EDITORIAL : THE WRONG WAY; HIRING A HIGH-PRICED, PUBLIC-RELATIONS GUN DOES NOTHING TO SOLVE PROBLEMS FACING LAX.AFTER hitting public turbulence over plans to expand LAX, Mayor Richard Riordan Richard J. Riordan (born May 1, 1930) is a Republican politician from California, U.S. who served as the California Secretary of Education from 2003–2005 and as Mayor of Los Angeles from 1993–2001. Riordan ran for Governor of California unsuccessfully in 2002. apparently pushed the panic button. He hired a $10,000-a-month political consultant to turn around public opinion instead of doing the harder job of creating a regional plan that works for everyone. It is a distressing sign from a mayor who normally displays calm and leadership on important issues. The mayor's right: Los Angeles Los Angeles (lôs ăn`jələs, lŏs, ăn`jəlēz'), city (1990 pop. 3,485,398), seat of Los Angeles co., S Calif.; inc. 1850. needs much better airport facilities for the city to prosper. But Councilwoman Ruth Galanter Ruth Galanter was a city councilwoman from Los Angeles. She served as President Pro-Tempore and President of the city council. was also right in characterizing the hiring of Barbara Johnson Barbara Johnson (b. 1947) is an American literary critic and translator. She is currently a Professor of English and Comparative Literature and the Frederic Wertham Professor of Law and Psychiatry in Society at Harvard University. , who once served as chief of staff to former Attorney General John Van de Kamp John Van de Kamp (born in 1936[1]) served as the District Attorney for the County of Los Angeles from 1976 until 1982, and then as 28th Attorney General of California from 1982 until 1991. , to put a positive spin on an serious issue. ``Dick Riordan's problem is he thinks air safety, air pollution and ground transportation are public relations public relations, activities and policies used to create public interest in a person, idea, product, institution, or business establishment. By its nature, public relations is devoted to serving particular interests by presenting them to the public in the most problems. Most of us think these are real problems.'' And indeed they are. LAX is preparing a proposal to spend as much as $12 billion on an expansion that would boost its annual passenger capacity from 60 million to 100 million passengers and triple its cargo capacity. It is a plan for pandemonium Pandemonium Milton’s capital of the devils. [Br. Lit.: Paradise Lost] See : Confusion Pandemonium chief city of Hell. [Br. Lit.: Paradise Lost] See : Hell , not a vision of Los Angeles for the next millennium. A regional approach is needed to make make greater use of facilities in Palmdale, Ontario and Orange County. LAX is one of the most impacted airports in the nation. It ranks 29th out of 36 major U.S. airports in a passenger survey that looked at seven categories including speed of baggage retrieval, ground transportation, ease of following signs and cleanliness. With a paltry 3,500 acres of space, it has little room to grow and zero room for error. By comparison, the city's Department of Airports owns 17,750 acres at Palmdale to expand. Ground transportation must be part of the equation. It's already extremely difficult and time-consuming to get to LAX and increased traffic on the clogged 405 freeway certainly won't make it easier. Here again, the space is available to build more freeways and a rail line to Palmdale. Like Wrong Way Corrigan, Riordan is heading the wrong direction on LAX expansion. All the signs point to designing a regional approach to alleviation congestion The condition of a network when there is not enough bandwidth to support the current traffic load. congestion - When the offered load of a data communication path exceeds the capacity. at LAX. There are alternatives. This is another seminal moment for Los Angeles' future as a city. This is the time for the business community and politicians - in the city and throughout the region - to take a tough issue and show leadership. Greater Los Angeles needs a solution for the next 25 to 50 years, not the next five. Selling Los Angeles on more traffic congestion is selling Angelenos and area residents far short. That's the wrong way. |
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