At community meetings and study sessions over the last two years, dozens of residents have criticized the proposal.
At last December’s meeting, the council chamber was filled to capacity before the meeting began, and waiting protestors had to watch from a television monitor from the lobby area until seats became available in the auditorium.
Community advocacy leader and former 8th-district councilmember Rae Gabelich said in a phone interview that she anticipated that the council meeting scheduled for Jan. 24 will draw about 1,000 residents in protest of the plan. Her advocacy group, Long Beach Neighborhoods First, has organized community members. Many have often carried protest placards and criticized the plan during public-comment periods at every meeting dealing with the issue from the first time it had been discussed.
Gabelich criticized the councilmembers who have supported the idea of allowing international flights, explaining that they have not adequately engaged with the public. The Signal Tribune asked Gabelich about repercussions if the vote eventually favors building an FIS facility next week. She described plans to create a political-action committee to be prepared for a future city election, a group that will deal with city leaders when they seek to keep their seats on the council dais.
“And we will be going against anyone that votes against the communities for their re-election,” Gabelich said. “We will be looking to support candidates that support the neighborhood.”
Current 8th District Councilmember Al Austin has published on his district’s website a new 17-page memo sent from Airport Director Jess Romo to City Manager Pat West that answers numerous questions about the facility. One of the main concerns deals with the economic impact of the facility and international service to the city of Long Beach and the surrounding region.
“It is important to recognize that any endeavor in Long Beach that has a positive economic impact will have a regional impact that benefits Long Beach and the surrounding communities,” Romo stated in his memo. “That is true of all City development including public-works projects, the Port of Long Beach and the new civic center. The ongoing impact of [an] FIS to Long Beach and the region is $222 million annually.”
The international airport has won the support of the Long Beach Area Chamber of Commerce. Jeremy Harris, the chamber’s senior vice president, acknowledged that there is a considerable community backlash against the proposal. Many of the critics of the proposal fear that international service and any major changes to the facility on this scale could threaten the city’s noise ordinance, which aims to reduce airplane noise and set a specific curfew for planes to use the airport at night.
Harris doesn’t believe that this is a valid argument against having a new international facility.
“The Chamber has always been very protective and supportive of the noise ordinance,” Harris said. “And that’s always going to remain a top priority. If we had any feeling that this would impact the noise ordinance, we would not be supporting the international customs facility.”
Harris concluded that there is a lot of misinformation being circulated among the public about the international facility.
Austin has also had numerous questions about the airport.
While he has taken the time to publish the airport director’s memo on his district’s website, Austin stated in a phone interview that there is no need to rush into a decision to approve the facility. The process has, so far, taken about two years.
“I think this is a one-sided deal, at this point, that benefits JetBlue,” he said, adding that the issue needs to be “considered very carefully.” Austin did not say how he would vote, but he has been one of the main city leaders on the council dais who has consistently criticized the proposal.
“I’m not sure we will know what we’re getting into, so there are still a lot of unknown variables,” he concluded.
He noted that if the council does approve the facility, it will take a few years to get the proper authorizations to build it and eventually open international service.
Advocate Gabelich has been a severe critic of the proposal for international flights and said in her interview that there were two other reports that contradicted the notion that an international airport would benefit the city at all.
She had strong words to say to the leaders who choose to vote in favor of the international terminal.
“If they take this too far, there’s no turning back,” Gabelich said, “but then these leaders don’t deserve to be called leaders.”
