Already with a reputation of having the worst airport security, the worst airport management and named by the Airline Pilots Association‘s as one of the worst operational airports in America, LAX Management now reaches a new low — they are planning to divert an estimated 3.3 million dollars of annual airport revenues to unauthorized social programs — programs that are likely to be managed as poorly as the airport itself.
From the South Bay Daily Breeze:
FAA questions LAX use of airport funds to pay for job training
Federal authorities raise concerns about a pledge by Los Angeles International Airport to spend millions of dollars on job training and recruitment programs in nearby neighborhoods.
Those programs were supposed to help low-income people living with the noise and hassle of the airport find jobs there. They were an important element of recent deals that eased community opposition to the airport’s modernization plan.
But the regional office of the Federal Aviation Administration warned in a letter this week that the airport does not have authority to spend money that way. The job programs, it wrote, are not directly related to airport operations or air transportation and therefore cannot be funded with airport revenue.
[more]
The giveaway at LAX to the surrounding area amounts to a “bribe” for allowing airport expansion and improvements. I think the whole thing stinks and ought to be investigated by federal authorities.