Coalition Pledges to Fight Airport Expansion

A coalition of officials pledged their support--and in some cases money--Wednesday to fight Mayor Richard Riordan’s plan to expand Los Angeles International Airport.

“For Mayor Riordan or anybody to persist in the face of this kind of opposition is absolutely foolhardy,” said Rep. Maxine Waters (D-Los Angeles), who represents Inglewood and the unincorporated community of Lennox. “I believe the expansion of LAX would place an unsafe, unfair and unacceptable burden on all of these neighboring communities.”

Officials from cities including El Segundo and Santa Monica as well as Riverside County joined together for a sometimes heated public declaration of their support for an alternative plan that would provide for construction of an Orange County facility and growth at 10 other facilities in neighboring cities.

Standing at a hilltop overlooking the airport, officials said that at its current capacity of 60 million passengers per year, LAX already poses a health and economic danger to its neighboring communities. Part of Riordan’s plan includes increasing LAX’s capacity to 98 million passengers.

But Waters said such an expansion would bring more noise, air pollution, traffic congestion as well as a drop in property values for affected residents in cities such as Inglewood.

The coalition has retained lawyers to handle a lawsuit if the expansion is approved by the Los Angeles City Council and Riordan. A vote is not expected until next year at the earliest.

El Segundo Mayor Mike Gordon has asked the coalition members to donate money to finance the effort, which so far has cost $650,000. Santa Monica and Culver City have responded with $15,000 each. The El Segundo government so far has budgeted $1.2 million, Gordon said.

Waters said she would also look into funding sources.