SONC Supports Opposition to Bonseph Helinet Lease

Posted on 12/09/2024

November 22, 2024

Los Angeles City Council and its Committees
Board of Airport Commissioners

For (Update) - CF 24-0125 / LA City Council Trade, Travel and Tourism Committee’s Recommendation to DISAPPROVE Bonseph Helinet Lease

24-0125: Bonseph Helinet, LLC / 16231 Waterman Drive / Van Nuys Airport / Lease Agreement

SONC Opposes Bonseph Helinet Lease, Thus Supporting Council’s Recommendation to Disapprove the Lease - FOR the Motion / AGAINST the Lease

To City Council and Board of Airport Commissioners,

SONC at its November 18, 2024 meeting adopted the following motion in support of City Council’s Trade, Travel and Tourism Committee’s recommendation to disapprove the Bonseph Helinet lease at Van Nuys Airport (VNY) in a unanimous 14-0 vote. See the following motion:

This update clarifies SONC seeks a rejection of the Bonseph-Helinet lease at Van Nuys Airport (VNY), and thus takes a position for City Council’s motion to reject such lease.

Whereas, in June 2023 the Sherman Oaks Neighborhood Council (SONC) recommended in its CIS relative to CF 22-1127 that the City Council reject the Bonseph-Helinet lease at Van Nuys Airport (VNY). And,

On March 1, 2024, the City Council voted to adopt the Trade,Travel and Tourism Committee’s recommendation to disapprove the lease based in part on the Councilmembers’ assessment of the bidding process being improper due to noncompetitive concerns and violation of the City Charter Section 10.15(d) that granted Bonseph-Helinet LLC unfair advantages.

However, because of a FAA Part 13 Complaint initiated by Curt Castagna, a partner of the proposed lessee and President of the VNAA and on behalf of the VNAA, the proposed lease has been brought back to City Council for reconsideration.

In light of the proposed lease being considered again, on November 6, 2024 the VNY Citizens Advisory Council (CAC) recommended, for a second time, that the proposed Bonseph-Helinet Lease at VNY be rejected by the City Council.

SONC is in support of the VNY CACs November 6th motion to reject the Bonseph-Helinet lease for reasons stated in the CAC motion that include the bidding process leading up to the proposed lease being non-competitive, and as confirmed by a City Attorney letter dated October 29, 2024.

We further recommend that, moving forward, the Board of Airport Commissioners (BOAC) respect the City Councils’ discretion and work to ensure that bidding processes are fair, open, transparent and with preferential treatment for none.

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