Los Angeles airport director Gina Marie Lindsey -- about to complete her first year overseeing one of the world's busiest travel gateways -- will spend the next few days explaining to her bosses what role she played in the awarding of $67 million in LAX construction contracts.
Today she will appear before airport commissioners. On Wednesday, she will sit before a City Council committee, whose chairwoman has recommended that the body take jurisdiction over one of two contracts in dispute.
The contracts grew controversial over the last two weeks after questions were raised about Lindsey's role in the selection of firms competing for a share of a huge expansion planned at Los Angeles International Airport.
Lindsey has repeatedly said there was nothing improper about the awards. And a number of city and airline officials last week rose to her defense, praising her for advancing major improvements at LAX that had languished for years.
Since her appointment by Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa last May, Lindsey, 55, has reversed a decline in lucrative international flights, largely by following through on long-standing promises to build new facilities.
Lindsey "is a real change agent. She has done an amazing job," said City Councilman Bill Rosendahl, who represents neighborhoods near LAX. "More than $100 million worth of studies have been done on the airport, and nothing has happened since 1983. For the first time, I'm seeing real progress."
The airport's $5- to $8-billion master plan calls for adding a midfield concourse and making renovations to the Tom Bradley International Terminal, including creating gates for wide-bodied aircraft such as the new Airbus A380 and Boeing 787. It is the largest capital-improvement program in the city's history.
In the last two months, Lindsey has managed to get through the board of airport commissioners more than $106 million in engineering, architectural and project management contracts related to the modernization projects.
"We are getting out of the planning mode and into the building mode," Lindsey said. "This is a unique and exciting time for Los Angeles with respect to its airports. It is an opportunity for all of us."
Lindsey also lists as accomplishments plans to repair and renovate other Los Angeles World Airport facilities -- LAX is the largest of four regional airports operated by the city -- and mend strained relations with airlines and surrounding neighborhoods unsettled by airport operations.
