Airline service likely to forever change Sandpoint

I knew it was only a matter of time.

It was about four years ago when efforts to bring commercial air service to Sandpoint hit the rumor mills and then swiftly died a quick, if not painless, death.

A presidential term is ample time for a new attempt to get up a powerful enough head a steam to be placed in front of the county commissioners, as happened this month.

This incarnation has been born into a different political world and is being spun by a different group of players - two eventualities that should be taken as signs of caution.

As for the political world, just remember how bad local government used to be. Every day you would read articles about a county commissioner getting out of hand, Sandpoint being sued by someone or a school official resigning.

Still, amidst all of the muck and muckraking in local government, the Airport Commission, in charge of guiding airport development, was the worst. It was besieged by an avalanche of accusations - the master plan was illegal, meetings were secret, county funds were being misused. One board contingent attempted a coup against another. As a result, any changes at the airport, positive or negative, were grounded.

But that's not the case any more. A new Airport Commission is populated with balanced opinions and chaired by a legendary community mover, Ford Elsaesser. The county commissioners' office is aglow with new leaders and open minds. So now, many things once unworkable have become possible.

And it is in this revived and opportunistic political landscape that the new spin doctors arrive. And heavy hitters they are, among them Hidden Lakes and Dick Villelli. The goal of these airline lobbyists is to establish a scheduled, commercial service, with planes of 20 passengers or fewer, into Sandpoint Airport on or about the start of ski season this coming fall.

That's an ambitious schedule but one that ironically coincides with the public review and update of the Airport Master Plan that's just about to get under way.

So, with new commissioners, a new airport commission and a new Master Plan, it just might happen.

Of course, there are many technical issues to address. Airport upgrades and who will pay for them is perhaps highest on the list. But staring everyone squarely in the eye is the deeper question that the public discussion must engage: whether it even should happen.

Passenger air service is a lightning rod that equally attracts people who support and who oppos growth. And not without justification. Such service separates us from the mega-tourist venues like Lake Tahoe and Sun Valley. To some this is our economic black eye, a more serious community defect even than having a few racists. To others it is the one saving grace, our Great Wall of China protecting us from the rapacious Microsoft Mongols who will descend from Seattle and turn this place into one huge Starbucks.

The reality is that airline service is another hole in the dike allowing more and more people, and in this case, people of a wealthier ilk, to flow in. Some to play in the lake, some to purchase a few downtown baubles. But mostly as potential buyers of Harbor Property condos and Hidden Lakes townhouses.

The Greeks are not close relatives of ours but the lessons of their favorite daughter, Pandora, should be held close to our hearts. There are some boxes that, once opened, cannot be closed - and the energy loosed cannot be contained. When the trains came through the Northwest, life changed forever. When the dams were built, nothing was ever the same.

I know it's just a small airport and just a small plane to start. But set in a culture that doesn't have the guts to put limits on the power and capacity of money to exploit communities, it will grow, driven by bottom-line, dollar-sign calculations preaching what is best for the community.

I hope Sandpoint finds another path. Not necessarily to stop this proposal but to evaluate its impact differently, more completely. To allow a love of the land and of its solitude - as tangible on a star- studded night as any financial ledger - to have a place alongside a love of money.

Copyright 2001 Cowles Publishing Company
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