Rivals Reject Hahn’s LAX Plan

Mayor James K. Hahn’s controversial plan to modernize Los Angeles International Airport has picked up more opposition: The four top candidates running against him now say it’s a bad idea.

More than 10 years and $130 million in the planning, the $9-billion proposal is headed to the City Council later this month, after winning endorsements last week from two of its committees.

But state Sen. Richard Alarcon (D-Sun Valley), former Assembly Speaker Bob Hertzberg, Councilman Bernard C. Parks and Councilman Antonio Villaraigosa -- each of whom hopes to defeat Hahn in the March election -- say the plan fails to make the airport more secure or fix its shortcomings.

The three candidates running to replace retiring Councilwoman Cindy Miscikowski, who is the chief architect of an eleventh-hour compromise to rescue the plan, also oppose it.

“This plan doesn’t do enough to address the security concerns of the state’s No. 1 terrorist target,” Hertzberg said in a statement. “Nor does it take the necessary regional approach to air transportation.

“We don’t need to start from scratch, but we need to do better than this.”

The candidates’ opposition to Hahn’s LAX plan is not without precedent.

In the 2001 mayoral campaign, all six top candidates opposed Mayor Richard Riordan’s $12-billion LAX expansion plan. The 2001 candidates even went so far as to sign a pledge promising to limit the airport to 78 million passengers each year.

Hahn’s plan to remodel the world’s fifth-busiest airport has drawn criticism almost from the start.

Among its most controversial facets are a central check-in center at Manchester Square near the San Diego Freeway and the demolition of Terminals 1, 2 and 3 on the north side of the airport.

Those proposals hit waves of turbulence, particularly the check-in center, which some security experts believe could make passengers more vulnerable to terrorist attack by concentrating them in one place.

Under a compromise worked out between Hahn and Miscikowski, whose district includes the airport area, officials decided to put those projects in a second phase and require further review.

The first phase, which could begin as soon as the council and the Federal Aviation Administration sign off on it, calls for spending about $3 billion to build a transit hub, a rental car center and a people mover, and to relocate the southernmost runway to make the airport safer for takeoffs and landings.

Although the check-in center has become the target of ridicule and intense opposition, the city attorney’s office has said eliminating it from the plan could require environmental reviews that may take as long as 2 1/2 years.

The mayor has continued to defend his plan, saying Saturday that he was delighted with its progress through the council. Impersonating Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger’s distinctive Austrian accent and brandishing one of his favorite words, Hahn called it “fantastic.”

But his main opponents disagreed.

Villaraigosa called it “an ill-conceived plan whose full cost is still unknown” and said he intends to vote against it.

He called the attempt to defer the “more odious” aspects of the plan disingenuous to the public and said that the overall proposal fails to meet the needs not only of the region, but also of the residents of the communities surrounding the airport.

Alarcon also heaped disdain on the two-phase approach.

“I would say it is far-fetched, and I think the mayor is thinking more about producing something toward the end of his first four years in office, as opposed to doing what is right for Los Angeles.”

Parks has not only excoriated the plan, but also proposed an alternative one. He said his plan would make the airport safer and more secure while costing far less.

The Parks plan calls for extending the Green Line rail system to the airport, consolidating rental car facilities, revamping the southern runways and remodeling the Tom Bradley International Terminal. He is adamantly opposed to a check-in facility at Manchester Square.

Parks also said he plans to lobby Los Angeles County supervisors to oppose the mayor’s plan.

If the county’s Airport Land Use Commission or any county government entity appeals a council vote approving the plan, county officials contend, the 15-member council would need 12 votes to override the appeal.

The city’s lawyers dispute that, which suggests that the whole matter could wind up in court.

It’s possible the council could muster a 12-vote supermajority. So far, only Councilmen Parks, Villaraigosa and Jack Weiss have expressed opposition. Seven other council members are solidly in favor.

The remaining five -- Eric Garcetti, Wendy Greuel, Jan Perry, Martin Ludlow and Dennis Zine -- are undecided. But some appear to be leaning toward approval.

“We’re getting closer,” Zine said. “Politics need to be pushed aside. This is not a small issue.

“We haven’t turned one shovelful of dirt, but we’ve cut down thousands of trees for paper for rooms full of documents on this plan.”