Monday, July 30, 2007
What Happened to San Francisco?
Tumbleweed here. I hope El Capitan will forgive me for borrowing his blog. I heard some news today that absolutely baffled me. It seems that San Francisco Board of Supervisors member Chris Daly has joined with CodePink, Global Exchange, and Veterans for Peace to prevent the U.S. Navy's aerial demonstration team, The Blue Angels, from performing during San Francisco's upcoming Fleet Week festivities in October. Here's what The Examiner has to say:
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.
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.
The link to the article can be found here: http://www.examiner.com/a-768103~Daly%20backs%20move%20to%20ground%20Blue%20Angels%20show.html
Global Exchange has their petition up here: http://action.globalexchange.org/petition.jsp?petition_KEY=458
I find it amusing that these people are making all these claims about how damaging The Blue Angels are. Let's break this down:
Air Pollution - All that wasted gas, exhaust fumes, and noise that irrevocably damages small animals. No problem. Let's stop all those aircraft coming in and out of SF International and San Jose's airport. They may not be as loud as an F/A-18 Hornet but they fly more often. We also need to ban all internal combustion engines from the streets of San Francisco. That's the way to fix the environment. And since we're helping nature...
Noise Pollution - Again, abolish the airports, huge noise source gone. Shut down all public gathering sites including concert venues, stadiums, etc. We all know that when humans gather they can't help but make a lot of noise. Ban vehicle traffic from the streets, all people do is honk their horns anyways. All schools will be shut down because with all those kids in one spot, there is no way you'll be able to shut them up for long. A ban on any future construction, hammers are just way too noisy. A ban on any public gatherings in any public area such as streets or parks. Again, anytime people gather all we do is make noise. To prevent public gatherings, everyone will be confined to their homes. If people gather outside, they'll noise. That has to stop immediately. For that matter, City Hall will be shut down. Way too much noise comes from that place. We also need to start seeding clouds. This will prevent storms because thunder is way too noisy. Wait, we can't have planes flying over. So upon seeding clouds, the aircraft will be destroyed and pilots executed for violating noise regulations. Any noise amplifiers need to be banned too, therefore every musician using them must leave San Francisco. I'll bet SF won't even notice.
Immediate Risk to Life and Property - Again, close the airports and ban all vehicular traffic. Ban bicycles, Segways, skatboards, rollerblades, etc. You're just asking for accidents with those. Demolish all the Bay Bridges, you're just begging for someone to fall off those things. Wait, isn't SF built near the San Andreas fault line? Evacuate the city and relocate SF. It's the only way.
Fuel Waste - According to The Blue Angels' website, during a show each aircraft uses 8,000 lbs of JP-5 fuel at a cost of approximately $1,378. If this is going to break our bank, we've got bigger things to worry about than The Blue Angels. How about the jet ride Google gave to Mayor Gavin Newsom? How much fuel does a Bombardier jet burn on the way to Switzerland?
Wasting Taxpayers' Money - The Dept of The Navy allocated part of its budget to recruiting. The Blue Angels do that as part of their mission. How is that wasting the budgeted funds?
Shameless Recruiting - There was a fellow on Fox News and numerous others on the Global Exchange and similar websites complaining of how The Blue Angels are a shameless recruiting tool designed to convince people that war is cool. These misguided people are mistaken in thinking these pilots are trying to convince civilians that war is wonderful. The soldier, above all, wishes for peace because it is the soldier that must bear the hardships of war. The Blue Angels and their Air Force counterpart, The Thunderbirds, are a way of giving back to the community. To demonstrate the skills, precision, discipline, and professionalism of the people who are charged with protecting others. It is a morale boost to know that people of such caliber are serving in the military and protecting America. I grew up next to Navy and Marine bases and I always thought the aircraft flying overhead were awesome, long before I understood their purpose.
What happened to San Francisco? I grew up in California and I never thought San Francisco would turn anti-military. But then Alameda NAS closed, then the shipyards went, The Presidio is closing, and now it looks like Fleet Week won't be too far behind. This was a part of San Francisco, right up there with Fisherman's Wharf, Golden Gate Park, Coit Tower, Ghirardelli Square, etc. Why does it seem that the city is so hostile to those charged with protecting it? Imagine if these people lived in Iran and asked the government to halt all flyovers during their military parades. How long do you think that protest would last? Fleet Week is a huge tourist attraction and brings the city much in tourism revenues. But it seems that many residents would rather not have the extra people and traffic that comes with it. Would San Francisco rather that no one ever visit the city again and all outsiders barred from city limits? How could a city survive like that? Does the great city by the bay really want to become an island instead? Or do they just want us all to think like them?
Tumbleweed
posted by El Capitan at 4:13 PM
6 Comments:
El Capitan said...
I think that if this next Blue Angel performance over SF is going to be the last gig, The Navy should load up the pylons on the F-18s and have at it.
I'm not saying they should nuke the place. Just some basic strategic hits to leave a mark, or three.
Tumbleweed, thanks for covering for me. Mi Casa es Su Casa Amigo. Heck, tell Mrs. Tumbleweed to have at it too. I wanna hear about ComiCon 2007 Baby!
I'll email you ASAP. Even better, I'll have a webcam set up soon. Cheers!
EC
said...
TW, I think your last sentence about covers it... Why don't we encourage them to just secede?
7:57 PM said...
just paint pink with YELLOW Stripes!!!! for the show. then they can go down lo and in the BACK DOOR!!!!
9:55 AM said...
Thank you for bringing such nice posts. Your blog is always fascinating to read.
2:45 AM said...
El Capitan, Anon,
Thanks for the kind words. Why the hell would anyone want to support fleet week when the people who support fleet week encourage the bombing of SF. Even as a joke!
If you hate SF and the people who live here some much, MOVE! There's plenty of the country where people are quite fine with celebration of war. So this doesn't happen to be one of them. Don't like, leave. Just stop threatening SF with violence and then wondering why we don't like it when people glorify violence. Maybe it's because we feel threatened by people like you.
said...
Really? A whole 4 dollars per person? You're sure!! I can't stand it, what a windfall!!
It probably only costs about $10-20 dollars per person to re-route bus lines, run extra trains and ferries hire extra police, waste time in traffic and clean up after a million people, so I can't possibly understand why we wouldn't want their 4 dollars.
Oh wait, maybe it's because it doesn't make sense as a business proposition.