Email from our Mayor, our city attorney, our Public Works Director, and our Airport Manager about the recent night-time helicopter operations.

I don’t usually publish emails quite this candid and informal; but this email is already public record, and I wanted citizens to know that City Hall is taking this seriously.

From: “Ryan Zulauf” <rzulauf@ci.renton.wa.us>
Date: June 18, 2008 5:19:46 PM PDT
To: “Law, Denis” <dlaw@ci.renton.wa.us>, “Warren, Larry” <ljwarren@seanet.com>, “Zimmerman, Gregg” <gzimmerman@ci.renton.wa.us>
Cc: “Alexander, April” <analexander@ci.renton.wa.us>, “Briere, Terri” <tbriere@ci.renton.wa.us>, “Corman, Randy” <rcorman@ci.renton.wa.us>, “Covington, Jay” <jcovington@ci.renton.wa.us>, “Hahn, Peter” <phahn@ci.renton.wa.us>, “Medzegian, Julia” <jmedzegian@ci.renton.wa.us>, “Palmer, Marcie” <mpalmer@ci.renton.wa.us>, “Parker, King” <kparker@ci.renton.wa.us>, “Persson, Don” <dpersson@ci.renton.wa.us>, “Taylor, Greg” <gtaylor@ci.renton.wa.us>, “Zwicker, Rich” <rzwicker@ci.renton.wa.us>
Subject: RE: Helicopter

These items have already been suggested and it is up to Mr. O’Leary to patch this mess up when he meets with the Mayor next week.
Ryan

>>> Gregg Zimmerman 6/18/2008 2:35 PM >>>
Thanks, Ryan. I think we need to try to obtain a statement from AirO regarding their intentions with this new line of business. Was this helicopter ride for the highschool students a one-time event? If they plan to do it next year, will they be willing to work with us regarding hours and routes? Do they intend to change the whole character of their presence at the airport and their impact on neighborhoods by expanding this line of business to other events? This would be good information to know so that we can better establish the approach that we need to take. Please ask Mike for a response to these concerns. This is information that the Mayor will want to know if Mike does give him a call.

Gregg

>>> Ryan Zulauf 6/18/2008 11:47 AM >>>
I spoke to Mr. O’Leary this morning and I suggested that he needs to call you directly and have a conversation about the graduation events.

Ryan

>>> “Larry Warren” <ljwarren@seanet.com> 6/18/2008 10:47 AM >>>

As wrong as it seems, the city’s hands are tied about the noise level, type
of craft and time of operation at the airport. Snohomish County is being
forced to negotiate with a commercial carrier for use of Paine Field for
trips to Las Vegas.
It seems that our best course of conduct is to work with the operator to be
a good neighbor. If there is no cooperation, then maybe the complaints
should be directed to the carrier and maybe to the FAA. Also, I suppose the
city could make a big deal about how its hands are tied and this particular
carrier is taking advantage of the system. Having your name on TV every
Monday night or even the subject of a public hearing might be cause to
decide to be a better neighbor.

—–Original Message—–
From: Denis Law[mailto:DLaw@ci.renton.wa.us]
Sent: Wednesday, June 18, 2008 6:31 AM
To: Ryan Zulauf; Larry Warren
Cc: April Alexander; Don Persson; Greg Taylor; Jay Covington; Julia
Medzegian; King Parker; Marcie Palmer; Randy Corman; Rich Zwicker; Terri
Briere
Subject: Helicopter

Larry and Ryan,
Please take a few minutes to examine the details surrounding the helicopter
use this past week at the airport. It seems ridiculous that we have no legal
basis to take action against AirO or others involved in negatively impacting
the community in the early morning hours with a use that only satisfies
their personal gain. While this time it’s for graduation, what prevents this
from becoming a fairly regular event?

I also want us to consider directing complaints to Michael O’Leary, and
anyone else responsible for the activity, unless you feel this is unwise. At
the very least, we may want to work the council to take a closer look at
how we plan to use any extra hangar space that becomes available on the
field, including restricting any additional space for users that will
negatively impact the surrounding neighborhoods. We may want to revisit
costs and funding options of building hangar space that we control and
lease.

Thanks.
Denis