The Brief

This article was supported by a grant from the Fund for Investigative Journalism.

When Jarret Palmer moved to the Van Nuys neighborhood of Los Angeles four years ago, he thought he had found his dream home. But now, he’s regretting that decision.

The roar of planes from nearby Van Nuys Airport is relentless, he said, adding that he fears the pollution from one of the nation’s busiest general aviation hubs is harming his family. Three years ago, his daughter was born underweight and spent days in the neonatal intensive care unit, he said.

“It kind of makes you … wonder, … was I so determined to find a house for my child?” said Palmer, who has a 2-year-old child. He added, “Did I make the mistake of … not looking into the environment enough? … There’s definitely, like, a little bit of guilt there,” said Palmer, who also has a 2-year-old son.

Palmer is not the only resident concerned about the dangers of living near Van Nuys Airport, a major revenue generator for the city and a frequent launch point for private jets used by celebrities including Elon Musk, Floyd Mayweather Jr. and Jennifer Lopez.

In a Capital & Main survey of 80 residents who live in the airport-adjacent neighborhoods of Lake Balboa and Van Nuys, 65% of respondents said they attributed a health condition to noise and air pollution from VNY, the airport’s call letters. Nearly half of respondents said they had consulted a medical professional for what they suspected were airport-related health problems since 2020. The survey is not a representative sample, but it is an indication of anxiety among residents living near the airport. Despite their health concerns and activism at public meetings, residents said local officials have largely ignored their pleas for years.

Jarret Palmer sits in his home near the Van Nuys Airport.

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Jeremy Lindenfeld

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Capital & Main

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“I’m sending letters and comments [to the Van Nuys Airport Citizens Advisory Council] and all that, but they don’t get it,” said Danielle Sweet, a 30-year resident of Lake Balboa. The citizen panel offers feedback to airport officials. But Sweet, who has chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, said the officials have done little to address her concerns. The disease can be caused by long-term exposure to chemicals and by tobacco use. Sweet said she is not a smoker.

“They [airport officials] don’t really care about us. They’re still making money, and it’s almost like they don’t care what they have to do to do that,” Sweet said.

Newly appointed airport manager Jacob Haik, whom some residents credit with improving the airport’s communication with its neighbors, said he is committed to ensuring that Van Nuys Airport “remains a good neighbor, while continuing to serve as a vital economic engine for the region.” Last fall, Haik told Capital & Main, “We’ve been working on all kinds of different sustainability, compliance and noise reduction plans.”

Los Angeles City Councilmember Imelda Padilla, who represents Van Nuys and Lake Balboa, said in a statement: “I remain committed to working with Los Angeles World Airports and City departments to center residents’ voices and strengthen environmental safeguards.” Padilla also pointed to the city’s efforts to update its land use plan for the airport, a process she initiated “to ensure future airport developments prioritizes community well-being,” she said in the statement.

Most health concerns reported by residents to Capital & Main were respiratory in nature, but dozens also said they linked other health problems to the airport, including skin conditions, cardiovascular problems and cancer.

Jeremy Fenske, a Lake Balboa resident of four years, said he copes with the constant smell of jet fuel in the air by keeping his windows closed at all times and having air purifiers in every room. A father of small children, he said the air quality has gotten worse since his family moved into the neighborhood. He said on one occasion his toddler son had an asthma attack that required a trip to urgent care for albuterol.

“There are flights going on at 2 a.m. or later here, and that’s the least annoying thing about the airport — it’s just the smell,” Fenske said. “It smells like raw jet fuel blowing into our neighborhood. We can’t even have parties at the house, we feel embarrassed about it.”

Fenske said that he plans to move his family out of the home this year.

Audrey Anderson, a Van Nuys resident of 14 years, said that despite being a nonsmoker, she suffers from an annoying cough and eye irritation when she is home. Those symptoms disappear when she is away at work.

Capital & Main conducted its digital survey of residents in Van Nuys and Lake Balboa last summer and fall. Reporters also canvassed door-to-door in Lake Balboa, a neighborhood of more than 26,000 residents. Van Nuys is home to more than 162,000 people.

It is difficult to draw a direct line between a particular illness and pollution at the airport, said Ed Avol, a professor of clinical medicine at the University of Southern California’s Keck School of Medicine. But he added that the airport’s neighbors are understandably concerned. “I think those [concerns] are valid and should be looked at,” added Avol, who is an expert in respiratory health and air pollution.

