AAB Mtg 8 17 2023

The City of Redlands and Coyote Aviation, our small business at Redlands Airport, have been locked in a three-year battle over Coyote Aviation's ability to extend its land lease at Redlands Airport. Redlands City Council has worked diligently to prevent the information about Coyote Aviation's position from reaching the public, and at thwarting Coyote's attempts to initiate constructive dialogue with its own City Council members.
In a courageous move, after examining Coyote's hard evidence, the Redlands Airport Advisory Board discussed the dispute on July 20. An exchange between the board and a City Councilman who was present grew very tense. Because of that, AAB members were instructed by a city staffer to stop the discussion and put it as an agenda item for the next session, on August 17.
Although they had properly added it as an agenda item, the city abruptly pulled it from the August 17 agenda at the last minute. Hearing that many supporters were planning to attend the meeting, and fearing AAB members might discuss Coyote Aviation despite its absence from the agenda, the city attorney issued letters to board members minutes before the meeting began. The letter threatened civil and criminal penalties for those AAB members who discussed the Coyote Aviation dispute.
The city's strategy appeared to have been successful. Several board members who have previously expressed support for Coyote Aviation, were silent. The city's actions, however, did not prevent eleven citizens from sharing their concerns about the treatment by the City of Redlands of Coyote Aviation. Nor did it prevent Vice Chair Thomas Cook from praising the citizens who attended the meeting, and from bravely sharing his own views on the city's nefarious actions. His comments are in the last ten minutes of the video.
Documents reveal that the city's plan has been to terminate Coyote's lease on a technicality, evict tenants, and take the building and improvements Coyote built. Those improvements would be used by the city to generate revenue without incurring the risk or expense of construction.