(Corrections:  The story states that Shuttle America has eight operations a
day.  In fact, it has 20.  Also, private jets are not the "most prevalent"
aircraft, but they are the noisiest:  in 1999, jets conducted eight percent
of the operations, but produced 92 percent of the civilian noise exposure.)

Lexington Minuteman
Thursday, July 19, 2001

Save Our Heritage, ShhAir: It's ours to protect
By Cara Moultrup, correspondent

The hum of an aircraft grows loud as seven residents of Lincoln, Lexington
and Concord stand holding signs and attempting to hand information packets
to all who pass by Hanscom Civil Airfield, Lincoln at noon on Tuesday.

Picketing - now known as "leafletting" - at Hanscom is a joint project of
the groups Save Our Heritage and Safeguarding the Historic Hanscom Area's
Irreplaceable Resources (ShhAir). Sometimes two, sometimes as many as 10,
the picketers are residents of the four Hanscom area towns - Lincoln,
Lexington, Concord and Bedford - and most are members of one or both groups.
In May, they returned to their summer schedule of three hour-long picketing
slots per day, every day.

They are out there, says Project Director Marty Pepper Aisenberg of Save Our
Heritage, to inform Shuttle America passengers of the harm commercial
aviation at Hanscom causes, to tell Shuttle America they are in a community
where they aren't wanted, and to keep up political pressure on the
Massachusetts Port Authority, the agency that owns and operates Hanscom.

Aisenberg, the only staff in the volunteer organization, coordinates the
picketing to ensure that all three shifts are covered. Shuttle America has
four take-offs and four landings - for a total of eight operations - per
day. Shifts are based on clusters of two or more operations in an hour
block.

Massport has given the groups a license to picket, provided they observe
certain limitations. The group stays on the sidewalk and out of people's
way. Regular travelers are more interested in the convenience than the
parks, the picketers say.

However, others do accept the packet, which includes an Amtrak schedule, a
listing of other regional airports, and an explanatory sheet about the
historic district.

"Quite a few people are unaware of the park," said picketer Sarah Marcotte,
a Lincoln resident. "[They] say, 'Oh, I'm sorry, I won't fly in here again.'
"

For its part, Shuttle America says in its own pamphlets, available at the
terminal, that its planes are "among the quietest, least polluting and
environmentally friendly regional aircraft in service today." It argues it
has offered convenient and significantly cheaper service, and that it has
been "honest and direct" in dealing with area towns and the groups who
oppose commercial service, "who sometimes demonstrate in front of the Civil
Air Terminal."

Picketer Mary Derbyshire moved to Lincoln a year ago from Evanston, Ill. She
doesn't remember her realtor even mentioning the airport in the area, let
alone that the house was under a flight path. Concern for her neighborhood
and the historical park that had drawn her there led her to join the
picketers only three months after her move, in September 2000.

ShhAir now has a membership of around 1800, according to its Web site. It
has existed for about 10 years, about seven of those in its first
incarnation as People against Hanscom Expansion, according to past president
and Lincoln resident Jim Henderson. Founded around 1990, PAHE was the first
joint attempt by the Hanscom area towns to address the legal and
environmental issues with which Massport confronted them. PAHE was
reorganized and renamed in February 1997.

Group members cite environmental and historical issues with Hanscom's
growing use. The environmental impacts of a commercial airport include air
and noise pollution from planes and traffic. The historical sites
potentially harmed by Hanscom are visited by millions every year, Aisenberg
said. The two "poster sites" - literally, in fact, those listed on
demonstrators' posters - are Minuteman National Historic Park and Walden
Pond. In addition, Orchard House is close by, and currently considered in
fragile condition, which preservationists say might be exacerbated by the
vibration from low-flying aircraft.

"We have only one place where the Revolution began, and that's here," said
picketer Jane Gharibian, whose Lexington home is not in a flight path.

Shuttle America, which began operations at Hanscom in 1999, was "the camel's
nose under the tent," Aisenberg said. "By allowing it, Massport and the FAA
fundamentally changed the character of the airport." According to the ShhAir
Web site, Hanscom is currently the busiest general aviation airport in New
England, with more than 200,000 operations in the year 2000. The commercial
aviation the organizations are fighting are currently a small part of what
is called the fleet mix, or the different types of planes on the field,
Aisenberg said. Most prevalent are private jets, which are the noisiest and
most polluting part of the fleet mix, he said. Jet operations have increased
by 111 percent since 1995.

The growth at Hanscom has come with many area residents protesting the whole
way. Many are angry not only at the outcome, but at the process. Lincoln
resident Mary Ann Brosnan-Williams pickets partly because of what she sees
as Massport "railroading," a process that keeps towns out of the planning of
their own development.

Massport "is seen as an 800-pound gorilla that gets whatever it wants,"
Aisenberg said. "Massport has the powers of a corporation and the power of a
government agency without the accountability of either." It is neither
politically accountable, like a government agency, nor subject to local
zoning regulations, like a corporation.

Brosnan-Williams concludes, "A democracy is to put your feet where your
mouth is," she said. "Get out there and protest."

If not Massport, the airlines seem to be listening. US Air and Cape Air have
recently withdrawn their proposal, to much fanfare. While some doubters
suggest the pullout was based more on the bottom line than concern for the
area, the groups wouldn't be entirely disappointed with that. Henderson
said, "If [US Air] looked at the area and said it isn't a good business
decision, maybe more airlines should look at that." Shuttle America is "not
being terribly successful," Henderson points out, and ShhAir likes to think
it had some impact there, as well.

ShhAir is also proud of its document "Hanscom at the Crossroads," Henderson
said. Bringing together many Massachusetts towns, it asks Massport for a
moratorium on further expansion until all regional transit options have been
explored. They are insistent on having a voice, he says.

As to leafletting, "we won't quit," Henderson says. This is what is
happening where they live, he said, and "this is our highest priority."


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