City Council Ousts Airport Commissioner
Amid an uproar from Burbank Airport opponents, the Burbank City Council has voted to fire 62-year-old homemaker Margie Gee, one of the city’s most hard-line anti-noise representatives on the airport commission.
The 3-2 vote, taken after two hours of sometimes-raucous public testimony, seems yet another sign that local leaders are bent on taking a softer approach to the dispute over the airport’s planned expansion, despite mounting public pressure to the contrary.
“Margie is so wrapped up in this thing it’s become a personal war,” explained City Councilman Dave Golonski, who made the motion for her removal.
Added Councilman Bill Wiggins, who also voted for her ouster: “She’s a lot more combative than I would be.”
Gee, a longtime anti-noise crusader, is the second airport commissioner to be fired since Burbank and the airport authority reconvened formal talks on the airport expansion in June. Earlier, the Glendale City Council voted to remove its most controversial commissioner, Robert Garcin.
Burbank, Glendale and Pasadena each appoint three representatives to the commission that oversees the Burbank-Glendale-Pasadena Airport Authority.
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