I still have things to post from LA, so they'll show up for the next few days.
I ran around the Santa Monica airport Monday and here are a few shots.
These two guys - Ignacio and Rudolfo - were working hard in the hot sun. (The fog rolled in Monday evening and Tuesday was cooler.)
At the same park overlooking the airport there was
a woman's soccer (real football) team practicing.
People have their private jets parked along the fence next to the park. If we want to talk about government services for the wealthy, I'm sure that the fees folks pay for using the Santa Monica airport don't pay for what it costs the City of Santa Monica - especially if you consider the lost property taxes on this huge area. Now, I do believe in government infrastructure, and keeping this open land rather than increasing the population density is a good thing, but I suspect a relatively small percent of the population actually use this one and a large percent of the users are probably in the higher income levels. (This is all speculation. Someone else can see if there's something there or not. A lot of the airport is being filled in - Santa Monica City College buildings, restaurants, more soccer fields and playgrounds, a place for live theater, etc.)
The birds of paradise were blooming.
I ran down this Santa Monica alley to see the backsides of the houses.
This lemon tree leaned over the fence into the alley.
And this chair beckoned, but I kept on.
You really amused me that you called soccer real football.
ReplyDeleteI'm really glad your Mom lets you visit. I used to live in Santa Monica (and in the Valley) the photos of those strand lines and those shrimpy things (any butterfly shells and mussels?), backyards and alleys, still seem familiar. Some things change but others seem to hold out in comfort.
ReplyDeleteRopi, the 'football' reference was for you! Glad you saw it.
ReplyDeleteMPB - Glad to share. But how terrible do you think I am that my own mom wouldn't let me visit! :)
Yes the Private Jet charters can be parked in any place, a tiny place is enough to park the small private jets.
ReplyDeleteYou got me curious on the line about landing fees. Google and Wikipedia provide some interesting facts about this particular airport. Seems it's far from friendly to both private individuals and business aviation:
ReplyDelete[Wikipedia] Since the Santa Monica Airport receives no federal, state or local funding to operate, the landing fees fill the gap between other Airport revenue and the cost of operations -- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Santa_Monica_Airport#Landing_fees
[National Business Aviation Association] The airport has no commercial service and only one jet center FBO, and is promulgating policies hostile to aviation and particularly to turbine aircraft. -- http://www.nbaa.org/ops/airports/smo/
And then this article talks about a proposal to close the airport -- Closing Santa Monica Airport The Better Option? -- http://californiaflightschool.com/flightschool/?p=51
It seems the community doesn't want the airport.
L, thanks for doing the background work on the airport. I have mixed feelings here. They airport has been there forever. (Since 1924 according to the Wikipedia piece.) So the residential neighborhoods came later and people bought houses knowing there was an airport.
ReplyDeleteOn the other hand, the increase in private jets has made the noise level much louder around the airport.
A plane crashed about five houses down from my mother's house some time ago. She's seen several crashed planes over the years.
I suspect that economically, it makes more sense for Santa Monica to convert it to other uses.
Again, thanks for the work on this.