Our last post on funding Port Package updates (Three Votes. Three Dollars.) got many more letters than most. The reactions were everything from enthusiasm to sarcasm and in this year of the SAMP we think it’s time for a reality check.
We recently picked up a new volunteer. That in itself is unusual these days. But she has a particularly interesting backstory she was willing to let us share. She has become (in her words) ‘an accidental bird watcher’ after joining a group working to protect a wooded area near her home. The authorities said there were very few ‘exceptional’ species in the area. So, her group hired an experienced birder to lead nature walks. On their first walk, the guide pointed out several species most of the group could not see or hear. It was all a din of forest sounds. After five or six walks some started to hear what was always there. And after a few more, so did most of the others.
That may be the best description of good airport activism we’ve yet heard.
Brain Drain
After every airport expansion residents move – especially the ones most concerned. This creates an ongoing brain-drain which is the source of a lot of the ongoing sense of futility. When people only hear the din coming from the Port of Seattle and the FAA. When they haven’t learned what to listen for. When there is no one with experience on this trail. Increasingly the remaining options seem to be “Don’t like it? Move!”
Those were never the only options.
We began in order to stop that brain drain. We’ve been at this a long time. Most of you have not. Electeds and city administrators have definitely not. Some show disdain for experience – not because it doesn’t matter, but because frankly they don’t have it. Others seem hell-bent on re-learning the same material over and over. And then there are those who simply are not interested in change.
That is the awkward discussion. The people we tend to be (initially) wary of are not people who don’t know what to listen for. It’s often the people who say it doesn’t matter, including airlines, the 3FAA, the Port of Seattle, and on and on. 1Bias matters, whether one admits it or not.
Five or six walks
Our greatest frustration has been the almost constant stream of people who want the “the answer!” in one paragraph. And when we ask them how many other difficult tasks in life work that way, they often think we don’t have one.
We can convince anyone who is genuinely interested in finding a better way to co-exist into the future. But only if they are willing to take 5-6 walks.
No easy button
Our first issue was Port Packages because we knew it was simple. Not easy. There was never an ‘easy button’. We only meant that the law has always been straightforward. As we wrote last time, the Port always could have done what San Francisco International Airport did. We started there, not because there aren’t many other issues – It is that we need to break a spell that has been cast on all of us – this idea that the Port has already been moving heaven and earth to help our communities in every way possible. That is not true.
It has never been true with air quality or community noise or true economic uplift. It wasn’t even true with North SeaTac Park – now touted as this big ‘win’ for the Port – without acknowledging the amount of push back it took to get the Port to do something else it always could have done.
And it isn’t true with sound insulation.
But this alchemy has been truly profound. Since the PR disasters of the Third Runway, the Port, and their supporters, have learned how to 2spin any reasonable critique so effectively, it has not only prevented us from getting the things we always could have received, it now prevents us from even knowing what was always there. At a certain point, people stopped learning how to listen.
Active Listening
Like our new member, most of you reading along know there is more there. But you probably can’t recognize it above the din. If that is where you’re at, here is what we always hope you will do:
Really read what we write. Don’t skim. We know it’s a lot. But these are the Cliff Notes®. If something seems unclear? Take five minutes to ask. Then take another five to ask your electeds to respond. And then? Take five more to come back to us with their response. Again. If you can do that, we promise to have a useful reply to every objection you may hear.
Back and forth. Back and forth. If you can do that, 3, 4, 5 times? We are certain you will learn to hear differently – and start to recognize more of what was always there.
If that sounds like ‘too much work’? How is it more effort than what people have been doing for years – new committees, new studies, new listening sessions, every few years? You should ask yourself why the Port, the FAA, and so many electeds are always so eager to help you keep doing that.
We’re here to stop all that. We’re here to save you time. We’re here to help get you where you want to go.
Miles, JC, Steve, Paula, Idé
—STNI
1We always find it slightly amusing how so many people start any public comment with, “We think the airport is great!” Everyone does it. It is as though we cannot help but defend or apologize in some small way for insisting on fairness. As if everyone needs to introduce themselves by saying, “I want you to know I’m reasonable!” It will be a better day for airport communities when we no longer feel that need.
2We now routinely watch Port, local and state officials all react with hurt if someone dares to suggest they aren’t doing all they can to help us. Most of us do not enjoy hurting others, so regardless of how ridiculous that is factually, their unreasonable defensiveness has become one of the largest obstacles to obtaining relief.
3One of our founders is a recovering FAA manager. We love disaffected subject matter experts. 😉
Your first cliff note is spot on. I like them BUT……no stop, what is the issue. Stop feeling the need to justify why you feel the way you do or justify their behavior.
This is a great call to action article. Thank you, we can all do better and listen!