Danielle Sweet in her Lake Balboa home.

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Jeremy Lindenfeld

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Capital & Main

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A 2016 study found that those who live near the 12 largest airports in California suffered from higher rates of respiratory and heart disease and visited emergency rooms at higher rates. A 2021 study linked increased brain cancer risk to exposure to airport-related ultrafine particles near Los Angeles International Airport, which is also operated by Los Angeles World Airports.

Children born in hospitals near Van Nuys Airport have a higher-than-average rate of low birth weights, according to the California Environmental Protection Agency’s Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment. The children who live in Lake Balboa, the community immediately west of Van Nuys Airport, are in the 90th percentile of lead exposure statewide, Cal EPA reported.

Van Nuys Airport ranks as the second-largest producer of lead emissions among airports statewide, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s 2017 National Emissions Inventory. Children under the age of 6 are especially vulnerable to lead exposure, which can slow their development and contribute to learning, behavior and speech problems.

But Van Nuys Airport is also an economic powerhouse for the city, generating more than $2 billion in business revenues annually and more than 10,000 jobs for the local economy. L.A. City Councilmember Nithya Raman, whose district includes parts of Van Nuys, Encino and Sherman Oaks, described the community members’ battles with the airport as a “David versus Goliath situation.”

“The economic impacts and benefits of these airports for this region are really enormous, and a lot of the time, for people in leadership, that outweighs considerations of the impacts that they’re having on local communities,” Raman said.

The challenge of addressing the effect of the airport on the surrounding community became clear last year when a Los Angeles City Council committee voted to block the construction of a new hangar at Van Nuys Airport in response to residents’ concerns, only to later reverse its decision. The initial vote was met with stiff opposition from the aviation industry, as well as from federal regulators, who threatened to withhold grant funding. Mayor Karen Bass ultimately argued that rejecting the lease would result in the loss of hundreds of millions in federal dollars, the Los Angeles Times reported.

Raman joined the majority in voting to both approve the lease and to settle a lawsuit filed against the city by Bonseph Helinet LLC, the helicopter joint venture that had proposed the new hangar at the airport.

Palmer views a plane above his Van Nuys home.

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Jeremy Lindenfeld

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Capital & Main

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Van Nuys Airport’s economic importance is not the only challenge for residents. City and federal agencies share oversight authority over the airport, but none wields absolute control over its operations. In some cases, gaps in oversight exist.

For example, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency establishes air quality standards nationwide under the Clean Air Act, but neither of the local agencies charged with enforcing these standards — the California Air Resources Board or the South Coast Air Quality Management District — have jurisdiction over aircraft emissions.

“They don’t have the authority to tell a particular airport that you need to shut down because your emissions are too high or that you cannot operate because you don’t meet our emission standards, because those airports are outside their jurisdiction,” said Yifang Zhu, a professor in the University of California, Los Angeles’ Department of Health Sciences who researches air pollution and climate change. “Those emission sources are under EPA’s purview but their hands are tied because this is also FAA-involved.”

The Federal Aviation Administration provides millions of dollars in grant funds for improvements at airports across the country, including Van Nuys Airport.

That said, it is not impossible for city officials to push back against polluting airports. After a decades of local protest and litigation, city and federal regulators agreed to close the Santa Monica Airport in 2028.

“If someone really wants to work on it, there are ways to do it,” Zhu said. “It’s just that you have to see it as a priority. And I don’t think they [governmental bodies] are seeing it as a priority at this point.”

Frustrated advocacy groups have turned to the courts, successfully suing companies at Van Nuys and other airports that provide fueling and maintenance for private planes that use leaded fuel.

In 2014, companies at 23 California airports settled with the Oakland-based Center for Environmental Health over alleged violations of Proposition 65, which mandated warnings for carcinogen exposure. The settlement also required the companies to switch to unleaded fuel once an alternative was available. Late last year, the center filed a motion in Alameda County Superior Court alleging that the companies had not complied with the agreement.

Meanwhile, the volume of air traffic at Van Nuys continues to trend upward. Between 2012 and 2022, the airport averaged more than 249,000 takeoffs and landings annually, according to Los Angeles World Airports. Former Van Nuys Airport manager Paul Herrera told Aviation Week in April 2024 that the number of such operations had reached nearly 328,000.

“It sounds like they’re dive-bombing us,” said Kern Konwiser, a Van Nuys resident of nine years. “It’s certainly a heightened anxiety and persistent level of stress.”

