Residents' questions on a planned Pinellas airport expansion will be posted in full, instead of in the "consolidated" form county leaders initially planned.
By MICHAEL SANDLER
Published September 17, 2003
CLEARWATER - After bungling a community meeting earlier this summer about the expansion of St. Petersburg-Clearwater International Airport, Pinellas County officials apologized and pledged to be more open and honest with the public.
So when a crowd filled a hotel ballroom last week, government officials wrote down their questions and promised to post them with answers on the county's Web site.
But the St. Petersburg Times uncovered e-mails this week that show officials planned to rewrite into more general language some of the more direct questions asked by a crowd composed almost entirely of airport expansion opponents.
In addition, the county's public affairs director had begun editing the original list, removing several pointed questions and leaving broader questions that appeared to have a more positive tone. She sent a copy of the revised question list to County Administrator Steve Spratt.
Ronnie Goodstein, the county's director of public affairs, had whittled the list of questions from six pages to three, but said she only "consolidated" the list in the interest of time.
However, soon after Spratt and Goodstein were asked about the matter, Goodstein called The Times back to say the county decided to post the original questions.
"I'm going to go back and start over," Goodstein said. "I felt the intent was misconstrued. There was no intent to filter anything. We want to make sure everything is out there and there is an understanding."
On Tuesday, the county published 44 of the more than 60 original questions, with answers, and promised to update the list as officials answer the rest of them.
The questions were asked at the first of two public information sessions commissioners scheduled after a public meeting in August turned into chaos. The second meeting is tonight at Countryside High School.
The August meeting imploded after county officials reserved a small room to discuss a zoning issue on the airport property. They were not prepared for the 250 people who showed up demanding answers on the county's $223-million airport expansion plan.
On Sept. 10, the county rented a ballroom and more than 300 people came. About three dozen people spoke. In the interest of time, Commission Chairwoman Karen Seel and Spratt decided the county would compile questions and answer them within days on the county's Web site.
By the following Monday afternoon, Goodstein had "consolidated" the list of 60 to 31, according to an e-mail she sent to Spratt. "I think we need to reduce the number to no more than 25," she wrote.
She also edited some of the questions. On the original list, a resident asked about the $784-million the county estimated the airport would contribute to Pinellas County: "How much of that money would not be contributed to Pinellas County if travelers were forced to land at Tampa International?" the question read.
But in Goodstein's draft, the question simply read, "What would be lost if this airport shut down?"
Goodstein eliminated a series of questions residents had about the letters of intent the FAA requires before approving expansion projects. Letters of intent come from airline carriers and are intended to prove the airline industry wants to add service at the airport seeking to expand. One man asked for the names and projected annual revenues of the carriers that had sent such letters. Another cited a nationwide decline in airline capacity and noted that major airlines have pulled out of airports in Sarasota and Naples.
"So why do we think they would want to expand operations into Clearwater airport?" the man asked. "If we build it, they will come?"
Goodstein removed all that from the list, but said she included two questions summarizing the others: "Why does the county believe the airport can succeed so close to Tampa International?" and "Is there a business plan or prospectus for this project similar to the documents investors study before they invest their capital?"
"Perhaps it is faulty thinking," Goodstein said about removing the questions about airline industry letters. "In my mind, letters of intent would be addressed in the context of that question."
Seel, who had promised the audience answers last week, said she was "dismayed" to learn Tuesday that some considered shortening the list.
"I'm certainly glad the direction has been changed," Seel said. "I want them to have the complete answers to the complete questions. That's why we are holding the public meeting. I'm also hoping, based on the questions that were asked last week, that we will have less complex, more direct answers."
Spratt said the decision to answer original questions had been restored.
"We are kind of getting through as many as we can," he said. "This will probably be an ongoing process. We want to make sure, I told the staff, make sure they are accurately transcribed."
Changing questionsHere is a question asked by a resident about the proposed expansion of St. Petersburg-Clearwater Airport, and the version that was to be posted on Pinellas County's Web site, www.pinellascounty.org:
ORIGINAL: "If there are 24 flights a day that generates 1,600 jobs, how does the lengthened runway double the number of jobs (1,735)? Does that double the number of flights per day?"
EDITED: "How many new jobs and at what wage or salary level would be generated?"
