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# Residents upset as airport bill nosedives
- URL: https://www.smdp.com/residents-upset-as-airport-bill-nosedives/
- Published: 2007-09-01T15:00:00.000Z
- Updated: 2026-10-24T02:45:45.000Z
- Author: Guest Author
- Tags: Community, Santa Monica Airport, #archive-import

*By GERRY SHIH Special to the Daily Press*

SACRAMENTO A contentious bill aimed at establishing a task force to evaluate the air pollution impact of the Santa Monica Airport failed to move forward here this week, leaving some residents furious that their extended lobbying efforts to get a breath of fresh air has all been for naught once again.

On Thursday, the State Senate Appropriations Committee suspended AB 700, indicating that it would not be reviewed again until next year, at the earliest. The bill, first introduced in late February by Assemblyman Ted Lieu (D-El Segundo), was amended five times in repeated efforts to appease airplane owners, business interests and a Santa Monica city government wary of the budget pressures expected to accompany the bill’s passage.

Just as the concessions seemed to be softening the opposition, Lieu’s previously confident camp seemed stunned by the unexpected turn of events.

“I still don’t know what exactly happened,” said David Ford, Lieu’s chief of staff. “This is extremely disappointing because we thought there was, literally, no opposition left. Everyone who previously opposed — the aircraft owners, the city of Santa Monica, everyone — seemed to have pulled off.”

The politics were, apparently, not so cut and dry. Because the bill was suspended, no vote was held and it remains unknown who in the committee took what position. Fingers have been pointed in all directions since the bill’s failure, with Lieu’s office suggesting that a closed-fisted city government stalled the legislation while residents heap blame on Sen. Sheila Kuehl, who represents Santa Monica.

The Santa Monica Airport itself, landlocked and tightly wedged in a dense residential neighborhood, holds a history as controversial as it is illustrious. Once the home of the Douglas Aircraft Company, as well as the former base of Howard Hughes, Amelia Earhart, and countless other aviation enthusiasts, the airport has seen its jet traffic volume skyrocket in recent decades, while residents have become increasingly vocal about the noise and air pollution. Despite finding a champion in Lieu, little legislative headway has been made on behalf of the troubled residents — Lieu’s previous incarnation of the bill failed last year.

Lieu had pushed an earlier bill that would have extensively evaluated the airport, including a costly mandate on Santa Monica to collect data on the idling times of jets on runways as well as landing and takeoff frequencies. When the city objected, a state-run alternative was considered to take some of the burden off the city. There was again opposition, and the legislation was ultimately pared down under the guidance of Kuehl — an influential figure who sits on the Appropriations Committee — to form a city-run “task force” that would evaluate the pollution from the airport with the assistance from state agencies.

When asked what forces may have struck down the bill on Thursday, Ford said, “The only concern left hanging was from the city of Santa Monica with the staffing, printing and copying costs that would come with forming the task force.”

Stephanie Burri from the office of Assemblywoman Julie Brownley, who coauthored the bill, added that opposition from the FAA, which “doesn’t want to be told what to do,” may have also figured into the politics behind the legislation’s failure.

To Martin Rubin, director of Concerned Residents Against Airport Pollution, the city government and state legislature have ignored the dire needs of its constituents. The Mar Vista resident said, from where he lives, a half mile from the airport, the strong smell of kerosene is pervasive outdoors and wafts into homes when windows and doors are left open. Neighbors have complained of throat irritation, said Rubin, who suspects that his cat’s throat cancer was a direct result of the pollution left by jets skimming over the rooftops, a frequent daily occurrence.

“I am very disappointed in our local State Senate representation,” Rubin said. “Both Sen. Sheila Kuehl and Sen. Jenny Oropeza, whose district includes the West Los Angeles neighborhoods impacted by Santa Monica Airport, sit on the Appropriations Committee that killed AB 700\. At the time of their vote, AB 700 had virtually no opposition and had strong support. That suggests they were either unwilling to or unable to garner the necessary votes to pass this very reasonable piece of legislation that had a rather insignificant monetary cost to it.

“It wasn’t expensive; it wasn’t opposed. What was the problem?”

The Daily Press could not reach the senators for comment on Friday afternoon.

Meanwhile, Assembly legislators, in a generally apologetic tone, maintained that they would keep pushing on behalf of residents.

Brownley told the Daily Press she was disappointed by the failure of AB 700.

“Still, the Air Quality Management District study will be coming out this fall, and there will be follow up discussions among all the many levels of government on what the next steps should be based on those AQMD findings, which was generally the AB 700 direction,” Brownley said. Some residents refused to blame Lieu and Brownley, expressing frustration instead with Sen. Kuehl.

“Our officials that talk about caring about people seem to care little, and I’m speaking of Sheila Kuehl,” said Virginia Ernst, who has lived in West Los Angeles since 1962 and has previously won a lawsuit against the city of Santa Monica regarding a ban on when jets fly at the airport.

“We’ll keep putting pressure on the city, the politicians, but if need be, test it in the courts.”

*Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on September 1, 2007.* [Read the original PDF.](https://s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/smdp%5Fbackissues/090107.pdf?ref=smdp.com)