Question on Santa Monica Airport
(from Sierra Club questionnaire):

5. Residents in Sunset Park and Ocean Park have been impacted from increased jet travel, noise and air pollution from Santa Monica airport.  How would you propose dealing with this problem?

I supported Sunset Park residents in Prop MM, which changed the City Charter to allow for fines up to $10,000, compared to the $500 cap that existed previously.  I supported awarding the third F.B.O. to people who would operate it in a manner not conducive to supporting jets.

More recently I supported increasing the buffer zone at the end of our runways, which helps public safety and makes it harder for some jets to operate out of SMO.

We have lobbied the EPA and the FAA for years to allow more local control of the airport -- and to be able to base concerns on public safety and public health.  The FAA has been unreceptive, if not outright hostile at times.  We have to hope this next administration will give us something to work with.

Finally, apparently the AQMD is going to do a study about air quality and SMO.  This is good, but ultimately I think it is important that environmental studies are done by the EPA - because the responsibility needs to be taken by the federal level, since control is at the federal level.

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