ST. LOUIS – Fox 2’s You Paid For It Team is asking questions about the latest moves in the study on whether or not to privatize St. Louis-Lambert International Airport.
The Airport Advisory Working Group met Friday and voted to send out a request for qualifications, essentially asking companies that might be interested in managing the airport to signal their interest in writing along with their qualifications for the job.
The committee chair told Fox 2 it will take several months to get the information back and analyze it. They’ve got the support of the airline to go forward with the study.
The chairman insisted this is all in the study stages and that no final conclusion has been reached.
However, St. Louis Comptroller Darlene Green has already made up her mind. She’s dead set against privatization, saying it would be a bad deal for taxpayers. Her spokesperson reiterated that Friday.
But Board of Aldermen President Lewis Reed is on the opposite side of the fence. He gave the go-ahead vote for the study to be done, siding with Mayor Lyda Krewson.
Reed said it’s worth studying the deal to see if the city could get some benefits from privatization over what they’re doing now. The chairman said the advisory group may be ready to submit their findings to city officials for a vote by the middle of next year.
