Published Tuesday, June 25, 2002, in the San Francisco Chronicle

Supervisors gut SFO runway expansion study

$5 million yanked, put into reserve

By Ilene Lelchuk

San Francisco supervisors strafed nearly half the funding for
runway expansion studies at San Francisco International Airport
Monday, a move that Mayor Willie Brown said was intended to kill
the project and would ultimately endanger passenger lives.

The board placed $5 million out of a proposed $11.2 million budget on
reserve after criticizing SFO managers for hiring high-priced
consultants, lawyers and lobbyists to press for building runways in
the bay.

It's a stinging slap on the wrist for SFO Director John Martin, who
will have to return to the board to beg for more money.

"There is no way I can complete the environmental documents
thoroughly, completely, on $6 million," Martin said about the studies
that are due to be finished in early 2003.

It could have been much worse. Supervisor Aaron Peskin, who proposed
cutting out what he called $5 million of "fluff," initially didn't
offer to keep any of it in reserve.

Martin had said he would have to cut attorneys needed to guide SFO
through the environmental studies and cancel community meetings, which
alarmed politicians in San Mateo County, where the airport is located.

"The airport isn't in Aaron Peskin's district or in any other
supervisor's district -- it's in ours in San Mateo County," said San
Mateo County Supervisor Mike Nevin. "We need more communication with
San Francisco, surely not less."

It's not unusual for San Francisco supervisors to force financial
accountability this way. The board usually hands over some reserve
funds after department heads prove how badly they need cash.

Martin said he would be back in about 60 days to request more money.

By putting the money in reserve instead of cutting it immediately,
Peskin, who is backed by environmental groups, probably avoided the
mayor's veto. Brown called the board's action Monday a delay tactic.

"I don't think the process should be delayed," Brown said. "To have
one simple supervisor who is clearly (representing) the interests of
some special group step in to kill the project and risk the lives of
the city and the economy of this city is just awful."

Without an environmental impact report, the mayor can't go to voters
to ask them to decide on new runways.

"(Peskin's) goal is to keep the antiquated system that currently
exists," the mayor said. "It's mind-boggling that that level of
indifference to people's safety and the economy of this region would
have so much cache."

The airport has two parallel runways for inbound planes and two for
outbound planes. The parallel runways are spaced 750 feet apart, much
closer than the 4,300 feet federal standards require for operations in
bad weather. During poor visibility SFO must use one runway for
takeoffs and one for landings. Airport and federal officials, however,
have assured the public that the current layout is perfectly safe.

Brown's interpretation of Monday's vote echoed among other
pro-expansion voices.

"There certainly is a faction within the Board of Supervisors that is
very opposed to bay fill under any circumstances and for that reason
would like to find any possible reason to delay if not outright kill
the project," said Sean Randolph with the Bay Area Economic Forum.

Peskin said he was simply taking away the airport's blank check. In
the past few years, SFO spent about $70 million on the proposed
expansion, including more than $1 million on politically connected
consultants.

"If you want to study the runways, study them with science, not with
politics," Peskin said.

The consultants have included Attorney Karen Skelton, a former deputy
in the Clinton-Gore administration; Brown's campaign strategist Barry
Wyatt; and Jon Rubin, Brown's appointee to the Metropolitan
Transportation Commission. SFO hired Rubin's firm, Bay Relations.

Board President Tom Ammiano, who co-sponsored the cuts, said it was no
secret he's against filling in the bay for runways, but he still
supports completing the environmental studies so residents can make up
their own minds.



E-mail Ilene Lelchuk at ilelchuk@....