> ## Content Index > Fetch the complete content index at: https://www.smdp.com/llms.txt > Use this file to discover other available public pages before exploring further. # LA zeroes in on airport - URL: https://www.smdp.com/la-zeroes-in-on-airport/ - Published: 2006-05-20T15:00:00.000Z - Updated: 2026-10-23T17:59:26.000Z - Author: Kevin Herrera - Tags: Government & Politics, Santa Monica Airport, #archive-import *Airport chief labels idle law ‘draconian’* SM AIRPORT If the City of Los Angeles has its way,City Hall will have to get busy watching planes sit still. Earlier this week, the Los Angeles City Council voted unanimously to support a proposed law requiring City Hall to record for one year how long aircraft engines are running at the airport, which in turn can give Los Angeles residents living just east of the runway a better idea as to the level of emissions wafting into their homes. The measure would force City Hall to spend $450,000 or more monitoring the idling times of aircraft here. City Hall has so far come out in opposition to Assembly Bill 2501, known in the state capital as the Santa Monica Airport bill, stating in a letter to legislators that the law unfairly targets Santa Monica, provides no funding, and is unnecessary in light of an air quality study currently being conducted by the South Coast Air Quality Management District, with funding from the Environmental Protection Agency. “This bill came at us without any prior warning and we’ve been trying to sort out why just the City of Santa Monica and Santa Monica Airport specifically, since we are in the beginning stages of an air monitoring study,” said Bob Trimborn, who oversees operations at the airport. “The kind of analysis and monitoring being proposed is something that has never been done in any airport that we’ve heard of. “It seems very draconian to have to place this requirement on Santa Monica Airport, with just 18,000 (flights) per year when right next door (at LAX) there are over 700,000 (flights) per year,” said Trimborn. “Why this little airport?” Supporters of the bill, including it’s author, Assemblyman Ted Lieu, D-El Segundo, say Santa Monica is the perfect airport to conduct this type of monitoring because of its size and its close proximity to homeowners. Lieu said that residents who have been ignored by City Hall, because they live outside of the city limits, deserve to have a monitoring system in place to finally give them answers to questions they have about the potential health risks of living near one of Los Angeles County’s oldest airports. “This bill is not designed to shut down the airport,” Lieu said.“It is designed to help these residents.” > “This bill is not designed to shut down the airport. It is designed to help these residents.” — TED LIEU ASSEMBLYMAN, D-EL SEGUNDO The bill has made its way through committee and is expected to hit the State Assembly floor sometime next week, Lieu said. For years, residents living around the airport have complained about increased flights, larger planes and their corresponding noise and pollution. Some neighbors said the problem with pollution from airline engine emissions has become so bad over the years that bright yellow lemons have turned black from the fumes. Others contend they have to have their homes steam-cleaned once a year to remove the black soot from planes flying just 40 feet overhead. During his run for the Assembly, Lieu said he walked neighborhoods surrounding the airport and found the fumes so bad that he had to stop walking after an hour because his eyes were beginning to burn. “You can really smell the fumes out there. It smells like Kerosene,” Lieu said. Residents said City Hall has been unwilling to listen to their concerns, forcing them to turn to their representatives in Los Angeles, including Councilman Bill Rosendahl and Congresswoman Jane Harman, D-Venice, both of whom support Lieu’s bill. Assembly member Fran Pavley, D-Santa Monica, could not be reached for comment. Residents have also formed a group called Concerned Residents Against Airport Pollution, or CRAAP, to help lobby for change. Marty Rubin, president of CRAAP, said the Los Angeles City Council’s support will go a long way in convincing legislatures that the monitoring is needed. “This is historic,” Rubin said. “This is the first time that the city of Los Angeles has weighed in about Santa Monica Airport. We’ve tried so hard in the past, but have gotten nowhere, until now.” Lieu hopes the bill will help make a case for lowering idling times at the airport. Currently, planes arriving or departing from Santa Monica must get clearance from LAX because the flight paths into Santa Monica pass through LAX airspace. Lieu said if a system could be developed between LAX and Santa Monica to better coordinate landings and takeoffs, than idling times could be reduced,in turn,lowering emissions. Mayor Bob Holbrook said his colleagues on the City Council are concerned about emissions at the airport and about the health of neighboring communities, which is why City Hall asked the AQMD to conduct an air quality study at Santa Monica. The AQMD received a $400,000 grant from the EPA to conduct the study, which will measure emissions in the summer and winter at the airport. “We are really looking forward to the results of that study so we can really sink our teeth into what is going on,” Holbrook said.“If there is something wrong, I promise you we will do anything we can within the law to solve that problem.” If Santa Monica is truly a green city concerned about the environment and the health of its residents, Rubin said the City Council wouldn’t oppose the monitoring bill. Rubin also criticized the AQMD study now underway, saying it will not provide an ample measurement or address the issues of concern for residents. “Forthemtosayitwilladdresstheconcernswehaveismislead-ing and gives false hope to those that are impacted,”Rubin said. Lieu said his staff has offered City Hall several opportunities to reach a compromise, such as reducing the monitoring time from one year to six months, or reducing the hours that planes would be watched. Lieu said representatives from City Hall refused the offer. Holbrook counters that Lieu has made no such offers, and said news of the bill came as a surprise, forcing him to meet with the City Manager and draft a letter of opposition. Holbrook said he knew of the bill when it was originally drafted to include more than just one airport, but was unaware, until recently, that the bill was amended to just include Santa Monica. According to Lieu, the bill has always been about Santa Monica, but to make the bill more clear to legislators, it was rewritten with Santa Monica specifically in mind. The Assemblyman said amendments could change the scope of the law, but that has yet to be determined. As it stands now, the bill would only apply to Santa Monica. The City Council is expected to discuss the bill at an upcoming meeting. “So far, none of the council members have told me that they have an issue with the letter I sent,” Holbrook said. *Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on May 20, 2006.* [Read the original PDF.](https://s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/smdp%5Fbackissues/052006.pdf?ref=smdp.com)