Harren letter: Jet noise

Rarely do you hear such strong opinions about something we know so little about. Few in Boise have ever seen, much less heard, an F-35 fighter jet. Not the mayor and City Council, when they endorsed bringing them to Gowen Field in 2010. Not the 61 percent of folks favoring bringing in these jets here in a recent Weekly poll. Not even we on the Bench, who strongly oppose their presence.

What we Bench residents did hear, however, was the F-15s, a couple of summers back. They provoked a spontaneous response of disbelief that anyone could even consider these planes near a residential neighborhood. Hundreds of residents have attended public meetings protesting having them here, especially with Mountain Home Air Force Base nearby. And this is by people well used to airplane noise, as well as many fellow ex-vets.

And an F-35 is louder than the F-15.When they decide back in Washington to put them here because of favorable opinions by people who’ve never heard them, it will be too late to say, “Wow, I didn’t know they were that loud.” So how about an F-35 flyover at Gowen Field, so we can hear for sure?

This story was originally published January 2, 2017 at 11:21 PM with the headline "Harren letter: Jet noise."