Posted by
Jack Cruger on Tuesday, August 05, 2008 7:44:57 PM
Airport and Horry County Council Shanagans
Well when was the last snow storm in Myrtle Beach? Ok, we do get some snow flurries, what once in the five years I have been here, but did you know that the Myrtle Beach International Airport is ready for the next big one.
This was let out of the bag and reported by the Myrtle Beach Herald back in February 2006 as well as the Sun News at which time it was reported by the AP:
(Myrtle Beach-AP) January 27, 2006 - Officials at the Myrtle Beach International Airport are ready for a snow storm.
The Federal Aviation Administration has awarded the airport a $355,000 grant to buy a snow plow, a giant broom and other snow removal equipment.
Never mind that Myrtle Beach has averaged zero inches of snow for the last 50 years.
Horry County Council Chairwoman Liz Gilland admits it may sound absurd, but she said it does make sense. A storm dropped 13.5 inches of snow on Horry County in 1989.
But Liz, how would the people get to the airport even if they got the runway cleared? Has the county also purchased snow removal equipment that we don’t know about?
Why is HOODIES reporting on this old news at this time? Because we believe the taxpayers, not only here on the Grand Strand but the U.S. got “Hoodiewinked” as well. You see the FAA’s Airport Improvement Grants lists maintenance equipment and vehicles as an ineligible project, snow removal equipment is not. Since we have little or no snow accumulation the real reason this equipment was requested was so the trucks and the big snow broom could be used for the continual maintenance and upkeep of the airport. Check out this link http://www.flymyrtlebeach.com/news.cfm?id=6
Maintenance equipment is supposed to be purchased by the, owner manager of the airport, in this case, Horry County, and funded by the local taxpayers. This makes sense because airports have different regional maintenance requirements. Also the category “maintenance” could lead to $100 screwdrivers and $200 brooms.
This request was slipped into a county resolution, and included in the request for the funds for the “New Passenger Terminal” and taxiway improvements and was granted. We all know how that turned out.
We know this was done on purpose because as reported in the Sun News, airport director Bob Kemp was quoted as saying “if we don’t buy this as snow removal equipment we were going to have to buy it as maintenance equipment out of our own funds”.
This illegal action just keeps getting better; you see since we got the “snow removal equipment” we can now get legal federal funds to build a storage building for the “snow removal equipment”. It will probably be big enough to hold a 747. How good is that?
You wonder why the Horry County Council is losing face with the taxpayers? There seems to be one debacle after the other. I could name them, but just go to the other Posts on my BLOG, and please if you know of any others please write them up in the comment section of this BLOG Post.
My question really is, do we need a new or even a makeover and extension of the old airport? I have never been backed up at MBIA. I had to wait once for my luggage a little longer than I would have liked but that’s about all. With the down turn of the economy, the price of fuel, the airlines are canceling service at the MBIA as well many other airports around the country.
The cost of building, a new terminal or extension there of, is probably at a high point at this time, driven by the cost of fuel. If anything is to be done I would say at most add a luggage carousel and another gate.