LAX Expansion Plan Not Worth the Expense

“LAX Costs: Honesty Needed” (editorial, Aug. 12) is correct about the numerous costs that have been left out of the $9-billion proposed shuffling of the components of Los Angeles International Airport. But what about the unmentioned economic benefits: Are there any at all? The forced stopover on the way to the airport should add about half an hour to our travel time. Not a benefit but a cost you missed. World politics will have changed in 12 years, when the mythical security benefits of crowding us all together in one waiting room are supposed to kick in.

The labor unions see job benefits to workers, but accepted benefit-cost analysis counts their wages as costs, not benefits. Your proposal to tweak the design and lower costs is not the right answer. This folly should be halted before it gets on the runway.

David Campbell

Los Angeles