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There would be lawsuits and total outrage in Atlanta if the state attempts that. Potest and violence at the state capital if they try and take control from democratic, black leadership and give it to Republican, whites.
City of Atlanta has invested and developed HJIA into the world's busiest and most efficient airport.
What does Delta say about all this? They're the real 800 pound gorilla out there.
There would be lawsuits and total outrage in Atlanta if the state attempts that. Potest and violence at the state capital if they try and take control from democratic, black leadership and give it to Republican, whites.
City of Atlanta has invested and developed HJIA into the world's busiest and most efficient airport.
Quote:
Originally Posted by arjay57
What does Delta say about all this? They're the real 800 pound gorilla out there.
My view is just leave well enough alone.
Delta is strongly opposed to the idea of the State of Georgia taking away control of Hartsfield-Jackson Airport from the City of Atlanta and selling the airport to private investors.
But the state legislators behind this think that they've got public opinion on their side in the rest of the state outside of the 134 square-mile area of the City of Atlanta proper.
The state legislators behind this airport takeover effort probably might also think that they've some kind of other legal and/or financial leverage, beyond just public opinion alone, that potentially might give them an advantage in a possible future legal struggle with the City of Atlanta over control of the airport.
The wild card is what the rest of the metro Atlanta and North Georgia business community outside of Delta Airlines thinks about this effort to have the state takeover Hartsfield-Jackson Airport and sell it to private investors.
I suspect this effort may be picking up some degree of steam with the larger metro Atlanta/North Georgia business community beyond Delta Airlines because of the way that this state airport takeover effort is being sold as a way to both minimize corruption in Atlanta Airport operations and push for a second major airport in metro Atlanta/North Georgia somewhere north of I-20.
It looks like they are going to try and push this effort to have the state takeover the airport as a way of breaking up a City of Atlanta/Delta Airlines monopoly on air travel... A concept that plays really well in the much of the rest of the state outside of the City of Atlanta proper where conservative white voters often may not think all that highly of Atlanta's left-leaning black and progressive political leadership.
There obviously is a lot of resentment amongst conservative whites in much of the state over the largest city in the state being led by blacks and progressives.
There also is much resentment in much of the rest of Georgia over such a large and successful airport being controlled by a black and progressive-dominated municipal government in the City of Atlanta.
This state airport takeover effort plays directly into that lingering simmering resentment by conservative rural and exurban whites towards Atlanta's black and progressive-lead city government.
This state airport takeover effort plays directly into the feelings of anger and resentment by conservative rural and exurban whites who would like to see Atlanta's black and progressive leadership 'taken down a notch' and 'put in their place.'
And what better way for the City of Atlanta's black and progressive leadership to be 'taken down a notch' and 'put in their place' than to have the centerpiece of their massive success gleefully and forcefully taken away from them by the deeply conservative rural and exurban whites who (still) dominate Georgia's state government.
There also seems to be some motivation on the part of more socially conservative rural and exurban legislators to strike back at Delta Airlines in a profound way and put Delta 'in its place' for being so outspoken in its opposition on hot-button political issues like religious liberty and gun rights... Two hot-button political issues that Georgia's deeply conservative rural and exurban voters really strongly and fervently support.
Rural and exurban conservatives who don't like Delta Airlines' progressive political stances on those issues think that the airline's favorable position as the dominant airline at Hartsfield-Jackson Airport gives both Delta and the City of Atlanta too much power and leverage in opposing and stopping legislation strongly favored by social and cultural conservatives in the Georgia General Assembly.
...And rural and exurban conservatives think that taking away control of the airport from the City of Atlanta would take much of that political power and leverage to affect the state's legislative agenda away from both Delta Airlines and the City of Atlanta.
With that said, these state airport takeover attempts do not necessarily seem to have much of a successful track record.
Previous attempts by conservative rural and exurban white Georgia state legislators to control of Hartsfield-Jackson away from the City of Atlanta have often gone nowhere, often because the state was unwilling to come up with even a fraction of the money that would be required to possibly successfully execute such a takeover attempt after years of lawsuits, litigation and compensation were figured in.
In neighboring North Carolina (where there is a similar amount of simmering anger and resentment by conservative rural legislators towards the state's urban municipal governments and large population centers), the City of Charlotte successfully (if not somewhat seemingly barely) beat back a serious attempt by the North Carolina state government to execute a very hostile takeover of Charlotte-Douglas International Airport.
There has also been some talk that the leader of this effort to have the state takeover control of the Atlanta Airport (Republican Georgia state Senator Burt Jones of Jackson) and his family has some kind of financial vendetta against the Atlanta Airport and the CoA and/or some major financial incentive in pushing to have the state take control of the airport away from the City of Atlanta.
