A crowd of around 120 concerned residents gathered in the multipurpose room of Gregory Heights Elementary School on Tuesday night, April 24, to hear updates from the Quiet Skies Coalition on airplane noise, fighting the FAA, the Port of Seattle and more. Moderated by 2017 Burien 'Citizen of the Year' Larry Cripe - a retired Alaska Airlines pilot - the evening started with an overview about the Quiet Skies Coalition's latest efforts to stop the FAA from turning noisy turboprop airplanes over Burien ; how "phenomenol" the group's relationship with Burien City Manager Brian Wilson and Attorney Lisa Marshall have become, and expanding the group's fight to more strongly target the Port and Alaska Airlines.
Returning and increased airplane noise over Burien is likely after the the Federal Aviation Administration claims that it can ignore potential environmental rules to permit more prop-jet planes to fly low over Burien A retired commercial pilot and former FAA inspector says such a move benefits wealthy corporations and imposes unnecessary penalties on Burien citizens. The Burien Council on Monday was also told by the new King County Sheriff that she is working on shoring up her police agency to gird against an increase in violent crime.
Within the next two or three weeks Burien should have a new City Manager, following the City Council's split vote at Monday night's special session. The new City Manager is Brian Wilson, who - until last Nov. 16 - was the Federal Way chief of police, and also had served as Federal Way interim city manager and as chief of staff when the city changed forms of government.
After Quiet Skies Coalition leader Larry Cripe suggested that if Burien doesn't get involved, "there will be a fourth, a fifth and a sixth" runway at Sea-Tac International Airport, the City Council created an ad hoc committee to study plans of the Port of Seattle for the huge growth planned for the facility in coming years. The Monday night meeting also discussed the city's next biennial budget up for approved in the next couple of weeks along with the comprehensive city plan and the property tax the city will likely increase by a full 1 percent.