Community speaks out to keep a Topeka staple

TOPEKA (KSNT) - The fight for one local restaurant's survival is ongoing, and the public isn't stepping down.

Tuesday afternoon, dozens of community members attended the Metropolitan Topeka Airport Authority (MTAA) board meeting to continue the fight to keep the long-running Tammy's Billard Airport Restaurant. Last December, the airport authority decided to make a new terminal at the Billard Airport. This summer, MTAA announced it's wanting a new full-service restaurant to go along with the terminal, but locals aren't so happy with this decision.

Community members have been attending town halls and board meetings over the past few months to express their concern that a restaurant that's been at the airport for 18 years could leave.

"It's good that they're getting some input, and I know those kind of decisions," Jim Lacrone, an Oakland resident, said. "Big wheels turn slow, it takes time. I came to let it be known that there is a bigger voice for this."

While the deadline for restaurant bids at Billiard Airport has passed, the airport authority said it's taking all of the public comments into consideration.