If I were looking for a $150 dollar hamburger, used to be a $100 where would I go?
K39 St Clair Airport. click the link to see what pilots see when they are looking for a place to go.
http://www.aopa.org/airports/K39
Are these the only thing so see near St Clair Airport? It's FREE to list your business, you can't beat FREE!
This data is provided by the city and businesses. Is the administration not proud of what the city and and surrounding area has to offer, what about the chamber ??? There should be 50 listings here. Is there nothing to eat, shop, golf, B&B, recreational activities or places to stay in St Clair. Why not promote the local already established businesses in St Clair, instead of selling them out for Big Box store who they can't even name. In my opinion St Clair is not about Big Box store, it's about people. Dumke and the Misserian always end their articles with "none of the pilots live in St Clair" who cares, we like St Clair and the people there, otherwise we would just leave. Don't you think others would too??? Do you want St Clair to look like north county with abandoned businesses and shopping centers??? Small town friendliness and hospitality are the assets. They are The Crown Jewel of St Clair, not Big Box store.
Small airplane pilots like us, enjoy flying to
ReplyDeletedifferent airports, usually only about an hour away, and have a hamburger. Or for breakfast.
I know that St. Clair has a lake called, Of course, Lake St. Clair.
I want to mention that the cost to buy and operate a small airplane, is about the same as owning and using a decent SKI Boat. On Lake ST. Clair.
Most of Dumpsey's comment makes no sense. Of course, what else does one expect from someone like him? ... The one part of it that does make sense is the part about the small town friendliness St. Clair has. We have that friendliness because none of the St. Clair airport tenants live here.
ReplyDeleteThat's the ugliness I was referring to. Even when someone is trying to be constructive, he gets kicked in the teeth. What's wrong with everybody?
ReplyDeleteThank you for your comment critter, neither of our comments would be in the missourian. Your 1st amendment rights are protected here. The topic was posted to show the good things about St Clair, do you not have anything nice you want to say that you like about the area? You say "we have that friendliness because none of the airport tenants live in St Clair" that doesn't sound friendly to me, it sounds rather hateful. Please explain to us why one must live in St Clair to be a part of the community? What part of my comments make no sense? Do you even live in St Clair? please tell us your name. I tell you mine. What have you ever done to help the city? We are trying to help.
ReplyDeleteTim, you've got a good point. I spent some time on-line trying to identify "What to do in St. Clair", and it ain't easy! The Chamber/City website, as nice as it is, still doesn't seem to have a list of businesses (not even members?) with contact info and links to related websites. You'd think that should be a bare minimum Chamber service. Of course, now that google et. al. are the source of all knowledge, that can be used by a determined potential visitor, but just try it and see what you turn up about Restaurants, Lodging, Transportation, etc. It's a search! And it's obvious that no one local is trying to market themselves there either. AOPA is a source for marketing to pilots, an admittedly limited nitche, but again the minimum we should be doing to take advantage of the St. Clair Regional Airport. But google? Surely businesses should google themselves once in a while and leave some positive info to counter comments by the occasional disgruntled traveler. So, I think you have touched a sore spot. Unfortunately, this community just can't seem to get it's act together in the most basic way, as hard as they try. And having watched the wheels spin for years, I KNOW it's not just "the pilots" standing in the way of progress.
ReplyDeleteConcerned Critter, Is your comment an example of St. Clair friendlyless?
ReplyDeleteIt is quite interesting that the Mayor, Dumke and the Missourian believe the airport should exclusively serve only St. Clair residents to justify its existence. Gee, it would be the one and only entity in St. Clair with that distinction. So, the proposed big box store should also meet this criteria and not benefit from serving out-of-towners?
ReplyDeleteTo Observer and Concerned Critter;
DeleteThe point of serving just St. Clair is this: Most of the newspaper articles state that none of the Pilots live in St. Clair. That's because the Airport is a PUBLIC use Airport.
Airports that have been improved with money from the FAA/Government such as ST. Clair is paid for with Aircraft Fuel tax.
I don't think it's ever been said by anyone including by the mayor and the newspaper that St. Clair only should serve St. Clair people. And what's wrong with people? We St. Clair people are annoyed that the airport tenants are trying to handcuff this city so we're happy that they don't live here. That is what is happening any way you try to analyze this situation. ... Oh, and I guess it's OK on this blog for a tenant to degrade someone, like the newspaper editor, by changing or making fun of his name but when a non-pilot does it to a pilot, they get accused of being "ugly". That just goes to show you what's really going on here. Dempsey started that and he should be man enough to apologize for it. ... And, by the way, I called The Missourian office, something I bet you guys don't do, and discovered they have changed their posting policy. Apparently, one has to be a subscriber of the print edition to be able to post comments on their website. The change was that simple. ... Oh, and I easily found a list of chamber members of the chamber's website when I looked. It's still funny that the tenants are dragging the paper and now the chamber into this situation just because these entities just so happen to agree with the city. Are you next going to blast the school district, the fire district and the ambulance district, too, because they are siding with the city on this issue? And then it will be the county because they side with the city too. And then it will be the cities of Washington and Sullivan because they are on St. Clair's side, too. ... St. Clair has a ton of great, friendly people. That is our city's strength. You pilots are proving you're not very nice people. If you were, you would try to help, not hurt. And what is wrong with St. Clair people wanting what is best for St. Clair, which is this case is closing our airport? ... It is true that there isn't a whole lot to do in St. Clair. That mostly because St. Clair doesn't have much money. That is not the administration's fault. The administration is trying to help that situation by closing the airport so the tax base can grow and we can start to bring some "fun" things into our town.
