Palmdale still is the answer to future airport development. This editorial appeared in the Antelope Valley Press September 9, 1998. LAX officials want to hire a firm to oversee the next phase of the LAX mega-project. But last week, city lawyers advised postponement on the bidding process.
Officials abruptly agree to halt progress on the grandiose plan indefinitely.
The lawyers told city officials that they may not be allowed to hire any consultants who have worked on preparing the airport expansion environmental analysis. That might exclude such experienced firms as Bechtel, which just finished an airport project in Hong Kong. The problem would arise if a firm advising airport officials about the ramifications of expanding the airport would also be assured a follow-on contract overseeing the next phase of the project. The lawyers wisely are worried that the firm would be unlikely to highlight negative environmental aspects of expansion if the same company were under contract to oversee the construction program. In the meantime, in Orange County, proponents of converting the El Toro Marine Corps Air Station into a commercial airport and business complex are back-peddling on their extravagant plans.