Citizen efforts to halt the arrival of the F-35 fighter jets appear to have come up short.
Secretary of the U.S. Air Force Heather Wilson confirmed this week that the planes are still on schedule to arrive at Burlington International Airport next year.
The letter dated May 22 from Wilson to Mayor Miro Weinberger came in response to a city council resolution that requested the Air Force find a new mission for the Vermont Air National Guard. The resolution also included a series of questions about the safety and noise of the planes.
The Air Force’s response? The basing is a done deal.
“This decision was finalized in 2013 after a 48-month review which assessed 205 locations and concluded that the Burlington International Airport was the best Air National Guard option,” Wilson wrote in a letter to Weinberger. “If that decision were to be reversed, the Vermont Air National Guard would likely lose their flying mission upon the retirement of the F-16s.”
With a decreased need for Air Force bases and aircraft since the Cold War, the letter continued, “competition to secure new missions is fierce.” Wilson estimated that the Air Force would make $100 million in capital expenditures in Vermont during the next five years, and would spend $50 million on salaries annually.
Gov. Phil Scott, along with Vermont’s three-member congressional delegation, support the F-35 basing in Burlington.
Citizen opponents have been fighting the jets for five years. They have filed a lawsuit against the Air Force — which was dismissed — held protests, and, most recently, gathered signatures to get the measure on the Town Meeting Day ballot.
Burlingtonians voted 55 percent to 45 percent to advise the city council to halt the basing of the fighter jets. Later in March, the Burlington City Council voted to send Wilson a letter expressing the voters’ request.
Weinberger, though, refused to sign the council resolution, instead writing Wilson to reaffirm his support for the jets.
Now, the F-35 opposition may have finally exhausted its options.
Steven Cray, adjutant general for the Vermont National Guard, responded by thanking Wilson for her decision. “The men and women of the Vermont Air National Guard continue preparing for the arrival of the F-35 in September of 2019,” Cray said in a statement. “We will be ready.”
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I wish I could get the F-35’s screaming outside my window here in Richmond Virginia. I am so proud of such a great plane and the great American men who fly them. I do not understand what is up with the rest of you?
The MIC, the Chamber of Commerce, Miro and the rest of the Neo-liberal Extraction Class win another one.
Those crowing about the “sound of Freedom” are the same ones who squeal for more tax cuts for the 1% and more spending cuts for the poor, disabled ( including Vets) and elderly. They are not patriots, they are Wal Mart patriots, they love the cheap and easy.
That “sound of Freedom” is the reason our infrastructure is so poor, that our healthcare is so expensive, that our schools are crumbling, that many of our elderly live in poverty and that our standing in the world is so low.
Hearing the jets starting up is awesome. I worked in an office for 5 yrs in back of the AFB.. Never bother me, If I was free I would go outside to watch the jets fire up. Hearing them meant to me “The sound of FREEDOM” I’m glad that they are coming. People don’t stop and think that by having the AFB here helps the economy. They buy cars, homes etc.
The F-35 is just another war machine that has fed the military-industrial complex. Cost overruns have been ridiculous, but anything for the war profiteers I guess.
There’s no greater irony than jingoist celebration over ear-piercing Cold War machinery while simultaneously complaining about the volume of the voices opposed to it. It seems that “freedom” has a strange new definition.
Weinberger should have been voted out!
Sound of freedom coming get over it.
I can’t wait to hear the sound of freedom! Welcome to Vermont the newest plane of the Green Mountain Boys!
It seems like when a vote confirms Mayor Weinbegers agenda (see the mall TIF vote and zoning change) he claims popular support and a mandate, but when citizens vote against his wishes, he seems to just ignore the vote (see: $15 minimum wage, F-35).
Whats the point of voting on ballot items if our elected officials will pick and choose which ones theyll follow through on?
Weinberger, though, refused to sign the council resolution, instead writing Wilson to reaffirm his support for the jets.
If a group of developers wanted him to sign I bet he would have.