Young expresses hope to serve once again
Airport Commission Chairman Mark Young stepped down from the advisory body on Monday, citing conflict of interest with his position in the United States Attorney’s Office, which is challenging City Hall in court over its ban on the fastest and heaviest jets at Santa Monica Airport.
The resignation came just days after the Federal Aviation Administration filed a cease-and-desist order and subsequently a temporary restraining order against City Hall to prevent it from enforcing the ban, which went into effect at 12:01 a.m. on April 24.
The temporary restraining order was granted by U.S. District Court Judge George Wu, enjoining City Hall at least until a preliminary injunction hearing scheduled for May 15.
Young, an executive assistant United States attorney for the past 10 years, joined the Airport Commission in 2003, the Santa Monican looking for ways to become more involved in the community.
The United States Attorney’s Office is part of the United States Department of Justice and Young’s cases do not directly involve the airport.
378,“I’ve dedicated my life more or less to public service and wanted to be part of Santa Monica and part of what was going on in Santa Monica,” Young, an Ocean Park resident, said on Tuesday. “It was a good opportunity to address the issues that were relevant to the community I lived in.”
The news came as a shock to the Airport Commission, many of its members learning of the resignation during a meeting on Monday night, which Young did not attend.
“It feels like a death in the family,” Susan Hartley, the vice chairman of the commission, said on Tuesday.
Hartley will preside as the chair in the interim before the commission elects a new chairman and vice chairman, according to Bob Trimborn, the airport manager and staff liaison to the commission. The City Council is responsible for appointing all commissioners. Young’s second term on the commission was set to expire in 2011.
Commissioners say that Young brought a unique set of expertise, his skills as an attorney showing through in many of the commission’s discussions, which has included noise and air pollution issues and most recently, residents’ concerns of an aircraft overshooting a runway and landing on houses on the west end of the airport.
“He was soft spoken but could be a great interrogator when it came to questioning any presenters before the commission and seeing loopholes and contradictions in arguments,” Hartley, who has served on the commission for almost four years, said.
Commissioner Jean Rene Gebman also remarked at Young’s ability to run the meetings efficiently, asking clarifying questions and keeping the flow of discourse focused.
“To have somebody with a legal background and who is good at digging into technical matters and asking good probing questions is something the city needs,” Gebman, who has served on the commission for nine noncontinuous years, said.
Young called the commission one of the more interesting advisory bodies in the city, encountering a number of unique issues related to the airport, which will include determining the future of the aviation facility once its 24-year-old settlement agreement with the FAA expires in 2015.
629,“It’s a very fascinating commission to be a part of with interesting legal and non-legal issues to deal with,” Young said.
Among the most notable issues relates to the ongoing dispute between the FAA and City Hall about runway safety. Sunset Park residents have for years complained that there is a lack of runway safety measures, fueling fears that an aircraft will one day overshoot the runway and land on homes. The airport is unique in that there are homes located within 300 feet of both the west and east ends of the runway.
The FAA has presented several proposals in the past, most recently an option to install a 70-knot Emergency Material Arresting System that would be designed to stop roughly 97 percent of operations at the airport and 90 percent of the Category C and D classified jets, which were banned under an ordinance adopted by the council in March. The enhanced safety measures would consume more runway than the 40-knot EMAS, which the FAA previously proposed. City officials turned down both options as being insufficient.
Young, who does not serve on any other city commissions, expressed hope in serving once again.
“I’ll miss serving the city of Santa Monica and hopefully at some point, I’ll find some other way to become reinvolved in the city and the community,” Young said.
Jump hedline: Young expresses hope to serve on commissions once again
Suggested pullquote: “It’s a very fascinating commission to be a part of with interesting legal and non-legal issues to deal with.”
Mark Young
Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on April 30, 2008. Read the original PDF.