Reason Takes Flight in Burbank : Gee’s ouster is another step toward a working solution on airport

The Burbank City Council last week sent the clearest message yet that it wants to resolve a costly dispute over expansion of Burbank Airport through negotiation rather than litigation. How? The council fired one of the city’s three commissioners who sit on the airport’s oversight board. Commissioner Margie Gee fought the proposed expansion at every turn and opposed city efforts to resume talks with the Burbank-Glendale-Pasadena Airport Authority, which operates the aging terminal and airfield.

Although Gee’s ouster angered expansion opponents, it sets the stage for more constructive negotiations between the city and the airport authority--particularly considering the June removal of Glendale commissioner Robert Garcin, an ardent supporter of expansion. Without the polar opposites of Garcin and Gee, the politics of the commission should settle into a more moderate groove. That benefits all sides because the commission should now be able to consider competing interests without debates degenerating into ideological power plays.

When disputes like this are settled in a courtroom, there can be only losers. Millions of dollars in public money already have been spent on legal fees. Yet both sides agree that Burbank Airport needs a modern terminal to remain competitive and safe. The sticking points: How big the terminal should be and how much noise new air traffic might create. Clearly, those are issues that can be hammered out by reasonable people. But that’s always been the trick. Historically, neither side has held much stock in the notion that others at the table were being reasonable.

Over the past six months, though, Burbank city officials have made steady strides toward the middle. First, they proposed a compromise expansion plan. Second, they restarted formal talks with the airport authority. And finally, they are reshaping their delegation to the authority to better reflect the council’s desire to find a solution that works for the residents of Burbank and the passengers and airlines using the airport.

No one should mistake these steps toward compromise as selling out the city, as some critics have charged. They are reasonable efforts toward a solution. But now it’s time for the airport authority to take some steps of its own and work with Burbank to create a terminal the city can be proud of.