Long Term Fix For LAX Begins Tomorrow

by Gary Toebben

April 30, 2013 will be a signature day in the history of Los Angeles. It is the day when the Los Angeles City Council finally votes on the long-awaited plan to modernize the Los Angeles International Airport (LAX). Generations of residents and visitors to Southern California will be impacted by this vote. 

A positive vote will give LAX the opportunity to compete with the rest of the world in airport safety, convenience and efficiency. It will create thousands of jobs, dramatically improve our image and significantly increase the quality of life for local residents who use LAX. 

A negative vote will leave Los Angeles with an embarrassing blemish for which we will all have to apologize the rest of our lives. A negative vote would dramatically reduce our ability to create the economy and quality of live that one expects in a world class city whose job base is dependent on its ability to welcome and do business with the rest of the world. 

The need for modernization is so obvious that it has been pointed out by nearly every passenger who has landed or boarded at LAX for the past 20 years. Three Federal Aviation Administrators have urged the L.A. City Council to improve airport safety and efficiency by moving the north runway to allow for the construction of a center taxiway on the north airfield. Pilots and airlines all agree. Modernization requires an additional 260 ft. separation between the two north runways.

The Board of Airport Commissioners listened to the FAA, passengers and the neighbors located near the airport and developed a compromise plan that does not require the purchase of any additional land, not one home or business property. It also sets into motion mass transit service to LAX and makes possible a plan for parks and recreational projects on airport land adjoining the neighborhoods. 

Developing a plan to modernize LAX has been long and arduous, like a bad dream that never ends. That can all change with a positive vote by the City Council tomorrow. The plan has already been endorsed by the City Planning Commission and two committees of the City Council, but it must secure a final affirmative vote by the full council. 

I encourage everyone reading The Business Perspective to applaud and thank the members of the City Council who vote yes tomorrow. They will make us proud of LAX again.

I also encourage you to remember those who vote no on tomorrow’s motion. Their names will also be etched into the history of our city and region as elected officials who failed millions of LAX passengers, thousands of men and women whose jobs depend on LAX modernization and nearly all of the 4 million residents who call Los Angeles home.

And that's The Business Perspective.