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# LETTERS TO THE EDITOR All eyes on the city’s airport pollution issue
- URL: https://www.smdp.com/letters-to-the-editor-all-eyes-on-the-citys-airport-pollution-issue/
- Published: 2006-05-31T15:00:00.000Z
- Updated: 2026-10-23T18:08:50.000Z
- Author: Guest Author
- Tags: Opinion, Santa Monica Airport, #archive-import

*By GUEST COLUMN BY MARTIN RUBIN*

Well known as an environmentally conscious “green” city, Santa Monica is presently under watch as it decides its position regarding a newly proposed California Assembly bill that aims to help residents understand the extent of the air pollution coming from Santa Monica Airport. Idling jet emissions travel via air currents throughout the surrounding neighborhoods, through open windows and doors right inside the homes of many hundreds of long-time residents. New residents moving into the surrounding neighborhoods, replacing those who have had enough of the airport’s growing noise and air pollution, find that it is more than they bargained for. Have these residents been concerned? Absolutely. For the past 10 years, the air pollution issue has continuously been brought up at Santa Monica Airport Commission meetings. Santa Monica City Council members have been informed. Jet air pollution has continued to get worse.

Santa Monica officials will have us believe that they are doing all they can. In my 10 years of involvement, I believe that the efforts the city of Santa Monica has made have been to keep air pollution from becoming an issue. It is not an issue for debate as residents are troubled by what the obnoxious smelling fumes may be doing to their health, their children’s health and their pets’ health.

Until a couple years ago, the only organized group dealing with Santa Monica Airport issues was the Friends of Sunset Park (FOSP), a neighborhood group that represent the interests of Santa Monica residents to the west and north of the airport. They have been able to influence Santa Monica city officials in appointing members to the Airport Commission who are sympathetic to the communities’ concerns. About 10 percent of the air pollution from the airport affects Santa Monica residents; the other 90 percent drifts eastward into the Los Angeles communities. As a resident in the LA area impacted by the emissions from idling jets, I felt it needed more attention and organized another group called Concerned Residents Against Airport Pollution (CRAAP). It is equipped with a Web site (www.jetairpollu-tion.com) and a strong motivation to organize the community so as to help with expressing the airport’s surrounding communities’ concerns. Though Santa Monica officials would have you believe otherwise, to this day I know of no proactive efforts by the city of Santa Monica to address their airport’s air pollution issue. The environmental workshops held annually at a Santa Monica Airport Commission meeting came about only after years of pressure to do something, and it certainly is not my idea of a workshop. It is more a presentation by staff to justify why they are not able to do anything.

Because requests to have the jet idle/taxi and hold times logged have fallen on deaf ears, recently elected California State Assemblyman Ted Lieu introduced legislation (AB 2501) on CRAAP’s behalf that would require Santa Monica Airport to do just that. Santa Monica Mayor Robert Holbrook responded with a letter on behalf of the city of Santa Monica opposing the bill. After hearing from Santa Monica residents that such a letter did not go through a public process, an item was placed one month later on the Santa Monica City Council agenda to officially oppose AB 2501.

With public speakers representing FOSP, CRAAP, the Sierra Club and the National Resources Defense Council, the airport staff’s report recommending that the city oppose AB 2501 was discredited, and City Council members on May 25 revised the motion to not oppose the bill — provided the bill is amended to include certain stipulations.

The idea of supporting the bill was not considered. The one City Council member who appeared most sympathetic to the plight of the airport’s neighbors was Bobby Shriver. He appeared to be more in tune to a true regional approach on issues of environmental concern. Much of what City Council members had to say was in defense of city inaction over the years. There did appear some hope from Councilman Ken Genser that the city should be more proactive in dealing with this issue as it would be useful to show the FAA why there is so much concern. This has been CRAAP’s position for several years now.Video of the May 25 City Council meeting is available at the city’s Web site (santa-monica.org) if you are interested in viewing the full discussion and public comment.

Councilman Kevin McKeown at one point in the discussion stated that if the present administration in Washington, D.C., does not respond to his efforts regarding the Iraq war, how would we expect it to respond to our airport concerns? Is that justification for not making efforts regarding the airport? At least he is making efforts regarding the war. Councilman Richard Bloom questioned how collecting data on idle/taxi times could be used scientifically. It also was interesting how Councilmen Bloom and McKeown both asked questions of the Sierra Club representative, Marcia Hanscom, and me in an apparent grilling fashion. It made me uncomfortable. They did not question their own staff in that way.

With an election approaching, now is the time for Santa Monica residents to probe the candidates’ views on the issues and to ask them their thoughts on addressing the issues that residents have regarding the airport. Did the incumbents who will probably run again live up to their answers from the 2002 FOSP survey?

Again, Santa Monica is presently under scrutiny as it decides how it deals with California Assembly Bill AB 2501, and residents from all around, as well as Los Angeles, state and federal officials are watching. Just what do Santa Monica city officials feel their responsibility is regarding the operation of the Santa Monica Airport? (Martin Rubin is director of Concerned Residents Against Airport Pollution and lives in West LA.)

*Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on May 31, 2006.* [Read the original PDF.](https://s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/smdp%5Fbackissues/053106.pdf?ref=smdp.com)