My Turn: Don't let Scottsdale bureaucrats' indifference lose a historical gift
Last year, Scottsdale City Council unanimously approved a $24 million project, funded by the Airport Enterprise Funds, to build a new terminal for the Scottsdale Airport. The old terminal, built in 1968, will be replaced with a long-overdue modern facility.
Along with the new building, which will house the Civil Air Patrol, U.S. Customs, administration and a new restaurant with an upstairs observation deck, the city has been approached by a non-profit group, Thunderbird Field II Veterans Memorial Inc., to display a Boeing Stearman PT-17 biplane, the very aircraft used for training at the now Scottsdale Airport during WWII.
Along with this amazing airplane, restored to its former glory, will be a monument with information on Thunderbird Field II (Scottsdale Airport) and its military history.
Service plaques for all our armed forces, as well as the revered POW-MIA plaque, will be on display, along with WWII memorabilia on the parklike plaza below the Stearman, which will be hung by cables above. This non-profit group is willing to graciously donate the Stearman at a cost to it of over $200,000. Also, it will take care of the maintenance and cleaning.
Historic undertaking
Thunderbird Fields II was established in 1942. Of the pilots trained then, 10 to 20 percent were women. By the time Thundebird II was deactivated in 1944, over 5,500 students had graduated from the Army Air Corp pilot training with over 26 million miles in the Boeing Stearman PT-17. The field was purchased in 1966 by the city of Scottsdale and became today's world-renowned Scottsdale Municipal Airport.
In order for the city to receive this magnificent gift of our early history, a decorative wall must be built around the Stearman to protect it from the elements. The expected expense of this enclosure will be about $412,000.
Because of FAA rules, the cost of this protective enclosure cannot be part of the capital budget of the new terminal.
The City Council is looking for ways to fund the enclosure, but time is running out. In order to get the enclosure included in the design blueprints we must act fast.
At our last Council meeting, several suggestions were put forth as to how we should fund it or not at all. Some council members suggested we use public-art money. Others suggested tourism bed tax. A couple of Council members balked at using general-fund money as it might appear as an unneeded expense. One area not suggested was capital fund contingency money. Finally the Council moved to direct staff to come back to us with a more detailed cost analysis and funding mechanisms.
Since then members of the public-art committee have stated they are not willing to use their public-art funds because they consider it merely a structure.
The tourism task force likewise said it is not really a tourism-related expense and, again, some on the Council didn't want to use the general-fund money to fund the enclosure.
Prevent a tragedy
It would be a shame to let this gift of a real WWII Boeing Stearman PT-17 biplane slip through our hands because of bureaucratic indifference.
I am of the opinion that we could use a percentage of all the funds, tourism, art and capital, to fund this project.
Thunderbird Fields II is our legacy, and this is our chance to remember and preserve that legacy.
Thank you to the members of Thunderbird Fields II Veterans Memorial Inc. for this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.
If we don't act, this gift will not come back.
That is why I am writing to ask for your help.
If you agree it's a worthy expense for our city's airport and our legacy, then I urge each one of you to contact the city at www.scottsdaleaz.gov/council and urge the Council to find the funding source for the Boeing Stearman WWII biplane enclosure before time runs out.
Guy Phillips is a member of the Scottsdale City Council.