Dear Geoffrey,

     I noticed that the “Seaboard Way” sign guarding the main entrance of JFK International Airport is pitched over and lying half way down, making it unreadable for travelers.
     On behalf of the memory of Seaboard and its people, I ask if you could please help bring attention to this situation to the airport operator The Port Authority, to get this landmark fixed rapidly.
     Seaboard World Airways Cargo, now part of FedEx, was a major all-cargo carrier that was headquartered at JFK, dating back to the days when the airport was named Idlewild.
     The memory of the contribution that the carrier made to building—both the air cargo business and the airport—has to be honored and maintained decently.
     Thanks for your assistance.

Vincent Chabrol
V20100@ aol.com

Dear Vince,

      Thanks for writing.
     You are indeed the “Sentinel of Seaboard,” and anyone who thinks that after all these years there is no one at the airport that gives a damn, now knows better.
     That sign looks ill-placed, and we think it was probably bashed by a snowplow this winter.
     We cannot help but notice in the backdrop of your picture the now faded International Hotel, where once Jimmy Doolittle was honored and Ron Burrage held sway at the podium, and Ike Dornfeld, Dick Rowe, and Bob Aaronson gave speeches.
     Today the International Hotel sits closed and vacant at the very entranceway of the airport that features the almost tipped over SWA sign.
     The image brings to mind that empty town and its flickering movie house, and the hopes and dreams in the film The Last Picture Show.
     Recently David Z. Plavin, (right) who once served as Aviation Director for the airport operator Port Authority of New York & New Jersey and is now a well-respected aviation authority (dvz consult), suggested in a piece for Eno Center for Transportation, that it might finally be time for the agency to get out of the airport business.
     “There once was a time when the Port Authority of New York & New Jersey (PANYNJ) had an international reputation as ‘the gold standard’ of public enterprises for its independent professional staff, its facility management capabilities, and for the farsightedness of its investments in promoting the New York/New Jersey region,” Plavin wrote.
     “Unfortunately, this is no longer true.
     “Instead, today’s Port Authority (PA) has become the punchline of a bad joke.”
Geoffrey