Airport and Jobs

In a Jan. 12 column, UC Irvine professor Dennis Aigner stated that the most important factor preventing a return to higher home prices in Orange County “lies behind the employment numbers.” He said: “In the 1993-96 post-recession period, Orange County’s employment base grew by 61,000 jobs, almost 36,000 [59%] of them in the lower-wage service sector.”

If the residents of Orange County wish to improve sagging home prices as well as career prospects of our citizens, we and our supervisors must work vigorously not to bring in more low-wage, service-sector jobs like many that would accrue from a proposed El Toro airport. We must instead offer incentives to employers paying high wages to locate in Orange County.

ANNE K. STEVENSON

Laguna Hills

* Los Angeles International Airport has not been the greatest economic blessing for Los Angeles County, but it has been a quality-of-life disaster for the adjacent communities. We do not want to duplicate Los Angeles County or emulate Silicon Valley.

The fact is that 100,000 new high-paying jobs ended up in Santa Clara County instead of Los Angeles County with its huge international airport and diminished quality of life.

MARCEL J. FERNANDEZ

Lake Forest