Karen S. Kim
BURBANK -- After ballot arguments submitted to the city clerk last
week sparked anger and debate on both sides of the Restore Our Airport
Rights initiative, both supporters and opponents of ROAR filed rebuttal
arguments Monday.
"There are major discrepancies in the argument against ROAR, and we
had to point that out," said Ted McConkey, former councilman and coauthor
of ROAR's rebuttal. "We can't let people think that everything is OK.
They've got to know it isn't OK, and what they told you simply isn't
true."
ROAR's rebuttal accuses the City Council of not looking out for the
interests of Burbank voters and emphasizes that Measure B, which promises
voters a say in any City Council decision regarding a new airport
terminal, is not enough protection from unbridled airport expansion.
"Certain council persons have -- repeatedly -- proven their word and
promises unreliable," the rebuttal states. "Can we trust our council and
their 'friends' to look out for our interests?"
The rebuttal also states that the ROAR initiative -- a measure that
requires the city implement a curfew on flights, a cap on flights and
passengers and an agreement from the Airport Authority to limit expansion
-- is the only way to restrict airport growth.
On the other side of the debate, ROAR initiative opponents filed a
rebuttal to ROAR's argument that the City Council wanted a "mini-LAX" at
Burbank Airport.
Predicting the initiative would be taken to court, the rebuttal
states, "The ROAR initiative offers nothing to Burbank but the prospect
of costly taxpayer funded litigation."
The rebuttal also warns that passing the ROAR initiative would
compromise city officials' ability to effectively control the airport
terminal project in the future.
Coauthor of the rebuttal and former Burbank mayor Larry Stamper said
the rebuttal was meant to hammer home the argument against the ROAR
initiative.
"We just came back to reiterate what we had already said, because we
felt there was an attempt there to distort that," he said. "I think it's
time for us to move on and let our elected officials do what they were
elected to do."