Vani Sanganeria contributed to the reporting of this article.

All photos by Jeremy Lindenfeld.

Copyright 2025 Capital & Main.

This story first appeared on The LA Local.

Since 1977, Richard Santillan has been to every Opening Day game at Dodger Stadium. 

“The tradition goes from my father, to me, to my children and grandchildren. Some of my best memories are with my father and children here at Dodger Stadium,” Santillan told The LA Local, smiling under the shade of palm trees near the entrance to the ballpark Wednesday morning. He was there to protest the team less than 24 hours before Opening Day.

Santillan, like countless other loyal Dodgers fans, is grappling with his fan identity over the team’s decision to accept an invitation to the White House and owner Mark Walter’s ties to ICE detention facilities.

More than 30 people joined Santillan on Wednesday morning for a press conference held near 1000 Vin Scully Drive to convey a message directly to the team. 

“We are demanding the Dodgers stop participating in funding of inhumane treatment of families and do not go to the White House to celebrate with the criminal in chief,” Evelyn Escatiola told the crowd. “Together, we have the power to make a change.”

Escatiola, a former dean of East Los Angeles College and longtime community organizer, urged fans to flex their economic power by “letting the Dodgers know that we do not support repression.”

Jorge “Coqui” Rodriguez, a lifelong Dodgers fan, spoke to the crowd and called on Dodgers ownership to divest from immigration detention centers owned and operated by GEO Group and CoreCivic.

Jorge Coqui H Rodriguez speaks at a press conference outside Dodger Stadium on March 25, 2026, to demand the Dodgers not to visit the White House following their 2025 World Series win.

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J.W. Hendricks

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In a phone interview a day before the protest, Rodriguez told The LA Local he did not want the Dodgers using his “cheve” or beer money to fund detention centers. 

“They can’t take our parking money, our cacahuate money, our cheve money, our Dodger Dog money and invest those funds into corporations that are imprisoning people. It’s wrong,” Rodriguez said. 

Rodriguez considers the Dodgers one of the most racially diverse teams and said the players need to support fans at a time when heightened immigration enforcement has become more common across L.A.

The team’s 2025’s visit to the White House drew ire from the largely Latino fan base, citing the Trump administration’s ongoing attacks on immigrants. 

In June, the team came under further scrutiny when rumors swirled online that federal immigration agents were using the stadium’s parking, which immigration authorities later denied in statements posted on social media accounts.

The team again came under fire after not releasing a statement on the impacts of ICE raids on its mostly Latino fan base at the height of immigration enforcement last summer. The team later agreed to invest $1 million to support families affected by immigration enforcement.

When he learned the Dodgers were pledging only $1 million to families in need, Rodriguez called the amount a  “slap in the face.” 

“These guys just bought the Lakers for billions of dollars and they give a million dollars to fight for legal services? That’s a joke,” Rodriguez said. “They need to have a moral backbone and not be investing in those companies.”

According to reporting from the Los Angeles Times, former Dodgers pitcher Clayton Kershawsaid last week that he is looking forward to the trip.

“I went when President [Joe] Biden was in office. I’m going to go when President [Donald] Trump is in office,” Kershaw said. “To me, it’s just about getting to go to the White House. You don’t get that opportunity every day, so I’m excited to go.”

The Dodgers have yet to announce when their planned visit will take place. 

Santillan sometimes laments his decision to give up his season tickets in protest of the team. His connection to the stadium and the memories he has made there with family and friends will last a lifetime, he said. On Thursday, he will uphold his tradition and be there for the first pitch of the season, but with a heavy heart.

“It’s a family tradition, but the Dodgers have a lot of work to do,” he said.

A local favorite mom-and-pop bookshop in Eagle Rock is facing displacement due to a steep rent hike. The owners say theirs is just one of several small businesses along Eagle Rock Boulevard struggling to keep up with lease increases.

Over the past 19 years, many in the neighborhood have come to love READ Books for its eclectic collection of used titles and shop dog Florence.

Co-owner Jeremy Kaplan said it’s been a delight to grow with the community over the years.

“Like seeing kids come back in, who were in grade school and now they’re in college,” Kaplan said.

But the building where Kaplan and wife Debbie rent was recently sold, and the rent increased by more than 130% to $2,805 a month, Kaplan said. He told LAist it was an increase his small business simply could not absorb.

