Kennedy Takes Over for Tornek on Burbank Airport Commission; Henderson Takes Seat on RBOC

The Pasadena City Council on Monday picked Councilmember John Kennedy to serve as a commissioner with the Burbank-Glendale-Pasadena Airport Joint Powers Authority and Raphael Henderson to sit on the Rose Bowl Operating Co. (RBOC) board.

Kennedy rounds out the city’s allotted three members on the nine-member airport commission, replacing Mayor Terry Tornek, who resigned last month. He joins Councilman Steve Madison and former Pasadena City College Trustee Ross Selvidge. Selvidge was named president of the airport commission last week.

“It is a distinct honor to have been asked to serve on the Burbank-Glendale-Pasadena Airport Authority by Mayor Terry Tornek,” Kennedy wrote in an email to Pasadena Now.

“Pasadena is blessed to have outstanding leadership on that body and I am sure Mayor Tornek’s leadership will be missed. It is my hope that my inclusive leadership style will provide important dimensions to the work of the BGP Authority as that body grapples with neighborhood, physical plant and economic matters related to good governance, sound fiscal management and residential concerns.”

The authority, a separate government agency created under a joint powers agreement between Burbank, Glendale and Pasadena in 1977, includes three commission members from each of the three cities who oversee operations at the airport. Most of the members are sitting council members in their respective cities. From 1978 to 2003, the airport was named the Burbank–Glendale–Pasadena Airport. In 2017 it was renamed the Hollywood Burbank Airport.

Henderson, who previously ran for the District 1 City Council seat currently held by Councilmember Tyron Hampton, could not be reached for comment.

The RBOC, which manages the Rose Bowl stadium and Brookside Golf Course, will have a tough road ahead as the group battles to bring the iconic stadium back into the black financially. All events have been canceled since the start of the coronavirus pandemic earlier this year.

The lack of events at the Rose Bowl due to the crisis has ruined the stadium’s revenue stream and left officials scrambling for ways to make money.

If the stadium is allowed to open, according to a staff report prepared two weeks ago for the City Council’s Finance Committee, the RBOC is expecting a more than 85 percent reduction in fans, with only an estimated 13,000 people allowed to attend games in the nearly 91,000-seat facility due to social distancing guidelines.