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Feb. 4, 2024 Editor, The News-Gazette: I read most of the article in the N-G about the supervisors meeting in which the proposed airport was discussed. But I had lost the first part of the story, so I don’t know who is proposing the idea or why. Based on what I read, the only supervisor who asked the right question was Bob Day: “Why build an airport for private planes?”
Indeed. Why sacrifice good farmland and ruin the quality of any number of people’s lives so some rich guys can land their private planes? Ms. Flint’s response was textbook: “It will boost economic development efforts.”
What does that mean? Another Chick-fil-A? Another Dunkin Donuts? Another completely disfunctional Starbucks? Another Dollar store? Or perhaps Ms. Flint envisions Route 11 becoming the nightmare that is now 29 North out of Charlottesville toward the airport, a strip of Hell that would cause God to take his own life if he had to drive it.
The reason that people have always wanted to come to Lexington and Rockbridge County to start new lives and businesses was because this place was unique. Life was slow, people were friendly, and the roads were not packed with traffic and lined with shopping centers and the ubiquitous Lowe’s and Walmart Supercenters. Those days are already gone. My God, we used to have a department store, a real hardware store, a sporting goods store, countless diners, car dealerships, building suppliers, and the best second- hand shop in the world right here in Lexington, just to name a few. Lexington is ruined now, all in the name of economic development. Rockbridge County is on the cusp of ruin.
The question of whether or not to build a completely unnecessary airport should at least be a matter of referendum, voted on by citizens, not decided by supervisors and City Council members. In case there’s any doubt, I vote no. PHILLIP WELCH Rockbridge County
