Live Free and Fly?

-- by Ed Naile

The Aldermen in Manchester have been making big decisions lately. Big important decisions. They have officially changed the name of Manchester Airport to “Manchester Boston Regional Airport.”

This bone-headed idea actually serves a purpose much larger than the simple renaming of a municipal entity. It gives voters a look inside the skulls of the people who are supposedly looking out for Manchester taxpayers.

It appears they have more of a regard for Boston than they do their own city. What's next, rename Manchester and make it Lowell NH?

The in-house generated survey by the Manchester Airport Authority states that some huge amount of “west of the Mississippi” travelers do not know where Manchester is. No kidding. Most can't pick NH, or any other state other than the one they live in, out on a map. That, in the minds of Manchester Aldermen is a reason for a NH airport to become, in the minds of travelers, a suburb of Boston?

How are people so dumb as to not know where NH is, supposed to find our airport in the first place. Its almost seventy miles away!

Maybe I am jumping the gun. The Aldermen probably have a deal with people who make maps of Boston to have a mention of the location of the NH airport. They will probably have a little disclaimer on the map that states: Manchester Boston Regional Airport is in New Hampshire - see some other map.

Look up Logan Airport on the net and you will find it called Logan Airport as well as Boston Logan Airport. So Manchester Airport should really be called Manchester Boston Logan Regional Airport. I can't wait until we rename Pease Airport.

When I think of Boston I think, rude, dirty, expensive, snarled traffic, dangerous drivers, and long lines. When I tell people about the Manchester Airport I tell them it is like your uncle has his own airport he lets you use.

My wife is a flight attendant who has flown out of Boston for thirty years. Once, in her uniform, walking across a street, she was hit by a car. The driver backed up looked at her laying on the ground and drove off. She was also half way to Boston to go to work on Sept. 11, 2001.

Kudos to Alderman-at-large Mike Lopez, Ted Gatsas of Ward 2, Bill Shea of Ward 7 and Betsi DeVries of Ward 8 who were opposed to this nutty idea.

Rather than link NH to a state from which most people are trying to move away, why not try to accentuate what we have here.