Boston Herald
Friday, November 8, 2002

Crowds end Hanscom meeting

By Greg Gatlin

Opponents of airline expansion at Hanscom Field packed a meeting last night -- solid. Fire officials shut the meeting down, with nothing accomplished, because they considered the bodies packing the aisles and rear of Bedford Town Hall's auditorium a danger.

"This surpasses all our expectations," said Anna Winter, executive director of activist group Save Our Heritage. "You hope for 300, 350 people, (but) we had hundreds that couldn't get in the front door."

Winter guessed there were up to 800 people trying to attend in a hall meant to hold perhaps half that. Tom Ennis, a senior project manager with Massport, said he didn't want to guess.

State officials offered to hold a second meeting for members of the audience who would leave, Ennis said, but the idea was rejected.

A meeting to be set and held this month -- at an undetermined larger venue -- will include the presentations and question-and-answer period intended for last night. But many attending were expected to voice their opposition to a Massport report forecasting growth at the airport, which straddles Bedford, Lincoln, Lexington and Concord.

Activists say the report forecasts dramatic air-traffic growth by 2015 that could turn Hanscom into "a major commercial jetport." They are also bristling at forecasts of early morning cargo-jet arrivals.

Massport spokesman Jose Juves said earlier that the Environmental Status and Planning Report suggested that Hanscom is a bit player in affecting the area's environment, although one report scenario assumes commercial pasenger service could bring 84 takeoffs and landings per day and 660,000 passengers through Hanscom per year by 2015 -- a 479 percent increase from 2001 passenger levels.

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