Flightpaths & Airport Expansion Advocacy with Timilee Romolini

In this empowering episode of the Single Lady Estates podcast, Timilee Romolini shares her journey of fighting for change in air traffic patterns. She discusses the negative impact of these changes on communities, property values, and residents' quality of life.

Timilee recounts her collaboration with the FAA and the challenges she faced, including resistance from local airport sponsors. She emphasizes the importance of persistence, political involvement, and seeking support from neighbor advocacy networks. Through her story, listeners are encouraged to stand up for their rights, protect their homes, and make a positive impact in their communities.

Key Takeaways

Changes in air traffic patterns can have a detrimental impact on property values and residents' quality of life.
Getting familiar with local political structures and engaging with neighbor advocacy networks are crucial steps towards making a difference.
Collaborating with relevant authorities, such as the FAA, can lead to proposed solutions and positive change.
Persistence, seeking information, and holding elected officials accountable are key factors in the advocacy process.
Have unwavering determination in your advocacy efforts.

We hope the listeners of this episode will let Timilee Romolini's story be a source of inspiration and encouragement. It is a great reminder that we have the power to create change and advocate for what matters most to us. Whether it's in our neighborhood, community, or beyond, our voice and actions can make a difference. Don't be afraid to take the first step, gather support, and hold those in power accountable. Remember, advocacy is a journey, and with perseverance, we can achieve meaningful results.

Learn more about Timilee Romolini's advocacy work and become involved by visiting: https://www.socalsfv.com

Bobbie Wasserman is the founder of Single Lady Estates® and host of the Single Lady Estates podcast. The mission of Single Lady Estates is to empower women in building financial stability for them and their families through homeownership. We do this by providing educational resources, advocacy efforts and connecting women with resources and networks that can help enhance the homeownership journey - buying, selling and life in between.

To learn more about Single Lady Estates, we invite you to subscribe to the podcast and become a member of the Single Lady Estates community.
https://singleladyestates.com

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🚩“Ooopsie’s” Disclaimer from Timi: First I want to thank Bobbie for covering this topic. It is always a cringe worthy moment for me to hear myself, especially when I’m speaking off the cuff and not deferring to my database doing fact checks along the way. I often skirt over things that may raise questions because I forget not everyone knows the details that I may be leaving out. I want to correct a couple errors and clarify a few things out respect to both the topic and to listeners so that those that are impacted by the same issues in their area will have more details and context to draw from:

1. My comments on NextGen, in respect to shortcuts, were specific to a limited number of routes – such as the one the West end of SFV sought to restore. To clarify, that is not reflective of the vast majority of flight path changes that were rolled out as GPS procedures were broadly implemented.

2. When I say I “created” a procedure chart, I modified an existing procedure and drew upon the historical route to draft a viable hybrid that would effectively restore environments back to their historical exposures of air traffic under 11,000ft AGL. I did NOT reinvent the wheel.

3. For sake of easy conversation, I gave cliff notes on the FAA process during this conversation. When I say “it can be done in a matter of months” … I mean solely the process of approaching the FAA (through an established Task Force or Roundtable, like the LAX Community Noise Roundtable) and hopefully gaining FAA’s cooperation – beyond that first critical step, it can take up to 3 years. For our situation, it is not projected to take that long. The FAA has a multi-tiered vetting process for modification requests that ultimately concludes with an Environmental Analysis released for public consumption and comment. They also have thousands of procedural changes on deck awaiting publication, hence the “up to 3 years” possibility.

4. Frustration with LAWA (airport sponsor) clarification: What myself and the LAX Community Roundtable put forth was unprecedented here is SoCal therefore, LAWA was in unchartered territory and we tried, in vain, to obtain transparency and meaningful dialogue at the onset to more efficiently navigate that territory but select staff at the agency made things, in my experience, unnecessarily difficult and many mistruths were asserted along the way. I could have exercised more grace in my speech when it comes to LAWA however, clearly there is still ongoing strife, resentment and resistance so – I am still working on becoming my best self in every moment, even when facing injustice.

