Palomar Airport: Portugal & Palomar, Blog #49

No blog last week.  My wife and I had the good fortune to spend a week in Portugal.  A nice trip.  A beautiful country.

But also a reminder of how politicians around the world build projects promoted by consultants that should have been questioned.  Just like the Kimley-Horn Palomar Runway extension financial predictions supporting a Palomar runway extension should be questioned.

Portugal: Excessive Debt Spending and Questionable Infrastructure Projects

Like Greece and a few other European Union members, Portugal teeters on the brink of defaulting on its debts.  In part, the debt results from ill-advised infrastructure projects trumpeted by Portuguese officials.  

While we were on bus tours, the tour guides mentioned several examples of troubled Portuguese projects.

One project involved a Portuguese toll road with problems similar to the Orange County toll roads discussed in Blog 45.   Like Orange County, Portugal drastically overestimated the willingness of Portuguese travelers to pay to use roads that historically had been free.

For us as bus passengers, the Portuguese toll road was wonderful.  On a Saturday 120 mile two hour tour, we saw perhaps 25 other vehicles on the road.  As the tour guide noted, Portuguese citizens studiously avoid the toll road to signal their displeasure to the politicians.

The second project involved an uncompleted rail bridge between two cities that was not financially sustainable.   Apparently, the uncompleted bridge amused some citizens in City A who occasionally call the officials in City B to ask if the train will be on time.  Always good to have a sense of humor even when political folly taxes the taxpayers.  The Portuguese project financing feasibility sounded disturbingly like the proposed California bullet train, also discussed in Blog 45.

Palomar, the September 25, 2013 Board of Supervisors Meeting, and Trade Trips to China

At its September 25, 2013 County Board of Supervisors meeting, the Board received the nearly $700,000 Kimley-Horn report.  On September 20, 2013, five days before the Board meeting, I emailed a 10-page letter to the County Clerk for distribution to Board members.  The letter explained why the Kimley-Horn financial analysis was seriously flawed and pointed out other problems with the KH Study.

Before the Board voted to receive the report, Kimley-Horn made a 10 minute presentation extolling in part the qualifications of the economic team that participated in making the recommendation.  However, the Board did not ask KH any pointed questions or ask KH to address several points I made in the letter to the Board of Supervisors.

In other words, the Board action was pro forma.  The Board had no desire to truly inquire whether the Kimley-Horn financial analysis was supportable.  The reason became clear quickly, perhaps intentionally, perhaps inadvertently.

Carlsbad Mayor Matt Hall and a County Board of Supervisor member noted that trade trips to China included discussion of the desirability of using Palomar Airport.

In other words, the County and Carlsbad are focusing on developing a regional airport for planes capable of 7,000 mile flights.   Not on preserving the local Carlsbad character, one of the alleged Carlsbad planning goals that Carlsbad officials wish to ignore.

Should the interests of 100 corporate executives who wish to fly to China in larger corporate jets and who could easily be driven the 30 miles from Lindbergh Field to Carlsbad be placed over the interests of the 100,000+ residents who live near Palomar Airport?