Tallahassee Reports has learned that Tallahassee Airport Director David Pollard was responsible for organizing the parking arrangements for the Saturday visit of Vice President Mike Pence which included both free and paid parking options.
Pence visited Tallahassee to hold a Make America Great Again rally at the Tallahassee International Airport.
Several people complained on social media Saturday night about the $20 parking fee and told TR that the free parking lot was not prominently highlighted for attendees.
Mr. Pollard confirmed the $20 fee and told Tallahassee Reports that it is his job to keep the airport self-sufficient and to do that he has to recover costs when they are incurred.
Pollard added that the airport had approximately 15 employees on hand to work the event and the parking fees were used to offset those expenses. Mr.Pollard estimated that approximately $3,700 was collected.
Mr. Pollard also stated that the decision to charge a fee was his and did not involve other city officials and was not influenced by politics.
Earlier this year the City of Tallahassee was criticized by some for spending approximately $8,000 in tax revenue to paint a Black Lives Matter mural at the intersection of Gaines Street and Railroad Avenue.
Efing liberal Tallahassee.?
Of course I don't know what happened. But I do know that federal law requires that all of the revenue generated at an airport has to stay at the airport and used for airport purposes. It is perfectly reasonable for an airport director to charge for its services that only benefit an individual and/or non-aviation event (though usually it is the event planner that pays those fees not the participants, and I would think that there would be an established policy about charging for private events at the airport (or that any such City policy would also be applied at the airport). So everyone concerned about this should attend the next airport advisory board meeting to lobby for an established policy.
I lost one of my oldest customers because I was wearing a grateful dead shirt that said "Make America Grateful again". She thought it was a Trump shirt and went berzerk... normally she is a a sweet old lady.
So don't tell me it wasn't political. EVERYTHING IS POLITICAL!
At least you were wearing the shirt so kudos for that... I recently had a worker show up on the job and commence doing the job without his shirt on. He was asked to put a shirt on and complied. I like the message on your shirt.
The airport actually should recover its costs for a non-aviation event held on its property. Refer to FAA's airport compliance regulations for further information.
In addition to painting the street and $20.00 parking
fees watch out for the book
White Fragility!!
All Yall suckers Trump Lovers
Keep commenting Hope. We agree and support your efforts.
Of course if Biden held an airport rally parking would be free.
Only 20 cars would show up.
That includes Biden supporters, the press, and law enforcement.
20 cars.
TR Staff/Lexie,
Please further investigate this as more clarification is needed. For instance did the event planners pay the fees that would cover the cost of parking?
Was the airport advisory committee involved in any of the decisions?
Was this event handled like any other event?
Why are members of the airport advisory committee allowed to advertise their businesses and pictures of themselves without paying advertising fees to the airport?
Were politics involved in any of the decisions or was this an across-the-board fair practice by the airport that resulted in additional parking fees?
That's hilarious. I'll arrange all my flights out of Tallahassee Airport instead of driving to Jacksonville from now on
Thank you Hope. I found your comment to be very insightful. Typical democrat response from “ I can’t believe it” when someone doesn’t have your same opinion or narrative you think we should silence them no matter what the constitution says!! Again thank you hope for shedding a light on the topic.
Ahh, the intersection painting brigade is getting agitated. Their Portland buddies are on the way. Look out Hope.
We did not know about the $20 fee (never carry much cash) and had to park across the road in a field. I did not see any information about the fee, and there was plenty of room. The rain was pouring and visibility on the truck route was poor. Even with officers directing traffic, I was concerned that someone would lose control. We had a long walk in mud and pouring rain. I'm not happy with the City and feel someone made a poor decision.
This injustice will not stand! Hope should resign from commenting in local pages IMMEDIATELY as she thinks the mayor has any power above the commission in its entirety.
I can't believe we just let anyone with minimal IT skills post whatever their fingers want in the name of free speech.
Glad I could help!
The city of Tallahassee is corrupt. This is just another example. That is why we have poor air service here. The airport needs to be privatized. The airport here also has some of the highest fees in the state!
David Pollard took his marching orders from the City Commission. All whom are Biden supporters. Their lies are so predictable.
And they let Gary Yordon, Sean Pittman, and Ben Crump advertise for free at the Tallahassee Airport. This was clearly engineered by the Democratic Party and mayor and shame on the City of Tallahassee mostly the mayor of Tallahassee who is nothing more than a Democratic Party operative..
When you paint a controversial political message on a public Street that causes violence and you make citizens pay to see the vice-president of the United States in a public area this is extreme Democratic Party shenanigans..
The City commissioners need to reimburse the taxpayers for the black lives matter sign and the City of Tallahassee needs to reimburse citizens the parking fees for the Pence event.
This is not leadership again this is petty dangerous sadistic Democratic Party politics at its worst!
The mayor must resign immediately!
You tell em!?