The adage, “Fight fire with fire,” is apparently the tactic those favoring airport improvements are using to support their cause.

Over the past month, more people have shown up in favor of the lengthening of Green’s major runway than we can recall having seen during years of hearings and workshops on the topic. The Greater Providence Chamber of Commerce and the Go Green Alliance of business leaders have always been behind airport improvements, on the basis that it is good for the state’s economy.

On the opposite side of the issue, for the most part, have been the airport’s immediate neighbors who question what the changes will mean in terms of their health [noise and air pollution] and the value of their homes. They tend to be the more vocal and more emotional of the two groups and for good reason. They stand to lose some things, which are more quantifiable than the gains state and business leaders claim for improvements.

Those favoring airport expansion have now made this a “loss argument” as well and they have rallied people to carry their message. Union leaders and members have used public sessions preceding closed council committee meetings on airport litigation to hammer home the point that delays in the project could mean the loss of jobs that are direly needed.

The movement has been effective.

Council members who voted to challenge the Federal Aviation Administration decision approving the longer runway, say they aren’t obstructionists, even favor the project, but must also represent the interests of Warwick citizens.

This week, the committee has set forth an intensive series of negotiations in hopes of gaining the guarantees it wants for residents while enabling the project to move forward. This does not promise to be an easy assignment for either side.

Many of the guarantees council members would like to see would require money but, as we all understand these days, there are few guarantees when it comes to money … even federal dollars. As for promises sought by the Rhode Island Airport Corporation, such as how it might use land cleared of homes, they are dependent on the actions of the full council.

We venture that all the issues favoring and opposing a longer runway have been articulated.

The matter now is for the sides to talk, to see if they can find a middle ground. We don’t need any more fire, but rather some cool heads and earnest negotiations.