Airport Viewing Area Ribbon Cutting- April 27th 2015
Posted by Paige Chamberlain
On April 27th 2015, The Rotary Club of San Luis Obispo de Tolosa, along with the Rotary Club of SLO Daybreak, the Rotaract Club of SLO, and the Rotary Club of SLO, hosted a dedication and ribbon cutting of the new San Luis Obispo Airport Viewing Platform.
Our happy President Dave Juhnke prepares for the San Luis Obispo Chamber of Commerce ribbon cutting.
Our large community project would not have been possible without our fellow Rotary and Rotaract clubs and the donations of time and materials from so many of our local businesses and individuals. We are very proud of this project, which will provide a location for the public to view planes taking off and landing and also create an interactive area for school children to learn about aviation.
We are equally proud of the fact that this project was a community effort, with more than $100,000 in donations and hundreds of hours of volunteer labor and donations. We thank those who donated to this endeavor:
Air Vol Block, CalPortland, Chevron, Covelop, Inc, Earth Systems, Specialty Construction, Bunyon Brothers Tree Service, Ron Jordan Concrete Pumping, Spirit of San Luis Restaurant, United Rentals, Alpha Electrical Service, Jesse Wallace, Lance Wierschem, Farm Supply, Coast Electronics, Atascadero Elks, St. Francis Landscaping, Phillips 66, C&R Tile, Quaglino Roofing, PG&E, and Michael Ronay from Boy Scout Troop 6 whose Eagle Scout project is a speaker system that will broadcast the control tower to the area.
While Rotary de Tolosa members led the effort to fundraise and provide manual labor, we would like to also thank and acknowledge two businesses in particular that went above and beyond the call of duty. The Wallace Group, who served as Engineer and Project Manager, donating more than $30,000 in time and services. Special thanks to Tom Zehnder, who has been the leader of this project from day one and who worked tirelessly to overcome many obstacles in order to make this project a success. Additionally, Souza Contruction, who served as the General Contractor, donating more than $15,000 in time and equipment, and without whom this project would not have been possible.
Finally, we also want to thank our partner in this project, the County of San Luis Obispo and in particular County Airport Manager, Kevin Bumen, who was an advocate for this project and who helped make this dream a reality for our community for years to come.