The Waterbury Democrat., 1946-02-25
Text of Committees Report On CityAirpOrt
 Legislative Group of Community Cube
 Recommends Opposition to PrOposal

ely duly held at the state Capitol m Hartford, the city of waterbury received from this body permission Co sen esoo,ooooo h bends for the eSnreSS nurncse of developing municipal airport This information AnpeArs on Page @ og the Budget of the Clty of waterbury for the year lels. On Page Ss of the same Budget Book on item appearing opposite R. E teO Appgopgaates 100000 from she reserve fund oe the City Of Va. terhury. The esoa.oOooo is . bond issue upon which we as taxpayers will not only have Co pay back the principal but foot the interest bill ca wNN.
 Now, referring to the Sl~pAge e-year plan, page S0-sl, we again ind that the eaoo, o,ooooo is being taken from the Reserve Fund or to put N another way, our cisye save inns account, with An estimated es,~ 800 oooOo as the grand total of the airport cost. This slx~yeAr plan re veAla on Pare 90 that other govern ments viii donate q. .eso. .0o0oo to- ward this airport. Investigation con- dUcted by the Legislative Committee of the Council os Community Clubs. Inc, diseloses that the "other goe- ernments" originally and definitely meant our national Government, and the towns of wolcott and Brts- tol.
 'so the committee decided to be- gin it's investigation by making in. ouirles h Bristol. Mr. Kenneth (Pop) Slmmonds og the Bristol Press has been actively opposing an airport at woleott (you win recall that the Municipal Airport as orig inAlly laid out would have been In part located in Wolcott) stating same as impractical due to the prox- unity of the Hartford Airport. Bris- tol has a small airport about l Ia miles from the center of town which does not pay. Several years ago. the Chamber of Commerce of Bristol and others tried to get the City of Bristol to develop Q Municipal Air port there and the movement failed. The Chamber of Commerce of Bris- tol is in favor Of the Waterbury wolcott Airport, but the taxpaying manufacturers are against it.
 Mir. Kenneth Ringrose, State Dc. partment of Aeronauties at Brain ard Field, is definitely in favor of Municipal Airport in Waterbury. He stated that if it were not for the raEl- roads In the past, cities would not have prospereo. He invited further discussion.
 Miss Quinn, acting manager of Brainard Field, says that the Hart. ford Airport is about so percent self supporting. Expenses this year about Income is derived from landing fees from United and American Airllnes, from hangar rentals and from res- taurant rental. Two other airlines are reported to have requested per- mission to land in Hartford. Snow removal is one of the heavy ex- penSes. Miss Quinn also stated that it is difacult to get Federal money for an airport unless there is Q crying need for an airport" and that the proximity of other airportS is c deciding factor i've have one in Hartford and Bridgeport. She fur ther states that it takes years to de- velop an airport tO be self-support- ing. Miss Quinn also invited further discussion.
 Ofncials of the Town Of wOlCott are reported to be definitely against donating funds to the Waterbury Wolcott Airport, and they success fully petitioned the General As- sembly in l945 to prevent the City of Waterbury from purchasing land in the Town of Wolcott. Since the General Assembly did not pass the Waterbury bill presented before it for passage to give the City Of Wa terbury the right to purchase land in Wolcott, Mayor Monagan told MT. Prank Green of the Waterbury Chamber of Commerce and MT. Mir Hanmell of the Bristol Cham Der of Commerce, that he has caused the airport location changed so that all parts of it will be in Wa terbury. These facts reasonably con- firmed the committees findings with regard to monetary donations; namely, that the town of Wolcott and the city of Bristol would not render financial support Therefore, we can eliminate these from our consideration.
 We are also reasonably informed that Congress has not yet passed any bill which would allow the Fed eral Government to give financial aid to municipalities for the purpose of airport development. It would seem on this score that all outside financial assistance from Washing ton and neighboring governments is definitely out at present and that the City Plan Commission figures page 30 of the 6-year-plan. is pre- mature and perhaps wiShful in the amount of Sl, $50, ,O00lO0
 Therefore, your Committee re- spectfully suggests that the s2O0.- O00O0 item to buy land deducted from the e3,5OO. .O00.O0 which is the total estimated cost of an airport to be spent in three years means ad- ditional appropriations from oul general tax fund or the floating ol @, 300, ,000.O0 in bonds. Surely, this vast amount of money would build miles of muchsneeded sidewalks roads, sewers extensions, water ex. tensions, give us extra street light ing, better police and fire protection
 "N0w then. oiiP i044 Grand List