A new independent poll shows that nearly 67% of voters in Santa Monica, California, support keeping Santa Monica Airport (KSMO) open rather than turning the property into a park.
According to a report by Matthew Hall in the Santa Monica Daily Press, the survey found that only 25% of Santa Monica voters favor closing the airport as soon as possible and converting the site to a 200-acre park, while 8% remain undecided.
The poll, conducted by FM3 Research, was commissioned by the non-profit Spirit of Santa Monica.
According to the news report, the poll findings “contrast sharply with the city’s current trajectory.”
In 2014 voters passed a charter amendment calling for the closure of the airport and turning it in a park.
In 2017, the FAA approved closing the airport on Dec. 31, 2028.
Read the full story on the shift in public opinion here.
The airport keeps the city on the map !!!
As a disaster relief center, historical monument & LAX General Aviation reliever.
Without the airport, the city is simply swallowed up to be JUST another has been suburban city failure TOTALLY relient on Los Angeles politics.
If the big money developers are politically harassing the mayor etc. then better to close parts of the mega highways to cut down on traffic into the city from the slums of L.A.
Just think of all the highway noise and other pollutants that would eliminated ?
RRF
Could it be that the surrounding land, probably all used as industrial right now would become very valuable for developers with that park ??? Follow the money and see who is in a position to take advantage of a large open space park. Of course this is California so the park will most likely become a camping ground for homeless and drug addicts defeating that purpose.
Santa Monica has a severe homeless problem. I suspect that residents have come to the realization the airport is preferable to turning it into a park, or worse, a shelter, exacerbating a problem already way out of control. And the Palisades fire may have woken them up to its emergency value. This does not mean that the developers and financial interests at the core of the closure will stop. Truth is it was never going to be a park. There’s no money there.