Airport Manager Bill Gere has set his sights sky-high and has
made an ambitious request. It’s bold and it’s brassy, and if he
even gets met halfway, Hollister will benefit greatly.
Airport Manager Bill Gere has set his sights sky-high and has made an ambitious request. It’s bold and it’s brassy, and if he even gets met halfway, Hollister will benefit greatly.
Gere has asked the Federal Aviation Administration for $43 million to fund a Hollister Airport expansion including purchasing new land and building new taxiways for planes. A large portion of the money would be used to buy 200 acres of land adjacent to the airport, some of which could eventually be used to build a new restaurant and hotel. Other funds would improve the runways to attract larger plans and relocate hangars.
“There is no way that we’re going to get $43 million, but you can’t get it unless you ask first,” Gere told reporter Brett Rowland. “You have to play the game and ask for the moon.”
That’s a great attitude. We can’t limit ourselves by what we think we can get. We should shoot for what we want. Who knows, some bureaucrat in Washington, with a stroke of the pencil, may hand us the funds to set the Hollister Airport soaring.
The bottom line is we need to try to go as far as we possibly can to make the airport an economic engine for our community, and there is no way the city of Hollister can provide $43 million to turn the airport into an economic powerhouse. This potential funding could put us on the right track.
Hollister needs jobs and industry. Our schools are suffering, our city is balancing its budget on reserves, and many people have to commute out of town to find work that pays enough to afford a home. A bedroom community with deteriorating city services is not what we want to be.
We’re not suggesting that upgrading the airport is the panacea to solve all our economic woes, but it can be an important piece to the economic puzzle. Silicon Valley is in a down cycle, but it will come back and we must be prepared. An airport set up to handle freight, accommodate business and land corporate jets has the potential to attract serious interest from start-up companies and major players.
Hollister has been promoting developing the airport for decades. We need to get it done and put ourselves in a prime position for our economic goals to take flight. So, let’s aim high.
