International Airport? Let’s Shoot for Digital Port Instead
Even with a new airport, Orange County still would lack the underpinnings for a world-class transportation economy: no commercial seaport and no railroad. We have as many freeways as residents want. Why then welcome 38 million air passengers and tons of air cargo into Orange County each year?
There is a happier alternative: developing Orange County’s information economy.
Other counties have awakened to such possibilities. Los Angeles is developing its multimedia industry. Land near Marina del Rey has been set aside for companies providing entertainment programming for the world’s burgeoning information economy.
In 1993, San Diego organized a Committee on the City of the Future. The committee concluded that a modern telecommunications infrastructure would produce concrete, measurable economic benefits. It urged San Diego to take rapid steps to develop a huge community-wide, interconnected fiber optic grid for the entire San Diego/Tijuana region. The city is now doing this.
San Diego has added 10,000 telecommunications jobs in five years. Salaries range from $40,000 to $100,000 per year. A local headhunter says that at least 1,000 electronics engineers per year are needed in San Diego for the foreseeable future. These kinds of employment statistics can be a part of Orange County’s future.
The best example for Orange County is Santa Clara County--a.k.a. “Silicon Valley.” Santa Clara County has no airport, relying chiefly on San Jose Municipal Airport. It has no seaport. Like Orange County, Santa Clara County’s broadcast programming overwhelmingly concerns the major city to its north.
Nevertheless, Santa Clara County is a giant world player. An astonishing 74% of all California venture deals take place in Silicon Valley. Exciting new industries, such as overnight package delivery, microcomputers, microprocessors, computer aided design and biotech have been capitalized there. The modern world today literally depends on Santa Clara County.
Orange County can have such a future. Ten years ago, a British executive wrote of Orange County: “There is a pool of talent here--the beginnings of a kind of electronics cottage industry that is unavailable anywhere in the world. Someday soon this place will be the training and education center for the Pacific Basin, for the entire technical world.” This view constitutes a vision for Orange County that not only will enhance our commercial base, but will avoid the impact of a commercial airport in our midst.
Research indicates that there exists a direct link between the economic health of a community and the state of its communications. For an area to increase in wealth, it must have just experienced a significant increase in the density of communications flowing within it.
Without this, even a transportation-based economy falters. Reliable electronic communications have been shown to be the most effective way to convert labor directly into capital. This development should be our goal. For business people, this means jobs and wealth. For politicians, it means a strong tax base.
Los Angeles County envisions itself as the world center for cinema and has taken steps to realize this vision. San Diego envisions itself as the “City of the Future” and is now taking steps to realize this vision. In Santa Clara 50 years ago, people took steps to build relationships among banks, law firms, venture capital funds, universities and the high-tech world.
Orange County is now at a major decision point. When the Marines leave El Toro, many will envision Orange County as the home of a major new international airport. Others envision Orange County as a digital port for the world.
Through the efforts of its private leaders, Los Angeles County became the world’s premier exporter of entertainment properties. The multibillion-dollar economy of Santa Clara County was created largely by the efforts of private business and university leaders.
The business and university leaders of Orange County can lead it to become the technical world’s leading training and education center. Only then will Orange County’s reputation and prospects for prosperity reemerge to distinguished heights.
