Renaming costs up in the air
Ryan Carter
Renaming the Burbank-Glendale-Pasadena Airport for Bob Hope will come
at a price, and just who will pick up the estimated $250,000 tab is
starting to become clearer.
While Hope family representatives pledged that no municipal money
would be spent to change the name, the Airport Authority will likely
front part or all of the cost, officials said this week.
“We will incur some expense involved with some of the signage and
temporary signage [in and around the airport],” airport spokesman
Victor Gill said Wednesday. “But we’re keeping an accounting so
further down the line, when we review it, there will be a basis for
possible reimbursement of some of those expenses. What is hoped is
the Hope family would be involved in some form of fund-raising into
the next year.”
Until the cost of changing the names of signs in and around the
airport is tabulated, no one knows how much the airport or Hope
Enterprises -- which gave the authority permission to use the late
entertainer’s name -- will pay, airport officials said.
“We’re going to give the bills as they come in to the Hope
family,” Airport Authority President Charles Lombardo said.
Much of that reimbursement money probably would come from a large
public gala next year, possibly around the time of what would have
been Hope’s 101st birthday in July, according to Hope family
spokesman and former Burbank mayor Michael Hastings.
“As the sign and printing expenses come in, we’ve said, ‘Please
submit them to us for our review,’ and we will put them through to
the family and see how far we can go to cover these costs,” Hastings
said. “It could be that they don’t even pay them first. We might even
be the first ones to cut the check.”
Even if the airport pays, Gill said the money would not come from
tax dollars. He said the money would come from airport revenue that
includes parking, concession and airline fees. The airport’s costs
would also cover California Department of Transportation signs on
local freeways directing people to the airport, Caltrans spokesman
Dennis Trujillo said.
Hastings is sure, though, that the Hope family would ultimately
come through.
“I’m very confident that, between the Hope family and the gala, we
will cover these costs,” he said. “If there is a shortfall, we will
fill it.”