TUESDAY, JANUARY 4, 2000

NEW YEAR'S EVE FIASCO
PUT THINGS IN PERSPECTIVE
The so-called San Fernando Valley Spectacular at Van Nuys Airport
on New Year's Eve turned out to be anything but.

LOCAL VIEW

by Terry Stone

A few months ago I was honored to be included in a group of community representatives invited to the 94th Aero Squadron Restaurant at Van Nuys Airport for a lovely full sit-down breakfast with the Mayor and other City officials. They were announcing the details of the City's New Year's extravaganza. The event was to take place at various venues around the city, we were told, and one of those was to take place at our very own Van Nuys Airport! This was to be a truly wonderful event, with various musical groups, entertainers, lots of activities, arranged parking, good security, and all the latest high tech communication bells and whistles in order to bring the vast City together in one great celebration. We munched on eggs, bagels, muffins and three kinds of meats; asked polite questions about how parking and traffic were going to be handled in order to minimize the impact local residents; read the high gloss handouts and watched as the media took pictures of grinning officials in front of nifty banners. How nice, I thought. And, how very convenient for me. I live within walking distance of the airport and decided that my New Year's Eve plans were a done deal thanks to the City of LA!! My family and I would take a nice, safe walk over to the old National Guard Site at VNY, join in the festivities, watch fireworks presented by the one of the largest cities in the world at midnight, and then safely walk home!! HA! We started our evening in the best of moods. We watched the celebrations taking place around the world on TV and I was somewhat surprised to find that the enthusiasm and universal good will was tugging at my heart strings. From Sydney to Moscow to Paris to Denver, city after city was shown with fantastic fireworks, going off at the stroke of midnight, reflecting in the happy faces of the crowds. At about 10:00 PM, we bundled up and walked over to the airport see what our fair city had prepared for this great night. As we walked up the old National Guard driveway on Balboa, I was slightly disconcerted to see a group of about 15 people loitering in the dark around the old guard post booth. As there was no signage that I could see in the dark, I attempted to walk around the booth to avoid walking through the middle of the group. One of dark figures came up and stopped us and said we had to be searched. Only then did I see security uniforms on a few of them. Two of them then did a pat search on my husband, my son and me, in the dark. Not the best of beginnings, but we were still in a festive mood and moved on across the open tarmac to another entrance where we were again searched, this time with a metal detector. Okay, so far so good, obviously we're going to be very safe. Now, we were "in". And what to our wondering eyes should appear? Nothing. Well, not exactly nothing. A hundred people, maybe more, with half of those looking like security or LAPD. There was the "bouncy ball house" and a few other "kiddie" attractions, two climbing walls, a Ferris wheel, some "carnie" booths like a "shoot the round basketball in the small oval hoop for $2" game. There was a large outdoor stage ready and waiting for B. J. Thomas while a man hawked t shirts to a sparse crowd for $10 a pop. The cafˇ lattˇ stand was doing the best business. More people were in line for a hot coffee then anywhere else. There were also some people in one of the hangers where there was another low stage projecting music. Ah, this must be the heart of the event I thought and wandered over to see what they were watching: a man with a record player! We wandered around for about 20 minutes then decided there was nothing for us to see or do, so, we left. It was 10:30. We decided we'd drive back later to see the fireworks. At about quarter to 12 we drove over to the backside of the airport to an industrial parking lot and joined about two dozen other people who were also eagerly awaiting the pyrotechnics display. The count down started: 10-9... we were positioned just right to see the display... 8-7-6... earlier visions of the Eiffel Tower and the Washington Monument came back to me... 5-4-3... the tension mounted with a shot of the lighted Hollywood sign on the big screen TV, ... 2... a once in a lifetime event...1 ! And, the fireworks started... and then, ended. 10 seconds all told. Pop, pop, boom, boom, and they were over. Big screen TV showed a lot of other people in other parts of the city having a grand time. But, not here in Van Nuys. No events, no show, and now, no fireworks. Tick, tick, tick, 12 midnight, turn of the century, the millennium and no fireworks? One of the largest cities in the world, no fireworks? This couldn't be happening. But, it was. I was disappointed, I was crushed, I was insulted! And, so were the others standing there with us. Even the LAPD officers who were watching with us were amazed. About half of the grumbling group left but, my husband suggested we wait a while and see if they were just late. So, we stood around for 15 minutes while a lame laser light show danced on the big screen TV to the tune of "Rocky." But nothing! It was over, a bust. Well, after all, it's only the Valley, what did we expect? So, we drove home and turned the TV back on. Hey look, Long Beach is having a heck of a fireworks display! I glanced at the time: 12:30. Had they been having fireworks in Long Beach for a half hour? And Van Nuys had nothing? Wait a minute, I'm watching local news. And it hits me. I run outside and sure enough, 12:30, and I see fireworks going off over the Van Nuys Airport. We missed it, we missed it because it was timed, not for us, not for the people, but for the TV cameras, so it would look good on the news, so Van Nuys would get some TV air time!! And the mayor would look good on TV! I feel oh, so disappointed, my family feels tricked, and the Valley should feel dissed, big time. All of a sudden succession begins to sound pretty good. I think "we" would have done a much better job for "us."