a turf/grass runway to accommodate legacy and light sport aircraft. Clearly aeronautical, a grass runway meets a current and future need. Its design and construction could be funded by the $561,032 restricted net assets in the Airport Enterprise Fund as an Airport Capital Improvement. Additionally a current Councilmember at a recent Airport Workshop affirmed the intention of the City to take airport property for permanent festival grounds. Inspection Finding B: The City also permits the use of Airport property as a drop yard several areas on the east side of the Airport were being used to store.vehicles City Response: Vehicle storage: The one vehicle on site will be moved to impound at the Venice Police Department by November 9, VASI Comment: One vehicle on 21 May; in fact now as of 18 September, 2009 four vehicles are now parked in the area in question (see photo below).

10 Photo taken on 18 September 2009 The following recommendations were contained in the inspection report and would enhance Airport safety: (a) Repaint taxiway edge markings on TW A and B. City Response: A Scope of Services for design will be executed within the next 6 months, per a FDOT (Aviation) grant received during State fiscal year Design is needed to reflect the latest FAA design standards. (b) Repair/replace runway intersection signs; lighted runway intersection signs are recommended. City Response: The Joint Automated Capital Improvement Program (JACIP) and the Airport Master Plan update, currently under way, include this and other necessary major maintenance projects. The Airport Master Plan Update will be presented to the City Council in January. (a) Add a remark to the Airport Master Record, FAA Form 5010, that states standing water is present on RW 4/22 during and after periods of rainfall.

11 City Response: A letter from the Airport Director to the Designated Airport Program Manager will convey an appropriately marked Form 5010 to "notice" the standing water problem on Runway 4/22, within 30 days following FAA approval of the Corrective Action Plan. (b) Repaint the centerline of RW 4/22 City Response: This project will be undertaken as part of the 80/20 FDOT (Aviation) grant program and rehabilitation of Runway 4/22 after the Airport Master Plan update and Airport Layout Plan are completed. (c) Repaint the Runway Hold Markings for RW 4/22. City Response: This project will be undertaken as part of the 80/20 FDOT (Aviation) grant program and rehab of Runway 4/22 after the Airport Master Plan update and Airport Layout Plan are completed. (d) Repaint Closed Runway Markings on the Closed East-West Runway. City Response: Part of the grant s scope of work for (a) above for CLOSED Runway 9/27 VASI Comment: Funds are currently available to accomplish these actions. The City s lack of any sense of urgency concerning airport safety reflects the attitude of the City towards the airport. Winter and the onset of early sunset will soon be here. Why the delay in submitting the Form 5010? The rain will not stop. Why must safety wait until the MPU is submitted and reviewed? Given the history of Venice City Council inaction, is it reasonable to expect an FDOT or FAA AIP Grant to rehabilitate Runway 4-22 and complete the work within the next 12 months? Marking the centerline of a runway is basic upkeep; mark it now and then again if needed. The Airport possesses a paint striping machine, why not use it? An additional issue of great significance has surfaced since the FAA audit and the City s response. The City, by use of the recently submitted Comprehensive Plan and previous zoning actions, has effectively tried to insure a significant portion of prime airport property will never have any aeronautical or non-aeronautical development. We urge the FAA to look into this matter further. This issue was identified in our comments to the State. However we are concerned that outside authorities do not appreciate the critical nature of this clever property taking action and the negative impact it will have on the aeronautical future and economic well being of the airport. While other areas of concern remain, the above comments are provided to illustrate the need for greater City accountability regarding the Venice Airport. The on-going actions by the City do not reflect the tone of the response in the written audit response or any particular intention to recognize and comply with the FAA inspection report findings. By no means do we seek to physically expand the airport. We believe what we and the FAA want, is a safe, modern, well maintained, economically sound airport, neighborhood friendly to the extent legal and practical. Thank you for your interest and support of the Venice Airport.

