Dornan and the Closing of the El Toro Base
What has happened to our elected officials? Why is Orange County’s congressional delegation not fighting over the fate of El Toro?
Here we go again! Another prime piece of real estate that the developers and self-serving groups can’t wait to overtake. Only this time it isn’t for more congested housing development but to build an airport!
It’s not hard to imagine what the area would be like with an airport in our midst. William A. Bloomer, former commanding general of the base and participant on the Airport Site Coalition, stated that to accommodate civilian jetliners and cargo planes, there would have to be costly modifications for existing runways and the tops of several hills would have to be bulldozed for them to clear with sufficient margin (“El Toro’s Future Stirs a Simmering Feud,” March 15).
If people wanted to live in a commercial area with jet noise, traffic congestion, hotels, air cargo planes and trucks, car rentals, restaurants, ad nauseam, they would not have chosen Orange County to live in.
The beauty of the area is the natural open spaces that still exist (although quickly dwindling). It’s wonderful to see the green rolling hills unobstructed by buildings and to share the area with what little wildlife has survived.
GLENDA N. MADDOX
Irvine
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