Update: L.A. City Council Passes LAX Overhaul Package

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The Los Angeles City Council passed a landmark $500 million package of community benefits intended to mitigate the impact of the massive $10 billion overhaul proposed for Los Angeles International Airport.


The package, approved by a 14-1 vote, includes hundreds of millions of dollars for additional soundproofing of homes and schools near the airport, $15 million in funding for jobs programs, funding for programs to reduce air emissions from airport-related traffic and vehicles and for reducing congestion on adjacent roads.


“This is a monumental agreement,” Councilwoman Janice Hahn said. “This will change the lives of people in the community. We will grow a generation of children that will be different from their parents that have suffered from the negative impacts of the airport. This will be a model for how we move forward in this city.”


The community benefits package still needs approval from the Federal Aviation Administration, since most of the funds will come from airport revenues. Los Angeles World Airports Executive Director Kim Day said the major parties to the agreement sat down with FAA officials last month.


While the FAA did not officially endorse the agreement, Day said, “They were impressed by the coalition and ended our meeting by saying this type of approach is a model that should be used at other airports.”


The FAA is expected to consider the deal early next year, though no official timeline has been made public.


The package is comprised of three separate measures. One was an agreement with a broad range of community, environmental and labor groups, called the Coalition for Economic, Environmental and Educational Justice and spearheaded by the Los Angeles Alliance for a New Economy. There were also separate agreements with the Lennox and Inglewood school districts.


Mayoral candidate Bernard Parks cast the lone “no” vote, though he supported the agreements with the schools, which passed unanimously.


In opposing the agreement with coalition, Parks said other groups, including neighborhood councils, had been excluded from the process. He also expressed concern that if any problems cropped up in the agreement, they would be presented to the Los Angeles World Airports board of commissioners and not to the City Council.


The other mayoral candidate on the Council, Antonio Villaraigosa, voted for the package, even though he said he opposes the airport overhaul plan.


“In opposing the LAX master plan, I argued that we shouldn’t put all our marbles in one basket and we shouldn’t tie up traffic on the 405. I also said we needed a community benefits package that addresses the need to create a jobs program,” Villaraigosa said. “I think $3 million a year for a jobs program is a beginning and so I will support this package,” he said.

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