5. Casablanca oopsie! I paraphrased for effect. I used what’s widely known as the “Casablanca hangar” as an example of the remaining two historical hangars at VNY. The actual “Casablanca” facade is NOT the hangars I was referring to. My bad. I shouldn’t have tried to shorthand a popular reference as it came off misleading. I surprised myself when I heard the error.

6. It is David Murdock I was referring to, not Robert Murdock. David was the original owner of Castle & Cooke. I misspoke on the first name. My mind swims with information as I speak and my mouth sometimes pulls the wrong thoughts to verbalize. In that moment Robert Maguire’s protest over Murdock’s controversial FBO consideration entered my mind and (oops!) out came Robert Murdock instead of David Murdock. It happens.

7. Nithya Ramen’s office authored CF22-1489 and Paul Krekorian and Bob Blumenfield responsibly joined as movers of the Motion. That is all appreciated and respected. I’m not sure why “coattails” came out of my mouth, I suppose I was reaching for the right turn of phrase in the moment and failed.

8. When I speak about prop (propeller) planes “flying anywhere they want”, I’m referring to the aircraft not being subjected to RNAV flight paths/procedure charts. They fly what is referred to as visual flight rules (VFR) and while they are subject to air traffic control (ATC) directive, not all prop pilots choose to engage in “flight following” practices for every leg of the flight. Prop planes are the aircraft you may see doing figure eights above your home or flying in zig zag type patterns, or low over the coastline as they enjoy the shared airspace.

9. While LAWA did procrastinate requesting the Bonseph proposal be added to the Travel, Trade and Tourism committee (T3) through April 2023, it is now at the T3 Chair’s discretion to not hear any new VNY proposals until the district has new Council representation. Communities across the Valley respect and appreciate that fair decision by Councilwoman Traci Park. The elections for CD6 are at the end this month (June 2023).

10. CF22-1125 specifically refers to “selling by the seat” so my statement referring to it was a bit misleading in its relevance to the Bonseph proposal, though if approved the scenario may be applicable.

I pride myself on being as accurate as possible so I appreciate the ability to provide corrections/clarifications. If only the “Powers that Be” were also willing to admit and correct their errors too! Enjoy and protect your Homes, Health and Quality of Life. ~Timi

3 thoughts on “Flightpaths & Airport Expansion Advocacy with Timilee Romolini”

K.Spencer

June 15, 2023 at 11:04 am

Excellent podcast and topic. Thank you Bobbie Wasserman for featuring this topic. I’m shocked that you got Timi’s cooperation as I know her to prefer to stay behind the scenes. The resistance local communities are receiving in the Valley from LAWA or even critically needed City Council action has forced her into a more aggressive and “public” position. I’ve met Timi on multiple occasions during community gatherings on topic and she’s very well-versed though she openly asserts, she is not infallible and is overwhelmed on a daily basis from those depending on the few like her fighting on behalf of this entire Valley. She also doesn’t use notes so there are times she has to correct a misstatement but her ability to retain information on this situation is impressive. A short Podcast often has to summarize things so it’s important to remember that statements are not always flushed out and will involve more nuances than is expressed here. This situation is so convoluted that I recognize Timi tried to simplify things, which may be attacked by antagonists but as someone who’s family is dramatically impacted by the decimation of our home environment, I can not thank her and everyone fighting for responsible stewardship at VNY enough. The most effort I am capable of putting in, other than complaining, is to write posts like this or emails to officials. This is a very important topic for homeowners in San Fernando Valley so bravo!
Timi Romolini

June 15, 2023 at 1:32 pm

🚩“Ooopsie’s” Disclaimer from Timi: First I want to thank Bobbie for covering this topic. It is always a cringe worthy moment for me to hear myself, especially when I’m speaking off the cuff and not deferring to my database doing fact checks along the way. I often skirt over things that may raise questions because I forget not everyone knows the details that I may be leaving out. I want to correct a couple errors and clarify a few things out respect to both the topic and to listeners so that those that are impacted by the same issues in their area will have more details and context to draw from:

1. My comments on NextGen, in respect to shortcuts, were specific to a limited number of routes – such as the one the West end of SFV sought to restore. To clarify, that is not reflective of the vast majority of flight path changes that were rolled out as GPS procedures were broadly implemented.

