The history of commercial flights at the Island Airport
It needs to be remembered that the Island Airport was general-aviation-only until the early 1980s.
While the "flying lawnmowers" that general aviation hobbyists use to spread noise around the waterfront are a nuisance, unlike the Q400s they are not sufficiently noisome to actually retard waterfront renewal.
In the late 1970s and early 1980s, many Torontonians vigorously fought the introduction of scheduled commercial flights on the Island. It didn't take much foresight to realize what a dystopia it would become, and alas we were right.
So we ultimately lost the battle against putting scheduled commercial flights on the Island. The airline lobbyists found new mayor, Art Eggleton, eminently persuadable.
As a sop to the land-use planning visionaries, the Tripartite Agreement was brought in with the specific goal of establishing safeguards that would ensure waterfront renewal would not be suppressed by the introduction of commercial flights.
Most of us knew that the Tripartite would prove to be an empty shell, and once again we have been shown to be right. The elaborate promises that were made about only using ultra-quiet Dash 7 STOL aircraft have been circumvented.
Those in the federal government and the airline industry who promote commercial flights out of the Island cannot be trusted ... never could be. That means you too Joe.
The only answer is to shut her down. The Spadina Expressway wasn't stopped until it had metastasized down to Eglinton. But ultimately it was stopped because the price in destroyed neighborhoods was unacceptable.
The same will be found to be true for the Island Airport. It won't be easy because the federal Liberal and Conservative parties are so venal — so under the sway of every passing money interest — but it will have to happen.
morkerly
While the "flying lawnmowers" that general aviation hobbyists use to spread noise around the waterfront are a nuisance, unlike the Q400s they are not sufficiently noisome to actually retard waterfront renewal.
In the late 1970s and early 1980s, many Torontonians vigorously fought the introduction of scheduled commercial flights on the Island. It didn't take much foresight to realize what a dystopia it would become, and alas we were right.
So we ultimately lost the battle against putting scheduled commercial flights on the Island. The airline lobbyists found new mayor, Art Eggleton, eminently persuadable.
As a sop to the land-use planning visionaries, the Tripartite Agreement was brought in with the specific goal of establishing safeguards that would ensure waterfront renewal would not be suppressed by the introduction of commercial flights.
Most of us knew that the Tripartite would prove to be an empty shell, and once again we have been shown to be right. The elaborate promises that were made about only using ultra-quiet Dash 7 STOL aircraft have been circumvented.
Those in the federal government and the airline industry who promote commercial flights out of the Island cannot be trusted ... never could be. That means you too Joe.
The only answer is to shut her down. The Spadina Expressway wasn't stopped until it had metastasized down to Eglinton. But ultimately it was stopped because the price in destroyed neighborhoods was unacceptable.
The same will be found to be true for the Island Airport. It won't be easy because the federal Liberal and Conservative parties are so venal — so under the sway of every passing money interest — but it will have to happen.
morkerly
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