Eminent domain was first explained to me when I was in the second or third grade by my father, who was a school superintendent. He said it lets the guvmint buy property from a few people when all the people need the property for a school. It was an incomplete explanation, but a good one. Now that’s all changed.
Our Supreme Court, in its infinite wisdom, has decided that the guvmint can force a lot of people to sell their property when a few people want it to make a profit. It is one of the few times I have seen the Supreme Court act in a way that was/is clearly wrong — as in immoral.
What does this have to do with airports? Think about it. Every private airport I know would make a great shopping center or real estate development. Airports are typically large parcels with but one owner, flat, have good drainage, out in the open, near population centers, and pay less property tax than a good shopping center would. And airports have one other characteristic that makes them particularly vulnerable: they have few friends and many enemies. Neighbors would love to see the property changed to something “useful” like a shopping center.
Will North Alabama’s Moontown and Hazel Green airports quickly become developments with houses which are, as the song says, “all built out of ticky-tacky and they all look just the same?" In the case of Moontown, who will lament the fact that hundreds flew their first solo there? That the EAA Chapter meets there and that a fly-in breakfast is held there monthly? Will the local guvmint care that the airport has been written up in AOPA Pilot? Or that Burt Rutan spoke there recently?
For that matter, what if local guvmints ever notice that small publicly owned airports could be converted to developments that pay more taxes?
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Change of subject: Many people try to predict the future. I have a hard enough time just trying to figure out what’s happening right now. Most trends are over before I even realize what they are or that I am participating. Every now and then, however, I find a book that explains current events so well that even I can understand. I am currently reading — am engrossed in — just such a book.
The World Is Flat, by Thomas Friedman — a great book with an improbable title— maintains that the computer has flattened the barriers to worldwide trade, thus making the world flat. What we’re talking about here is globalization, and this book explains the basics brilliantly. I won’t give you a book review, but will say that the three most important points, as I read it are that (1) globalization is nothing more than doing business with each other; (2) it's a good thing; and, (3) nobody can stop it. Your/our only options are to take part or die on the vine.
Those that think this book doesn’t apply to them and their job/business are already behind the eight ball. Buy a copy of The World Is Flat, read it, and keep it as a reference text.