12 Sincerely, Nicholas F. Carlucci, President (941) , CC: William Garrison, FAA Southern Region Jeff Leopold, FDOT/1 Terry Beacham, FDOT City Council City Manager Airport Director

13 AWOS Editors Note: The following John Yurosko guest editorial appeared in the Venice Gondolier Sun Newspaper entitled Public Service or self-service? : The fabricated controversies regarding the Venice Municipal Airport are numerous and chronic. The most recent resurgence originates in the obsession of the pseudo Airport Authority Venice City Council with matters regarding which they, as a whole, lack wisdom and experience, though professing otherwise. They compound council-created fabrications by promoting half truths and distortion that serve their ends. Never mind truth or fact. They have fashioned an environment that encourages honest, sincere citizens to be perpetually troubled over airport matters. A perfect example is the oft-repeated false threat that the Federal Aviation Administration will take homes near the airport. The FAA has written the mayor explicitly stating that not to be the case. Perhaps the mayor could blog that fact. Fear is constantly fanned into a flame to perpetuate citizen anxiety, thus supporting council s airport obsession. A knowledgeable, capable Airport Advisory Board was disbanded by this council because that board did not support council s agenda. Council subsequently fired a respected consulting firm approved by the FAA because its work product did not support the council s goal to marginalize the airport. That work product, incidentally, cost $350,000. Now, Council Member Sue Lang is quoted telling DY Con- (Continued on page 6) VASI Classified For Sale: VNC Hangar (Swift group) plus our airplane a 1976 Piper Lance {a member of our family for over 20 years}. CFII training to performance standards included. Air conditioned, JPI engine monitor, etc., etc. to rckane@pol.net for details 1978 Warrior, 8500 TT 850 SMOH, Complete Logs & No Damage History, Annual: Oct 09 including Top Overhaul, KX155 GS LOC DME MKR BCN & Mode C, Built in intercom and PTTs Matching Wheel Pants, Asking: $31,900.00, Call: Bob at , Or write: bobcfi@gmail.com For Sale: Citizens Eco Drive Skyhawk Chronogrpah Flight Watch. Little over 1 year old, excellent condition, over VENICE JET CENTER LLC. $400 new. New lower price and correct phone number: $250. Call Airport Ave E. Venice, FL Phone (941) GOT AN ITEM FOR SALE? CALL BRETT TO Advertise in the Angle, and on the Web. VASI Members advertise items for FREE. Page 5/8 UNICOM ARINC is the ARINC (Venice Jet Center)

14 VNC CTAF/UNICOM (Continued from page 5) sultants, selected by the current council, I m very disappointed. You ve lost some credibility with us and some members of the community. This, for presenting factual data regarding what should and should not be done with our airport. DY Consultants did much the same as the MEA Group, which was to provide assessments of appropriate and legal guidelines regarding aviation rules and regulations, obligations and restrictions, and offer the facts. DY s currently projected bill is about $400,000. This will likely go higher with the recent council direction to spend more time helping council figure out how to shrink the airport, something opposed by the FAA and obviously a violation of airport deed restrictions and grant obligations. One can only assume that, because certain council members are seemingly not hearing from the second consultant what they want, it too is soon to be banished, as was the MEA Group and the Airport Advisory Board members (who volunteered their services). Council will then shop for someone to tell the emperor that yes, he does indeed have nice clothes. Not content with running up bills of millions of dollars on various lawsuits, they now seek to go to court with the FAA. Not to worry, the mayor intimates, I have friends in high places. So, counting plans and studies, the purchase of counting equipment (supported by Lang, who no longer likes what that equipment is telling her) and upkeep for that equipment, expenditures will approach $900,000. And for what? Has anyone noticed that with all that money, not one physical improvement has yet to be made on an airport desperately crying for maintenance and repair? Perhaps that is to be expected from elected officials who place their personal agendas over those of the community as a whole. **John Yurosko is a long time Venice area resident, former member of the city Airport Advisory Board and one of the founders of VASI** Educating the Public The following letter to the editor was recently published in the Herald Tribune: September 01, 2009 Editor, Sarasota Herald-Tribune Sarasota, Florida Dear Editor: Your recent Venice Airport editorial neglected to acknowledge a critical and overriding commitment that must be considered in your statement that city council should determine what those (airport) needs are. In determining those needs, the city council must do so in full recognition of the airport deed restrictions and grant obligations. Whether the city ever accepts another grant, it nonetheless remains bound by those earlier agreements. The city does not have a free hand with the airport however much some would wish. While the city council is a forum for what council members and some citizens might envision for our airport, positive or negative, all city plans must finally be acceptable to the FAA. Historically, city council s airport relations have varied from grudging acceptance to benign neglect to overt hostility. They failed to acknowledge that VNC is an inherent component of a national transportation system, and ignored the solemn obligations which the city assumed when they accepted the airport property some sixty years ago. Those restrictions and obligations do not go away. This council is not responsible for past failures; their job is to fix them. Had this current and previous councils acted responsibly and in good faith with the FAA, accepting their responsibilities, most if not all of these problems would have been averted. It is past time for the Venice City Council to work along with the FAA in correcting past and present problems and jointly embarking on a path to rehabilitate and modernize our airport while strictly adhering to the obligations in multiple agreements. Should council fail to act responsibly, consideration should be given to the formation of an elected body, such as an airport authority, to remove political influence from the management of the Venice Municipal Airport. John J. Yurosko is the ARINC (Venice Jet Center) Page 6/8

