Broad Coalition to Fight Mayor’s Vision for LAX

Banding together in an effort to isolate and defeat Mayor Richard Riordan, a broad coalition of Southern California government officials has sketched a blueprint for the region’s air transportation future that spreads out its growth rather than concentrating it at Los Angeles International Airport.

Leaders of governments from El Segundo to San Bernardino intend to unveil their efforts Wednesday. But they already have succeeded in winning the endorsements of more than 65 city councils, county boards of supervisors and others who believe Riordan’s emphasis on LAX expansion is misplaced. They favor a smaller LAX expansion along with construction of an airport in Orange County and relatively modest growth at an additional 10 regional facilities.

In a sense, the dispute between Riordan and the coalition is one of degree. Both sides say they support regional solutions to the growing air traffic demand in Southern California, and both agree that some expansion of LAX is in order. But though Riordan generally has advocated one of several solutions that would add at least one runway to LAX, increase its passenger capacity from 60 million to 98 million a year and massively upgrade its cargo flow, the coalition favors a far more modest LAX plan, one that would increase traffic there to just 70 million passengers a year, combined with the other regional airport improvements.

Opponents of the proposed LAX expansion represent a variety of interests, ranging from South Bay and Westside cities that want to curb the airport’s growth to Inland Empire municipalities that want new airports of their own. “The NIMBYs and the wannabes,” one wag has dubbed the group.

Nevertheless, the coalition represents a potentially formidable obstacle to Riordan and his backers for two reasons: Its members come from across Southern California and thus it enjoys broad political appeal, and its counter-proposal moves away from efforts to highlight a single LAX alternative and instead suggests the appealing notion of regional sharing of the burdens and enticements of airports.

“Everywhere we’ve gone, we’ve found support for our proposal,” said El Segundo Mayor Mike Gordon, who is leading the campaign. “We want people to understand that there’s a choice: Mayor Riordan’s plan versus the region’s desire.”

Riordan has made the airport expansion a mainstay of his second term, touting it as essential for the region’s economy and vital to helping the poor, who benefit from jobs created by the airport as well as the jobs it helps support.

Deputy Mayor Noelia Rodriguez said the LAX opponents are premature in criticizing plans for expanding LAX. Noting that an environmental impact report on the proposed LAX expansion is not yet complete, Rodriguez said: “The proposal isn’t on the table yet. We need to have that complete so we can have some real facts to talk about.”

The coalition and other LAX critics are not waiting, however. They have hired consultants and already have lawyers lined up to challenge the LAX expansion if it is approved by the Los Angeles City Council and Riordan.

Meanwhile, the coalition members are not only challenging Riordan’s approach, but also questioning his facts.

Riordan, for instance, often argues that most air cargo travels inside passenger planes, making it hard to send cargo to one airport and passengers to another. But in interviews Monday, leaders of the coalition said that’s not true; that in fact, a majority of all air cargo now travels in so-called designated cargo planes, and that number is expected to rise in the next 10 years.

Michael Armstrong, an analyst with the Southern California Assn. of Governments, said a recent study by his organization supports the coalition’s position, not the mayor’s. Depending on the season, between 56% and 64% of all cargo is carried in all-cargo freighters, the study concluded.

Although seemingly arcane, that point looms large in the regional airport debate because if such communities as San Bernardino, Riverside and Palmdale can lure cargo flights to airports in those areas, they might be able to build stronger economies. The results would be more jobs for local residents and less traffic on the region’s freeways, as residents of those communities worked closer to home.

Leaders of those communities said Monday that they need airports to drive their future growth, and that a regional solution to air transportation would benefit them with jobs and provide the area around LAX with some relief from traffic, noise and air pollution. They also expressed guarded frustration with a planning process that essentially allows Los Angeles’ mayor and City Council with the key voice in determining economic growth and environmental health far beyond their own borders.

“One of the things that we can no longer let occur,” said Riverside County Supervisor Tom Mullen, “is to let one parochial body or person make decisions that will have effects on the rest of the region.”

In theory, San Bernardino or another municipality could go ahead with airport expansions regardless of what happens at LAX. But two things keep that from happening, according to members of the coalition. One is that the proposed LAX expansion is so expensive--estimates range from $8 billion to $12 billion--that it would eat up virtually all federal airport expansion money for Southern California. The other is that as long as new airport capacity is promised for LAX, the airlines serving the region have no incentive to begin looking elsewhere.

So far, the issue of airport expansion has yet to attract much public comment by most members of the Los Angeles City Council, who probably will not consider the issue until next year at the earliest. Councilwoman Ruth Galanter, who represents the area around LAX, has led opposition to the expansion, but other members have mainly avoided the topic.