‘Sky May Be Falling’ on Airport Chief?

Hey, guys. Let’s be fair, honest and accurate with regard to George Rebella, the supervisors and the Orange County airport expansion.

I guess it’s a lot of fun these days to take a shot at the most vulnerable, i.e., those who are doing something rather than sitting on their laurels waiting for the next election.

The facts of the matter are:

Orange County has built a magnificent terminal that will beautifully service the needs of Orange County. It is second to none that I have been in.

It is not that late. If you look at the overall development schedule of about five years, it is about on time. And for a mammoth job like this, it may even be a little ahead of time.

Whether it’s over budget or not is a nit-picking question. Of the $350 million that the expansion cost, 3% or 4% over budget is nothing. Compare this to other transportation projects around the country, and you will find they have done the best job of anyone I know.

So how does this all add up? It is an extremely high-quality project, basically on time and on budget.

And still the poor babies are crying “George has been tough to work for” and “We should not have had these overruns and change orders” and “The project should have received more supervision.”

Well, we don’t live in a perfect world, and there were mistakes made on every construction project I worked on during the last 40 years, and there have been overruns and change orders.

And yes, some of the contractors have been late, but that’s not the way you evaluate a construction project. It is the end product that counts. Quality lives on forever. Minor overruns and delays are soon forgotten.

ROBERT R. YOUNG

Irvine