AIRPORT AUTHORITY REOPENS LAND TALKS\Burbank officials call action violation of cooling-off agreement.Byline: Lee Condon Daily News Staff Writer In a divisive, closed-door meeting, the board that governs Burbank Airport has agreed to restart negotiations with Lockheed Martin For the former company, see . Lockheed Martin (NYSE: LMT) is a leading multinational aerospace manufacturer and advanced technology company formed in 1995 by the merger of Lockheed Corporation with Martin Marietta. Corp. to buy land for a new terminal - even though the agency is only two months into a six-month cooling-off period An interval of time during which no action of a specific type can be taken by either side in a dispute. An automatic delay in certain jurisdictions, apart from ordinary court delays, between the time when Divorce papers are filed and the divorce hearing takes place. . Burbank representatives, who opposed the action in the Thursday night meeting of the Burbank-Glendale-Pasadena Airport Authority, said no action is supposed to be taken on a land purchase during the six months. "It's a complete violation of the standstill agreement Standstill agreement Contract by which the bidding firm in a takeover attempt agrees to limit its holdings of another firm. standstill agreement ," said Commissioner Phil Berlin of Burbank. "They are not supposed to be taking such action and they are." The vote came just a week after two mediators were selected to help commissioners iron out their differences. But now Burbank officials say that truce seems out of reach. "This is bad news for the mediation process," said Burbank Councilman Ted McConkey. "Sitting down with Lockheed for land is an action." But Glendale and Pasadena commissioners claim they haven't violated the cooling-off period because an actual purchase agreement for the land cannot be signed until the cooling-off period ends in June. If the authority did not resume negotiations, it could have been sued by Lockheed Martin for inverse condemnation inverse condemnation n. the taking of property by a government agency which so greatly damages the use of a parcel of real property that it is the equivalent of condemnation of the entire property. , said Carl Raggio, president of the Airport Authority and a Glendale appointee APPOINTEE. A person who is appointed or selected for a particular purpose; as the appointee under a power, is the person who is to receive the benefit of the trust or power. to the panel. Vince Marafino, a vice president at Lockheed, sent a letter to the airport demanding that the authority either move ahead with the purchase or walk away from the deal and let the company open the land up to other bidders. Marafino could not be reached for comment Friday. Raggio said Burbank officials have fixated fix·ate v. fix·at·ed, fix·at·ing, fix·ates v.tr. 1. To make fixed, stable, or stationary. 2. To focus one's eyes or attention on: fixate a faint object. on fighting over the land. But he contends the real issue is whether a relocated terminal will have 14 gates or 19 gates and whether there will be a curfew curfew [O.Fr.,=cover fire], originally a signal, such as the ringing of a bell, to damp the fire, extinguish all lights in the dwelling, and retire for the night. The custom originated as a precaution against fires and was common throughout Europe in the Middle Ages. on night flights. The new terminal is planned because the current terminal is in an unsafe location, Raggio said. "The real issue happens to be the terminal," Raggio said. "Let's get the land deal out of the way and then sit down in the mediation process and decide what a terminal will look like. I think Burbank needs to own up to the fact that they're going to have to move that terminal." Chris Holden, a pro-expansion commissioner from Pasadena, agreed with Raggio that reopening negotiations was the only way to avert a Lockheed lawsuit. "Burbank is protecting their interest. Lockheed is protecting their interest. We're sitting there as a pigeon pigeon, common name for members of the large family Columbidae, land birds, cosmopolitan in temperate and tropical regions, characterized by stout bodies, short necks, small heads, and thick, heavy plumage. in a shooting gallery shooting gallery Substance abuse A place–eg, an abandoned building in an economically-depressed urban area–ie, a ghetto, where IV drug users congregate, purchase, inject–'shoot' heroin, cocaine, oxycodone or other drug. ," Holden said. Charlie Lombardo, a Burbank resident who lives in the Burbank Airport flight path and contends with jet noise every night, said that Glendale and Pasadena officials are not taking the cooling-off period seriously. "I think mediation from their perspective is a farce," Lombardo said. "They have no intention of following through. Their actions speak louder than their words." |
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