NEWS RELEASE: for immediate release May 14, 2004

Councilman Fred Ronstadt’s DM meeting draws loud criticism from neighborhoods. Citizens voice safety, noise, pollution, property value concerns, but DM and city offer no relief.

Contact: Jeneiene Schaffer

TUCSON – An invite-only meeting Tuesday night called by City Councilman Fred Ronstadt drew a firestorm of criticism from citizens towards Davis-Monthan
Air Force Base (DM). About 40 representatives from neighborhood associations (NA) affected by DM attended this meeting, which was closed to the general public. In a nearly unanimous show of dissatisfaction, concerns included lost hearing due to jet noise, lost property value, personal safety, air pollution, the closing of the Julia Keen School, and D-M’s lack of cooperative communication and problem-solving with the Tucson community.

A major concern of residents is a 2003 Joint Land Use Study revelation that D-M plans to increase flights by over 100%, using louder aircraft and more night flights.

“The Air Force itself found that DM has the most severe urban encroachment problem of all Air Force bases,” said Jeneiene Schaffer, co-chair of Tucsonans for Quality-of-Life and resident of the historic Santa Rita/Armory Park neighborhood south of downtown, which long pre-dates DM. “D-M has no meaningful plan to mitigate the growing harm to quality-of-life in Tucson. Perhaps Tucson has outgrown DM?”

DM Vice Commander Col. Michael Spencer conceded that it was a problem. Near the end of the meeting he asked the audience to tell him what ‘he could do for them.’ The repeated request was to move flights away from the city. “I can't do that,” he said, to the disappointment and anger of residents.

The next round of base closure and realignment is set to begin in 2005, although some in congress are pushing for an unwise two-year delay. The Base Realignment and Closure Commission (BRACC) may close up to 25% of U.S. military bases to improve military efficiency. Urban encroachment is a major factor considered by BRACC. TQL plans to organize citizens to influence policy and the next Base Realignment and Closure Commission (BRACC) process.

TQL wants DM to move flights away from the city, especially older neighborhoods in the central city that pre-date the base. TQL is not calling for DM to close, at this time.

TQL is considering a citizens’ noise and flight altitude monitoring program, where citizens across the city would record noise and altitude data.

Past crashes of DM-based aircraft have killed people on-the-ground in Tucson, and Air Force records show over 33 DM-based aircraft have crashed in the last decade. Increasing flights would increase pollution, noise, lost property value, and crash risks.

Tucsonans for Quality-of-Life is holding its next public meeting Wednesday, May 19th, 6:30-8pm at the Armory Park Center, 220 S. 5th Ave. Media is welcome. Their first meeting in April drew a diverse group representing many neighborhoods.