Deseret News | No state bond for Dixie airport

Reader comments
No state bond for Dixie airport

Jason | 5:27 a.m. Feb. 4, 2009

Dixie is becoming more and more irrelevant to the traveler. I really don't understand why they feel they need a new airport. I flew down there a couple of weeks ago and there were only three of us on the plane and I understand that it's not unusual. The flight attendant was complaining about how bad bookings are.

where's Waldo (Greg Curtis)? | 6:35 a.m. Feb. 4, 2009

Bob,

How can you write an article about the St. George airport Anderson sweetheart deal without mentioning our illustrious former speaker?

The truth is, the legislation had to require some sort of due diligence to get the legislature to approve it. If the bill would've said "the state will give St. George $40 million no matter how bad a deal they get on the land," it would've been easy. But then too many legislators would've seen this deal for what it was. Has the state EVER sold bonds for a project like this?
Even though he's "gone," we'll still be hearing about Greg Curtis for some time I am sure...

Thanks Greg, you leave quite a legacy, or at least quite a messy trail in your wake!

Big Red | 7:10 a.m. Feb. 4, 2009

The airport is just another good-ole-boy deal worked up by the local power families in St. George that own land in what they feel are high dollar, strategic places. Look into most historic projects in Utah's Dixie that involve any amount of money and you will find that some local land owning
family(ies) made a killing. Not all the land owning families in Dixie are like this, but many are.

Comments continue below

Question? | 7:39 a.m. Feb. 4, 2009

In all of this talk, I didn't read where the new airport will be located. Anyone?

Axle | 7:46 a.m. Feb. 4, 2009

Oh boo hoo. The previous comments on this couldn't be anymore wrong and jaded. St. George did nothing wrong by forging ahead with their plans without the encumbrances laid forth by the state. The state of Utah has far too many important things to worry about than job growth and regional viability, both of which go hand in hand, no they have to worry about placing covers over bars so that the kiddies dont see the bad stuff.

Here is Utah summed up- nice place, lots of kids, cold up north, hot down south, idiotic legislature- priceless!

Good Ole Boy | 8:08 a.m. Feb. 4, 2009

This is for you Big Red.
I think it's hilarious that you would think that a lot of the local families are controlling what happens in the community. The families that you refer to own land everywhere. You couldn't pick one acre in the entire city that would be more than a mile away from the local families' property; thus, any type of improvement project is going to affect at least some of them. Should we therefore stop making efforts to improve the area? That would be ridiculous. Stop looking for motives behind every action. The local families are people who love the area and want what's best for it, unlike a lot of the people who have moved in the last fifteen years.

Big Red | 8:39 a.m. Feb. 4, 2009

I won't name names, because I like a lot of these local families, but I know what I know. I'm all for compensation, that's the way it should be, but the folks planning the projects should not be the ones who are, or are related to, the ones getting compensated. To me that spells trouble.

Airport location | 8:49 a.m. Feb. 4, 2009

FYI: The airport will be located SE of St. George.

Airport Stinks | 8:49 a.m. Feb. 4, 2009

Wow I sure am glad the city used a Arizona company to general the replacement airport. It is not going to be improved, it would have been easier to "scoop" up the existing airport and move it out there. Nothing is going to change.

Winter-Cold Summer-Hot | 8:52 a.m. Feb. 4, 2009

Washington county is like most of the rest of Utah. It has real pleasant weather about6 months of the year. How they sell this arrid, worthless, non-productive ground for what they do is beyond me. I spend 6 months in washington county and 6 months in northern Utah each year, but that is about to change to one residence in northern Utah full time. This area down here is over-rated, over-priced and over-hot. As soon as the real estate market comes back some I'm gone. The good ole boy mentality is more than I want to deal with in the future.

Ross | 9:03 a.m. Feb. 4, 2009

People from all over Utah have been pouring money into the state coffers for decades that mostly goes to make bigger and better services in Salt Lake City and the Wasatch front, to the detriment of Utah as a whole. This case seems to be another sorry example.

Utah needs more than one large metropolitan area, and air travel between them, many other western states do. There is lots more in Utah than Salt Lake City, and there needs to be opportunity in Utah cities beside Salt Lake City and the Wasatch Front. Young people grow up and have to move to the big city to find opportunity, leaving the rest of the state on a type of constant decline.

The Utah Legislature needs to take off their political glasses and look at the great potential that could be realized in other outlying areas of Utah.

Big Red | 9:10 a.m. Feb. 4, 2009

In doing some thinking, I have to admit that my previous posts are based solely on heresay and conjecture. I'm not into chasing this kind of stuff down and verifying it all (life is too short for this), but it is the talk you hear about town. Maybe it is all just talk, but I still think we need to be very careful when we plan projects, so that everything is above board, by the rules, and fair to everyone involved (including the public).

