Farnese Opposes Plan for State Takeover of Philadelphia International Airport

PHILADELPHIA, DEC. 9, 2009 — State Sen. Larry Farnese today announced his opposition to recently introduced legislation that would place Philadelphia International Airport under state control. House Bill 2138, introduced earlier this week, would create a new state authority to govern airports in Philadelphia and Allentown.

“This is nothing more than another attempt by political interests to take control of a Philadelphia asset,” Farnese said.

Under the legislation, a 15-member board would govern the operation of Philadelphia International and Lehigh Valley International airports. In addition to appointees from surrounding counties, caucus leaders in Harrisburg would also control board appointments. Philadelphia would only have two seats on the proposed board.

“This represents the old way of doing business in Harrisburg,” said Farnese. “I don’t see how giving control of Philadelphia’s airport to a lawmaker 200 miles away is going to improve transportation.”

Farnese said that many of the goals of the legislation – regional cooperation between airports and coordination with rail transport – can be accomplished without creating a new political bureaucracy.

Farnese agrees that the development of high speed rail in the northeast should be a top priority, but added that “taking over the airport isn’t going to make that happen any faster.”

“There were a lot of promises made when the state took control of the Parking Authority eight years ago – and they’ve gone mostly unfulfilled,” Farnese said.

Philadelphia International is located in southwest Philadelphia, and straddles the county line between Farnese’s Senate district and Tinicum Township, Delaware County.

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