Hahn Moves to Replace Two Airport Commission Members

Mayor James K. Hahn has asked the City Council to remove two of the most outspoken members of the Los Angeles Airport Commission several years before their terms run out.

Hahn made the request as he worked to complete his $9.6-billion proposal to modernize aging Los Angeles International Airport. The commission is expected to consider the plan sometime next year.

Both of the commissioners Hahn seeks to replace--the panel’s vice president, Warren Valdry, and Westchester representative Ruth Mahala Brown Walter--said they were surprised by the action and speculated that Hahn wants to remove them because they frequently question the leadership of Commission President Ted Stein.

Deputy Mayor Matt Middlebrook said it is not unusual for a mayor to switch commissioners mid-term. Hahn wants to make sure that a “number of people have the opportunity to serve,” Middlebrook said.

Pending City Council approval, Valdry would be replaced by Peter Weil, a real estate lawyer who sits on the city’s Planning Commission. Walter would be replaced by Alan Llorens, a corporate communications manager at Southern California Edison and Westchester community activist.

Hahn sent letters to the council Sept. 30, announcing the proposed appointments and seeking formal approval.

Valdry, a businessman appointed to the commission in 1993 by Mayor Richard Riordan, often has clashed with Stein, a lawyer who has raised money for Hahn. Valdry’s term is scheduled to expire June 30, 2004.

“You are the first to share with me that I’m being asked to leave,” Valdry told a reporter Thursday. “I guess I was asking too many questions.”

Middlebrook disputed the assertion that Valdry had not been informed of his removal.

“Valdry was told,” Middlebrook said. Deputy Mayor Troy Edwards “told him directly.”

Walter, a retired schoolteacher and a Westchester resident for 33 years, was appointed by Hahn in July 2001. Her term is to expire June 30, 2005.

She said she received a call from Edwards on Wednesday, informing her that the mayor was going to replace her and asking if she was interested in sitting on any other city commissions.

“It’s a total shock,” Walter said. “My understanding is that I was to serve for my full term. I’m quite sure I asked too many questions.”

Walter and Valdry have previously complained that Stein left them “completely out of the loop” on such important matters as extending the contract for the airport’s major food and beverage providers and on efforts to draft a new modernization plan for LAX.

Valdry often challenged Stein’s stewardship of the commission. Earlier this year, he wrote a stinging six-page memo to Stein, accusing the commission president of “autocratic leadership” and complaining about Stein’s conduct at a meeting with staff members for the city agency that operates LAX.

“Your manner was confrontational, abrasive, disrespectful and uncivil,” Valdry wrote. He said Stein had ordered him to leave the meeting with potential bidders on a contract to place commercial advertising throughout the airport because he had not been invited.

Weil, whose term on the Planning Commission doesn’t expire for four more years, is a Hahn insider well-versed in planning issues. He has served on the city’s Board of Zoning Appeals and its Rent Adjustment Commission.

“Weil clearly has spoken his mind and has challenged staff at the planning level and voted against council members’ wishes on matters when he feels it’s appropriate,” said City Councilwoman Cindy Miscikowski. “His experience on the Planning Commission with issues like traffic and how it impacts a neighborhood will provide a useful perspective on the Airport Commission.”

Weil, who said the mayor’s office called him last week, agreed that his planning experience would be useful in working to improve the city’s aging international gateway.

“It’s an interesting time,” said Weil, a partner in Los Angeles-based Christensen, Miller, Fink, Jacobs, Glaser, Weil & Shapiro. “They’re working on a new master plan and a lot of other important land-use issues.”