LAX
During my campaign for office, I demanded an end to LAX expansion,
the promotion of a system of regional aviation, and greater
community involvement in airport planning.
In October 2004, at a meeting of the Westchester Neighbors
Association, I unveiled the “Rosendahl
Pledge for LAX”, a series of promises and commitments
about constraining growth at LAX and promoting aviation. A
little over a year later, I delivered on that promise.
In December 2005, Mayor Villaraigosa and I, joined by the
Alliance for a Regional Solution to Airport Congestion (ARSAC)
and elected officials from the local, county, state and federal
level, announced a plan that we had settled a series of lawsuits
against the airport, curbed LAX expansion, and begun to develop
a plan for regional aviation.
This plan allows us to immediately modernize the airport,
enhancing security and public safety. It also gives the local
community a front seat and genuine decision-making power in
a massive rewrite of the LAX Master Plan we all despised.
Specifically, the agreement:
- Caps growth at LAX to 78 million passengers annually.
- Scraps plans for the controversial multi-billion dollar
remote check-in center at Manchester Square.
- Kills plans to demolish much of the central terminal
area and parking structures.
Over the next two years, Los Angeles World Airports will
be working with me, the mayor, ARSAC and airport neighbors
in a public process to:
- Replace the Manchester Square project with a more
community-friendly traffic mitigation plan.
- Invite the FAA, the Southern California Association of Governments,
airport operators and area counties to develop a plan to encourage
airlines to spread air traffic among the region's airports,
including Ontario International and the Palmdale facility,
both of which the city of Los Angeles operates.
- Accelerate soundproofing for airport neighbors.
- Begin a traffic study to figure out how to unlock
congestion on roads
around the airport and ask the FAA to allow the airport to
intersection and roadway improvements.
- Ensure that previous promises regarding environmental
mitigation are kept.
- Extend the Metro Rail Green Line to LAX.
- Spend $3 million to remove abandoned asphalt streets
on the dunes west of the airport and replace them with native
plants.
- Reform LAWA’s community relations and give local
residents an advocacy voice in airport decisions.
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