Friends, If you'd like to see the FLL viewing area re-opened, I would urge you to sign the on-line petition at http://www.petitiononline.com/mod_perl/petition-sign.cgi?openpark It was started by Don Boyd, a regular on this list. I would urge everyone to send a letters to each and every Broward County commissioner (list of e-mails attached at bottom of this e-mail). Keep the flood coming. Here's the letter I sent to all the commissioners: Dear Sir/Madam, I would like to urge you to re-open the observation area at Fort Lauderdale Airport. Certainly we live in times when additional security precautions must be taken. But there are precautions that actually increase security, and precautions that do not. Closing the observation area at Fort Lauderdale Airport is an example of precautions that do absolutely nothing to increase security, while taking away an activity that is both prized by many people and families and generates important economic benefits. This is tantamount to doing the terrorists' work for them. Why does this not increase security? Because it only closes one of the million places from which a missile may be fired. It's like plugging just one of the holes of a sieve. On the contrary, it actually REDUCES security because it keeps away an alert, knowledgeable segment of the public. These same visitors also generate important economic benefits, through hotel stays, car rentals, food and other purchases. It would be one thing to sacrifice these benefits if there were a security benefit, but in this case there manifestly is not. So once again, I urge you re-open the observation area at Fort Lauderdale Airport. Thank you for your attention to this matter. I would appreciate a response. Sent to: BSHERRY@broward.org ILieberman@broward.org, kjacobs@broward.org, bgraber@broward.org, lcastillo@broward.org, lparrish@broward.org, sgunzburger@broward.org, jrodstrom@broward.org, dwassermanrubin@broward.org, jeggelletion@broward.org Stefano Pagiola -- All opinions are my own. 850 N Randolph Str No.817, Arlington VA 22203, USA Visit Smiliner: The BAe 146/Avro RJ site at http://www.smiliner.com