Another Pass Over Airport Expansion Issue

James Flanigan again writes of the inevitability of Los Angeles International Airport expansion [“Small-Town Thinking Can Jam Region’s Air Traffic,” On Southern California, March 22] and describes it as the responsible thing to do for the region’s economy.

He makes it appear perfectly reasonable that Orange County residents can: 1) use the ballot box to stop El Toro International development and 2) legally prevent growth at John Wayne Airport.

This is inconsistent thinking.

I don’t understand, and Mr. Flanigan certainly doesn’t explain, why we in the communities surrounding LAX must bear the largest burden of the area’s air transport growth needs while Orange County’s NIMBY mentality continues to prevail in the debate.

PETER BROUSSINOS

Hermosa Beach

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James Flanigan’s column hit the nail on the head when it quoted a concerned businessman as saying airport problems could be solved if “people would think of the good of the whole, interdependent region.”

Cramming more people into an already overcrowded, highly polluted area only makes matters worse. The solution lies in implementing the long-range plan that the city of Los Angeles developed when it purchased Palmdale and Ontario airports in the 1960s and contracted with the Air Force to use Plant 42 for commercial air service in the Antelope Valley.

MICHAEL D. ANTONOVICH

Los Angeles County Supervisor

Fifth District