So after all these years, the third runway at Sea-Tac International Airport is opening for commercial flights this week.

When deciding whom to ask to comment on the past controversies and the current realities, I instinctively reached out to some of the people I would instantly telephone for comments after a new development popped up.

They are an interesting bunch.

Stuart Creighton and Brett Fish remain true skeptics of the Port and the project. Bob Sheckler was in the interesting position of fighting hard against the Port on the runway as Airport Communities Coalition chairman and then cooperating with the Port on economic development for his community as Des Moines mayor. Dave Upthegrove picked up political scars opposing what he considered the "dirty fill bill" in the state Legislature, but then was the first politician to call for cooperation when the legal fight appeared to be played out. Pat Davis is the only remaining Port commissioner who weathered the Highline community's wrath while pressing ahead for the runway.

In alphabetical order, here are their reflections:

Port shows indifference

By Stuart Creighton

FORMER AIRPORT COMMUNITIES COALITION CHAIRMAN

FORMER NORMANDY PARK CITY COUNCILMAN

The third runway is really the story of an irresponsible public agency and its complete disregard for the local community where it does business.

Expansion of Sea-Tac airport has cost the residents of Burien, Des Moines, Normandy Park and Tukwila millions of dollars. These are real dollars, not just speculation. Every home, business or piece of property that the Port of Seattle confiscates stops producing tax revenue for schools, fire districts and cities. That loss of revenue has to be made up by the remaining residents.

One thousand properties valued at $200,000 each (a low estimate) would have produced about $2 million a year in revenue. Schools and local government services didn't stop; there were just fewer people to pay the bills.

Mitigation for large public projects is quite common, but the Port didn't pay any mitigation. Air pollution has been a Highline area complaint for years, but the airport has done nothing. The residents around the Cedar Hills landfill complained about air pollution and received $20 million in mitigation.

Years of construction and thousands of trucks impacting the local communities produced no response from the Port of Seattle. But the same concerns around the Brightwater sewage treatment plant resulted in $80 million in mitigation to the local community. Noise is constantly with us but there is no mitigation. So why is it different for the freeway system? The state Department of Transportation has paid out hundreds of millions of dollars over the years for sound deadening walls on our freeways.

In each of these mitigation cases a public agency has felt a responsibility to some local citizens that were being impacted by a public project. The Port of Seattle has shown no such responsibility.

It took 30 years "after" the second runway was built (1970) for the Port of Seattle to even begin trying to help the Highline schools deal with noise impacts in its school buildings. And then it was only 25 cents on the dollar from the port.

The best that can be said of the Port of Seattle is that they show depraved indifference toward our local communities.

Going past litigation

By Patricia Davis

PORT OF SEATTLE COMMISSIONER

As the Port of Seattle commissioner who has been involved with Sea-Tac Airport's third runway project from the beginning, let me say how elated I am to see the opening of this significant piece of our aviation system on Nov. 20.

While we have experienced years of challenges, positive results have grown out of the process.

By moving beyond litigation to cooperation, surrounding cities-Des Moines, Burien, Normandy Park, Federal Way, the Highline School District, Tukwila and the City of SeaTac -have formed the Highline Forum with the Port. This Southwest King County working group meets regularly to pursue issues of mutual interest, such as economic development, transportation, the environment and education.

Joint redevelopment of vacant acreage will help generate tax revenues for the cities and some income for the airport. More importantly, in this time of economic hardship, job generation is a critical centerpiece of redevelopments. Collective efforts for Aviation High School, finding funding for State Route 509, and partnerships in security activities are examples of the Forum's agenda as well.

I am most proud of the unprecedented environmental mitigation program that resulted from building the runway. This complex program enhanced airport area wetlands and reconstructed and restored nearby creeks. Storm water runoff has been the most difficult and costly component.

Just this month, spawning Coho salmon were discovered in Miller Creek. I remember a dramatic visit with Brett Fish some years ago when there were churning waters but no fish. In addition, 158,000 native plants were installed, helping to restore the land and protect the creeks.

A more efficient airport not only provides improved service, but also fuel savings, cost savings to airlines and emissions reduction. By providing landings on two runways in lower visibilities, the new runway will cut flight delays in half. These cost and environmental benefits are especially important now, when efficiencies are called for in all sectors.

I want to thank the hundreds of citizens, skilled professionals, Port staff and elected officials who enabled our new runway to be responsibly developed. I am confident we will move forward adding to the advances we have already made.

Vigilance is watchword

By Brett Fish

CITIZENS AGAINST SEA-TAC EXPANSION CHAIRMAN

Much good came from our community's 20+-year battle against the Port of Seattle's third runway. Cities surrounding the airport and the Highline School District united against the Port's history of damage to our environment, schools, and neighborhoods.

