Support the People by Opposing Polluting War Machines

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Dear Madison Alders
Thank you so much for considering the Common Council resolution opposing the stationing of F-35 fighter jets at Truax.  Please, please, vote in favor of this resolution.
I live on the north side of Madison, and I love this part of town.  I moved here twenty years ago from the west coast, and raised my children in this neighborhood.  For two decades we have enjoyed the peacefulness of the area, the company of other families of various racial and cultural backgrounds, and our proximity to the plants and wildlife of Cherokee Marsh.
I have enjoyed my 20 years in Madison.  And it’s deeply concerning now to think about younger families in Madison having to pay the price for bringing the F-35s to Truax.  In particular:
—The increasing levels of PFAs and other deadly toxins in our water, and the physically and emotionally damaging levels of noise and air pollution
—The worsening of Dane County’s nationally infamous racial and economic disparities, as low income schools on the north and east sides become places where learning is frequently disrupted by extremely loud fly-overs, and low income families lose accessible rental housing while others see property values go down without remediation.  
Especially in these times of pandemic, we need to be finding better ways to support the health of our people—not adding in more factors, like the F-35s, that increase chronic stress and damage to people’s immune systems.
The Air Force itself says that the F-35s will be particularly harmful to children, to low income people, and to people of color living in the neighborhoods closest to Truax.  This should be enough to oppose bringing the jets to  Madison. 
I work with low income people in Dane County who have trauma, and I’m very concerned about the additional harm that the F-35s will bring to my clients and to our community.  For this reason in the fall of 2019 I began to create a series of educational posters about the F-35s, as I wanted to make information about them more accessible to more people.  I will include copies of those posters on the following pages.
In the meantime, thank you again for considering this resolution.  Please vote Yes!
Sincerely,
Clare Norelle

Madison