While the local, state, and national focus on the COVID-19 pandemic, the Badger Air Community Council claims that Madison alders have snuck what it calls an anti-115th Fighter Wing resolution onto the March 31 City Council agenda.
Citing noise and other environmental impacts, the resolution opposes the basing of controversial, next-generation F-35 jets at Madison’s Truax Field, and it comes during the week in which Air Force Secretary Barbara M. Barrett could announce her basing decision.
The BACC, which supports the basing of the jets here, called the resolution an unconscionable, last-minute move and demanded that sponsoring alders pull the resolution from Tuesday’s agenda. It says the resolution is sponsored by alders Rebecca Kemble, Syed Abbas, Tag Evers, Grant Foster, Patrick W. Heck, Marsha A. Rummel, and Lindsay Lemmer.
Madison alders have heard vocal opposition to the local basing of the jets from affected residents, but the BACC says the figher wing’s employees won’t be able to attend the March 31 city council meeting because they are helping Wisconsinites deal with the COVID-19 pandemic. Wisconsin National Guard members recently helped return Wisconsinites who were passengers on the Princess Cruise line. They are also currently deployed as medics at a nursing home in Grafton that was hit hard by COVID-19.
“It is unconscionable that the Madison City Council would sneak this onto their agenda, as people in Madison, just like those around the world, are focused on the COVID-19 crisis,” says Chris Arenz, executive director of the BACC, in a prepared statement. “Our friends, neighbors, and coworkers who serve as airmen and soldiers with the Wisconsin National Guard are literally putting their lives on the line to serve our community during this health emergency. This is a slap in the face to those guard members and their families who are mobilized and cannot participate in the democratic process.”
As cases continue to mount in Wisconsin, Arenz says the need for guard members is only going to increase in all corners of the state. “Our national guard members are in the thick of things, trying to help citizens in the state of Wisconsin who have already been infected with the virus, and they’re doing everything they can to protect those who haven’t,” he states. “These unsung heroes cannot return to Madison to attend a city council meeting in the middle of a pandemic.”
The future of the fighter wing in Madison could rest on basing the F-35 jets here. The BACC, which pegs the unit’s local annual economic impact at $100 million, is encouraging its members to spread awareness of the pending vote through their social media channels and social networks, and it called on supporters to email the sponsoring alders at allalders@cityofmadison.com.