ReplyDeleteI stand corrected about the list of business members on the Chamber Website. It's there and searchable. I just didn't see it the first time I looked. Thanks for the correction. When I was a chamber member, we didn't have such a resource nor the cooperation of businesses to put one together: one source of my frustration as a business operator in this community. So I'm glad to know there has been "progress". I apologize for any misleading comments I made.
ReplyDeleteI too regret the levels to which discourse has fallen about this issue, but I am not a pilot, and I do think the city has mishandled things in this effort. Previous city leaders apparently saw the potential, and made commitments. The pilots have offered to help run the airport properly and profitably. The problem is that the current city leaders and planners decided the airport was disposable, and it apparently is not! I really wish as much time, effort, and money had been focused on utilizing the airport and fostering development elsewhere in this "land of opportunity" we call our community.
PW: You seem like a good guy. I appreciate the way you comment on here. And I'm not trying to point any fingers at anyone here, but none of the discourse would have happened if the pilots would not have started it. But, that's water under the bridge and since it is their blog, they can do whatever they want. But I think all of us, especially the pilots, should work on ending the harshness and start trying to really work with the city and everyone else — EVERYONE else — on doing what is best for St. Clair.
ReplyDeleteConcerned Critter
DeleteWhat did the “pilots” start that you perceive as a matter of discourse?
Name calling, blaming the city and even the newspaper for your troubles and blowing things out of proportion to name a few. ... No matter what happens with the airport, St. Clair will remain a friendly town and a good place to live. There are too many good people here who care about what is best for our city, including our administration and the newspaper. And, for the most part we are friendly people, again including the administration and the newspaper and the chamber and most of the business owners. We're not perfect and St. Clair does have its problems, but we're working on getting those problems behind us. That takes a lot of hard work by a lot of good people.
ReplyDeleteWhat airport troubles are you referring to? What is being blown out of proportion? The city manages the airport, if there are problems, it’s their fault. That is not blowing anything out of proportion.
DeleteMy first attempt to understand what was going on beyond what I read in the newspaper was to attend a couple of the public aldermanic meetings on the issue back in 2010 I think. I must say that the pilots came across as the sensible, knowledgeable ones, and the city officials and airport closure supporting citizens are the ones who came across as emotional and irrational. I don't know what led to that point, and that is water under the bridge. But it seems there's enough immaturity to go around!
ReplyDeleteIf the FAA doesn't let the city off the hook for operating the airport, do you think after all of this it will ever be possible to work together for the common good?
PW: I appreciate your comments. If ... IF ... we're all adults, it can be done. ... But I remember a special meeting called a couple of years ago where the pilots were invited by the city for a discussion on how the city could assist the pilots if the airport was allowed to close. I attended that meeting as well as a community forum the night before as an interested citizen. ... During that pilots meeting, the pilots got so out of hand the St. Clair police almost had to escort a couple of them out of the building. As I said, I was there. I remember it distinctively. Also, now these same pilots are trying to get out of paying the same approved hangar lease rent as last year. No pilot complained about the amount of the lease last year, but they refuse to pay it this year and have negotiated their own lease amount and have started to pay the city that lesser amount. Gee, maybe I shouldn't pay my full utility bill because I don't want to or my full house payment because all of a sudden I think it's too steep. ... In my personal opinion, the pilots are not being sensible. They are being selfish and irrational. Our mayor has been elected three times running on a platform to close the airport and work toward economic expansion and retail development. He probably will be re-elected again this year on the same platform. So, he has the support of the city behind him.
ReplyDeleteHow many elections is it going to take?
DeleteAmen brother, Amen!
DeleteYou can't claim noone complained about the $175. rent when it went up because 4 tenants moved out because it was too high. The FAA say's rates should not cause vacancys. It did, and there was no negeotiations allowed by the city then. It has taken the Faa 2 years to get to this point, and now the city must negotiate.
ReplyDeleteI certainly can claim that because it's the truth. There was no public complaint about the hangar rental rates in 2012. Check meeting minutes from the board of aldermen meetings. Maybe, just maybe, tenants moved out because they didn't like their neighbors at the hangar. Again, the city of St. Clair is soooooo fortunate that none of you jokers live in our city.
ReplyDeleteCritter the topic of the post was to tell everyone about St Clair not to bitch, We haven't seen anything from you about St Clair, is there anything you like or would like to tell about St Clair or the surrounding area??? We don't even know your name or if you really live in St Clair at all do we??? Luckly you can post anything you want here not like the paper that censors all that you brag about. The 1st amendment reigns supreme here. Thank you to the millions who gave their lives for us to do it!
ReplyDelete