Palmdale vs. LAX

* In “3 Huge Projects Could Define 21st Century L.A.” (Dec. 14) Mayor Richard Riordan is quoted as saying that expansion of the Palmdale Airport is wildly impractical: “Where are you going to get the money?” Yet, in the same article the projected cost of expanding LAX is set at $8 billion to $12 billion.

Adequate runways are already in place at Palmdale. It should be much less expensive to use a tiny portion of the billions in funds bound for LAX to build terminal facilities at Palmdale than it is to build new runways, plus terminal facilities, at LAX.

From 1990 to 1996 Santa Clarita grew by approximately 33%, Palmdale by 51% and the city of Los Angeles by only 2%. There is an abundance of available land in Santa Clarita and the Antelope Valley and these areas will undoubtedly have the highest growth rates of Los Angeles County in the future. Rather than trying to shoehorn ever more passengers from further distances into LAX and Burbank Airport, a regional plan for airport development should be implemented. If airports were built and expanded to accommodate future growth it would benefit the passengers, airport neighbors and, by shortening airport commutes, the environ- ment.

RON VANDERFORD

Burbank