Rep. Ted Lieu will have locals speak directly to the FAA about SMO
By Gary Walker
As a state senator, Rep.
Ted Lieu called a hearing on aviation fuel pollution
A select group of Santa Monica and Venice residents will be traveling to the nation’s capital next week to meet with federal lawmakers and aviation officials about the future of Santa Monica Airport.
While representatives from the Federal Aviation Administration have met with residents in local settings in prior years, this is the first time in years that a face-to-face meeting will happen in Washington D.C., said Rep. Ted Lieu (D- Torrance), who arranged the gathering.
“I want the FAA to hear firsthand the concerns of residents living near Santa Monica Airport and those who are in its flight path and to see what possible solutions can be discussed,” said Lieu, who represents Venice and Santa Monica.
FAA Associate Administrator of Airports Eduardo Angeles, a former senior assistant Los Angeles city attorney, will represent the federal government at the meetings, according to Lieu’s office. The agency will be in “listen- only” mode, said FAA spokeswoman Marcia Alexander-Adams.
Karen Bass (D- Los Angeles), whose district includes Mar Vista, is also expected to attend.
Jonathan Stein, a Century City attorney who lives in Santa Monica, said the meeting could have serious consequences for the airport’s future.
“The purpose of this meeting is for our two members of Congress to help the FAA make an informed decision to waive its rights to keep Santa Monica Airport open. I anticipate that this effort will be successful based in part on Ted Lieu’s relationship with President Obama and the fact that the president appoints the key leadership of the FAA,” Stein said.
Mark Smith, a Santa Monica resident and a board member of the Santa Monica Airport Association, has been invited to attend the meeting in Washington. Smith said he plans to clarify for Lieu and Bass what he says is negative misinformation about the airport.
“It’s important to share with them the reality of the situation with the airport and not the drama associated with it,” Smith said.
Lieu has also invited Venice resident Mindy Taylor-Ross to the Capitol. She called the meeting with FAA representatives “a breakthrough” in residents’ fight to be heard at the federal level after years of inaction from Washington.
“This is the first time that Venice will be at the table,” she said. “I want to commend Rep. Lieu for holding meetings with scientists in Venice and Westchester as a state representative to create a record and confirm what so many experts have said about air quality and pollution from Santa Monica Airport.”
The future of SMO has been a polarizing topic in Santa Monica for more than a decade, with advocates for closing the airport and supporters of keeping it open continuously trading accusations and barbs.
Santa Monica officials are seeking more control over the airport but anticipate a fight
with the FAA if they attempt to impose additional flight traffic restrictions.
Lieu has invited Santa Monica Mayor Kevin McKeown will represent the city at next week’s meeting.
“The primary message I’ll be carrying is not my own, but that of Santa Monica voters who overwhelmingly supported Measure LC, calling for local control of the land we own that is currently being used as an airport,” McKeown said. “With the support of our congressional representatives, we hope to impress upon the FAA our community’s resolve to end the increasingly unacceptable impacts of jet and other aircraft operations.”
Smith said emerging technologies, including cleaner-burning airplane fuels, can mitigate noise, air pollution, safety and other complaints about the airport.
“The airport is not going away anytime soon,” Smith said. “The question is: How can you better manage the airport so that it’s quieter and cleaner?”
Taylor-Ross, chair of the Venice Neighborhood Council’s Santa Monica Airport Committee, said she wants to convey to the FAA that Venice residents have suffered equal if not greater harm than Santa Monica residents because the current SMO flight path sends aircrafts over Venice. Harrison Ford’s recent crash at Penmar Golf Course was no small reminder, she said.
“My community would like to end Santa Monica’s ‘Fly Neighborly’ program [a city policy that recommends propeller planes depart from the airport over Venice]. It’s certainly not been very neighborly to us,” she said.
Taylor-Ross wants the FAA to reconsider its decision on the 250-degree heading path, where airplanes would make a right turn after take-off and head over Santa Monica.
The FAA experimented with that approach for six months in 2009. During that trial period, Santa Monica residents bombarded airport officials with noise complaints.
“We don’t want to pit anyone against each other, but we think the impacts should be more equitable. If we don’t impact Santa Monica residents, we
won’t get anywhere,” Taylor-Ross said.
gary@argonautnews.com
I believe the airport should go somewhere else.
