Williams, Renee (OST) fcpT^ QST- /997"^?V^Z, 

From: Devany, Dennis (OST) 

Sent: Wednesday, September 15, 2010 7:59 AM 

To: Williams, Renee (OST) 

Subject: FW: massena ny eas service 

Attachments: JPTubbsCompanyResumeasof8.30.10.doc -y 

Importance: High 

CD 

11 

K J J 

f O 

rs> 

•., •-";rr i 

-^•issS 

m-Hr n ^S5 

goo ZiT.^ ^ 

CO From: PatTubbs [mailto:pat@jptubbs.com] 

Sent: Wednesday, September 15, 2010 7:00 AM 

To: Devany, Dennis (OST) 

Subject: massena ny eas service 

Importance: High 

Hi Dennis: 

I have been on the front lines of air service development in Massena NY since 2005, and spoke with you personally in 

2008 during the emergency rebid process for EAS service in Massena, Ogdensburg and Watertown. 

I have been through the wringer when it comes to air service here. I became involved by virtue of being the economic 

development consultant for Massena, when development of air service at Massena emerged as a key strategy for growing 

the community. 

Our consulting firm has done strategy development work in Northern NY since 1999; in addition to Massena, we've 

worked with some 30 non-profits and communities from Watertown to Malone to help them get funding for capital projects, 

to support and sustain their operations, or to meet additional needs. I am attaching our company resume, not to "toot my 

own horn" but so that you can see the experience we've had up here and how that forms the basis for the perspective I 

am providing in this email. 

For Massena, my involvement in air service consisted of founding and co-chairing the St. Lawrence Valley Air Task Force, 

serving as the local coordinator for a US DOT grant to attract sustainable service for the Massena Airport, and most 

recently, writing a new US DOT grant to market EAS service at Massena. In those roles, I ended up being the key point 

person to bring Watertown, Ogdensburg, and Massena together to transition from Mesa to Big Sky, worked extensively 

behind the scenes to manage the problems with Big Sky, worked throughout Christmas and New Year's to bring together 

the region to deal with the crisis situation when Big Sky shut down, spoke on behalf of air service in the region at a NYS 

DOT transportation summit, dealt directly with you to bring Cape Air to the region, assisted Cape Air in introducing itself 

and developing partnerships, and developed the strategies for promoting EAS service in Massena that were included in 

our most recent grant application. 

As a consultant, I typically work behind the scenes, and rarely speak out personally on issues affecting the region. I am 

also an "immigrant" to this rural area, and while I have been here 10 years, I have learned that the best way I can help to 

advance the region is by supporting, but not speaking for, the people born and raised here. That said, on the issue air 

service, I feel I have earned the right to speak with my own voice, and as an advocate for Massena and the region. I've 

come to know the region well, and my work with many interests and leaders in the region, along with living, working, and 

raising a family here, has given me first-person experience and a perspective that few have as they have not had the 

opportunity to work across the region as I have had. 

The North Country in general, and Massena in particular, have a long history of experience with projects that did not 

deliver. In terms of air service. Big Sky was pretty devastating. Massena just learned that a major project to build a new 

power dam for the community will not materialize. The community lost a GM plant only a year or so ago. Before that it 

was a major recreational facility, a race track, and an aquarium, that all promised much, but delivered on none of it. The 

pattern of the community is to chase the next best thing, but many of those things ultimately let them down. 
Like many regional and Massena advocates, I started out by wanting to get jet service at the Massena Airport - but 

learned the hard way that it was better to have good reliable service than a big plane; and just how hard it would be to get 

those big planes here until you could show that you had a market that would sustain them. 

Cape Air has been a strong, stabilizing factor which has renewed confidence in the Massena Airport and set it on a slow, 

but steady path to growth; they have also been a breath of fresh air in terms of dealing with a company from the "outside" 

that actually delivered on its promises to this region. They have a lot of "fans" in the region, as evidenced by the 

enplanement numbers they are getting, and I have had many people, who know of my involvement with air service, 

express dismay to me about the possibility of losing Cape Air's services. 

From my involvement in air service for 5 years, and in initiatives throughout NNY for 10 years, I firmly believe the 

Massena airport can be developed as a regional hub still, that over time, we can attract non-EAS service and larger 

planes. While we'd work with whatever EAS carrier comes up here, my professional and personal opinion is that 

continued EAS service by Cape Air, rather than jumping to "the next best thing", is the best way to further those goals and 

to advance this community and the region as a whole. 

Thank you for considering this input as you make your decision on EAS service for Massena and NNY. Please let me 

know if you have any questions. 

Pat Tubbs 

JPTubbs Company 

PO Box 253 

Massena, NY 13662 

T: 315-769-1982 

C: 315-250-9200 

F: 315-769-1982 (call to alert us to turn on the machine) 

E: pat@iptubbs.com