Mayor touts MASAC while Northwest Airlines boycotts the organization		by Dean Lindberg “People make Minneapolis their home because of our reputation — we have a high quality of life, and we enjoy it!” boasted Mayor Sharon Sayles Belton to the International Transportation Symposium held in Washington D.C. on Oct. 11th. Yet, “Conversations must be halted, family outings at our chain of lakes and parks are disrupted . . . the learning environment in school classrooms and sleep are disrupted due to the racket.” “The rising anxiety and anger among residents, as they contend with the noise day after day is an assault on our high quality of life,” according to the Mayor. “We must take the complaints of citizens seriously . . . expand insulation programs . . . and seek proactive solutions that reduce airplane noise at its source.” Mayor Sayles Belton, who was praised by Transportation Secretary Rodney Slater for her “local and national leadership on noise abatement concerns,” said the Metropolitan Airports Sound Abatement Council (MASAC) is a successful model of an airport/community partnership to abate airport noise impacts. Along with crediting the airport-sponsored committee for disbursing flights to avoid concentrating noise over heavily populated areas and helping to determine eligibility for soundproofing Sayles Belton stated, “Most importantly, MASAC is an important vehicle for giving citizens a strong voice in airport concerns.” Masac members in disagree over policy “If we don’t get our way, we’ll take our ball and go home!” joked MASAC community delegate Will Eginton in his characterization of Northwest Airlines, and industry representatives who have boycotted MASAC meetings for the second consecutive month. The airline was angered when MASAC endorsed a resolution supporting “voluntary incentives and disincentives” to induce expedited retirement of noisy DC9s and Boeing 727s from Northwest’s fleet. “More than two unexcused absences bring summary dismissal from many organizations,” noted Eginton while pondering if a similar sanction might be enacted against the annoyed Northwest MASAC delegates. The amusing sideshow of the Northwest-led boycott has brought a touch of comic relief to MASAC, where Minneapolis delegates faithfully participate despite a nagging sensation the group is little more than window dressing in a bureaucratic attempt to make governmental agencies look benevolent. Requests to Minneapolis City Hall for assistance with research into laws and regulations, and noise and air pollution health impacts are regularly dismissed, typically for budgetary reasons. Consequently, Minneapolis delegates depend on themselves, or activist organizations such as South Metro Airport Action Council (SMAAC) for help with such requests, while Bloomington and Richfield delegates routinely receive financial and professional assistance, and work in concert with their respective city governments. So while the greatest numbers of metro area residents impacted by noise live in Minneapolis, their delegation receives a comparatively meager portion of city help. Residents Against Airport Racket (ROAR) member Sarah Strzok agrees with Sayles Belton’s recent call for airports to nurture partnerships with communities in order to successfully address concerns and conflicts of interest. “The idea of MASAC is great,” Strzok remarked. “But the standard operating procedure for airports and airlines — to delay, wear down, dribble out information, and stonewall — is a blatant contradiction to the ‘cooperative’ MASAC model.” Strzok compared this past summer’s collaboration between elected officials and residents in demanding guarantees from the airport that city lakes and parks would not be damaged by the airport’s expansion projects. MASAC, with its resident/industry “battle lines” narrowly drawn over noise issues, was stuningly passive in response to citizen concerns about the lake impacts, in Strzok’s opinion. “We need to reduce night time flights,” according to Minneapolis resident and MASAC delegate Glenn Strand, “because they have the greatest impact on people, especially children”. Sayles Belton repeated Strand’s opinion during her Washington visit, calling for local control over night time airport operations, a multi jurisdictional consortium to fund health studies on children and senior citizens who live near airports, mitigation programs beyond the Ldn 60 mitigation boundaries (currently committed to in Minneapolis) and “local jurisdictions to impose incentives and disincentives to encourage the use of quieter planes and operating techniques.” Contrasting with the Northwest-led boycott in protest of the MASAC resolution for “incentives and disincentives,” Mayor Belton’s call for such measure met a positive reception in Washington D.C., according to policy aide Ann Freeman.