Los Angeles Airport Commission

Hoping to pick up a financial cushion from Wall Street, van-ride operator SuperShuttle International Inc. plans to go public with a 3-million-share stock offering. Phoenix-based SuperShuttle, whose blue-and-yellow passenger vans are familiar sights on Southland freeways, provides shared rides to and from 18 airports in 15 U.S. cities, including airports in Los Angeles, Burbank, Orange County and Ontario. Nine of the cities are served by company-owned operations, and six are franchises.

Leland Wong, a member of the city's Harbor Commission, has been nominated for a spot on the Airport Commission board by Mayor Richard Riordan, who intends to replace Wong with controversial former Commissioner Ted Stein, a failed candidate for city attorney in last year's elections. Early Monday, the mayor's office would not confirm or deny reports that Wong was being considered for an opening on the Airport Commission.

The most expensive city project ever undertaken at Van Nuys Airport--rebuilding two massive World War II hangars--was quietly approved last month by Los Angeles airport commissioners without the usual public notifications, The Times has learned. Commissioners at their meeting Jan. 13 approved spending $11.5 million to repair the buildings, damaged in the 1994 Northridge earthquake.

With a standing-room-only crowd of angry shuttle van operators looking on, the Los Angeles Airport Commission on Tuesday postponed voting on a plan to award exclusive shuttle concessions to LAX's two largest operators amid concerns that one may be operating without proper state licensing. Commission President Daniel Garcia tabled the vote based on an April 2 letter from the California Public Utilities Commission, which regulates all ground transportation at the state's airports.

In a sweeping overhaul of passenger van service that critics predict will lead to higher fares for consumers, airport officials voted Tuesday to essentially boot mom-and-pop shuttle operators from the curbs around Los Angeles International Airport as part of a plan to improve ground transportation at the nation's third-busiest airport.

In a move that surprised some observers, a key Los Angeles City Council panel rejected a multimillion-dollar airport parking contract Wednesday that had been awarded by the city's airport commissioners. The Commerce, Energy and Natural Resources Committee will ask the full council next week to send the entire matter back to the Airport Commission for rebidding.

The most expensive city project ever undertaken at Van Nuys Airport--rebuilding two massive World War II hangars--was quietly approved this month by Los Angeles airport commissioners without the usual public notifications, The Times has learned. Commissioners at their meeting Jan. 13 approved spending $11.5 million to repair the buildings, damaged in the 1994 Northridge earthquake.

A massive overhaul of ground transportation at Los Angeles International Airport came closer to completion when a key City Council committee approved the airport's plan to award three van companies near-exclusive shuttle concessions.

City airport officials agreed Tuesday to pay a $50,000 settlement to Valley VOTE, whose representatives were ousted from a Van Nuys air show in July while collecting signatures on petitions seeking a vote on whether to study San Fernando Valley secession. The Los Angeles Board of Airport Commissioners unanimously approved the deal, resolving a lawsuit filed by Valley VOTE in U.S. District Court accusing the city of violating the constitutional rights of the petition gatherers.

Any way you look at it, Mayor Richard Riordan had a very bad day with the Los Angeles City Council on Tuesday. First, the lawmakers voted to seize jurisdiction over an Airport Commission proposal to put new public relations contracts out for bid. Next, the council overrode Riordan's veto of a dance permit for a Hollywood nightclub, deciding a bitter, long-running battle between the mayor and Councilwoman Jackie Goldberg in the lawmaker's favor.