[Editor’s Note: County Supervisor Mark Ridley-Thomas’s comments appear weekly.]
Question: Some people say that you and your predecessor on the County Board of Supervisors, Yvonne Brathwaite Burke, took diverging paths a number of years ago.
Mr. Ridley-Thomas: “There was no split between us because there was no merging in the first instance. We hardly ever did much business together. Just different paths, I would say.
“People may have gotten the idea because I supported Diane Watson when she ran for the Board in 1992 against Yvonne. Ms. Burke won by a very narrow margin.
“But our relationship always was cordial, just not particularly collaborative.”
Question: It is fairly quiet in the Inglewood oil field. What is going on with PXP, the Plains Exploration & Production Co., regarding their intention to expand drilling and the lawsuits filed by residents to tighten drilling regulations?
Mr. Ridley-Thomas: “A significant amount of progress has been made. One question with the litigants is to determine whether a settlement of consequence can take place that focuses on sight, sound, smell and safety.
“PXP has not gotten their (drilling) permits to do what they were afforded an opportunity to do by a Board of Supervisors’ decision a year ago last October. There are steps they have to go through to obtain permission, and those steps have not been taken.
“I was very displeased, as were the residents of Culver City, Baldwin Hills, Ladera, View Park, with how this matter was handled (by the Brathwaite-Burke-led Board of Supervisors) prior to my having been elected (November 2008).
“To the extent that better could be done, I have sought to do that. We are well on the way (to getting the drilling regulations strengthened).
“We had a very significant meeting on Oct. 15, bringing the entire community together (at West Los Angeles College) and let everybody speak their opinions.
“We have been working with the litigants, as well as the respective parties. We are trying to come forward with a settlement scenario that will make sense to all. We have made substantial progress.
“A significant amount of credibility has been reinserted on the basis of the litigants’ feelings, particularly those who have brought the lawsuits, that they are being heard, and that they are being given fair treatment.”
Mr. Ridley-Thomas may be contacted at http://ridley-thomas.lacounty.gov
