LOS ANGELES — Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti announced on Tuesday his seven appointments to the Los Angeles World Airports board.
The city's Board of Airport Commissioners governs Los Angeles International Airport, Ontario International Airport, and two other regional airports in Los Angeles County.
Under the city's charter, the board, responsible for the formulation of airport policy, is typically comprised of business and civic leaders who are appointed by the mayor, approved by the City Council and serve staggered five-year terms.
Ontario officials have been battling with Los Angeles World Airport for the past three years in efforts to regain local control of the airport. The new commissioners also will have a hand in the ongoing fight between environmental groups over efforts to expand Los Angeles International Airport.
Garcetti campaigned on a position that the northernmost LAX runaway should not be moved closer to the airport's edge to accommodate the larger airplanes being manufactured for international travel.
"LA's airports are a critical economic engine and our city's first impression for millions of visitors every year," Garcetti said in a prepared statement. "I'm pleased to appoint these talented Angelenos to the airport commission and know they will focus on ensuring LA has world class airports that are also first class neighbors."
The appointments include Sean Burton, president of CityView, a real estate and equity investment firm; former City Councilwoman Jackie Goldberg; Bea Hsu, a former Garcetti advisor; Matthew Johnson, an entertainment lawyer; Cynthia Telles, a veteran of previous city commissions and founding board member of the Public Policy Institute of California; Valeria Velasco, an airport-area resident and estate planning attorney in Playa del Rey; and Gabriel Eshaghian, a principal and vice president with The Somerset Group, a New York-based real estate investment company.
