More than 75 Percent of L.A. Voters Say: Move the North Runway

by Gary Toebben

The Los Angeles Area Chamber of Commerce and the Coalition to Fix LAX NOW has received a powerful endorsement to move the north runway at LAX — from L.A.'s voters.  

Ahead of the public hearings to modernize the airport and move the north runway, which start tonight, the Coalition to Fix LAX NOW sponsored a comprehensive citywide poll to hear from L.A. voters on what they think about LAX and moving the north runway. The poll was conducted in December and the findings were released on Monday. The results of the poll were extraordinarily clear: move the north runway. 

More than 1,800 likely Los Angeles municipal election voters were polled. An additional 1,275 interviews were conducted to ensure that the results represented about 200 people in each city council district and 300 voters in Council District 11, home to LAX.  The size of the poll was three times the number of voters surveyed in a standard citywide Mayoral election poll. The poll found:

• Seventy-four percent of likely L.A. municipal election voters favor moving the runway. This overwhelming consensus crossed party lines, gender, racial/ethnic and geographic differences.

• Support rose to 86 percent citywide after voters heard a basic set of facts about the need to move the runway.

• Support remained at 77 percent citywide and 74 percent in Council District 11 after voters heard the arguments against moving the runway.

We expect that some opponents of moving the runway will try to discredit this survey of more than 3,000 citywide voters. That's why we want everyone to know that this honest and straight up assessment was done by the same pollster that worked for L.A. City Councilmember Bill Rosendahl, a vocal opponent of moving the runway, during his first election to City Council.

Two additional findings of interest:

• There is intense interest in connecting LAX to the region's light rail system, with 87 percent saying this is important to them.

• By 10 to 1 (51 percent to 5 percent), voters prefer a candidate for Mayor or City Council who favors moving the runway over one who opposes it — even after hearing the views of opponents.

In summarizing the results, pollster Paul Goodwin made the following comment:  “No other issue I’ve seen in 20 years of polling in L.A. achieves this level of agreement.”

L.A.’s voters have spoken. They have waited long enough. It is time for the Board of Airport Commissioners, Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, the members of the Los Angeles City Council and the County Board of Supervisors to take action this spring to approve a long-range plan for LAX that will assure the safety and efficiency of this major link to the rest of the world. 

And that's The Business Perspective.