Originally Posted by hscottm

ok when I said wacko I should have said "informed wacko". I understand about tangible assets (I lecture on them twice a week).

Point is, FAA can decide which runways are usable or not (think about approval process) - also see the followup post about Giant X's. FAA can say "its shut down now, and cant be used for any purpose. think we're bluffing?"

The local residents want the best of both worlds. But everyone has paid for the runways, not just the locals. In fact, with the federal share considered, and the fact that landing fees/etc are used to supplement, the locals have probably paid for less than half.