Update 10:25am | The director of communications for Congresswoman Richardson told the staging-live.lbpost.com that the Los Angeles Times article was unfair and “naive, really, in a lot of ways,” and provides a list of benefits to the helicopter tour that Richardson’s staff compiled.

“The helicopter tour was something [Richardson] wanted to do to give everyone a greater appreciation for the district and what can be done to help the district,” said Jeffrey Billington in a phone interview. Billington explained that the helicopter tours were necessary for the staff to truly grasp the complexities of the district.

“With the port, with the Alameda Corridor, all the different aspects of that district – this isn’t just farmland or urban area, this is a lot more than that that you need to see and it gives a whole new aspect and appreciation for what you’re looking at.”

Billington also said that it is imperative for Richardson and her staff to understand the district in such a way partly because the Congresswoman holds positions with both the Homeland Security and Transportation & Infrastructure committees. Her roles require the Congresswoman to understand how aspects such as interchanges and ports work together and relate with one another.

“It’s one thing to look at it on paper, it’s one thing to hear it described,” Billington said. “It’s another thing to really see how vast it is. If we’re talking about looking at a map, you really still don’t get the true impression of how vast it is, and everything that’s involved in it; all the little intricacies of these locations.”

9:15am | The boundaries and complexities of Congresswoman Laura Richardson’s 37th District are difficult to understand from the ground, so she booked a helicopter tour and invited her staff along for the opportunity to take a grand view of their work space.

Actually, it took two helicopters to fit her staff. All twenty of them. In Fire Department emergency helicopters (one from the City of Los Angeles, one from Los Angeles County). It would have cost you or I about $3,000 (although one estimate surpassed $20,000).

Or at least that’s according to Los Angeles Times columnist Steve Lopez, who wrote in detail about the Congressional excursion over the weekend – arguing that Google maps could have performed the same service for free.

Richardson has been active in coastal issues such as Port and harbor security as well as funding to reconfigure the Long Beach Breakwater, and explained those issues to Lopez. Of course, the Congresswoman has also taken focused scrutiny for defaulting numerous times on several homes, and the Ethics Committee has made it clear that she is being watched very closely.

Click here to read the column by Lopez, who spent time in Long Beach recently as his book “The Soloist” was chosen as the city’s choice for their literacy promotion program, “Long Beach Reads One Book.”