Amid renewed conversations regarding whether Whiteman Airport should be shut down following last week’s plane crash in the parking lot of an auto parts store in Pacoima, former and current members of the Los Angeles Aviation Commission held a virtual meeting to call out the efforts of local officials to close it and to unfreeze federal funds needed for improvements.
For years, community groups like Pacoima Beautiful and politicians, including former Congressman Tony Cárdenas, LA City Councilmembers Monica Rodriguez and Imelda Padilla and County Supervisor Lindsey Horvath, have led the charge for its closure, saying it’s a safety and environmental risk to the community.
But Tara Finestone, a communications and media consultant with the Whiteman Airport Coalition – launched by residents, pilots, business owners and other stakeholders to combat the “misinformation” against the airport – said that these officials have known for a long time that closing Whiteman was a federal issue, not a local one.
As LA County accepted funding from the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) to acquire land near the airport’s runway for safety purposes in 1998, Whiteman carries federal obligations that don’t expire and therefore can’t be closed unless released by the FAA.
In 2020, the county’s Department of Public Works analyzed the airport, confirming Whiteman’s federal obligations and adding that the county was responsible for maintaining the airport in a safe condition and that its closure could carry legal and financial consequences.
In June 2022, a letter by Supervisor Holly Mitchell acknowledged that the county doesn’t have the authority to close Whiteman without FAA approval and that it’s responsible for the airport’s safety and upkeep.
Nonetheless, in 2024, the Board of Supervisors voted to move forward with a $1.9 million taxpayer-funded study focused on closing the airport.
“This raises three straightforward questions,” Finestone said. “Why is the county studying closure at all when the FAA has ultimate authority? Second, Whiteman supports firefighting, medical and disaster response [teams]. What replaces this infrastructure in a region with year-round fire risks and third, why are known safety and modernization improvements not being pursued when federal funding is available, especially when the 2028 Olympics are just around the corner?”
Need for Funding
Christina Pascucci, a journalist who spent seven years on the commission, clarified that they aren’t saying that Whiteman is currently unsafe, but if local officials “continue to suffocate” resources it needs to make improvements, then there will be long-term consequences.
She pointed to a statement from Horvath after last week’s crash, where she directed Public Works “to identify immediate actions within our authority to strengthen safety around Whiteman.” While happy to hear this, Pascucci pointed out that it was Horvath who froze federal funding in 2024 that would have gone towards safety improvements around the airport, including improving the runway and undergrounding power lines.
“I want to be really clear that rejecting millions of dollars in safety improvements that are available right now for … Whiteman is reckless,” Pascucci said. “Today, we are here because we are calling on Supervisor Horvath to lift the yearslong freeze in federal funds so that important safety improvements can be made to Whiteman Airport as soon as possible.”
Dennis Lord, who has served on the commission for 23 years, said they’ve identified $18 million of upgrades needed in the next six years – funds that they don’t have. Currently, Whiteman is operating under an enterprise fund, meaning it raises its own revenue in the form of rents and fees. Not once, Lord said, has he seen taxpayer money used for the airport.
He added that if Whiteman was shut down, that would leave approximately 500 aircraft without a home.
“Burbank [Airport] doesn’t want them, and Van Nuys neighborhood groups have come out to state that they do not want them over their homes either, so where do they go?” Lord asked. “The closest opportunities are in the San Gabriel Valley or Lancaster. … It’s hard for me to fathom that we would ever close this airport with the opportunities that it makes available for local pilots and communities.”
Community Action
While the discussion over Whiteman has gone back and forth online, there are local actions being organized around the airport. Pacoima Beautiful is hosting a community meeting focused on the safety and environmental concerns impacting the local community on Thursday, April 30. It will be held at the Vaughn Next Century Learning Center in Pacoima at 6 p.m.
The LA Raza Unida Party is also organizing a march calling for Whiteman to be shut down. It will be held on May 5, where demonstrators will gather at Bradley Plaza at 13082 Van Nuys Blvd. at 5 p.m. and march towards the airport.
keep the airport open . they don’t want to close it for safety they want to build more buildings . we need that airport its been there since the 40s