Licon: East San Jose families must fight to close county airport

April 12, 2024April 12, 2024

Licon: East San Jose families must fight to close county airport

Activists and residents gathered at Reid-Hillview Airport to demand its closure after a plane crashed in 2022. File photo.

My family has been distressed by Reid-Hillview Airport for decades.

And it all stems from our East San Jose community being marginalized and our concerns over safety, lead and noise downplayed at every turn.

The one constant: a dismissive, kick-the-can-down-the-road attitude toward preparing for Reid-Hillview’s closure and the harm the airport has done. The marginalization and silence must stop on this issue. I’m calling on everyone to get to work now and don’t stop until the final plane comes in for landing on the East Side.

My family lives right by the airport. It’s the same house my parents bought in the 1970s, after they were redlined and not shown homes in other San Jose neighborhoods because they were Mexican Americans.

My children used to attend Meyer Elementary School, immediately adjacent to the airport, but were too frightened to go there after a plane crashed into a fence near the school a couple years ago. My children said they were too scared to play on the field and blacktop just feet from the airport runway and where the crash happened. They wouldn’t stop talking about it and the anxiety from seeing the aftermath.

The Santa Clara County Board of Supervisors meets on April 16 and will be discussing the potential future use of the airport.

Veronica Gonzalez Licon is an East San Jose parent.

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Comments (8)

D Kyne Apr 13, 2024 at 4:35AM

My grandfather bought a house on White and Mt Vista in 1964. He is white as a ghost. My mom went to overfelt. Stop with your red lining nonsense. You could have sold during the dot com run and moved to Los Altos. Crying about spilled milk is getting old.

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- earlo jones Apr 14, 2024 at 2:58PM
  
  Agree
  
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Silicon Jack Apr 13, 2024 at 12:21PM

Ms. Licon should study the facts about Reid Hillview Airport which don’t support her emotional appeal. Nobody on the ground has been killed or injured by an aircraft incident, which is why there are safety zones around the airport. Can she say that about car accidents, or violent crime in the neighborhood? Remember, SRI proved in the county-funded study 90’s that aviation was the safest possible use of the property. In the entire US, fewer than 10 people on the ground have been killed by aircraft over the past ten years. Lightning and snake bites are greater hazards.
And the EPA air studies and county’s soil study within the last 4 years have shown no evidence of lead above county-wide averages. The Zahran study was simply a series of correlations of assumptions based on some state blood testing, and has been negated by the conversion to unleaded fuel since 2021, based on data relied upon by Professor Zahran.
It makes no sense for the county to waste hundreds of thousands of dollars to rush into planning for redevelopment which can’t begin until 2031 at the earliest.

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- earlo jones Apr 14, 2024 at 2:59PM
  
  Exactly
  
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earlo jones Apr 14, 2024 at 2:57PM

As a east side resident for over 40 years the airport doesn’t pose a risk in my opinion. If you have been terrified about the airport for decades why did you purchase a home their or why haven’t you moved. Real estate developer wants to buy this land is what I’m thinking.

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Myth Dispulsion Apr 14, 2024 at 8:06PM

This anti-airport housing development developer stooge behavior, a number of the participants being mere Useful Idiots as elsewhere for the developers, is tiresome.

The airport has been there for ages. It was never any “concern” until the current fever for housing mainly in the form of cheap mass hamster housing flared among some. Nobody forced people to live near the airport if they don’t want to be near one. They can and maybe should MOVE if they don’t like living near that airport. Do not persist with BS of all kinds for getting rid of [insert “airport” this time] to develop housing, seek to harass users and neglect the location, all the other lowlife behaviors we’re seeing.

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Danny Garza Apr 15, 2024 at 7:40AM

Dear Community,

Reid-Hillview Airport will close.

It is not necessary.

Fact –
Fire flights already come from their Air Base in Hollister.
Reid-Hillview is not large enough.

Fact,
The last time fire Helicopters were here, they were here for 3 days…

+1 day to set up
+1 day to fly
+1 day to move to San Martin

1 day of flying was not worth the Taxpayers Dollars needed to bring in equipment and store it for 2 days.

The extra Taxpayers Dollars to move Helicopters to a larger less occupied space was a complete financial drain.

The event should have started their.

There is a truth that is hidden in the Fire Fighting Story.

That truth is the Honest, Clear, Transparent, reasons why there was only onecday of Helicopters and the rest of the Days were flown out of San Martin.

THE FIRE SAFETY ISSUES DO NOT HOLD THEIR OWN WATER.

Fact,
Every action at that location can be moved.

TO ME, GREED IS THE SAFETY ISSUE!!!

IT DOES NOT MATTER WHO WAS AT THE LOCATION FIRST.

Point of Information –
REMEMBER, THE SAN JOSE SPEED WAY WAS SHUT DOWN BECAUSE OF THE NOISE FACTOR.

OPEN HEADDERS – RIGHT?

DO AIRPLANE ENGINES RUN ALL DAY AND NIGHT WITH OPEN HEADDERS ON THEIR MOTORS?????

If the Autos ran on OPEN Headers and were shut down for only running one night a week, why are Airplanes allowed to fly all day and night (without a curfew)?

There is a deliberate call to not address the Financial Issues that worry me more than the Night flying.

What’s the honest answer to Community Health – with and without the studies?

Wealth over Health is my answer.

No Hate Speech
No Personal Attack
No Cursing
All Fact-Checkable
All Truthfulness
All Article Related Comments

That’s my opinion.

I am open for discussion.

In Community Spirit,
Danny Garza
[email protected]

President
Plata Arroyo Neighborhood Association and Gateway East N.A.C.

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- Silicon Jack Apr 15, 2024 at 10:01AM
  
  Manny-
  
  A couple corrections to your message..
  
  1. The Helicopters from Billings Helicopter that based at RHV were ORDERED to leave by the county within minutes of their coverage on Channel 11 news. NO reason given, just an order from county staff to go away. They wanted to remain at RHV. Ask yourself who would be upset by positive news coverage of the airport?
  
  2. Airplanes do have exhaust systems and mufflers, and multiple test have show the noise levels within a block of the airport to be at “lawnmower/leafblower levels”, and lower beyond that range.
  
  3. Look at the actual data regarding safety and health. Look at data regarding existing conversion to unleaded fuels since 2021 that have already eliminated any cause for concerns about lead. Ask yourself and your politician friends why they have done nothing to address lead paint problems or lead in drinking water like Alum Rock Pre-school, despite winning $ millions from the paint companies.
  
  4. Finally, ask any realtor what will happen to commercial and residential rents as soon as the airport closes. Those hoping for parks and unicorn petting zoos will see high-rise housing towers of 120 to 140 units/acre, and skyrocketing rents leading to displacement and gentrification. It is the airport and only the active airport that prevents high-rise construction and increased congestion and keeps housing affordable. The greed is coming from developers anxious to get their hands on the property.
  
  5. Finally, aviation careers are among the best and highest paid in the US. High school kids across the country are gaining education and training for jobs starting at $75K and up through aviation programs in schools linked to airports. Closing Reid Hillview will eliminate those options for kids in San Jose, unless their parents can afford to send them to Southern Calif or another state. (And yes, San Jose its aviation programs if Reid Hillview closes.. It can’t be moved to Morgan Hill..)
  
  Those are the facts…
  
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Licon: East San Jose families must fight to close county airport

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