2. When I say I “created” a procedure chart, I modified an existing procedure and drew upon the historical route to draft a viable hybrid that would effectively restore environments back to their historical exposures of air traffic under 11,000ft AGL. I did NOT reinvent the wheel.

3. For sake of easy conversation, I gave cliff notes on the FAA process during this conversation. When I say “it can be done in a matter of months” … I mean solely the process of approaching the FAA (through an established Task Force or Roundtable, like the LAX Community Noise Roundtable) and hopefully gaining FAA’s cooperation – beyond that first critical step, it can take up to 3 years. For our situation, it is not projected to take that long. The FAA has a multi-tiered vetting process for modification requests that ultimately concludes with an Environmental Analysis released for public consumption and comment. They also have thousands of procedural changes on deck awaiting publication, hence the “up to 3 years” possibility.

4. Frustration with LAWA (airport sponsor) clarification: What myself and the LAX Community Roundtable put forth was unprecedented here is SoCal therefore, LAWA was in unchartered territory and we tried, in vain, to obtain transparency and meaningful dialogue at the onset to more efficiently navigate that territory but select staff at the agency made things, in my experience, unnecessarily difficult and many mistruths were asserted along the way. I could have exercised more grace in my speech when it comes to LAWA however, clearly there is still ongoing strife, resentment and resistance so – I am still working on becoming my best self in every moment, even when facing injustice.

5. Casablanca oopsie! I paraphrased for effect. I used what’s widely known as the “Casablanca hangar” as an example of the remaining two historical hangars at VNY. The actual “Casablanca” facade is NOT the hangars I was referring to. My bad. I shouldn’t have tried to shorthand a popular reference as it came off misleading. I surprised myself when I heard the error.

6. It is David Murdock I was referring to, not Robert Murdock. David was the original owner of Castle & Cooke. I misspoke on the first name. My mind swims with information as I speak and my mouth sometimes pulls the wrong thoughts to verbalize. In that moment Robert Maguire’s protest over Murdock’s controversial FBO consideration entered my mind and (oops!) out came Robert Murdock instead of David Murdock. It happens.

7. Nithya Ramen’s office authored CF22-1489 and Paul Krekorian and Bob Blumenfield responsibly joined as movers of the Motion. That is all appreciated and respected. I’m not sure why “coattails” came out of my mouth, I suppose I was reaching for the right turn of phrase in the moment and failed.

8. When I speak about prop (propeller) planes “flying anywhere they want”, I’m referring to the aircraft not being subjected to RNAV flight paths/procedure charts. They fly what is referred to as visual flight rules (VFR) and while they are subject to air traffic control (ATC) directive, not all prop pilots choose to engage in “flight following” practices for every leg of the flight. Prop planes are the aircraft you may see doing figure eights above your home or flying in zig zag type patterns, or low over the coastline as they enjoy the shared airspace.

9. While LAWA did procrastinate requesting the Bonseph proposal be added to the Travel, Trade and Tourism committee (T3) through April 2023, it is now at the T3 Chair’s discretion to not hear any new VNY proposals until the district has new Council representation. Communities across the Valley respect and appreciate that fair decision by Councilwoman Traci Park. The elections for CD6 are at the end this month (June 2023).

10. CF22-1125 specifically refers to “selling by the seat” so my statement referring to it was a bit misleading in its relevance to the Bonseph proposal, though if approved the scenario may be applicable.

I pride myself on being as accurate as possible so I appreciate the ability to provide corrections/clarifications. If only the “Powers that Be” were also willing to admit and correct their errors too! Enjoy and protect your Homes, Health and Quality of Life. ~Timi
Lysa

June 17, 2023 at 4:22 pm

This is exactly what my neighbors and I have been discussing. Our community, like many across the nation now, have been impacted by this injustice. Illogical expansion of landlocked general aviation airports and arbitrarily changing flight paths onto unsuspecting homes is so capricious and equates to an eminent domain abuse but without compensation and I applaud your guest for fighting for justice on behalf of what I’m sure is tens of thousands of people. Whether negligence or corruption, altering people’s home environments to this degree is abhorrent. And yes, I am someone counting on the equity of my home to help me survive retirement.

Comments are closed.