Morris, Villaraigosa Discuss SBIA's Reginal Role in Future.
Robert Rogers, SB Sun Staff Writer
San Bernardino International Airport is in a prime position to take on overflow from LAX, and commercial airlines could touch down on its runway within 24 months, the San Bernardino Mayor's Office said Tuesday.
The news emerged following a 75-minute meeting between San Bernardino Mayor Pat Morris and Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, in which they chatted about SBIA's future, Villaraigosa's move to command his city's troubled school district and other issues their cities face.
"The airport was the issue obviously on the top of our minds," Morris said minutes after the meeting. "(Villaraigosa) is very interested and excited that our international airport is almost operational and welcomed the opening of a third runway to load and unload passengers at the east end of the Los Angeles Basin."
The meeting at Los Angeles City Hall was arranged following Morris and Villaraigosa's first meeting months ago at a Las Vegas conference.
The meeting marked the first one-on-one between the 69-year-old former judge and the upstart 53-year-old former labor organizer who has made a big splash with his progressive platform and drive to commandeer the nation's second-largest school system.
The key issue the mayors discussed was the role SBIA might play as air travel increases and as Los Angeles and Ontario International airports reach their limits, Morris said.
SBIA, once Norton Air Force Base, has long been touted by regional economists and civic leaders as a potential spring for renewed economic growth in San Bernardino and surrounding cities.
What emerged out of Tuesday's meeting was more mutual understanding than iron-clad alliance.
"There is not a substantive agreement, just an understanding of where SBIA fits into this area of mutual regional concern," said Jim Morris, Mayor Morris' son and chief of staff. "Obviously, the (passenger) cap at LAX will have an effect on passenger travel in the region."
Jim Morris said it could be 12 to 24 months before a passenger-carrying airline lands at the San Bernardino airport. But, he said, such challenges as insufficient infrastructure still stand in the way.
But air travel was not the extent of the meeting. Aides for Villaraigosa characterized the discussion as much longer than typical meetings the mayor grants and said the men met as equals.
"It was a very good discussion, about 50-50 in terms of who talked and who listened," said Diego Alvarez, Villaraigosa's associate director of legislative and intergovernmental affairs. "He likes that Mayor Morris is tackling issues in his city, and there are a lot of similarities between the men and their cities."
The conversation also focused on Villaraigosa's bitter battle for control of Los Angeles Unified School District, Morris said.
Villaraigosa succeeded, with the help of the state Legislature, in becoming the first mayor west of the Mississippi to assume partial control of his city's public school system.
The San Bernardino City Unified School District, which is ranked at the bottom nationally in terms of graduation rates, faces problems similar to those of its larger Los Angeles counterpart.
Morris said he took keen interest in what Villaraigosa had to say about wresting control of the school district but added that he had "no plans" to undertake a similar quest.
Morris did, however, stop short of saying he would never seek some control of the district.
"I'm going to watch with intense interest how his oversight of 12 schools fares," Morris said. "If he is successful, it will no doubt open the door for similar quests for reform."
Morris added that he was confident Villaraigosa's move would "bear success." He was, however, quick to emphasize that he didn't covet the same role in San Bernardino and seeks to strengthen partnerships with the school district.
"I have my hands full with public safety and economic development," Morris said. "And while I will watch with interest Villaraigosa's quest to improve the school system, I do not have my eyes on controlling the school district. I want to be a partner."
Arturo Delgado, superintendent of the San Bernardino district, said the jury is still out on whether Villaraigosa's move is good for the Los Angeles district.
"I don't know what benefit the mayor intervening would have over there. It sounds like an experiment, not necessarily a step in the right direction," Delgado said.
"I have a very good relationship with Pat Morris, and the school district right now has the right leadership and is headed in the right direction."
City Attorney James F. Penman said he was not surprised by the meeting of the two mayors or Morris' interest in Villaraigosa's unorthodox leadership because both Penman and Morris have studied former New York Mayor Rudolph Giuliani's leadership model, thought to be the forerunner of Villaraigosa's take-charge stance.
Penman said his office has not been asked to look into the legality of mayoral control of schools in the area.
Morris said he and Villaraigosa also spoke about public-safety challenges. Morris has thrown his support behind a sales-tax hike he says San Bernardino needs to hire 40 more police officers, and Villaraigosa is scrounging funds to bolster his force by 1,000.
The mayors also discussed the need for master planning to expedite goods movement from the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach through the Inland Empire and on the widespread homelessness in both cities.
"While our cities in many ways mirror each other, just in different sizes, we also find ourselves very much in sync philosophically," Morris said. "Our views resonate one with one another's."
Morris said he and Villaraigosa planned to have each other's staffs work to coordinate another meeting, but no date was set.
There still might be much to discuss.
"They talked about regional aviation needs, transportation needs, public-safety needs and what things both cities have done with regard to gangs and other challenges facing our youth," Alvarez said. "It was a wide discussion."
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BSRanch Perspective:
Now, the discussion was done and it was said that they could have commercial flights come into the San Bernardino Airport in Two Years? I would say that they need a large amount of work to be done on the Termenals or we will be entering plans the old fashioned way, by walking up a flight of stairs that are attached to a pickup truck, which pulls up next to the door of the Jet, the people then walk out onto the Tarmac and gather in a line and walk up the stairs. If they are wondering what kind of Security problems that they have now at the airports I am wondering what kind they will have if we are walking up a flight of stairs that are rolled up next to the Jets side door, and the people have to enter the plane via the Asphault Paved ground that surrounds the plane. There are so many places that some unknown person could place an object that doesn't belong on that flight upon the whieels or th elike up to that plane.
Other then that, I have no objections to the Two Year plan to get commercial fights in the air. I just hope that they get the Termenal fixed up and well built, I suppose that they need some kind of confermation that they will receive flights and then they can get some people organized to donate and make the airport have a termanel simular to that of what they might have at the Ontario Airport!!
Still Morris has been the best Mayor for San Bernardino and the Inland Empire, at such a time that Growth is the key, He has taken the reins by the horn, and even though they is some in Rialto that have tried, they have to many self interest at heart. Morris, all seems to be for that of the development of San Bernardino and not all for Morris, so Ed Scott, Debra Robertson, I never thought I would say this one, but Joe Sampson, should take a note and Training guid from that of Morris, and not that of City Admin. Garcia, and Owens, and Ed Scott!!
BSRanch
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