THE SURVEY'S PURPOSE IS TO PRIORITIZE EVENTS, NEEDS, AND SCHEDULES INTO PLANS FOR FEDERAL, LOCAL, OR BOTH ACTIVITIES. That is, FAA and other Federal issues, MAC and other State/Metro issues. What do you think?

GOT IT? PLEASE TAKE THE SURVEY!

BACKGROUND: SMAAC was started 55 years ago in South Minneapolis by residents to limit the adverse impacts of noisy and more polluting jet airliners on community life near the MSP airfield.

The economic needs of a growing  population were expected by urban planners to need more, larger, faster and longer-range jet airliners --a community amenity. In fact, many messy "amenities" are needed for growth: sewage, waste, and power plants; railroads and truck routes; chemical plants with toxic waste, electricity generated by burning petroleum, etc.

But all of them also, airports more so, employ workers.  Policy-making, of course, is a government function, and there, local jobs, we have found, are wrongly thought to always be good policy, not an adverse social, health or environmental impact. 

Planning for a growing Metro and State economy includes competitive travel costs for Origin and Destination (O&D) --our business and leisure travelers start trips here; our State businesses depend on suppliers, buyers, and partners arriving here, and many leisure passengers are retail customers (tourists; sports fans; campers, golfers and anglers.

Commercial aviation policy, however, is necessarily Federal. Moreover, the Federal Aviation Administration directs when and where planes they fly and which runway they use at an airport, regulates many aspects of aircraft and airport design and operations, and literally decides on airport improvement  financing and schedules. 

The immediate plan is Web Pages will be sorted into 3 categories: Metropolitan Minnesota Topics, National Topics,  and "Back Office," or "Administration." That will allow us to split the web-pages  in\ to two public parts. 

SMAACmn.org pages will likely relate to physical meetings for project planning --and the projects will be real world: monitoring government of the Metro airports (or protesting their inattention to local needs); publishing newsletters, holding public forums, engaging as constituents or voters seeking policy adjustments.

SMAAC.US pages will likely support partnerships with other major hub airports to "advise FAA" or airport sponsors on airport improvements and air traffic management.*  History suggests this tactic has solidified airlines and aircraft manufacturers to act as industry advocates and rule writers rather than regulated competitors. To counter that, public interest advocates probably will petition executive, legislative, and judicial branches of government. 

Business pages will support Board meetings and communications, various lists, current member rosters, and financial records. Access will require special permissions. The current set-up does not handle accounting needs well, including Member access to their own donation records. Recruiting volunteers or soliciting donations suggests more information than an email address and User Name (such as location or address).

• E-Mails will be sent announcing the plans. 
• Access to pages will be more disciplined: Bulletin Board or public-view pages will be view only; viewing "BLOG" pages may require a complete registration and replies or comments will require registration. This will increase security and allow moderation for first posts at least. The current site controls may be upgraded (bad language, unrelated solicitations now have to be found and removed, this may be automated.
• Internal messaging and notifications may be grouped (MN, US, Admin or Business).

There is no schedule because it is anticipated that volunteers will focus on Minnesota or U.S. information and goals, while remaining as a not-for-profit association or corporation. Note: The Board has considered a local/Federal split with Federal a 501-c-4 and local a 501-c-3. It appears, however, that a better plan is to have an educational/information 501-c-3 separated from most of our activities.