Retribution For Rejecting El Toro As Alternative?
A proposal to charge Orange County
residents to use Los Angeles International Airport (LAX) has
surfaced again.
Walter Zifkin, an executive with the William Morris Agency,
suggested the idea be dusted off, in apparent retribution for the
county's placing a series of growth caps at John Wayne Airport near
Newport Beach, while also voting down an international airport at a
decommissioned Marine Corps air station at El Toro.
Zifkin brought up the proposal October 16 just before the
airport commission agreed to seek out a contractor to install a
cashless taxi cab fee collection system at LAX, according to a
story at DailyBreeze.com.
"Their decision to burden LAX should be shared, and I believe a
fee would be a very appropriate way to do that," said Zifkin. "If
this is something we are able to do, it is something that needs to
be discussed."
Orange County residents disagree calling LAX the region's major
airport.
"LAX is the principal airport in the region, and it's just
natural for people to use it because it's the only way people can
get to certain destinations," said Leonard Kranser, a south Orange
County resident who successfully led the opposition to building an
airport at the El Toro air station.
"Slapping a fee against us will only increase antagonism and
create some showmanship in the political arena," he said. "Their
thinking is as parochial as Orange County deciding to charge LA
residents to access Disneyland or our beaches. We aren't the only
county using LAX."
A survey said that only 13 percent of LAX passenger are from
Orange County, according to figures from the Lost Angeles World
Airports.
In contrast, 77.7 percent of the airport's passengers came from
Los Angeles County, while about 9.3 percent of those surveyed came
from a combination of San Bernardino, Riverside, Ventura, San Diego
and counties designated as "other."
LAX served more than 61 million passengers last year, but city
officials agreed to limit the airport's growth to 78.9 million
passengers annually.
Airport planners and officials seek
out ways to regionalize air traffic to other local airports under
the terms of a settlement reached in 2005 with the county, three
cities and the community group Alliance for a Regional Solution to
Airport Congestion.
Denny Schneider, ARSAC's president, says the plan is
"confusing."
"Of course I would encourage Orange County to start taking a
portion of the air traffic burden, but I'm not sure how they would
implement this," Schneider said. "If they can make it work, then it
would be great."
Zifkin wants an automatic payment system be put in place for
Orange County residents making their way to LAX by cab or
limousine. "That idea triggered in my mind that we could use some
sort of electronic pass for them to get into the airport," Zifkin
said. "We need to seriously find out whether or not there's a way
to do this."
Zifkin said a report could come before the Board of Airport
Commissioners in as soon as two weeks.
But is the fee legal under FAA AIP and other guidelines? Some
say no.
In 2000, Leland Wong and airport commissioners appointed by
then-Mayor Richard Riordan called on the City Attorney's Office to
develop measures to force Orange County residents to pay a fee to
use LAX. This turned out to be illegal under federal laws.
Former Assemblyman George Nakano two years later, introduced a
bill that suggested counties refusing to build airports to serve
their share of the region's air traffic should forfeit state
transportation funds.
The state Legislature approved Nakano's measure, but it was
eventually vetoed by then-Gov. Gray Davis.
But the return of such a proposal demonstrates the frustration
among some in Los Angeles who want to divert air traffic from LAX
to other Southern California airports.
Los Angeles City Councilman Bill Rosendahl also has a proposal
to charge a road toll to motorists driving from outside Los Angeles
County to LAX. Funds raised from the toll would go toward
transportation projects, including a 2-mile extension of the Metro
Green Line to LAX.
"I want to work with Orange County, but these fees are a good
thing to look into," said Rosendahl, whose district includes LAX.
"Orange County still doesn't see that we're all in this together,
but we hope that changes over time."
Orange County Supervisor John Moorlach disputed Rosendahl's
claim, pointing at an expansion effort under way at John Wayne
Airport. A new terminal with six gates is slated for completion in
four years.
"I get the sense that LAX doesn't want to play ball with us, and
I'm a little disappointed because we are stepping up to the plate,"
said Moorlach, whose district includes John Wayne Airport. "This
fee proposal only undermines any kind of relationship we're trying
to build."
John Wayne Airport is currently limited to 10.3 million
passengers, growing incrementally to 10.8 million passengers by
2015.
"We don't want to see growth at John Wayne, but we really lost
out with El Toro," said Seely, who explained that the airport issue
had exploded into a near-civil war that pitted northern Orange
County residents against their neighbors to the south.
"I know we're talking out of both sides of our mouth in some
people's estimation, but we really don't feel that we can handle
any more traffic at John Wayne," Seely said. "We would much rather
send the traffic somewhere else."
The Marine Corps air station at El Toro was decommissioned in
1999, with four runways that were immediately capable of handling
commercial flights.
Orange County residents rejected the idea, voting to convert the
4,700-acre air station into a giant park, rather than an
international airport that would have served 18 million to 28
million passengers annually.
"I've always thought it was a shame that we lost the opportunity
to have a ready-made commercial airfield that could have become an
important airport," Zifkin said. "I don't know if Orange County is
even concerned with the problems we have at LAX. Their vote showed
that they are only concerned with themselves."