Attorneys for Ontario are petitioning the state 4th District Court of Appeal in Riverside to reverse a ruling upholding the decades-old agreement that gave Los Angeles control of L.A./Ontario International Airport.
Ontario’s attorney, Andre Cronthall, filed a motion on Tuesday claiming the 1985 acquisition of ONT was invalid because a sale would have required a public vote.
“...The public was never put on notice regarding any purported sale or transfer of ONT in 1967 or 1985. As a result, the public was denied its constitutional and statutory right to a referendum,” Cronthall wrote in the 61-page document.
Sylvia Hickey has been waiting nearly a decade for new windows and other measures needed to help drown out the noise of jets flying over her El Segundo home.
Hickey is one of thousands living near Los Angeles International Airport who took advantage of a residential soundproofing program offered by the city and funded by LAX and the FAA, a sort-of peace offering for decades of noise impacts.
Many residents say they can’t even carry on a phone conversation or hear a loud television when planes fly over. But they were willing to wait it out, many for more than a decade, to receive notice that the work would begin.
Hickey changed her summer vacation plans to accommodate the contractor’s planned work this summer. Then, a couple weeks ago, she and dozens of others received sudden notice that they would be waiting indefinitely.
Due to excessively high contractor bids and a looming deadline by the FAA, the city told nearly 200 residents that the noise-mitigation work will have to be canceled unless the city is granted an extension.
“We’re being bamboozled, and I’m angry,” Hickey said. “I signed a contract earlier this year, and there were never any ifs, ands or buts. It was ‘This will be done.’ And we signed on the dotted line.”
Read more: El Segundo’s LAX noise-mitigation program hits a wall with FAA
At the heart of an on-going controversy is Los Angeles World Airport's (LAWA) plans to expand LAX runways to increase capacity. A LAX Town Hall was held Monday, December 1 in Westchester to highlight critical airport issues impacting the entire So Cal region and also surrounding communities. The Town hall featured local political leaders from areas surrounding LAX, LA Council member Mike Bonin, and regional leadership from the Inland Empire that is being under served. Information from the Town Hall presentations is available in the documents section of this website. LA policy to concentrate air commerce at LAX needs to be changed to enhance prosperity for the entire region as well as improve long range prospects for Los Angeles City residents. Although a 2006 Stipulated Settlement called for LAX modernization and development of a regional network of airports, it has not happened.
Everyone supports LAX Modernization, but LAWA plans include capacity expansion. Past LAWA leadership had the foresight to push for Regionalization; it now acts to the contrary. We must stop their madness which puts our economy at risk. The only choice is to continue the lawsuits enforcing previous settlement requirements which LAWA ignores and to stop more recent expansion plans! Come express your local and regional concerns. Presentations will include topics of noise, pollution, and traffic congestion along with economic considerations. Hear the status of on-going lawsuits to force implementation of good public policy.
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