Albert Whitted Airport
In ´03, a group of developers, lawyers and environmentalists made it their mission to turn St. Petersburg´s Albert Whitted Airport into a park. Citizens for a Waterfront Park paid people to gather signatures, and succeeded in getting the referendum on the November ballot. The group had the backing of none other than the St. Petersburg Times, a long-time opponent of the airport. The paper characterized the airport as a playground for the rich, which was hardly true. Most aviators who use Albert Whitted are flight enthusiasts or folks who use it for personal and business transportation. The Save Albert Whitted group´s main message was that the proposed waterfront park would ultimately end up in the hands of developers who, they insinuated, would look to build high-rise condos and blot out the waterfront. The voters, whatever their motives, were emphatic in their support of the airport. Albert Whitted was saved in a major landslide at the polls.
This article appears in Sep 22-28, 2004.
