Guys,
First, here's an article I wrote back in May 1999 about this kind of thing:
Gilbert, AZ - Going, Going, Gone?
By Mark "Bunny" Bundick, NAR President
A story is unfolding in Arizona that probably won't hit your local paper. But it will impact your hobby. The City Council of Gilbert, AZ, a Phoenix suburb, tomorrow night, will debate an ordinance that will ban flying model rockets in their parks. An intensive local effort, led by Dave Lewicki, Peter Riddell, and other members of the Superstition Spacemodeling Society, is underway to attempt to head off this ordinance. But the issue is in doubt.
If we lose Gilbert, it may be the first of many more launch site losses. While you can say, "it won't happen here", don't bet on it. While many NAR members tell me, "Bunny, quit worrying. We can't fly HPR models from those sites anyway", I categorically reject that argument. The fastest way I know of to cripple any rocket club is to stop them from flying. You do that by denying them use of a local launch field.
Without the locally accessible launch site for your younger members, you will lose the next generation of "born again rocketeers". Many of you have written me to describe your return to the hobby after completing your education, finding a job and setting up a household. Without your exposure to rockets during your younger days, I have some doubt you would have returned to the hobby.
The local flying field also makes a good place to offer your services to other organizations in the community. Every flying season, my mailbox fills with newsletters describing club efforts flying rockets with school classes, YMCA groups, Boy Scouts, church and science clubs. Unless your field is locally accessible, your attendance at such events, and then your club's membership will drop. You also miss the opportunity to "strut your stuff" to parents, teachers, group leaders and, most importantly, public safety officials. "Out of sight; out of mind" applies to rocket clubs, too.
If your launch site is under attack, what should NAR members do? Is there a way to stem the tide, or do you simply move 60 miles out of the city to the wide open spaces and hope for the best? Here's eight simple tips you can use to secure a local flying site, or to protect one you have if you get wind that you're about to lose it.
1. Call the responsible official controlling your property. That might be someone in a city office or park district facility. Find out who's in charge, and get all the contact information you can; name, address, phone and fax numbers and email addresses. Add them to your newsletter mailing list right away.
2. Offer to provide the responsible parties with a copy of the NAR's Safety Report. Written by Harry Stine, it shows public officials the safety elements inherent in the hobby, including the full set of independent tests conducted by public safety officials, and their complete results. You can obtain copies of this publication simply by calling, writing or emailing NAR Headquarters and providing them an address to which the NAR's Safety Report should be mailed.
3. Contact local allies; if you've done launches for other groups, Scouts, schools, youth groups, etc., call your contacts. Here's where those few afternoons helping others fly their first rocket bear fruit. Teachers and Scouting leaders are particularly valuable allies. A few telephone calls may be all it takes to get a substantial local backing.
4. Offer to schedule a demonstration launch for the decision making body. In my personal experience, nothing tends to win over a suspicious group faster than seeing them fly. If your young members attend and fly at the launch, their infectious enthusiasm, coupled with your club's respect for safety will quickly show local officials they have nothing to fear from your hobby.
5. Offer to insure the site you're using. By showing that your group is as responsible and serious about its obligations as the local sporting teams using parks, you show that you're a responsible, serious group. NAR HQ can provide you with complete details regarding NAR insurance coverage, if your section hasn't previously used NAR site owner coverage.
6. Be prepared to make reasonable compromises. Other organizations may be paying a modest fee to use park facilities. You should be equally prepared to do so. You will probably have to schedule your launches around other activities. That's perfectly reasonable, too, and can enhance safety. If you begin discussions with the responsible officials by offering to make these and similar concessions, you get the relationship with your site owner off on a cordial footing.
7. Don't be hostile. If you come in quoting the Constitution or talking about lawsuits, defensive barriers are going to be erected by the site owning officials. Whether the law is on your side or not isn't the issue; at the initial stage, it's about proving you're a responsible, good neighbor, asking for reasonable access to public property. Be polite, respectful but firm.
8. Don't give up. Administrations come and go. Park board members change, as do city council members. A teacher might need a launch site next semester, and take up your cause. When my local NIRA section had flown nearly 7,000 rockets in the Du Page County, IL forest preserves, and applied for our 1996 site permits, we were abruptly told "you can't do that". A new administrator had arrived on the scene, and said rocket flying was prohibited by ordinance. Given the many budding HPR members in the club, it would have been easy for us to trot off to our Wisconsin HPR launch site and forget about our local flying. A year's worth of patient work, coupled with a demo launch, got us back in. Now we're back to servicing local Scout troops and attracting new members all the time. Don't give up.
I hope local NAR member efforts will save Gilbert, AZ from becoming a "rocket free zone". If those efforts fail, then the rest of us need to learn from their experience. We need to do absolutely everything in our power to protect our flying site assets. Without those sites, we can't begin to further our mission of safety, education and fun to our communities, and protect the hobby for future generations.
Pay forward. Aim high.
Bunny
