March - 2006

In response to Stop-and-Think, a group of business owners and citizens around Love Field started a campaign of their own to fight the Wright Amendment.

Friends of Love Field was formed to show that not everyone who lives around the airport was in favor of keeping the Wright Amendment in place.

Anthony Page, a representative of the group. said he'd found through talking to other people around the airport that many people are either indifferent about Wright or want the amendment repealed.

The goal of the organization was to get the facts out about the Wright Amendment, he said

"What we want to do is serve as a resource for factual information for all of the issues surrounding the Wright Amendment, Love Field, the history,

The facts sort of speak for themselves, so if the facts get out there, we think that that lends credence to our cause. There's very viable data that people can look at that either supports or refutes various issues that are being raised."

He said Friends of Love Field did not view the Wright Amendment debate as a choice between American and Southwest.

The group supported both airlines in their efforts, so long as they did nothing to harm Love Field or the surrounding neighborhoods.

In the meantime, Dallas and Ft. Worth turned their attention to coming up with a compromise they could submit to Congress.

The two mayors, who had been meeting one-on-one on the issue for several weeks, planned to include council members in the talks.

"Their purpose is to include not just the mayors but members of the council in the process, because anything that is agreed to by our cities has to go before them to approve," Ft. Worth Mayor Mike Moncrief said.

"I felt it was appropriate that they be in the loop."

Dallas Mayor Miller selected three council members to serve with her on the joint-city negotiating committee � Ed Oakley, Linda Koop and Pauline Medrano. Her appointments caught the three off guard and angered some of the other council members.

Angela Hunt, the council member who represents Love Field and most of the neighborhoods affected by it, and the counclil's resident expert on the Love Field Master Plan was angry. at not being included on the committee.

Mayor Miller said Ms. Hunt was key to a solution, and would continue to be "the point person for the council with the neighborhoods around Love Field.

Some Dallas City Council members said everything would have gone more smoothly if the mayor had simply notified them of her intentions. Instead, they had to read about it in the newspaper.

At an executive session, in late March, Dallas city attorneys briefed the council on legal issues related to the Wright Amendment. Issues discussed included what leases were at Love; which airlines controlled which gates; and whether or not the city had the right to redistribute or reduce those gates.

Dallas Mayor Laura Miller said that she hoped to give Fort Worth a proposal to resolve the Wright Amendment issue in the next 30 days.

Miller said offering a proposal within the next month would give Fort Worth enough time to look it over and suggest changes.

But the proposal may not necessarily be in writing, Miller said, "since we don't want it to go to the media."

Dallas City Council members said they were instructed at Tuesday's executive session not to discuss any potential strategies with the media.

The fact that the two cities planned to hold closed-door meetings didn't set well with Stop-and-Think and Friends of Love Field questioned Pauline Medrano's appointment to the committee because her brother sat on the Board of Directors of DFW - a potential conflict of interest..

Executive Director of Stop-and-Think Jay Pritchard said in a press release:

"This is not the time to hide. Concerns about potential changes to the Wright Amendment are far too great to allow our elected officials to make important decisions behind closed doors. The members of the Dallas City Council and the Fort Worth City Council are accountable to everyone in North Texas � they serve us all,

And any changes to the Wright Amendment would impact all of us, so everyone deserves the opportunity to have a voice in a fair and open discussion. Stop-and-Think calls on Dallas and Fort Worth to hold public meetings that will encourage citizen involvement before scrapping the Master Plan and making wholesale changes to the Wright Amendment."

Friends of Love Field issued its own press release calling for Ms. Medrano to recuse herself from the meetings.

According to an article in today's Dallas Morning News, Dallas council member Pauline Medrano intends to participate as a member of the official City of Dallas delegation which will be negotiating with the City of Fort Worth over matters relating to Dallas Love Field and the Wright Amendment.

Ms. Medrano's brother, Ricardo Medrano, is a Director of the Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport, which is officially opposed to repeal of the Wright Amendment.

We believe that the close family relationship between Ms. Medrano and Mr. Medrano constitutes a significant conflict of interest and we therefore ask that Ms. Medrano recuse herself from the City of Dallas delegation.

Ms. Medrano said that her familial relationships don't dictate her political decisions, and that she's focused on crafting a workable solution.

Many area residents felt that they, too should be in the loop and wondered about the need for all the secrecy. What was the big concern with not wanting the media to get ahold of the proposals, especially since this issue was going to affect so many moms, dads and the kids who love them, along with all those worried businesses and homeowners?

The DFW Airport War continued

Tune - Behind Closed Doors
Charlie Rich

(Instrumental intro)

Been arguin' for years
But one thing is perfectly clear
The Wright Amendment's days - are numbered
The end is surely near
So now it's time to talk
And work out a fair compromise
But to ex-clude the public?
We're angry and shocked and surprised

'Cause when you get behind closed doors
To ne-go-ti-ate & de-cide
Remember who you re-pre-sent
Listen up, guys - now's not the time to hide!

To come up with a plan
Upon which we all can agree
That's best for both airports
And our regions' e-co-no-my
A plan we can live with
And one where both cities can succeed
You don't hold secret meetings
When public input's what you need

And when you get behind closed doors
We get paranoid, you see
What is all the whisperin' for? - (Hey)
There's no need for all this secrecy.

(Instrumental bridge)

So hear us when we say
There's more than one point of view
You've heard from the others
Now it's time that you heard from us too,
We're Friends of Love Field and
There's just so much we have to say
So why not open your doors
Together, we'll both find a way

So why not open up those doors!
There's no need to run and hide
We can share our thoughts with y-o-u!
So listen, Council - You need to hear both sides.

(Don't run and hide)