El Toro Foes’ Anger Feeding Talk of Boycott

Bristling over the Board of Supervisors’ decision last week to go ahead with planning for a commercial airport at El Toro Marine Corps Air Station, a growing number of South County residents and officials are starting to turn their anger into economic reprisal.

They are refusing to do their holiday shopping in Newport Beach, seen as the heart of pro-airport sentiment, or patronize businesses such as Disneyland and Knott’s Berry Farm that support an airport at El Toro.

Their action--which some business representatives in North County call “childish” and misdirected--reflects how opposition to the airport is taking on personal expressions of resentment and hostility.

One airport foe likened the situation to early Americans breaking away from British tyranny and said taking economic reprisals may be the best way to deliver the message that South County doesn’t want an airport that many fear would cause noise, traffic congestion, safety concerns and deflated property values.

“I think you’re going to be seeing the seeds of 1776-type action here,” said Laguna Niguel Councilman Mark Goodman, an outspoken airport opponent. “The word I keep hearing more and more is ‘boycott.’ ”

There are notable exceptions. Irvine City Councilman Mike Ward said economic measures don’t target the culprits: the four supervisors who voted to press ahead with the airport planning process.

“Why penalize businesses and their employees for something the supervisor in that district did?” Ward said. “I think the way to protest is support his opponent in the next election. . . . Would putting pressure on businesses really change the supervisors’ mind?”

Melody Carruth, a Laguna Hills councilwoman until her term ended last week, said she is already using her wallet to make her feelings known. “I personally have made a practice of not spending my Christmas dollars in Newport Beach,” she said.

There are signs that such economic action may be spreading.

Taxpayers for Responsible Planning is asking its membership whether to proceed with a formalized boycott. A final decision is expected when the group next meets in mid-January.

“I don’t intend to shop at Fashion Island and I don’t intend to shop in Newport Beach,” said Bill Kogerman, co-chair of the group. “You can count on me not going to Knott’s Berry Farm and I can guarantee you I’m not going to Disneyland. Let them understand the economic consequences of their irresponsible planning process.”

Such statements are being criticized by business leaders, Newport Beach officials and even some in South County. They said a boycott hurts the wrong people--business owners and employees rather than decision-makers--and does nothing to heal a county deeply fractured over the fate of the military base.

They also cautioned that the board’s decision did not finalize reuse plans for the base, which will be retired in mid-1999, but sets off a new round of environmental studies and planning reports. South County residents would gain more by becoming part of that process, they said.

“I think it’s sad,” said Newport Beach Mayor Janice A. Debay, whose city businesses are targeted because the city has supported an El Toro airport as a way to curb traffic at John Wayne Airport--a position that infuriates many in South County.

“Reasonable, reasoning people can solve the problem, and that’s what I wish was happening,” Debay said.

“How childish,” said Tim Cooley, an executive vice president for the pro-airport Orange County Business Council. “The first thing they do is say I’m going to take my ball and go home? That’s ludicrous. Why not sit down and become part of the process.”

Calls to Disneyland and Fashion Island were not returned Tuesday. Darrel Anderson, a general partner at Knott’s Berry Farm, said he received a single phone call from a Huntington Beach woman threatening to avoid the park because of his outspoken support for an El Toro airport.

“We feel this is an unfortunate byproduct of this kind of a process,” Anderson said. “But I told [the caller], ‘I certainly respect your right to your opinion.’ ”

It’s unclear how many South County residents are taking their business elsewhere during the busiest shopping season of the year, or how much of an effect a boycott could have on targeted businesses. But calls for an organized boycott are rising, officials said.

Goodman said he has received phone calls and faxes from residents across South County suggesting a variety of tactics, from delaying payment of their property taxes to paying their gas bills late to protest that Roger Embrey, general manager for the Southern California Gas Co., has been an outspoken supporter of an El Toro airport.

Laguna Niguel Mayor Patricia C. Bates spoke before a crowd of about 100 at the Niguel Shores Men’s Club early Tuesday and was surprised by the calls for similar action. One person who believes an El Toro airport would deflate home values suggested mass efforts to demand the Orange County assessor’s office reassess their property values.

“I think its certainly something that is going to make a very major statement from South Orange County,” Bates said. “It just shows the strength of the opposition to this being imposed on a community.”