Name Change for Ted Stevens International Airport?

The Anchorage International Airport has held the name “Ted Stevens” since 2000, in honor of all the money the longest serving Republican Senator has brought the airline industry and our state.

With 7 counts of corruption and a lost reelection bid, CBS 11's been hearing a lot of talk about the possibility of removing the name of Ted Stevens from our state's largest international airport.

Representative Les Gara said he's been hearing that “talk”, for weeks,

“I think the public knows, the community knows, you can't have a major facility like this named after somebody who's been convicted.” Gara says that is the danger you run into, when naming anything after someone who is currently in office. He adds “Senator Stevens is not on the best situation right now, but I think at some point probably the name has to change.”

But not everyone is ready to make that statement.

“I think that's unfair. I think the man had done a tremendous amount of things for Alaska, just look at his track record,” said airport traveler Arthur Wilson.

If the airport's name is changed and renamed, airport officials say it won't be anytime soon. Acting Airport Director Christine Klein said, “Not at this time. Airport name changes are very costly and time consuming and that does have to be approved by the legislature.”

But there's still a possibility Stevens could win an appeal and everything could stay the same.

Representative Gara said, “I don't really want to do anything now. I mean this is the wrong time to do anything. You know I don't want to kick somebody when they're down.”

What will have to happen in order for the airport to be renamed, is a community discussion, and then would be brought to the legislature. The legislature can then pass a bill for the airport name to be changed, because that's how the airport was named in the first place.

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