purpose. It eliminates all private competition for parking facilities
to the benefit of the airport.
Comments on land use limitation contains three situations. The
Authority will not:
* Expand the existing terminal (except if required by law). The
exception is what has to be scrutinized. Everybody remembers how the
city gave the airport carte blanche to expand under the cover of
Homeland Security needs. There is nothing to prevent a similar excuse
to be used on just about any request for expansion.
* No new gates or aircraft parking positions. Airline support for
a new terminal is extremely remote under present and future economic
conditions. The demand for service in Burbank is still 5% less than
it was in 1995.
* Increase the area available for general aviation use. This says
no addition of acreage but there is no limitation on the multitude of
opportunities to be developed for general aviation operations, which
will affect our community.
Under "Parking," it says the Authority will suspend all public
parking on the B-6 property for at least two years. Let me get this
straight. The airport swaps parking on the B-6 property for using the
larger Star Park for two years. After that, the airport gets to use
both. Acceptance of this deal shows the city isn't the least bit
concerned about how the traffic to these lots contributes to our
pollution.
The city says the Authority will not be required to sell the B-6
property for 10 years and may use the Trust property for non-aviation
purposes. This has been the city's intent all along. To look upon
this as an accomplishment is really gilding the lily.
The paragraph devoted to Nighttime Noise Relief is a complete
cipher. The Authority has held the city at bay for years. If the
airport had any desire to place further restrictions, they would have
done it years ago. As far as cooperation between the city and the
Authority in the Noise Variance process, city attorneys offered
absolutely no objections during the last court process for a
variance.
It is inevitable that both the city and the Authority will engage
in chest-beating on how a new era has been reached in cooperation
between the two entities. Unfortunately, that is the absolute truth
without any exaggeration. The big question to be answered is whether
the residents of Burbank are gullible enough to believe all this
requires negotiation or is just a frank admission to what has been
planned all along.
DON ELSMORE
Burbank
Moviegoers send a loud message to Washington
