By Amy Moss Strong
Editor
Wednesday, August 27, 2008 |
A group of local residents concerned with continuing air service from the Southwest Oregon Regional Airport in North Bend to the Portland International Airport have started a grass-roots letter-writing campaign to the U.S. Department of Transportation. The letters, some in the form of e-mails, are objections to Horizon Air’s intent to terminate service to the area as of Oct. 10.
While the direct flights to Portland may be lost, Skywest, doing business as United Express, started service to San Francisco on July 7, with two round trips per day to give local residents some options for air travel.
But the loss of service to Portland would greatly affect the area, objectors claim.
As of Aug. 19, 57 comments or objections regarding Horizon’s air service to Portland had been posted on the DOT Web site, according to Bandon attorney David Koch, who works for the North Bend law firm of Stebbins and Coffey. Of those comments, about 15 were formal objections and more than 40 were informal. Koch initiated the formal objection letter at the request of the city of North Bend and then sent it out via e-mail to others, urging them to tailor it to their views and specific situations and send it to Dennis DeVany, chief of essential air service and domestic analysis at the US DOT in Washington, D.C.
“There have been some very good comments posted on the DOT Web site,” Koch said.
The formal letter was originally sent in July to DeVany; Dan Russo, vice president of marketing and communications for Horizon Air; Rick Wetherell, mayor of North Bend; Jeff McKeown, mayor of Coos Bay; Gov. Ted Kulongoski; Gary LeTellier, executive director of Southwest Oregon Regional Airport; and the Docket Management Facility of the US DOT.
“The idea is to get as many people to comment as possible, to raise awareness that this is a serious issue for the South Coast,” Koch said.
Koch added that a formal objection has to follow the format of the letter he sent out, and be sent to the same officials. A formal objection requires the DOT to respond, he said. But all objections, either as formal as a letter, or informal as a comment posted online, carry weight with the DOT.
“Please read the letter and do not simply sign it and send it in,” Koch recommends to those interested in filing a formal objection. “Simply signing a petition or form letter will have a far lesser impact than a personalized objection tailored to you or your business’ experience. The objection letter needs to be your own to have the greatest impact.”
The letter states that a reasonable level of essential air service to the community is “not less than twice daily direct flights to Portland,” regardless of any additional flights that may exist to San Francisco.
“Although San Francisco is a major hub and would provide the community with access to the national air transportation system, the termination of service to Portland would cause the community to be cut off from the geographic, commercial and political heart of the state,” the letter states. “In addition, the distance differential between a direct flight to Portland and a connecting flight to Portland through San Francisco makes such air travel impracticable.”
According to Koch, the increased distance between a direct flight to Portland and a connecting flight through San Francisco is an additional 790 miles, an increase of 565 percent.
He suggests in the letter that the payment of a government subsidy to Horizon, or any other certified air carrier, would not be opposed in order to maintain essential air service in the form of direct flights from North Bend to Portland.
Beth and Ed Wood own two businesses in Old Town: Bandon Mercantile and Timeless Accents. Beth Wood is running an ad in Coffee Break, urging people to write letters objecting to Horizon’s termination of service.
“Even if people say, ‘I can no longer visit my grandchilden,’ that sort of thing carries a lot of weight,” Wood said.
“It doesn’t have to be a life or death thing, but how it will change your life by not having the service here.”
Wood said either a personalized letter, or the form letter being circulated, would be effective.
“Some people may not be able to drive five hours to Portland, especially in an elderly community,” Wood said. “Write your own letter on why the service is important to you and send it to the governor and to Dennis DeVany. The number of letters carries a lot of weight in their decision.”
To obtain a copy of the letter and personalize it to e-mail or mail to DeVany, contact Koch at
dkoch@stebbinsandcoffey.com and he will e-mail the letter as well as information on how to link to the DOT docket management system Web site to monitor comments and objections.
Or, write an objection letter of your own and send it to: Dennis DeVany, Chief, EAS & Domestic Analysis, U.S. Department of Transportation, 1200 New Jersey Ave. SE, Washington, D.C. 20590; and Governor Ted Kulongoski, 160 State Capitol, 900 Court Street, Salem, OR 97301-4047.
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