Airport Fight Just Getting Started
How’s this for an example of “Alice in Wonderland” logic?
At Tuesday’s Board of Supervisors marathon hearing on the future of El Toro, fledgling 5th District Supervisor Thomas Wilson announced that he was unalterably, feet-in-concrete, my-mind’s-made-up, opposed to use of El Toro as a civil airport. Having said that, he then proposed that the board delay its decision for four months so he could study it further.
Wait a minute. I thought members of that august body were supposed to study an issue, then make up their minds. Not the other way around.
Thank God, wiser heads prevailed and the board by a 4-1 vote decided to move ahead with the airport project. Now we can get on to the next act. The courts.
My (Irvine) City Council has joined with other South County councils and will now spend untold millions of taxpayer dollars suing the county. Don’t they realize that this is money needed to keep the streets swept, the libraries open and the cops on the beat? Don’t they realize they can’t possibly win?
The county will just keep slogging ahead until the courts say it’s got it right. (I know. I’ve been there, done that.)
Boy, the lawyers and consultants must love that no-airport crowd.
NORM EWERS
Irvine
* Thanks for your editorial (“Put El Toro Plans in a Holding Pattern,” Dec. 8).
It put the issue in proper perspective. Someone once said that “perception is everything.” Clearly, the perceptions of both sides are deeply entrenched. This editorial is right on the money, in more ways than one. Without local support, the local reuse recommendation is meaningless, even if it had been honest.
Leaving John Wayne and its more than $350 million in improvement bonds as the main commercial airport for this area as mentioned is the right option. The San Joaquin Hills toll road was delayed for over 15 years without nearly as large a group against it. Orange County will be fighting itself longer at a much higher cost with worse results if the current airport option is approved. For what?
We need to look at something that will draw new technologies to this area, such as computer hardware, software and Internet businesses. Not something that will drive our growing technical talent away.
Disneyland and Marion Knott must realize that they have more annual visitors from south Orange County than they want to antagonize further. They would do well to help the county grow internally rather than depend on external visitors, which they seem to be fantasizing about. Then again, they are in the fantasy business, aren’t they.
DEREK QUINN
Laguna Niguel
* Thank you for your fine editorial. It was wonderful to see The Times finally take a stand on the airport issue.
There is one argument proponents have made numerous times which is entirely invalid, but it sounds logical to those who do not live in South County. That argument is that El Toro has been an airport all along, even as all of us were moving into this beautiful region. That is not true.
El Toro has been a military base whose operators have been fine neighbors. With the exception of the Gulf War buildup, there have been virtually no flights at night. Flights are scheduled to occur at the least disruptive times, and there really are not very many flights.
The current operation of El Toro bears absolutely no comparison to the threat of a round-the-clock commercial airport, which cannot help but destroy the quality of life in a very broad area of Orange County. The countywide ballot measures may have passed, but they certainly didn’t carry by a majority in South County. Residents here feel that the Board of Supervisors has absolutely no interest in the welfare of this region for which they are supposed to be responsible.
JEAN FAIR
Laguna Niguel
* Your editorial is a long overdue stand to the extent that you acknowledge the deficiencies in both the El Toro EIR and the superficial level of planning which went into the three proposed alternatives.
But your alternative suggestion of a compromising airport alternative that serves cargo and general aviation must also be scrutinized. This compromise still would suffer from the safety issues already being addressed and ignores the fact that cargo efficiency compels 24-hour operation--a major irritation with local communities.
Your proposed compromise is therefore no panacea to the problems identified with the two airport alternatives already proposed. It is unlikely that nighttime operational or other noise-abatement restrictions would be acceptable to either the industry or the FAA.
However, with your suggestion that more time be allowed for further investigation, adequate information can be derived for making a more informed and considered decision.
DAVID MELVOLD
Irvine
* Congratulations on a comprehensive, balanced editorial--in the nick of time. Hopefully, it will help toward a proper resolution. However, referring to the promoters as “a handful of developers and their collaborators in county government” is clearly inadequate.
It is a proper function for The Times to reveal to the public what must be obvious to a privileged few regarding the involvement of George Argyros and Buck Johns in promoting a gigantic commercial airport at El Toro.
Naming their names would not embarrass them. It would be to focus the public’s attention. If it were known that George Argyros, instead of a “handful of developers,” really did personally invest more than $1 million to push Measure A, people could begin to get an important perspective. Especially if they knew he is a member of the El Toro Citizens Advisory Commission and chairman of the organization Citizens for Jobs and the Economy, both of which are pushing the county supervisors to rush forward with a big commercial airport.
I hope you will consider it an obligation, as the leading newspaper of Orange County, to inform the people who would be hurt by a one-flight-per minute, 24-hour-a-day commercial airport, as well as those outside the area who haven’t been focused enough to understand our situation.
KEN BRAGG
El Toro
* The editorial was excellent. It highlighted an issue that most coverage on this entire matter has persistently overlooked, either intentionally or unintentionally: the Bought and Paid for Beholden to High-Powered Special Business Interests Board of Supervisors’ role in all of this. They truly are the foxes supervising the building of the henhouse.
Unfortunately and sadly, high-powered special business interests always win out. We have gone through the charade and the game has been played according to form: “Meetings have been held and the people have been listened to. We are sensitive to their concerns!” Now we can go ahead and ram this thing down their throats in good conscience. Who says there’s cynicism among the rabble?
As the editorial pointed out, and as I have thought from the beginning, the idea of all of Orange County voting on this airport made about as much sense as all of California voting on designating Orange County a toxic-waste dump. People in La Habra who voted for the airport probably don’t even know where El Toro is.
DON MOERY
San Clemente
* Call out Gloria Allred. Call out the ACLU. Who is to protect individuals from being forced to live under an airport by the will of those who want an airport over your home?
My civil liberties have just been violated by what I consider an unconstitutional measure on the ballot and now by those who represent us. My county supervisor was not elected, but appointed by Gov. Pete Wilson. I am sorry to say he was a disappointment in his short reign. He could have demanded answers. He voted for a “compromised” airport.
Is undercooking the turkey a fast solution? You bet, but is it a wise one? He should be required to eat it.
MARY SCHWARTZ
Santa Ana
