Wednesday, August 6, 2003

Much has been written and verbalized about renaming Hartsfield Airport to Maynard Jackson Airport. While Jackson did many good things for Atlanta, the airport was not one of them.

In fact, one might say that the airport was built not because of Jackson, but in spite of him. Jackson caused many months of needless delays and expense when he demanded that local black contractors be a part of the construction. Not a bad idea, except hardly any local black contractors were qualified for airport construction.

The airlines spent millions of dollars burning fuel waiting for an open gate. I know because I was one of those waiting. Passengers fumed as many connections to other flights were missed. The extra expense for the construction delays has never been made public, but must have been millions of dollars.

After many months of needless delay, Jackson finally conceded that the black contractors did not have to be local. Even with that concession, the construction did not go well. One has only to go to the center of "B" concourse to confirm this fact.

Separate contractors started at each end and worked towards the middle. Unfortunately, when they met, the floor was several feet different in height. Therefore, there is a large hump in the floor where the floor construction was joined.

Many others played a part in the Atlanta airport during the early years. William B. Hartsfield was the driving force. In fact, without him Atlanta would probably still be a grass strip.

There is a great book about Hartsfield Airport history, "A Dream Takes Flight," written by Betsy Braden and Paul Hagan. This book contains the true history of the development of Hartsfield Airport.

Atlanta's airport should remain named after William B. Hartsfield. Jackson's major accomplishment was the Olympics. Name the Olympic park Maynard Jackson Olympic Park.

John Regan

Fayetteville, Ga.