The Spectacle Blog
Yet more shovel-ready busy-work funded by taxpayers, discovered by the Freedom Foundation of Minnesota and Watchdog.org:
St. Cloud Regional Airport touts lots of amenities on its website—a café, ATM, free wi-fi, free parking and a $5 million completely renovated terminal whose capacity went up dramatically from 30 to 200 travelers. There’s also a new $750,000 passenger boarding bridge secured with federal stimulus funds to keep travelers out of the elements while catching a flight. One asset, however, the newly renovated airport notably lacks—commercial flights and passengers….
Currently, an average of about one charter flight a month with 130 or so passengers uses the eerily empty 9,000 square foot glass-fronted facility. Potential passengers checking the airport’s website are notified there’s “no commercial air service” available. Delta Connection flights between St. Cloud and Minneapolis were grounded at the end of 2009 due to weak customer demand. Both national rental car agencies pulled out of their airport offices months ago.
As efficient as government is, I am sure they can turn on a dime and convert it into something useful — like a giant greenhouse!
Seems like I’ve heard about this somewhere else…
View all comments (8) | Leave a comment
Related Blog Posts
More Blog Posts by Paul Chesser
http://spectator.org/blog/2010/09/27/750k-passenger-bridge-to-nowhe
Follow us:
ADVERTISEMENT
The Spectacle Blog
Former IRS Commissioner Refused to Say That Targeting Conservative Groups is Wrong
Benjamin Brophy | 2:27PM
SPONSORED LINKS
FLASHBACK TO: 1995
-
Pope Culture
A man of faith in a godless age is hitting Americans where it hurts.
-
Why the GOP Does Not, Like, Totally Suck
Mr. and Mrs. American Spectator Reader, let P.J. O’Rourke talk sense to your kids.
-
Dames at Sea
-
In the Absence of Guns
In Britain, defending your property can get you life.
-
The Metaphysical Martini
-
Counting the Costs of Clintonism
The debacle of this president’s administration is both a cause and a symptom of the decline of American values. Unless Congress impeaches him, that decline will go on unchecked. An eminent jurist surveys the damage and assesses the chances for the recovery of our culture.
-
Chuck McHagel
It won’t take long for conservatives to scratch this presidential wannabe off their 2008 scorecard.
-
The Legacy of Old John and Mother Fresh-Roasted
-
It’s the Best Time of the Year
The American Christmas, like the songs that celebrate it, makes room for everybody under the rainbow. Is that why so many people seem to be hostile to it?
-
The Bush Crack-Up
Was the President done in by the economy, or by the politics of the economy?
Clip of the Day
ADVERTISEMENT
Mad Hatter| 9.27.10 @ 5:08PM
Our Harvard-bred overlords, high-browed,
Passed shovel-ready stimulus, quite proud.
It didn't make those vermin ill,
That the airport was terminal,
So stuck were their heads in Saints' Cloud!
matthew s harrison| 9.27.10 @ 5:26PM
-Minnesota-a proud place.
-Shariah Law
-Islamo fascist in congress
-terrible comedian Al Franken in the senate-because the Sec'y of state pushed fake votes, made by felons ineligible to vote
-useless airports
-the artist formerly known as prince
I can't think of a single reason to ever go to Minnesota
Mad Hatter| 9.27.10 @ 5:37PM
Among most frigid, Minnesota is rankin',
No chuckles from Norwegians, Swedes or Franken!
Why should I take the risk,
Of trying lutefisk?
Reasons to go there? My mind is just blankin'!
Mad Hatter| 9.27.10 @ 5:26PM
Obama, who is so smart, it's a fright,
Made government so transparent, so tight.
"It's like Alaska's, many fear?
No! OUR bridge goes everywhere!"
It's time to make these dodo birds take flight!
andrew keirns| 9.27.10 @ 5:39PM
... isn't 'congressman murhta' dead? isn't that why they couldn't talk with him? what's the date on this report? ...
andrew keirns| 9.27.10 @ 5:41PM
see video at 1;52 ...
Lullabys, Legends and Lies| 9.27.10 @ 5:54PM
Just when you think you've heard everything there is to hear about the Democratic Party, somebody has to put up a video about an airport in rural Pennsylvania, that you didn't know about. Holy crap!!
$150 million dollars and counting for the John Murtha Airport (in just the last 10 years alone)? Wow, what a deal!! With three flights a day to Washington D.C., with an average of "just" 20 people a day flying out of this airport, with each and ever ticket being subsidized to the tune of $100 "per" ticket, aren't you happy you got to pay for this monstrosity? Stupid Taxpayer!! But come on now, it's a breeze to get through security there, because there are no crowds, but unfortunately for you (and me), unless you live in this obviously remote part of Pennsylvania, you will never get to use this wonderful airport, that you got to pay for, Ever!!
"More people fly out of an airport near the north pole than do out of the John Murtha airport (last year the Murtha airport handed 6,700 passengers, compared to 37,000 at the airport in Barrow, Alaska)."
It kind of makes me happy, that old Jonny's dead!! Fire everybody who's working there today, lock the doors, and throw in a match, and give it back to nature (it'll cost less)!! How dare they keep this place open, even for one more day!! This "former" Marine, was a sad excuse as a person, and I hope he's burning in hell right now with Ted Kennedy!!