15 AWOS October Candidates Forum The following letter was sent to the four candidates running for the two open seats on the Venice City Council. As a part of the VASI mission our job is to educate and present the facts. VASI is nonpartisan and has never endorsed a candidate. Past VASI Candidate Forums have been recognized by all candidates as respectful, properly conducted and well attended. Candidates and elected officials are and always will be treated with respect and dignity by VASI. Dear Mr. xxx June 30, 2009 Venice Aviation Society, Inc. Please accept our invitation to speak at the Venice Aviation Society, Inc. (VASI) "Meet the Candidates Forum" on Wednesday, October 21, 2009, 7:30 PM, Council Chamber, Venice City Hall. VASI is nonpartisan and does not endorse candidates for public office. Well publicized and open to the public, this forum is an opportunity to focus your remarks on the airport and related matters to all present. Historically, comments following this forum are uniformly positive in regards to the fair treatment afforded all candidates. You will be allotted fifteen minutes for your remarks. Other candidates will not be present while you make your presentation. Please answer the following questions during your remarks: Why do you desire to serve on City Council, how long have you lived in Venice? Do you support the continued use of the Venice Airport primarily for aviation uses? Should the city educate the public about its legal obligations relative to the airport? How? Provide two examples of misunderstood information about flying operations or the airport. Even if changes for reasons of safety to the golf course are required, do you support the full length rebuilding of Runway 4-22? If closed or reduced in length how would that impact the community? How should airport infrastructure repairs, in excess of airport generated revenue, be funded? For example: Federal & State Grants, City Bond Issues, Property taxes? What is your personal highest priority for City Council? Your presentation will be followed by 5-7 minutes for questions. We look forward to your participation at this year's forum. To accept our invitation, gain additional background information, arrange a tour of the airport or an opportunity to see Venice from the air simply contact me at (941) Visit for additional information on VASI. Sincerely, Nick Carlucci, President Points of Contact People tell us they read the VASI Angle but wonder what they can do to support the airport? How can they make their views known to influence decisions? Your written comments carry far more weight than you may realize. Do not assume someone else is taking the time to write about your concern. Your courteous, straight forward written comments may be the ones that break through the cluttter and spur positive results. Venice has a public access site that allows you to read every sent to City Council Members. Frequently individuals will send a letter to the editor of a paper and also send a copy of that letter to the City Council. Others read the copy sent to City Council. The net result, if the paper does not print your letter, others read it anyway. Here are some addresses that you can and should use to insure your views are on the record : Federal Aviation Administration: {Note: The FAA web site contains additional information, names and offices ( Orlando Airports District Office 5950 Hazeltine National Dr. Suite 400 Orlando, FL Florida House of Representatives...doug.holder@myfloridahouse.gov Florida Senate...detert.nancy.web@flsenate.gov Gondolier... Tribune... Venice City Council... citycouncil@ci.venice.fl.us sent to the City Council will be received by the entire council and will also post on To read s sent to council members, enter this site. The user name is public, password is winter. Click past the mailbox is full to read public record s. Page 7/ is the ARINC (Venice Jet Center)