Our local cities formed the Airport Communities Coalition. Thousands of volunteers supported Citizens Against Sea-Tac Expansion. The Regional Council on Airport Affairs provided technical assistance. Together we took the fight all the way to the Washington Supreme Court.

We did not stop the runway, but we convinced the Department of Ecology, the Pollution Control Hearings Board, and U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to require stringent environmental safeguards forcing the Port to clean up its act in no uncertain terms.

Unconvinced by the Port's assertions that no harm would come to our wetlands, drinking water, and salmon-bearing streams, these regulatory agencies mandated that the Port completely overhaul its pollution prevention systems and mitigate in advance for losses to wetlands. The port soundproofed thousands of homes and schools from the noise of the second runway. This is a huge victory for the Highline community.

Ours was an epic battle: court cases, public protests, public hearings, legislative fights, countless newspaper articles, broken windshields and engaging the State Patrol to ticket hundreds grossly overloaded dirt hauling trucks speeding down our freeways.

We never believed the Port's justification for the "Billion Dollar Boondoggle" third runway. Official FAA data shows only 1.5 percent of flights are delayed at Sea-Tac caused by local bad weather.

Would we do it again? Was it worth it? Absolutely! And, we may have to in spite of the Port's statements to the contrary that groundwork is being laid to justify a fourth Runway at Sea-Tac.

While bridges of trust are slowly growing with the Port, vigilance must always be our watchword.

Future is promising

By Bob Sheckler

DES MOINES MAYOR

FORMER AIRPORT COMMUNITIES COALITION CHAIRMAN

The Highline area and Sea-Tac International Airport have come a long way since Port of Seattle commissioners moved ahead with plans to build a third runway, and neighboring cities countered by organizing the Airport Communities Coalition (ACC) to oppose its construction.

During the many rounds of negotiations, regulatory hearings and lawsuits that followed, the ACC challenged the need for another runway at Sea-Tac, made the case for a second major airport elsewhere in the Puget Sound region, and pressed for local environmental safeguards should the project proceed.

When it all ended, the third runway was approved and built. But our efforts through the ACC were not in vain. Our case was worth the fight - and we succeeded on two fronts. One, we raised public awareness throughout the region that another airport must be located beyond South King County.

More significantly, we secured critical environmental protections for Highline streams and other sensitive natural areas, along with additional soundproofing for schools and homes near the airport and flight paths. These victories represent major gains that will preserve and enhance the quality of life in the airport communities.

Despite the fact that our cities opposed for more than a decade the airport's third-runway, today a new spirit of cooperation - and a mutually beneficial relationship - exists between these former adversaries.

The port is advancing plans, which have been slowed during the current economic downturn, to develop the Des Moines Creek Business Park in Des Moines. This project is expected to bring new family wage jobs to the city and expand our retail tax base.

Burien is anticipating commercial development in that city's Northeast development area, a lot of it in cooperation with the airport. Tukwila continues to benefit from air travelers who shop at Southcenter.

The ACC era was a challenging period in local history. And because of what we accomplished then - together with our new cooperative relationship with the airport - the future for Highline communities is more promising today than ever.

Community is stronger

By Dave Upthegrove

STATE REPRESENTATIVE (D-DES MOINES)

History will show that our community was right to fight the third runway. Although we did not stop the project, we won environmental protections for our local salmon streams and millions in noise mitigation for Highline schools.

Huge cost overruns on this unnecessary runway, recent stories of corruption at the Port, airline industry financial woes, and skyrocketing Port of Seattle property taxes are already proving us right.

I'm proud of how our community pulled together in the momentous civic effort to try to stop the project. Liberals developed a new aversion to big government. Conservatives developed a new respect for environmental regulations. We all worked together fighting a common enemy. We saw this civic unity at the monthly CASE (Citizens Against Sea-Tac Expansion) meetings in the ERAC building in Burien. In the heyday of the fight, CASE meetings drew 100+ citizens, and were "the place to be" on those Wednesday nights.

Candidates for office would often announce their candidacy at these meetings. A highlight of the civic effort was seeing 1,000 people show up at Foster High School to speak against the environmental permits for the runway.

Another highlight was then winning a legal battle that essentially stopped the project. However, that victory was quickly followed by my lowlight: having to watch my colleagues in the Legislature intervene and pass legislation to undo the legal victory and allow the third runway to move forward. I resigned my position in Democratic leadership on the House Floor following a tearful and emotional debate, and have since become a much more independent legislator.

Although it is difficult to watch the third runway open this week, I believe those who fought the project should hold their heads high. Our community is stronger and better off for having stood against this boondoggle.