There also is much resentment in much of the rest of Georgia over such a large and successful airport being controlled by a black and progressive-dominated municipal government in the City of Atlanta.
They are the ones who abandoned it for the suburbs.
That's what potentially should be worrying to those who want to see Hartsfield-Jackson Airport remain under the control of the City of Atlanta.
When the FAA made its rulings in favor of the City of Charlotte and against North Carolina's attempted state takeover of Charlotte's airport, the FAA was under the control of a Democratic presidential administration.
During this potentially building effort by GOP Georgia legislators to push through a state takeover of Atlanta's airport, the FAA is now under the control of a Republican presidential administration... A presidential administration that does not always play by and honor existing rules that may have been established under past federal administrations.
If the backers of this state airport takeover effort can get state leaders like Georgia House Speaker David Ralston and incoming Governor Brian Kemp on their side, then I can see them also getting national Georgia figures like the Perdue cousins (GOP Georgia U.S. Senator David Perdue, and U.S. Agricultural Secretary and former Georgia Governor Sonny Perdue) to pressure Donald Trump to weigh into this airport takeover dispute (on behalf of his close and loyal allies, Brian Kemp, David Perdue and Sonny Perdue) to pressure the FAA to make a decision that is favorable to Republicans both in Georgia and nationally.
Just because the FAA ruled in favor of the City of Charlotte keeping control of its airport during its dispute with the State of North Carolina back in the mid-2010's during the Obama Democratic presidential administration does not mean that supporters of the ATL Airport remaining under City of Atlanta control should automatically expect that the FAA will rule in favor of the CoA keeping control of the ATL Airport during a Trump Republican presidential administration that may look to use this situation to score some political points while making a political statement.
Those who support keeping the ATL Airport under the control of the Atlanta city government should not assume that this current push to have the state takeover the ATL Airport will just eventually automatically flame out like it has on previous occasions.
The state's rapidly changing demographics (on the strength of explosive growth in the Atlanta metro area/region) has many of the rural and exurban conservatives who have dominated the state's political scene since the state's founding on edge after the very close and very competitive gubernatorial election back in November.
Those rural and exurban conservatives are looking to prove a point and make some demonstrative statements about how they still control and dominate this state (by attempting to push through conservative-backed pieces legislation that will expand gun rights, implement religious liberty, and take the airport away from Atlanta)... And they've got an ally in a GOP presidential administration lead by an unorthodox who likely may support and encourage their efforts to make those demonstrative statements about their continued political control and dominance of this changing state.
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Born 2 Roll
Yeah, they're not exactly aiming to be reasonable or rational with their anger and resentment towards the City of Atlanta
That's what potentially should be worrying to those who want to see Hartsfield-Jackson Airport remain under the control of the City of Atlanta.
When the FAA made its rulings in favor of the City of Charlotte and against North Carolina's attempted state takeover of Charlotte's airport, the FAA was under the control of a Democratic presidential administration.
During this potentially building effort by GOP Georgia legislators to push through a state takeover of Atlanta's airport, the FAA is now under the control of a Republican presidential administration... A presidential administration that does not always play by and honor existing rules that may have been established under past federal administrations.
If the backers of this state airport takeover effort can get state leaders like Georgia House Speaker David Ralston and incoming Governor Brian Kemp on their side, then I can see them also getting national Georgia figures like the Perdue cousins (GOP Georgia U.S. Senator David Perdue, and U.S. Agricultural Secretary and former Georgia Governor Sonny Perdue) to pressure Donald Trump to weigh into this airport takeover dispute (on behalf of his close and loyal allies, Brian Kemp, David Perdue and Sonny Perdue) to pressure the FAA to make a decision that is favorable to Republicans both in Georgia and nationally.
Just because the FAA ruled in favor of the City of Charlotte keeping control of its airport during its dispute with the State of North Carolina back in the mid-2010's during the Obama Democratic presidential administration does not mean that supporters of the ATL Airport remaining under City of Atlanta control should automatically expect that the FAA will rule in favor of the CoA keeping control of the ATL Airport during a Trump Republican presidential administration that may look to use this situation to score some political points while making a political statement.
Those who support keeping the ATL Airport under the control of the Atlanta city government should not assume that this current push to have the state takeover the ATL Airport will just eventually automatically flame out like it has on previous occasions.
The state's rapidly changing demographics (on the strength of explosive growth in the Atlanta metro area/region) has many of the rural and exurban conservatives who have dominated the state's political scene since the state's founding on edge after the very close and very competitive gubernatorial election back in November.
