Airport Terminal Named After Riley

Despite a late protest from a Costa Mesa resident, the Board of Supervisors on Tuesday named its new $57-million terminal at John Wayne Airport in honor of Supervisor Thomas F. Riley.

“It is a great day again for Orange County to recognize one of our own,” Supervisors’ Chairman Don R. Roth said, adding that the tough negotiations leading to the expansion would not have been possible without Riley.

Riley--77, the senior member on the board, who is running for reelection in June--will join former supervisors Ralph B. Clark, Ronald W. Caspers and C.M. (Cye) Featherly who had parks or buildings named in their honor.

“I think he was humbled by the fact that the other supervisors would vote to have the terminal named after him,” one staff member said. “Not everyone realizes how tough the negotiations and legal battles were between the county and the residents of Newport Beach, whose homes are under the flight path. Sometimes people forget that Tom lives in Newport Beach.”

During a dispute over adding commercial flights, Riley’s next-door neighbor even put up a sign reading, “Dump Riley.”

Near the end of the Tuesday meeting and after supervisors voted on the matter, Linda Fiffer, a Costa Mesa resident, told the board that she objected to the terminal being named after Riley. She had a petition with 647 signatures supporting a move to drop all names from the airport, including that of John Wayne. She said the airport should simply be called Orange County Airport.

The building that will bear Riley’s name is a 338,000-square-foot, two-story structure built in the likeness of an airplane fuselage. The terminal is part of an overall $310-million expansion project, the largest county public works program.

Roth said Riley, a retired Marine Corps brigadier general, has spent “time in the trenches” to get the project completed.

“I can think of a no more fitting tribute to the man who is largely responsible” for the airport expansion, he said.