Have you ever been up there during the Allen & Co. conference? They shoe horn in so many private jets you could hardly walk through them. Big pile of money.....not sure what it brings to the local economy.
One time while this conference was in session, I actually stopped on the highway and counted the business jets parked on both sides of the runway...about 75 of them. I can't fathom how much money was sitting there. They had just released the Batman movie that Schwarzenegger was in. He had his jet there, painted black with "Batman World Tour" in huge red letters down the side.
At the south end of the airport is a cow pasture. Some years ago the FAA decreed that the airport needed an additional 40 acres for a buffer zone at the end of the runway. The farmland was owned by the rancher in the small modest house there. They went to him to offer to buy the bare land. He agreed to sell at the appraised price, which turned out to be $100k/acre. So, he sold them the 40 acres for $4 mill. They had no choice but to pay it. He leases it back from them for the pasture. He usually has a few horses or cows on it. Nothing changed other than the ownership. It's still a cow pasture but he has a pile of cash in the bank.
