Listen to neighbors on Tweed expansion

Here we go again. The now-annual expansion campaign by Tweed-New Haven Airport is looming over the East Shore, Morris Cove and East Haven. Tweed boosters are rushing to Hartford to ram through House Bill 7143, which would remove any restriction on airport expansion. This is New Haven democracy at work — introduce legislation at the state level before residents and taxpayers can have any input or are even aware of the proposal.

This year, the tone is even more confrontational and indifferent than in 2018, with Mayor Harp ripping up the 2009 agreement after deciding the city isn’t bound by it. At Tweed board meetings, it has become clear that airport management has nothing but disdain for residents. When expansion was rebuffed last year, “Looney’s legions” were blamed by airport head and then-Senator Larson for “screwing” Tweed. Neighbors are consistently said to be holding the airport “hostage.” One board member suggested ignoring the surrounding community because we’re too “unreasonable.”

There is another interpretation. Tweed and city leaders have already heard the reasonable objections of the surrounding community, loud and clear, but will continue to bully us until we submit to airport expansion. The same arguments for airport restraint still apply, but with even more urgency. Our city and state are still in a fiscal crisis, with New Haven borrowing money to shovel debt far into the future. We should be grateful that taxpayer money was never wasted on a doomed expansion last year. It would have come not only at the detriment of local residents and neighbors, but also at the expense of the environment. Sean O’Brien

New Haven