Antonovich: Airport panel lacks 'vision'

Fifth District Supervisor Michael D. Antonovich, speaking at the Antelope Valley Board of Trade meeting Monday, called the five-member Los Angeles World Airports commission "people who have sight but no vision."

The supervisor, who represents the Antelope Valley in county government, claims LAWA has more interest in expanding the already congested LAX than in developing a Palmdale airport that may diffuse passengers around the region.

"LAX is strapped into a 35-acre box; it is the smallest major airport in the U.S.," Antonovich said. "As we have experienced, LAX remains a center for traffic, both in the air and on the ground."

He pointed out that the airport commission has an agreement with Air Force Plant 42 for 50 passenger flights per day, a small sum compared to the 500 that flood LAX daily - progress nonetheless.

Arranging for those 50 flights only requires an airline to offer service to Palmdale. LAWA, Antonovich said, should orchestrate it.

"What is needed from the airport commission is a focused, effective marketing campaign to airlines, one that will inform them of these golden opportunities," he said.

The only marketing campaigns the commission has directed, Antonovich added, did not push air service to Palmdale but rather asked the airlines for further support for expansion at LAX.

"That (marketing campaign) was supposed to be a slam dunk," he said. "But they didn't get the result (of support for LAX expansion). What happened was there was an outcry among communities around LAX and throughout the county who said it makes more sense for people to travel locally to an airport than to all go to the same location, especially to an airport facility that is landlocked."

LAWA officials declined to return phone calls for this story, but Palmdale Mayor Jim Ledford, also present at the Board of Trade meeting, disputed the claim by Antonovich. He said the LAWA marketing campaign did include a pitch to airlines for service to Palmdale.

Whatever the object of past marketing efforts, both Ledford and Antonovich agree that LAWA ought to initiate a new campaign aimed at airlines for the benefit of Palmdale.

"Passenger service could operate out of there tomorrow, but we need a carrier to operate the facility," Ledford said. "LAWA has the means to solicit Palmdale service from the airlines."

Helping the case for the Palmdale airport is the continuing gridlock in and around LAX, which moves 80 million passengers annually and is expected to increase by 35 million to 38 million over the next 15 years.

Palmdale has the support of L.A. City Councilwoman Ruth Galanter and the expressed support of Mayor Richard Riordan. Lastly, it is the only regional city that even desires an airport.

Still, the Palmdale airport has supposedly been in the works since the 1960s and its advocates are impatient.

Antonovich is now suggesting that the Antelope Valley get one of the two new seats on the LAWA commission, which is expanding from five members to seven.

Section 501D of the L.A. city charter dictates that a commission member be a resident of Los Angeles, though. Waiving that requirement would take a charter amendment to be voted on in a citywide election.

That is the course Antonovich favors, as long as it gives the Valley representation on the airport commission. Should the charter be amended, the supervisor would favor recommending Rancho Vista General Partner R. Gregg Anderson for the seat.

"Mike had called me before they brought this up, saying he wanted someone from the Antelope Valley on the commission," Anderson said. "I told him I would be delighted and thrilled to serve on it. I think it's very essential that the Antelope Valley have a voice on this."

It is up to the mayor, however, to appoint the two new members to the commission and if the charter isn't amended the best the Valley can hope for is that he chooses a L.A. city resident with connection to or at least sympathy for the Palmdale plan.

Ledford, who leads the Palmdale Working Group commissioned by LAWA to devise a development for the Palmdale airport, is content with the current arrangement.

"I'm not sure it's imperative," said Ledford of an Antelope Valley-based member on the commission. "We're focused on the product of the Palmdale Working Group."

That "product" is a consultant study that will provide the most specific plan for growing a longrange airport in Palmdale. Ledford expects LAWA to completely implement the findings of that study, which is due in the next few weeks.