I saw this at only one other airport… Las Vegas, where they actually have cameras that record how many times you drive by the passenger pick-up curb.

What a way to attract business…

As a general rule, I have found that people who make generalized, unsubstantiated smears against groups of people are uninformed at best and trolls at worst.

Correct me if I am wrong here but even though San Jose built a new terminal, don’t they still utilize trucks to fuel airplanes?  Many airports have upgraded to having fuel lines underground at the gates rather than drive up trucks and load fuel in that manner.

Blair,

There were discussions years back before San Jose decided to sink a bunch of money into SJC.  There was talk when Moffett was closing of all the cities getting together and refurbishing Moffett for a regional airport.  Runway length was no problem nor was space.  However, San Jose being shortsighted didn’t want to see their own airport turn into a puddle jumper facility.

First SJC tried to expand their cargo operations by adding space to the south end of the airport on the Hwy 87 side.  Then they realized that nobody wanted to bring cargo into SJC so that changed.  Then they allowed the Jet Center area to expand.  After that they had the opportunity to buy the FMC property for pennies and turned it down.  They could have rerouted Coleman Ave. and added almost all of the FMC property to the airport property.  This would have allowed them space to be competitive in the cargo arena.  Nevertheless, they squandered that opportunity as well.  The problem is San Jose decision makers are short sighted and transient.  Few people at the top are long term planners and even fewer stick around to see good decisions bear fruit.  They have moved on to other pursuits.

People are engaged when they have a voice.  We already have to pay for an election every two years for city council.  Take advantage of it and put more referendum items on the ballot.  It gets people a little more excited. 

So put the name decision up to the electorate.  I’d say even make it multiple choice with five choices in the primary and the top two in the runoff.

Also – please don’t let politicians name things after other living politicians.  Its tacky and shameful (either self-serving or implicit quid pro quo type stuff).  God, if the city charter doesn’t specifically prohibit it, they’ll do any old dumb thing.

“By the way the concrete parking structure dominates the airport skyline.”

I flew out of the new terminal a few weeks ago for the first time.  I drove around and around trying to find the ramp to take me up to the upper levels to park.  Finally I asked the exit attendant how to get up top.  The reply, “All the upper floors are for rental cars”.  Yep, that huge parking structure is almost entirely rental cars, not public parking.  I parked south of the structure out in the open after all.  I was flabbergasted that all that money spent on a parking garage and it is barely used by the flying customer.

SJ never will be SF due to small town minds running a large city.  We close our airport at midnight so as not to offend people who live in the flight path.  People who most likely bought their home knowing exactly where it was when they signed on the dotted line.  We want a vibrant downtown but make doing business near impossible with regulations, taxes, and controls.  We want good decision makers for politicians but routinely vote in amateurs and wannabees.  We call our airport “
international” yet the only flights out of the country are a couple to Mexico.  Yes, we are definitely not SF.

In a way, the naming pattern is an example of what’s gone wrong, we want to have instant results and instant recognition rather than the patience to let things develop over time.

As far as renaming the airport – if we go with a regional name, then how about making it a regional airport.  In practice, it already serves as this, but it is operated as a department of the City of San Jose.  How about spinning off the airport into a regional agency with governance from all the South Bay Cities who could share in planning, management and benefits.  Seems like these times suggest thinking outside the box and regionalism is a logical way to preserve and enhance services.

Why shouldn’t we have nonstop flights to Japan? The local economy needs all the help it can get.

I support the mayor on this one. We need to get local business travel going through SJC and off the freeways of San Mateo County.