Sir: Thankfully the election campaign is over and the people have spoken at the ballot box. We have many competent, seasoned councillors re-elected, a bevy of exciting newcomers, a couple of councillors well past their “best-before date” re-elected, and a mayor that almost 72% of voters wanted replaced.
For our new municipal leadership, I have some suggestions. Think of them as a sort of cross between laws of physics and common sense.
- When Transport Canada says that eight turbines in the vicinity of the Chatham Municipal Airport are unsafe, they are unsafe. Period.
- Insisting that unsafe turbines are safe does not make them safe.
- Arguing with Transport Canada in the media, while it might garner votes, does not make unsafe turbines safe.
- Windfall tax revenue from wind turbines does not make unsafe turbines safe.
- Having one of the larger manufacturers of wind turbines sprinkle $11 million around the municipality in the form of various grants, does not make unsafe turbines safe.
- Finally, please do not make any absurd comparisons between Chatham Municipal Airport and Toronto Island Airport. Toronto Island has a group of people called “approach control” who monitor incoming aircraft on radar and verbally guide pilots in for a safe landing. In addition, Toronto Island has systems that provide a real-time indication to pilots whether or not they are on a correct heading for the assigned runway and whether their glide path is correct to bring them to land at the runway threshold.
Chatham Municipal Airport has none of this.
As for the CN Tower, it is probably the most illuminated structure in Canada. By comparison, the unsafe wind turbines have a single red warning light on the top of the tower, but the individual blades cut an arc about 30 metres above the warning light.
I look forward to seeing a productive council co-operating with Transport Canada to make our airport safe for our local pilots as well as visitors or pilots in trouble seeking a safe landing site in the dark.
David Goldsmith
Chatham
