Joe, thank you for the insight.

One of your comments, I believe, strikes at the heart of the problem that the waterfront community faces with the Toronto Port Authority.

It is, "The TPA should, at the very least, confirm to the community if they have contacted Avantair and any other violators to define precise expectations to pilots operating in this area."

In my opinion, the TPA has not been very forthcoming in dealing openly and honestly with the community. There are a number of possible causes:
1. A fear on the part of a federally appointed majority of the board, put there by one of the most controlling prime ministers this country has experienced, of dealing in a transparent manner;
2. A defensiveness stemming from a realization that the airport expansion,at somewhere north of 1 million passengers annually, is way beyond what was originally envisioned, as described in the TPA-commissioned 2001 Sypher:Mueller Report that saw the island airport as "a niche airport serving less than 900,000 passengers ..." (P. vi);
3. Incompetence, to wit the number of promises made and broken over noise mitigation, a noise complaint process that goes nowhere in effecting change, commitments made at previous noise management meetings unfulfilled.

The public meeting tonight that claims to see the TPA address community concerns will be an indication of the TPA's willingness to make substantial and transparent changes to the way they address the community, or will simply be a public relations exercise in carrying out their expansion to 212 slots, without full disclosure on the data used to arrive at a number far greater than that quoted in the Tasse Report, 167 (P.60).

Bob Kotyk