San Jose- Airport Plan Gets Revised

Sunday, November 27, 2005
Loaded airport plan question gets straightforward response
The San Jose (CA) Mercury News

Bill Sherry, the new director of the San Jose Mineta International Airport, has a reputation as a straight shooter. He was definitely doing just that at a recent San Jose Silicon Valley Chamber of Commerce briefing on the new scaled-down airport plans that call for a $1.5 billion price tag instead of the original $4 billion, and a near-completion date in five years, not 12. Rick DiNapoli, one of the business people in the audience, said that after listening to Sherry’s presentation, he asked the airport director the following, somewhat loaded, question:

“So if I understand your presentation correctly, you are saying that a person, or a small group of people in the city, spent the last 10 years developing and then began to implement a $4 billion airport renovation plan

a) without fully advising the city council,

b) with the unanimous disapproval of the airlines, and

c) at a cost that would increase the airlines’ cost per passenger tenfold?”

DiNapoli says that Sherry responded, “Yeah, that’s pretty much it.”

A spokesman for Sherry said that while the DiNapoli question was not a direct quote, Sherry was in general agreement with what DiNapoli had asked him.

“We prefer to focus on moving forward with the plan to build a new airport rather than criticizing past actions,” Sherry said through the spokesman.