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From www.examiner.com

Daly backs move to ground Blue Angels show
4 hrs ago » Daly backs move to ground Blue Angels show «

Jun 7, 2007 6:00 AM (4 hrs ago)
by Joshua Sabatini, The Examiner

(Getty Images file photo)
The annual Fleet Week event includes an air show by the Blue Angels, a parade of military ships and tours of United States Navy vessels. SAN FRANCISCO (Map, News) - The annual aerial show by the U.S. Navy’s Blue Angels — a San Francisco tradition dating back to 1981 that pumps millions into the local economy — is running into opposition from three local peace advocacy groups that are calling for a permanent halt to the popular Fleet Week flyover.

CodePink, Global Exchange and Veterans for Peace, Chapter 69, are working with Supervisor Chris Daly on a Board of Supervisors resolution to address concerns over the Blue Angels.

Daly acknowledged he is considering a call to halt the flyovers because, he said, “they seem dangerous and unnecessary.” Daly said he plans on introducing the resolution as early as Tuesday, but is still drafting the language. A resolution is not legally binding, but states a board position.

The Blue Angels, a team of navy fighter pilots, fly over San Francisco during Fleet Week, which this year is scheduled for Oct. 4 through Oct. 9. For four of the six days, the flashy blue- and yellow-striped planes soar through the skies over the northern waterfront at speeds reaching 700 miles per hour, and perform such maneuvers as vertical rolls. As part of the show, six planes group together in tight formation to perform deft maneuvers.

The Blue Angels have 35 air shows scheduled in 2007 in various U.S. locations. Last year, more than 15 million people watched the fighter pilots. (Watch a short video of the 2006 air show in San Francisco.)

Veterans for Peace takes issue with the pro-military message and the recruiting efforts that come along with the annual visit as well as what it refers to as the “noise pollution.” The group calls the event a public safety risk, pointing to the April crash of a Blue Angels plane during an air show in Beaufort, S.C.

Just a slight miscalculation or a mechanical failure can cause a plane to “go barreling into the Golden Gate Bridge or a high-rise and cause a significant amount of damage,” said Paul Cox, a Vietnam veteran and member of the Veterans for Peace.

Edward Leonard, chairman of the San Francisco Fleet Week Committee, said that since the April plane crash, the Blue Angels are back flying and “we think it’s safe.” He added that the planes’ maneuvers require approval by the Federal Aviation Administration, the more challenging maneuvers are conducted over the Bay waters and that “commercial airlines fly over The City all the time.”

Fleet Week attracts about 1 million people to The City’s waterfront and sinks about $4 million into The City’s economy, according to Leonard. When the Blue Angels did not fly over San Francisco in 2004, attendance and revenue dropped by more than 50 percent, he said.

Leonard said Fleet Week comes with a variety of benefits, from boosting the local economy to providing people “a chance to say thanks for the people serving in the military now.”

CodePink has launched an online petition, signed by more than 500 people to date, calling on leaders to end the flyovers for reasons of public safety, air pollution and fuel waste.

Cox said the resolution would establish that city leaders and the public are not in support of having the Blue Angels.

“We can then take the next steps we have to legally stop them,” he said.

jsabatini@examiner.com

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That stinks!
Robbie

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Fly Fast Make Noise!

Wow, way to be good Americans people. Why do people like this get into the media?

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"There are two types of people here; airshow whores and airshow prostitutes. The whores, like you and I, do airshow stuff for free, whereas the prostitutes are paid" - Reg Urschler

SF is a lost cause until some new local leadership gets in there.

Is SF a hippie-heavy city? I've never been out that way. Maybe they can just see how bad the troop casulties are when there's no air-cover.

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"There are two types of people here; airshow whores and airshow prostitutes. The whores, like you and I, do airshow stuff for free, whereas the prostitutes are paid" - Reg Urschler

I live so close to SF and it is like a complete pardox there. The board of stupidvisors are so bass ackwards.....I wish they would just disappear. They have an opportunity to have the USS Iowa there to be a floating museum, but they don't want SF to be shown in the "Military" Light. If they were to take it, they wanted a memorial to the gay and lesbian service people. Give me a break!!!!! Savage says it best, Liberalism is a mental disorder. Other Stupivisor insanities , they just passed a bill to make it illegal to feed the parrots that fly around in golden gate park. There have been a flock of wild parrots that have been around since the sixties or seventies and now they want to site people for feeding them. If it could be a communist city it would.

Even though the last name is spelled differently, I wonder if this Mr. Daly is any relation to the Mayor Daley who is such a great supporter of aviation in Chicago? (Remember Meigs field?)

Steve

Actually it now looks like the Iowa may move to Mare Island in the Bay area, which would be better than Stockton anyday, so some progress may have been made there.