16 VNC CTAF/UNICOM VASI members believe that we can have a safe, modern, well maintained, financially strong airport that is also a good neighbor and we urge our city leaders to share that vision. ** I personally want a full-length The FAA has put the burden on us to demonstrate why they should not build a shorter, narrower runway. The have said is enough as far as they are concerned. We are going to have to convince them that the City needs a noisereduction runway and can justify it, and that it should be possible with modifications to, but not destroying the golf course. ~Mayor Ed Martin at the April 2009 VASI meeting. Calendar of Events Fall 2009 Sat Oct Sun Fiesta Parade, downtown Venice, 9:00 AM Wed Oct MEET THE CANDIDATES VASI Member s Meeting, 7:30 PM at City Hall Council Chambers Wed Nov VASI Member s meeting Sat Nov Holiday Parade Dec Bahama s fly out VASI Cookout Welcome Back Cookout: Saturday October 24, 2009 from 11:00 AM to 2:00 PM in the Main Gate Area at those picnic tables to the right of the entrance. Invite Others, Meet Old Friends, Make New Friends. Member or non-members, all are welcome. Member You are invited to join VASI. Visit for details about us and how to join. - Join Facebook "Friends of Venice Municipal Airport" see for details. Pass This On to a Friend Venice Aviation Society, Incorporated Application for Membership Yearly Dues only $ Dues waived for WWII and Korean War Veterans, and for Purple Heart Recipients. Please remember to include your check with this application, and Please Print Clearly. Name: Last First Middle Name as you want on your name badge Mailing Address: City, State, Zip: address [optional]: Phone Home: Work: Pilots and non-pilots welcome. Pilot? Yes No Aircraft, if own, what type? WWII, Korean War, Purple Heart: Signature: Date: Send your application with your check for $20.00 payable to VASI today! VASI, c/o Al Paul, Treasurer, 4476 Via Del Villette, Venice, Fl is the ARINC (Venice Jet Center)

17 OUR VIEW Will the real leaders please stand up? The people who have been most vocal in the debate over the future of Venice Municipal Airport have repeatedly insisted that their only goal was to confine the airport to its current footprint, preserving the Lake Venice Golf Club and the homes in the Gulf Shores neighborhood. Liar, liar, pants on fire. It should be clear to most people by now that the real agenda is at least to get the airport downgraded to a B-II from a C-II, and ideally, to bankrupt it and get it shut down. If you still need convincing, consider the effort by Mike Rafferty, with Jim Marble, to verify the flight operations data compiled by DY Consultants. DY is, of course, the second consultant the city has hired to revise its Airport Master Plan and Airport Layout Plan. The first, MEA Hanson, was paid by the Federal Aviation Administration but it delivered plans that a prior council and the current one didn t like. A particular bone of contention was the annual number of operations takeoffs and landing at the airport. MEA put the number at 180,000, but without doing a formal count. Informal counts suggested that number was too high not surprising during a recession and with fuel prices often at or near record levels. But, MEA advised council, there was no real need for a formal count; what drives an airport s designation are the approach speed and wingspan of the aircraft that regularly use it, with the standard for regular being so low that a count for Venice was pointless it is, and will be, a C-II. Further, council was told, grant assurances and deed restrictions govern the ability to limit the aircraft that could land here, and the FAA would not approve any attempt to circumvent them. That not being what council wanted to hear, MEA got the ax and DY got the job with instructions to do a formal count. The city even spent $70,000 on the necessary equipment. Unfortunately for DY it apparently didn t get the message that the correct number of operations it was to report was 0. When DY representatives told council Sept. 25 that the sophisticated equipment the city paid for gave a sixmonth count of about 22,000 operations well below MEA s number and that the count really carries no weight anyway just as MEA said they were blasted by Vice Mayor Sue Lang and told they had lost credibility. Rafferty was out in front of that issue, having already submitted a public records request for the underlying data, claiming that he needed the identification ( tail ) numbers of each plane in order to verify DY s count and give it more credibility. It has none, he said, if the public can t verify it. His request was rebuffed, on the argument that the data aren t a matter of public record, but whether they are or not, Rafferty s claim is preposterous, and clearly intended to further delay the completion of the long-overdue plans as well as to further an anti-airport agenda. Public scrutiny of and comment on work being done by government consultants is certainly appropriate, but what Rafferty is seeking to do here is to try to reinvent the wheel. Even though the (artificially deflated) number of operations counted by DY must be far more to his liking, he is unwilling to accept the count, especially the number of C and D planes it includes. So it appears he wants to try to find some way to skew the results. At best that would consist of quibbling about the types of planes and what they did, and both MEA and DY said that s a waste of time. At worst, by acquiring the tail numbers he could get contact information for pilots and try to influence them to use another airport. Either way, trouble with the FAA seems the likely result not to mention further delay, continued degradation of the airport s noise-abatement runway and more lost economic opportunities from the type of development that council says it favors. The real question is, who is in charge here? If it s the people who were elected to lead the city, they need to show some leadership, reaffirm their confidence in DY and put a halt to these transparent efforts to kill what was, until a couple of years ago, considered one of the city s assets Venice Municipal Airport. **With credit and acknowledgement to the Venice Gondolier Sun, October 3, 2009**

