Hahn's Spruce Goose Won't Fly

December 2, 2003
Daily Trojan Online - Student Newspaper of the University of Southern
California

Hahn's Spruce Goose Won't Fly

Clueless bureaucrats are always good for a yuk, because they love getting
huffy and puffy about useless projects, and they take pleasure in giving
other people gray hair. Nowhere is this more true than in our local airport
agencies.

For example, a few of our Orange County neighbors have been bickering with a
panel called the Orange County Airport Land-Use Commission. If you've never
heard of that office, you're not alone; it seems to be one of those obscure
government agencies whose mission is to shuffle paperwork and send out memos
and do very little else.

In July, the commission rejected a developer's bid to build homes on a site
near Irvine, saying that the houses would lie in the noise path of a nearby
airport. In October, they approved a similar project but required that the
homes be soundproofed, for the same reason.

The funny thing is, the airport in question doesn't exist. A few years ago,
the U.S. Marine Corps abandoned the old El Toro Air Station, and there was
some talk of converting the site into a commercial airfield. But the plan
went nowhere, and voters decided to use the site as parkland instead. Now
everyone involved with the project - from the federal government on down -
has endorsed the park plan. That is, except for the ALUC, which still clings
to the notion that it may become a major airfield, even though the
commission has no direct say in the matter.

Here in Los Angeles, we're dealing with some airport drama of our own. For
years, people have been squawking about the congestion at Los Angeles
International Airport, and politicos have gone back and forth trying to
figure out how to fix it.

Since 1993, the city has spent a whopping $115 million on consultants,
environmental studies and various other bureaucratic boondoggles. But after
10 years of work, the only thing we have to show for it is a proposal that
nobody seems to like.

The plan, which was put forth by Mayor James K. Hahn, would demolish
Terminals 1, 2 and 3, as well as a big chunk of Tom Bradley International
Terminal and the parking structures in the center of the airport. They would
be replaced by a new check-in site near the 405 Freeway, from which
passengers would board people movers to get to their gates.

The idea is to increase safety by making it harder for terrorists to get to
the terminals. The estimated price tag is somewhere in the neighborhood of
$9 to $10 billion, and the construction would take about 11 years, assuming
all goes well.

Hahn whipped the plan together in the weeks after Sept. 11, 2001, and he has
been tinkering with it ever since. Apparently he thought it would get
approved quickly. After all, Al-Qaida terrorists have already tried to bomb
LAX once before, and they could easily try again, in the same way that they
revisited the World Trade Center eight years after their first bombing
attempt.

But, as it turned out, Hahn's plan got a pretty icy response. When he
realeased the plan in July, Hahn had only intended to solicit public input
for 45 days, but the plan spurred so much controversy that he was forced to
extend that comment period. Now, after 146 days, people are still arguing
about it, so the plan is still stuck in a holding pattern.

The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors has voted unanimously against
it. Airline officials have protested the proposal's cost and inconvenience. 

Several outside consultants, including the Rand Corp. and A.C. Lazzaretto
and Associates, have pointed out a lot of security holes in the proposal, to
the point where they say the reconfigured airport may be even less secure
than the one we have now. Councilwoman Cindy Miscikowski, who represents the
area around LAX, has also spoken out against the plan. The Los Angeles Times
ran an editorial on Monday that called it "half-baked" and "as urgently in
need of an overhaul as the airport itself." And the list of detractors goes
on.

The bottom line is that Hahn's plan is not going to fly. But our mayor
doesn't seem to realize that, and he is continuing to stick with his
proposal without offering any alternatives or trying to work out any
compromises.

In fact, he is being just as hardnosed and just as ridiculous as those
Orange County bureaucrats, in that he is fantasizing about a nonexistent
airport that the public doesn't want. That isn't doing anyone a favor,
because it forces us to spend even more tax money than we already are, even
though it's clear that the plan doesn't have the support it needs to become
a reality.

Everybody agrees that LAX needs to be revamped. Everybody agrees that it's
congested, and everybody agrees that it needs to be protected from
terrorists. But Hahn's proposal does not have what it takes. 

Let's just face the facts, ditch the proposal, come up with a plan that does
work, and move on from there.


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