Mark

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Mark Morris

Maybe they should just consider moving it to another location...I am sure someone would like to have that 4 million windfall. As far as a waste of fuel, I wonder how many SUV's were used to drive all of these politicians to the various meetings?

I keep hoping for the "big one" that will dump the peninsula into the bay. I never really understood the Bay Bridge; you have to pay a toll to go over to the San Fransisco side, I would twice the toll to get the heck out!

If the City of San Francisco wants to do something about fuel waste, they should address their traffic problems. The cars sitting in SF traffic waste more fuel in 5 minutes than the Blues use all season.

Walt

I don’t know much about politics, and I really could care less about it. I attempt to stay out of it as much as possible. I know this response is long, read it if you like. Don’t if you don’t want to. I don’t think it’s an angry response. It’s just my 2 cents.

Redneck this...... Hippie that..... (Keep in mind I am NOT bashing anyone here. I do not do that) There is one thing about wanting peace. I believe that everyone really wants peace in the end, but it’s not like flipping off a light switch.

Yes, the Blue Angles are considered a recruitment strategy for the Navy but at the last airshow you went to and they were there, did you have an officer come up to you while you were watching there act and start bugging you?

I believe they are entertainment, First and Foremost. If anything they are more "Americana" and "Iconic" than military in the some 50 years they have been around. Same thing goes for the Thunderbirds. Look at other countries that have demonstration teams. Are all of them based on the idea that they are a means of recruitment?

As for safety, yes it is tragic and sad we lost one recently, but the Blue Angles and Thunderbirds both have excellent records for flying for so long and for so many hours in a given year. I believe that this board or whoever is in charge of this is taking it a step to far. Yes there are safety issues in case of an accident, but the chances are extremely low. As for noise pollution, I don’t thing that too many people would get angry about the Blue Angles being in town for a week. Everybody I’ve seen, watching them always has a sparkle in their eyes. But that’s just me. I’m sure there are people that dislike the noise and sight.

As for the museum thing, that is just plain stupid in my book. It is a MUSEUM! There is nothing and I mean nothing wrong with having the USS Iowa as a floating museum. Yes it is considered a destructive machine, but the history it holds, the symbolism it carries, THE MEMORIES OF THOSE FALLEN AMERICAN SERVICEMEN, SHOULD NOT BE FORGOTTEN!

If you neglect or forget a portion of the past then……, What do you do class?

You’re doomed to repeat it!

It’s a shame we have war, but to not want to accept and showcase the history of combat and war, and to honor our fallen soldiers is something that doesn’t sit quite right with me. I see this same notion in many of my friends here in Connecticut. There not big aviation fans and what not, but it seems that they don’t really have a common knowledge and appreciation for what our veterans and soldiers have done for us in the present and past. Its one thing to feel that there needs to be some rearranging with the seats upstairs, it’s another thing to be against anything military.


I guess I’ve run out of fuel. Sorry about that. I guess I went on a rant there. I’m open to any opposing points. But please, no infuriated responses. It’s a discussion, not a fight. Thanks


Always Keep Em’ Flying,

Chris

What a bunch of rubes. They seem to think if you stick your head in the sand all the evil in the world will go away. Yes, you can scream for peace all you want, but we're already at war, or have they forgotten? Sheesh.

But on the topic of the Blues, has anyone heard about the cause of the crash?

This is YOUR AMERICA. "Staying out of it" is NOT American. It's an American's RIGHT and RESPONSIBILITY to stay aware and intelligent on issues and engaged in the debate (figuratively, not literally).

If not...then the lives of American soldiers lost ARE in vain.

These people use the air pollution and safety issue, but the truth is, they are just plain old anti-military. But I guarantee you, if SF got attacked, they would be sreaming for help faster than Rosie O'Donnell can eat a Big Mac.

Steve G

Staying out of the feces slinging slinging and making intelligent decisions on your own is. Whoopee, a low level politico does a bit of grandstanding by throwing out a radical view. Happens all the time, and isn't worth the paper it's printed on. But it gets the guy some press, and that's all he wanted in the first place. Both sides do it, and it's the part of politics that turns off most people.

When we start boiling things down to silly slogans ("liberalism is a mental disorder", or "1/20/09: end of an error") that's when things get dangerous. We stop thinking about what someone else has to say and just move into a 'classification and dismissal' mode. "Hmm, you're a liberal, so everything you say is obviously wrong." "Hey, he's a conservative, he's a foxnews loving neo-con individual of questionable judgement!"

Sorry for the O/T rant, guess I'm just a bit sick of the crapflood seeping its way under the doors to normally sane (relatively speaking) portions of the web.

/steps off soapbox