City Council confirms five airport commission nominees after hours of public testimony

The Los Angeles City Council unanimously confirmed five nominees to the City’s Airport Commission on Aug. 10 after a lengthy public hearing that drew workers and neighborhood residents concerned about labor and community impacts at Los Angeles International Airport.

The confirmations came after the Council’s Commerce, Energy and Natural Resources Committee heard about 60 to 80 speakers the previous evening and during the morning session, and the Council voted 12 ayes to approve the nominees. The committee had recommended confirmation of the five nominees, while two incumbent commissioners — Cheryl Peterson and Warren Baldry — continued to fill unexpired terms and were not before the Council for reappointment.

The hearing included extended testimony from labor and community groups. Madeline Janice Aparicio, executive director of the LA Alliance for a New Economy, said the groups were concerned about how the commission would address persistent low wages and contracting practices at LAX and noted past tensions when the airport broke up master contracts in the 1990s. Marlene Mendoza, who said she worked as a waitress at LAX for HMA Hall since 1988, told the Council, “They forgot about me and my family,” describing the hardship that followed a previous contract breakup. Javier Gonzalez of SEIU Local 1877 said the unions and workers want the new commission to be “sensitive to the rights of workers,” including enforcing recently passed City policies.

Committee Chair Galanter told colleagues the nominees had “heard from the mayor and from the public and from us” and recommended confirmation. Councilmember Janice Hahn, the committee vice chair, emphasized the intention to hold appointees accountable to both surrounding communities and airport workers and said the region needs a coordinated approach to airport growth and impacts.

Speakers urged the commission to act on several pending issues: enforcement of the city’s living-wage ordinance (first adopted by the Airport Commission in 1998), concern that some McDonald’s workers at LAX still earned minimum wage despite the ordinance, the potential breakup of retail concessions that could displace workers, and adoption and enforcement of the City’s Responsible Contractor policy at airport subcontractors. Testimony also raised the need for the commission to balance LAX and Van Nuys Airport planning, noting a separate Van Nuys master plan that remains unresolved.

The Council confirmed the five nominees and directed that the commissions begin work. The vote was recorded as 12 ayes, and the Council proceeded to other business.

The confirmations follow months of public attention on airport contracting and community impacts; speakers at the hearing asked the commission to prioritize worker retention, living-wage enforcement, and compliance with labor and safety laws as it considers airport master plans and concessions restructuring.