August 13, 2013; Kevin J. Kelley; Seven Days
Opponents, who outnumbered supporters 32-5 on Monday night, offered arguments that were alternately analytical and emotional. Their objections focused on the F-35's impact on public health and safety, local real-estate values, environmental quality and "brown-skinned people" in other countries who would be on the receiving end of the plane's payloads. One proponent responded to the other side's expressed concerns about the plane's health effects on children by suggesting, "If we want to keep our children safe, keep them off the runways."
The roar of the planes will place hundreds of additional homes in a zone that federal authorities already deem unfit for human habitation, several speakers warned. Two of them drew comparisons between ravaged, bankrupt Detroit and the South Burlington neighborhood adjoining the airport, where scores of homes have been demolished or are sitting vacant as a result of a federal buy-out program keyed to noise pollution.
"Shame on Burlington and shame on the airport for what has been done to my home and to my neighbors' homes," declared Carmine "Gramma" Sargent, a leader of the Stop the F-35 movement who lives about 100 yards from BTV's parking garage.
State Sen. David Zuckerman, a Progressive/Democrat, said in a written statement that he feared the risk of the plane crashing in a densely populated area.