More Airport Posturing
Why bother? The Burbank-Glendale-Pasadena Airport Authority last week approved plans to move forward with a federally required study that is the first step toward imposing an enforceable overnight flight curfew at Burbank Airport. Although this is just what the city of Burbank has said it wants to resolve its ongoing fight against aircraft noise, the city’s three representatives on the airfield’s governing board abstained from last week’s vote awarding the study to an Ohio company.
So what should have been a moment of cooperation between Burbank and its partner cities of Glendale and Pasadena turned into yet another pointless, costly and ultimately empty moment of posturing. The study will be conducted and its results--no matter what they are--will no doubt be challenged in court. Neither construction of a safer terminal nor significant noise relief for San Fernando Valley residents is any closer to reality. But the lawyers and consultants sure are getting rich.
No one is blameless.
Burbank argued that it did not get enough time to interview representatives from Landrum & Brown, the Cincinnati company that has conducted similar studies in San Francisco and New Hampshire. Never mind that the city found Landrum & Brown agreeable as a noise consultant when the airport authority and Burbank were in mediation talks two years ago. By not approving the company, Burbank has even less obligation to sign off on the study’s conclusions, which won’t be available for at least two years.
At the same time, representatives from Glendale and Pasadena voted to hire Landrum & Brown despite Burbank’s objections. And authority President Joyce Streator said after the vote that Burbank’s abstention “only demonstrates further that the city seems determined to cause and encourage the failure of any possible solution. It would be grossly unfair for one stakeholder to have an advantage over all the others.” Fair enough, but Streator apparently has no problem with one stakeholder suffering the negative impact more than all the others.
The simple fact is this: Burbank and surrounding communities in the city of Los Angeles bear the brunt of noise from Burbank Airport. Residents in Glendale and Pasadena do not. Should Burbank have veto power? No. Should it get more consideration than the other cities? Yes.
The odds of imposing an enforceable overnight curfew are small. Burbank already hosts the quietest commercial jets. Most of its flights already take off and land between 7 a.m. and 10 p.m. The Federal Aviation Administration is loath to impose restrictions that might interfere with interstate commerce. But both sides working together offer the best chance for real change. It has not happened yet.
