West Valley mayor seeks honesty about F-35

We've talked to Sen. John McCain. We've talked to residents and neighbors at our public meetings. We talk to folks who call every day about the F-35 fighter jet and what it might mean to our community and our region.

Talking. It's the first step on the path to finding solutions. And we're thankful that from the honorable John McCain, to residents at an annual community picnic, to the woman in line behind me at the bank, we're finally starting to talk openly about the F-35. But more progress needs to be made.

Other communities have had very civil conversations about the pros - and cons - of a potential F-35 mission in their area.

Our southern neighbors in Tucson are doing just that. After learning that they too made the short list of potential sites, Tucson city and neighborhood leaders expressed excitement and hope - and concerns about impacts to the closest neighborhoods. It's a logical, responsible and commendable approach.

I trust we will get there, too, as a region. We will continue to ask questions about noise impacts on our community and support the base and the proud men and women who serve. We will continue to come together as a region and make the needs of our own residents paramount. We will continue to pursue a tax base in El Mirage that provides for basic services and a strong quality of life, and compete with our neighbors who are doing the same.

We will continue our due diligence on the F-35. We will continue to ask questions because the decisions we make will have long-term ramifications on us, our children, and even our children's children. "What comes with the F-35?" or "Are there any other missions we should be courting as a region?"

Some communities elsewhere in the country think the F-35 is too loud and are already litigating the matter, or gathering further information. Some say the aircraft is not louder, while others say it is many times louder. This is what we need to find out before the fact. Before El Mirage, Surprise, Sun City or any other community in the West Valley is faced with what to do after the fact if the plane is too loud and homes can't be sold or property values plummet.

Very soon, the military will begin the first phase of its environmental impact study. We will all have opportunity to talk at public forums about our excitement, and our concerns.

And thanks to McCain and his commitment to our region, we will have the opportunity to hear, for ourselves, an F-35 in flight as part of the impact statement process. We sincerely thank him for granting our recent request to bring it to Luke Air Force Base so we can hear with our own ears and not have to rely solely on consultants telling us whether this aircraft is appropriate for the area.

If it is too loud, let's start talking right now about ways to make Luke all it can be. If it is not too loud, terrific, and El Mirage will remain diligent about economic development challenges the current mission at Luke presents. To that end we are pursuing numerous federal, state and regional changes to alleviate the obstacles we have for improving our quality of life with two-thirds of our city in flight patterns and restricted areas.

But as it relates to the base's future we can be both hopeful and concerned about the future viability of Luke and its missions. And we are.

Michele Kern is mayor of El Mirage. Last month, Gov. Jan Brewer launched a campaign to convince the U.S. Defense Department to select Luke Air Force Base as the main training site for future pilots of the F-35 Lightning II. But Davis-Monthan Air Force Base in Tucson also is under consideration.