Those rural and exurban conservatives are looking to prove a point and make some demonstrative statements about how they still control and dominate this state (by attempting to push through conservative-backed pieces legislation that will expand gun rights, implement religious liberty, and take the airport away from Atlanta)... And they've got an ally in a GOP presidential administration lead by an unorthodox who likely may support and encourage their efforts to make those demonstrative statements about their continued political control and dominance of this changing state.
But are any of the major political players in this state (or even the FAA) willing to take on the sleeping giant that is Delta Air Lines? They've been pretty clear as to which way they wish this to swing.
Inside of the MyAJC article that you linked to were links to other AJC articles on the airport takeover issue.
One of the linked-to AJC articles talked about how some notable international airports around the world were being privatized and run by private investor-owned companies, including major international airports like London Heathrow, Frankfurt, Paris/Charles DeGaulle, Osaka and Sydney.
One statement in the article by the leading proponent of the effort to have the state take control of the airport from the City of Atlanta (Republican Georgia state Senator Burt Jones of Jackson) really stuck out:
Basically, what this group of conservative rural and outer-exurban legislators want to do is to have the State of Georgia take control of the airport away from the City of Atlanta and then have the state sell the airport to private investors.
The sale of the airport to private investors is most likely how they plan to compensate the City of Atlanta (at well below market-value, of course) for the takeover... That is, if the the courts require them to compensate the city at all... They plan to pay the City of Atlanta as little as possible, preferably nothing if they can get away with doing so.
Otherwise, they plan to sell to have most (if not all) of the money from the sale of the airport go directly into state coffers.
It all makes total sense now. I've seeing for many months comments from various state legislators about how much money they thought the state might be able to get out of Hartsfield-Jackson Airport.
Many people (like myself) might have thought that they were just talking about squeezing savings out of the airport, but what they've really been talking about all along is selling the airport to private investors.
I've seeing and hearing statements from various sources that this current push to have the state takeover the Atlanta Airport possibly might be much more of a sustained effort than previous state airport takeover efforts might have been in the past.
The defeat of Georgia Lt. Governor Casey Cagle to Georgia Secretary of State Brian Kemp in the GOP gubernatorial primary might have slowed this airport takeover effort down just a bit.
Cagle was the business community's point man on transportation infrastructure issues and was a big proponent of having the state takeover locally-controlled pieces of transportation infrastructure (like MARTA and the Atlanta Airport) and sell them to private investors at a profit to the state.
It is not yet clear if Brian Kemp would be interested in having the state takeover locally-controlled pieces of transportation infrastructure like MARTA and the Airport as governor. Kemp has really said nothing about it during his career as a state politician.
But even with Cagle gone out of state government and Kemp having yet to signal whether he is really interested in the issue, the change in leadership in the Georgia state Senate from outgoing veteran politician and Lt. Governor Casey Cagle to incoming Lt. Governor Geoff Duncan presents the state senators behind this state airport takeover and privatization idea with an opportunity to push it on an inexperienced senate leader who will be under the threat of having most of his leadership powers stripped during at least his first two years or so in office.
The state Senate appears to be where this effort to takeover the Atlanta Airport is originating from and is the most active.
What I suspect that they might do is attempt to use some kind of quirk in Georgia state law (something like the law that says that municipalities (cities and towns) are the creation of the state) that forces the City of Atlanta to hand over control of the airport to the state.
I obviously do not know this for certain, but I suspect that they might try and use that kind of quirk in state law as leverage to force the City of Atlanta to hand over control of the airport in exchange for a modest fee paid from the sale of the airport to private investors or threaten the city with no compensation and no representation in the privatization deal if the city refuses to cooperate.
I suspect that they think that they may have something up their sleeve (possibly in the form of some kind of quirk in Georgia state law) that can could help a state takeover of Hartsfield-Jackson Airport withstand the resulting court challenges. Whether that is actually the case or not would remain to be seen.
In any case, I've heard that this latest state airport takeover effort is not something that is likely to go away very quickly this time and that this probably should be taken more seriously than previous state airport takeover efforts which ultimately went nowhere.
Would there be any advantage to the CofA beating the state to the punch and selling to private investors first and keeping the money for the city? Finish the Belt line? Add MARTA HRT lines? Rebuild the sewer system? Invest in other infrastructure and developments?
Just a thought. Thinking of a worst case scenario where this does happen and Atlanta gets nothing out of its premiere (or one of them) asset?
Once again republicans try to set the state in reverse. No surprise there.
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