Long Beach Airport Commission Puts HB at Risk!

By Rex D Ricks

The Long Beach Airport commission voted 6-3 to supersize the airport terminal by over 500% which creates room for more jets. This was not only unneeded, but also smashes the tent wide open for the camel to come even further into the tent. We must fight back and defend our city!

I disagree with the Long Beach Airport Advisory Commission 6-3 vote to support the supersizing of the Long Beach Airport terminal, which makes room for more jets!

Many proponents of the terminal expansion cited "economic benefits". So, were the external costs due to diminished local property values from increased jet operations ever factored in? Nonetheless, the FAA dictates that airport revenues only be applied to airport related uses. For example, while John Wayne enjoys a 76 million dollar surplus, not one penny can go towards paying off Orange County's bankruptcy.

Before the meeting, I got together with some of the local activists and got them to agree to a compromise where we would support necessary improvements such as increased space for TSA holding areas and restroom capacity while limiting passenger holding areas. However, the "scaled down alternatives" the airport commission came up with hardly does any of us a favor. They simply had increases of 426% and 463% for the passenger holding areas.

Supposedly, the passenger holding areas were only "designed for only 15 flights" and needed "improvements". Today we have 41 flights, so at the most, was a so called need for a 273% increase in capacity, which is questionable.

Yet, the original full scale plan that the commission just voted 6-3 to support; radically expands the passenger holding area from 6500 to 32,950 square feet for a 506% increase. Apply that to 41 flights, and we can now potentially handle 208 flights!

As one can see, this project greatly smashes the tent wide open and encourages the camel to come on in even further! As it is, the FAA has listed Long Beach as one of 15 airports nationwide, needing expansion by 2013. Then, there is SCAG Chairman Mark Pisano who stated "If Palmdale and Ontario Airports don't pan out due to El Toro being scuttled l, there will be increased pressure on Long Beach to expand."

With all these known risks, it is insane to expand the passenger holding areas to these levels. We are simply one successful airline lawsuit away from being LAX's evil twin. The last thing we needed to do was accommodate such a possibility.

Now the Long Beach City Council is our last line of defense. I encourage everybody to lobby them for a much more reasonable plan. Otherwise, being asleep and silent now, is consent for not having any sleep and silence in the future. As a city councilperson, I will be very vigilant in defending our city's quality of life. I will not allow this issue to be ignored!

Rex Ricks

Huntington Beach