18 Venice Comprehensive Plan On September 14, 2009 the Presidents of VABA and VASI jointly wrote to the Florida Department of Community Affairs regarding the City of Venice, Florida Comprehensive Plan submitted on August 25, The following is excerpted from that letter: The Comprehensive Plan ignores the City s deed and grant obligations to the Airport. The Plan should outline comprehensive planning initiatives that would implement those obligations. Obligations to the Venice Municipal Airport derive from deed restrictions contained in the deeds of airport land from the U.S. Government to the City of Venice. Further the City has incurred additional obligations as a condition of Federal grants for airport improvements. Nothing has changed to alter the City s responsibilities to the Airport. The Comprehensive Plan should provide in the Capital Improvements Element provisions to match Capital needs and projects in the approved 2000 Airport Master Plan for a five year period and then additional analysis for at least another five year period. There should be consistency between the approved 2000 Master Plan, the proposed Comprehensive Plan their respective capital improvement plans and the City and Airport budget. Rather than focusing on marginalizing the airport the Plan should outline constructive and measurable planning steps to modernize and maintain the airport. in the Future Land Use & Design section, Policy 15.6 Southern Gateway Corridor Standards, Development in the Southern Gateway. Policy 15.6, sub B, 1. Southern Gateway Corridor (page 45 of the Future Land Use and Design Element) provides that "...public lands shall not be developed for residential, commercial, office, or industrial purposes." The Venice City Council specifically reviewed these provisions during their transmittal hearing and took affirmative action to include these limits within the plan and has proposed applying them to publically owned property wholly within the boundary of the existing airport and existing airport master plan. No other publically owned lands by the City of Venice are included within the boundary of the Southern Gateway so it is clear that these provisions are intended to specifically limit the use of airport property. In response to petitions by other community members during the transmittal hearing process, similar provisions within other infill and redevelopment areas proposed by the city were modified to eliminate or modify these restrictions. The portions of the Venice Airport property included in the Southern Gateway along US Business 41 and Airport Boulevard are under lease by the airport to other tenants and in use for both aeronautical and nonaeronautical uses. Consequently upon the approval of the Comprehensive Plan the city has de facto taken and separated this valuable airport property from the airport for non-aeronautical, non-revenue producing purposes without the approval or knowledge of the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA). This is a clear violation of the city s airport deed restrictions and grant obligations to the federal government. The city is currently seeking to resolve past issues of this nature with the FAA. Consequently this action is all the more grievous. Prohibiting all uses except for open space or recreational use renders these properties inconsistent with state policies intended to encourage economic development through use of regional transportation assets, limits the airport's future ability to serve as a staging area for emergency operations and creates internal inconsistencies with other provisions of the proposed comprehensive plan that are prohibited by Rule 9J-5, Florida Administrative Code. In addition, the city provided no surveys, studies, data or analysis to support this proposed change in future land use as required by Chapter 163, F.S. and Rule 9J-5, F.A.C. The proposed change is inconsistent with the provisions of HB 697 that require all plan amendments transmitted after July 2008 to encourage energy efficiency and discourage urban sprawl. The proposed prohibitions of all economic uses of airport property within the Southern Gateway do not represent an efficient land use pattern.