Betty Rexie
The LC campaign won big at the election despite being massively overspent by measure D’s campaign. The message is clear, that people are sick and tired of the noise and air pollution. Anyone implying that real estate speculation is fueling the SMO opponents fight is admitting that SMO is a horrible use of land. A park is a far better use of land and is something LC enables. The FAA will not make any real concessions at this meeting but they will be reminded that we will not give up until our goal is reached.
I think the airport should stay and those that bought a house next to an airport should….well live next to an airport. Or they can move! It’s a free country and I do not believe if someone does not want to live next to the airport they should not be forced to! There are many many many airports in the country and many many many homes! I say if you like your Santa Monica airport you should be able to keep your Santa Monica Airport and if you like your house next to the airport you should be able to keep your house next to the airport.
Pilot Rick..you are a very selfish person for many reasons but the main one is that you ignore the facts about pollution, noise and safety. It’s 2015 not 1955 and it’s high time you came to the reality of what is now..not back in the 1950s. we have stricker limits in regards to the three PREVIOUSLY things that make this airport unacceptable to all living here. YOU NEED TO WAKE UP AND REALIZE THAT YOU ARE OUTNUMBERED HERE BY ALL OF THE CITIZENS LIVING NOT ONLY WITH THE FUMES AND NOISE BUT WITH THE SAFETY OF THE ENTIRE COMMUNITY AROUND THE WESTYSIDE.
There is no evidence that the airport pollutes! And I can hear you just fine! Typing in all caps is equivalent to yelling. If you don’t stop yelling I will call the internet police on you and have them back trace you!
All those flights will be diverted to LAX and impact the capacity and neighbors in Westchester, Inglewood and El Segundo. Do we get a say in this?
No Serge, the rich fats who live in Santa Monica are unconcerned with the residents in El Segundo, Van Nuys, Burbank, Hawthorne, Torrance, Compton, Long Beach, El Monte, etc. They would prefer other communities have airports they just don’t want them in their own backyards. Plus the neighbors of Santa Monica are both whiter and richer than any of these other communities so their voices are the only ones that should be heard.
You guys (Pilot Rick and whoever else is in his company of friends and supporters) WE’VE HAD ENOUGH OF BREATHING YOUR UNFILTERED KEROSENSE JET FUMES…LISTENING TO AND SMELLING YOUR YOUR LEAD BELCHING PROP PLANES AND THE DAMN JETS TOO..SO TAKE IT ELSEWHERE…LIKE OUT OF L.A. FOR INSTANCE..WAY OUT OF L.A. SO YOU CAN POLLUTE THE MIDDLE OF NOWHERE..YOU PEOPLE NEED TO GROW UP AND REALIZE IT’S OVER FOR YOUR SELFISH POLLUTION OF THE ENTIRE AREA..AND I’D LIKE TO MENTION THE SAFETY ISSUES OF CRASHES AT THE AIRPORT AND AROUND THE VICINITY..UNDER WHERE THE PLANES FLY AND SOMETIMES CRASH..GO ARGUE WITH SOMEONE ELSE..WE’VE HAD IT WITH ALL OF YOU..GOODBYE..ADIOS..AND HASTA LA VISTA TOO….WHICH COULD BE HOPEFULLY NEVER…
Jon B! You need to stop your yelling. If you don’t I will call the internet police and they will back trace your account. If you don’t like the airport why don’t you move to somewhere where no airports exist.
GEE PILOT RICK..I’M JUST SHAKN’ ALL OVER..why don’t YOU go fly a kite..and it’s not just me who hates the jets (by the way) BUT YOU’RE TOO SELFISH IN YOUR OWN WAY TO REALIZE THAT FACT..you need to go FLY WHERE NO PEOPLE EXISTas far as the pollution goes..you need to read up on the facts that say the S.M. airport is the most polluted place around the
westside..Why don’t you take a deep breath when the jets take off (from the east side of the airport).then you can suck up the same fumes that everybody around here does..You need a brain checkup because you are way out of touch with the reality of others..Just because you want to gratify your own egotistical and selfish way of life is no reason to hurt the rest of the living population on the westside. Your wants and needs are not the reality of the situation but you’re way too greedy to admit that fact.