Modified LAX Plan on Hahn's Radar?
Departures of 2 key officials may signal compromise from the mayor
By Noam N. Levey, Jennifer Oldham and Patrick McGreevy, Times Staff Writers
Two and half years later, however, the plan has come under relentless criticism from surrounding communities, major airlines and City Council members. And now, its two leading champions have left Hahn's administration amid criminal probes into the awarding of airport contracts.
Many city leaders, including council members poised to consider the $9-billion proposal, are saying that Hahn's plan — with its vast new passenger check-in terminal — is dead on arrival. They argue that the mayor must change his approach, reach out to opponents and compromise.
That could mean that the world's fifth-busiest airport will get a fraction of the makeover Hahn proposed in 2001, at perhaps a third of the cost, and leave LAX's existing terminals mostly the way they are today.
"My sense is that the old plan doesn't have much life left in it," said Councilman Eric Garcetti. "I wouldn't be surprised if you saw the council and mayor collaborating to come up with a new plan … that makes much better sense for the community and for safety."
Neighbors complained that the check-in facility would move traffic and pollution into their community. Airlines and business groups said the plan would waste $9 billion on a project that would not significantly increase LAX's passenger capacity. City leaders also questioned the costs. And the cause was undermined further by a Rand Corp. study that concluded that Hahn's improvements would actually make travelers more vulnerable to terrorism by concentrating them in the check-in center.
"What should have been an inclusionary process that should have been ongoing for the last 18 months instead has been a void," said Councilwoman Cindy Miscikowski, whose district includes LAX and neighboring communities.
Even the mayor's allies in organized labor and the business community began calling on Hahn to dismiss his controversial lieutenants and begin negotiating with the plan's opponents.
"There is nowhere close to eight votes on this proposal as we speak," said Councilman Antonio Villaraigosa, one of several council members who have been warning Hahn for weeks that his plan is facing defeat because it can't win a council majority.
City Council President Alex Padilla said the mayor signaled this week for the first time that he is open to a possible compromise. "I asked, 'Are you still going to hold hard and fast to [the proposal] or is there finally room for discussion?' " Padilla said. "I welcomed his response, which was 'Yes, there is room for discussion.' "
Other council members and community groups said they were still awaiting a call from the mayor's office.
Plans being pushed by the airline industry and other business groups would spend no more than $3 billion to remodel the Tom Bradley International Terminal, expand a system of FlyAway bus centers, build a consolidated rental car facility and move a southern runway closer to El Segundo to decrease near misses between aircraft.
Miscikowski is drafting her own scaled-down alternative, which she plans to release in the next three weeks. And the Los Angeles Area Chamber of Commerce is calling for a more incremental approach.
Scrapped, or at least deferred, would be the proposed remote check-in facility in Westchester. Gone too would be the plans to demolish Terminals 1, 2 and 3 and to tear down the airport's existing parking garages.
But that, said many observers, may actually deliver the consensus Hahn has struggled for two years to achieve.
"It's in everyone's interest to come together on a plan that modernizes the airport," said George Kieffer, chairman of the Los Angeles Area Chamber of Commerce.
Complete Los Angeles Times Article