The federal government’s OK of a rare
”
through-the-fence
”
designation for the Hollister Municipal Airport is a step in the
right direction, but it’s no reason to celebrate quite yet.
The federal government’s OK of a rare “through-the-fence” designation for the Hollister Municipal Airport is a step in the right direction, but it’s no reason to celebrate quite yet.
With the Federal Aviation Administration coming to agreement on the designation, which provides direct access to the airport grounds from private property owners outside its borders, it opens up the prospect for related job creation. It puts the Hollister airport in a group of around 50 throughout the country with such an amenity. And involved leaders should be lauded for the approval.
But the designation itself doesn’t guarantee anything, with the necessity to obtain an estimated $15 million toward the project. Maybe even more imposing is the ultimate challenge of actually recruiting new business and spurring expansion of current ventures.
Lofty estimates for job creation and tax revenue provided by the Economic Development Corp. of San Benito County deserve to be taken with a grain or two of salt. President Nancy Martin talked of creating 4,000 jobs and adding $300 million in revenue to the local tax base. As far as the jobs go, that number eclipses the total number of unemployed residents now – 3,700 – and equals about 15 percent of the total current workforce in San Benito County.
Not only do the figures represent an overly idealistic barometer, but they also take into account the irrational possibility that just because the Hollister airport has this new amenity it will somehow reverse every bit of poor decision making and lagging economic movement that has taken place over the past several decades.
It won’t. In other words, there’s a lot of work to get done if officials hope to turn the new designation into progress, if they hope to convince corporate types that the value of the direct access, along with everything else San Benito County has to offer, are worth the investment.
It’s not just about obtaining the money, which is a hefty price tag. It’s about making sure, from this point, that the designation actually equates to a significant number of new jobs. Because in a county with about 15 percent unemployment in the latest figures, they sure are needed.
