CLEVELAND — Cleveland City Council’s Transportation and Mobility Committee holds a hearing today on the future of Burke Lakefront Airport, the city-owned airport on the Lake Erie shore that has been the center of a long-running battle over whether it should stay open or be redeveloped as lakefront parkland.
Ahead of the hearing, the Lakefront Airport Preservation Partnership — a coalition of local businesses, schools, pilots and national aviation organizations — issued a statement praising committee chairman Charles Slife for inviting airport stakeholders to show why the airport “continues to serve vital needs for Cleveland residents, northeast Ohio, and the entire country.”
The coalition argues that closing the airport is now off the table and says the city should focus on the airport’s future instead. It accuses Mayor Justin Bibb of blocking investment and “forcing the airport into a state of engineered decline that makes it appear far less healthy than it could be,” even as operators stand ready to invest.
The group also notes that FAA Administrator Bryan Bedford and Ohio’s U.S. senators, Bernie Moreno and Jon Husted, all oppose closing the airport. A new Ohio Airport System Plan released by the Ohio Department of Transportation says Burke Lakefront has a nearly $200 million annual economic impact and supports more than 660 jobs.
The coalition said it looks forward to helping city council “understand the facts” about the airport and the investments operators are ready to make — investments it says will revitalize the airport and bring new businesses and jobs to the city.