Floyd | 9:40 a.m. Feb. 4, 2009

I live in the SLC area and I was one of the first homeowners in Bloomington back in the early 1970's. We would spend about 4 weeks a year then, and phased down to about two days a year, some years zero days a year. The weather is never really that pleasant there, i.e., too hot or too cold. For the past ten years I have been spending my winters in my home in San Diego and it's HEAVEN...All 12 months of the year. In San Diego when you wake up in the morning and look out on the ocean or go hiking in the mountains in January, you honestly think it's May or June. I have never understood the mass migration to St. George, it's nothing like San Diego.

DustBowl | 9:44 a.m. Feb. 4, 2009

Hey Winter-Cold Summer-Hot,

BYE!! There are too many people down here anyway. I'll come buy a hotdog from you when I come up for a Real Salt Lake game.

self-reliance | 9:57 a.m. Feb. 4, 2009

I'm glad to hear about this. Each city, county, and state should be self-reliant. A person who lives in Heber shouldn't have to pay for an airport in St. George they'll never see or use. A person in St. George shouldn't have to pay for a road or airport or a High School Musical they'll never see or use.

Disappointed | 10:42 a.m. Feb. 4, 2009

I bought a winter home last year in St. George. It's a large enough home to house our immediate and extended family (married children, spouses and grand children). We all spent Thanksgiving together there and had a GREAT time for two days...after that everyone got extremely bored and begged to be cut loose to go to Las Vegas for the last three days, so they could have some fun by enjoying some shows and enjoying some great restaurants. Though I payed for the rather large hotel bill, Vegas was great fun...Needless to say my St. George home is now on the market...at a loss sadly!

re: Winter-Cold Summer-Hot | 10:51 a.m. Feb. 4, 2009

This person says this everytime there is an article about St. George! So, move already! We will be glad to see you head back north-- just one more bad, old driver off the road for us! Check out the weather more often! Seriously, go check the weather and compare it to northern utah. Today 65 degrees in Utah's Dixie. The northern utah forecast is TWENTY degrees colder! On top of that the inversion sure is nice up in the Wasatch Front! I know I would trade in the blue skies and sunshine for the smog and pollution filled Wasatch Front-- NOT! St. George is a beautiful place with red rock country, blue skies and a great location! The summers are hot and the winters are MILD (again check out weather.com) I lived in the Wasatch Front and it was super cold all winter long, with bad air quality, and the summers weren't exactly cool.. there were several 100 degree days and plenty of days in the 90's! Have fun back in the polution filled Wasatch Front!

re: Floyd | 4:53 p.m. Feb. 4, 2009

Oh, to be you! Wintering in San Diego and (wah) complaining about St. George. I'm just one of the 'Po folks of Utah, stuck toughing out in the cold winters under my electric blanket while my house is a balmy 51 degrees (can't afford heat let alone luxuries like food). Can we tax you more so that we all have an extra home in San Diego? Go Socialism...ha, ha.

location | 11:08 p.m. Feb. 4, 2009

it will be located on the se part of st. george near arizona boarder and the location of the old airport back in the day.

Vegas over St. George? Wow! | 12:04 a.m. Feb. 5, 2009

If you are bored in St. George with all of the outdoor activities there are and your choice is to go to Vegas, then all I have to say is "Have at it."

And to those of you who don't understand why all of us who live here have chosen to (I moved here 3 yrs. ago), don't worry about it. Stay where you are, and we'll continue to enjoy it for what it is. If you don't understand it, then you aren't going to, so leave us be.

Troutman | 1:33 a.m. Feb. 5, 2009

I would agree with many that have said the weather is either too cold or too hot. Cold in comparison to Logan, NO! But....My wife and I have lived here for 11 years now. We came to take care of her parents. She is from here so likes it, albeit the Population increase over the years and the bad road mess and traffic! I would rather drive in Salt Lake! I'm not kidding. In 7 years my wife retires..and guess what. We will be moving back to Logan or Idaho Falls...I kind of like Idaho Falls cause they don't get the inversions that Cache
Valley does! I do not like what has happened to St. George..Way too many illegals..Way to many drugs coming in from Mexico..a serious drug problem is here in Dixie..Heroin, being one of them. The kids are not accepted in the LDS wards here..If they do go they quickly fall away. Why? nothing for these kids to be connected to. Our LDS ward has 1 dinner per year...1 thats it! Anyone see a problem with this? 7 years can't wait. St. Greed..Over-priced!

Add your comment

Comments are monitored. Any comments found to be abusive, offensive, off-topic, misrepresentative, more than 200 words or containing URLs will not be posted.

Words Remaining

E-mail address: For internal use only. We may want to contact you to publish your comment (not your e-mail address) in the newspaper or for a separate story idea.