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Why some people prefer more houses to local jobs is beyond us, but one thing we know is that it’ll take courage and vision to seize the opportunities offered by our airport and community.
Preface: In response to some of the negative comments in regard to Saturday’s editorial, it seems there are those who believe that wanting jobs in our community has a hidden agenda attached to it. There is nothing hidden or new here. Our positions haven’t changed in decades. And our commitment to these issues hasn’t changed in 65 years of Matthews family ownership of the Tracy Press.
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The idea of preserving a transportation asset like the Tracy Municipal Airport for the purpose of developing industry and jobs seems to cause some concern in our community.
For those of you who spend three hours a day in commute traffic between here and San Jose, you’re probably scratching your head at the negative views expressed about bringing jobs to Tracy. You might be asking, why would anybody want you to have to continue such an exhaustive and time-wasting, fuel-wasting regime — just so you can afford a home here.
We wonder, too. Why do some people find your plight acceptable? Why do they become so indignant at the thought of you having a better life, with a job in Tracy?
Before the city heads down the path of marginalizing its airport on South Tracy Boulevard, rendering it incapable of being used to bring industry that would provide local jobs, we should find out exactly what is the cost of losing it. Only then can we gauge the real cost of approving housing development all around the airport.
Meanwhile, let’s focus on the opportunities that exist for Tracy’s airport, the only mid-sized airport in southern San Joaquin County:
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1. General aviation growth
As demand for planes, jet hangars and usage increases in the region, a general aviation airport in Tracy will find more and more uses in the coming years. Tracy is a natural place to capture this growth, as the same spillover effect that drove the housing boom — lack of supply in the Bay Area — will also drive general aviation over the hill.
We can either capture it or let Byron have it. And along with letting the Byron Airport have the business, we will let it have Mountain House’s business, and Lathrop’s, River Island’s and other growing communities.
2. Aircraft manufacturing
Our sales-tax-greedy City Council should love this, so why its members are willing to marginalize it is confusing. Aircraft are high-ticket items. Even the Boyd Group, the city-hired aviation consultant that opposed runway expansion for the airport, said that aviation growth in the future won’t be evolutionary; it will be revolutionary. And a study on strategic alternatives for job growth for the county by AngelouEconomics pointed out the fast-emerging field of aviation, called microjets — or, more commonly, very light jets, or VLJs.
The estimated size of the VLJ market is about 540 per year, which at $1 million to $3 million each makes it a $15 billion-a-year sales market, even a slice of which has huge potential for sales tax revenues, manufacturing jobs and locally owned companies. Is this something we should pass up?
3. Maintenance and educational centers
VLJ aircraft open up two interesting, emerging markets, both for businesses and airports.
As companies grow weary of commercial aviation and airport security time constraints, an affordable alternative is inviting to a large market of small- and medium-sized businesses. More airports can land the VLJ aircraft, because they can use the shorter runways, opening a huge network of about 5,000 airports across the country.
If the city were to expand the land the airport has to the south and east and incrementally provide the maintenance, fueling and hangar requirements, it would have a growth industry on its hands. VLJs could also provide the city with opportunities to work with local high schools and colleges to create job training centers.
4. Avionics
This is a field that encompasses aviation electronics and controls that are put into aircraft as upgrades. It includes things like electronic flight books, weather radar, flight management systems and GPS flight systems. Companies such as Honeywell, Garmin, Trimble Navigation and Rockwell International make these systems.
But they aren’t plug-and-play systems, like sticking a stereo in your car. They require trained and certified installation centers, which could be located at the airport. Salaries for these jobs, by the way, start in the $100,000-and-above-range. Also, demand for these services is growing, and the shortfall in supply of qualified technicians and service centers is clearly evidenced by the 45-day backlog in delivery times.
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The naysayers, of course, will say this is just pie-in-the-sky dreaming. Perhaps, they don’t know about Tracy’s deep history in aviation. Our town was once a consideration for the U.S. Air Force Academy, which eventually located in Colorado. And United Airlines trained its first pilots here. Our location on major transportation corridors, both rail and highway interstate, makes our airport the most desirable location for avionics, VLJs and a whole host of related industries.
Big things, wonderful things, can happen in our community. But it takes planning, foresight and courage — something we’d like to see from our city leaders.
One thing is obvious: The city should be making this case, but it’s not.
The rooftop disciples are always asking, "Why should we do that when we could be building houses?"
To paraphrase George Bernard Shaw: Instead of listening and pandering to those who would ask "Why?" we should be brave enough to ask, "Why not?"
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so on...??? Lots of opportunities, get those bids out there and bring jobs here? That will get lots of Tracyites employed??
What a Crock. How many people in Tracy Own VLJs??? One? this will not bring jobs to tracy. all your examples are exactly "Pie In The Sky" Livermore Airport has been there for 40 Years and in all that time generated 100-200 Jobs in 40 Years.!!!!!
Tracy Home Construction makes Middle-class JOBS NOW!!!!!
The Tracy Press is pushing a Leftist Elitist Agenda, no wonder No one in Tracy buys your paper!
I DEMAND a LIST of Tracy Citizens who Own VLJs.!!!!
YOU are LIARS.