Rogan Accuses FAA Administrator of Playing Partisan Politics

Rep. Jim Rogan (R-Glendale) criticized FAA Administrator Jane Garvey on Tuesday, accusing her of playing partisan politics in the Burbank Airport terminal controversy.

Garvey agreed to meet today with Rogan’s November reelection opponent, state Sen. Adam Schiff (D-Burbank) over the terminal issue.

Rogan concedes that he never requested a meeting but said Garvey, appointed by President Clinton to the Federal Aviation Administration, never responded to his January request for a ruling on a proposed ban on easterly takeoffs.

“It may be a coincidence that Jane Garvey ignores the mayor of Burbank, the local officials trying to resolve the issue and my office trying to help them,” Rogan said Tuesday. “But a Democratic nominee shows up and she throws the door open for him.

“We haven’t had calls returned, we haven’t been apprised of meetings on the issue, and when we asked for an opinion were told ‘we’ll get back to you,’ ” he added.

An FAA spokesman said the agency was still completing its response to Rogan’s request for a ruling on easterly takeoffs.

“We are in the late stages of preparing our response to his request and we will be happy to meet with him on this subject any time,” FAA spokesman Paul Turk said. “We don’t see this as a partisan political issue.”

An aide said Schiff was already scheduled to be in Washington for a state legislators conference and said there was nothing extraordinary about the meeting.

“The senator is meeting with Garvey with the full cooperation of the city of Burbank and the Burbank-Glendale-Pasadena Airport Authority,” Schiff aide Paul Hubler said. “He is trying to restart the stalled airport talks--unlike Jim Rogan, who has totally failed to bring any leadership to this issue.”

Airport Authority officials also have a meeting with Garvey this week in an effort to break the terminal logjam.

The parties are discussing how to work out differences in the draft agreement for a new $300-million terminal reached by negotiators for the airport and the city of Burbank last August.

The agreement, which is pending approval by the Burbank City Council, includes provisions that would close the terminal building between 11 p.m. and 6 a.m. and bar easterly takeoffs.

The takeoff proposal is opposed by Reps. Howard Berman (D-Mission Hills), Brad Sherman (D-Sherman Oaks) and Henry Waxman (D-Los Angeles), as well as Los Angeles City Atty. James K. Hahn, who say Los Angeles residents south and west of the airport would bear a disproportionate amount of aircraft noise.

Other aspects of the agreement have drawn fire from the airlines, Burbank residents and the FAA.

In a Jan. 2 letter, Garvey told The Times that the FAA could not support a terminal deal that included a ban on easterly departures, citing the impact on Los Angeles residents, prompting Rogan to request a formal FAA opinion on the matter.

Critics say the ban on easterly takeoffs was designed to win support for the terminal deal from Burbank and Glendale residents to the east. Supporters say it is a matter of safety, because planes would be taking off toward the Verdugo Mountains.