Kaplan said he originally was given 30 days notice of the rent increase. After some research, assistance from Councilmember Ysabel Jurado’s office and some pro-bono legal help, Kaplan said he pushed back and got the 90-day notice he’s afforded by state law.

California Senate Bill 1103 requires landlords to give businesses with five or less employees 90 days’ notice for rent increases exceeding 10%, among other protections.

Systems Real Estate, the property management company, did not immediately respond to LAist’s request for comment.

What can small businesses do? 

Nadia Segura, directing attorney of the Small Business Program at pro bono legal aid non-profit Bet Tzedek said California law does not currently allow for rent control for commercial tenancies.

Outside of the protections under SB 1103, Segura said small businesses like READ Books don’t have much other recourse. And even then, commercial landlords are not required to inform their tenants of their protections under the law.

“There’s still a lot of people that don’t know about SB 1103. And then it’s very sad that they tell them they have these rent increases and within a month they have to leave,” Segura said.

She said her group is seeing steep rent hikes like this for commercial tenants across the city.

“We are seeing this even more with the World Cup coming up, the Olympics coming up. And I will say it was very sad to see that also after the wildfires,” Segura said.

Part of Bet Tzedek’s ongoing work is to advocate for small businesses, working with landlords who are increasing rents to see if they are willing to give business owners longer leases that lock in rents.

What’s next 

After READ Books posted about their situation on social media, commenters chimed in to express their outrage and love for the little shop.

While he looks for a new spot, Kaplan says he’s forming a coalition of local businesses and activist groups to see what can be done to help other small businesses facing similar displacement. He wants to address the displacement issue for businesses like his, which have made Eagle Rock the distinctive neighborhood that it is today.

Owl Talk, a longtime Eagle Rock staple selling clothing and accessories in a unit in the same building as READ Books, is facing a “more than double” rent increase, according to a post on their Instagram account.

Kaplan said he’s been in touch with the office of state Assemblywoman Jessica Caloza and wants to explore the possibility of introducing legislation to set up protections for small businesses like his, including rent-control measures or a vacancy tax for landlords. Kaplan said he also reached out to the office of state Sen. Maria Durazo.

By his count, Kaplan said there are about a dozen businesses within surrounding blocks that are at risk of closing their doors or have shuttered due to rent increases or other struggles.

When READ Books was founded during the Great Recession, Kaplan said he knew it was a longshot to open a bookstore at the same time so many were struggling to stay in business.

“It was kind of interesting to be doing something that neighborhoods needed. That was important to me growing up, that was important to my children, that was important to my wife growing up,” Kaplan said.

“And then somebody comes in and says, ‘We’re gonna over double your rent.”

Topline:

Frozen budget: Most of the city’s Bureau of Street Lighting budget comes from an assessment that people who own property illuminated by lights pay on their county property tax bill. The amount people pay depends on the kind of property they own and how much they benefit from lighting. A typical single-family home currently pays $53 annually, and in total, the assessments bring in about $45 million annually for the city to repair and maintain streetlights. Changing the amount the Bureau of Street Lighting gets from the assessment requires a vote among property owners who benefit from the lights.

Ballots: L.A. City Council’s vote gives city staff the green light to prepare and send out those ballots. Miguel Sangalang, who oversees the bureau, said at a committee meeting earlier this month that he expects to send out ballots by April 17. Notices about the ballots will be sent out prior to the ballots themselves.

Near unanimous vote: L.A. City Councilmember Monica Rodriguez was the only “No” vote Tuesday, saying she wanted to see a more current strategic plan for the bureau. Sangalang said the bureau developed a plan in 2022 that lays out how money will be spent. Councilmember Imelda Padilla was absent for the vote.

Vote count: Votes will be weighted according to the assessment amount. Basically, the more you’re asked to pay yearly to maintain streetlights, the more your vote will count. Ballots received before June 2 will be tabulated by the L.A. City Clerk.

How much more money: According to a report, the amount needed in assessments from property owners to meet the repair and maintenance needs of the city’s streetlighting in the next fiscal year is nearly $112 million.

Use of the money: Sangalang said at a March 11 committee meeting that the extra funds would be used to double the number of staff to handle repairs and procure solar streetlights, which don’t face the threat of copper wire theft. That would all potentially reduce the time it takes to repair simple fixes down to a week. Currently, city residents wait for months to see broken streetlights repaired. The assessment would come with a three-year auditing mechanism.