Truth and Lies in El Toro Debate

South County activists and city officials, as well as Supervisors Thomas Wilson and Todd Spitzer, have continually bad-mouthed the El Toro airport planning process.

The county grand jury, composed of 19 unbiased and highly qualified individuals, investigated their complaints and studied the process for seven months. Their conclusion: “County executives are doing a good job in planning and explaining the conversion of the Marine Corps Air Station into an international airport.”

Not wanting to accept that verdict, Wilson and Spitzer have now added the entire grand jury to the list of people they discredit (Aug. 19).

Maybe it’s time someone investigated Wilson and Spitzer and all the other anti-airport activists. Shouldn’t they be held accountable for the truthfulness of their statements and for the questionable tactics they use to oppose the new airport? Their frivolous lawsuits against the county continue to cost us taxpayers a bundle.

MARIAN KRONE

Anaheim

* Economically, there is no need for an airport at El Toro.

The smart businesses are using videoconferencing, the Internet and faxes to do business. They don’t have to send their people scurrying all over the planet. They save thousands of dollars in air fares, hotels and car rentals.

A high-speed monorail to connect John Wayne Airport with Los Angeles and Ontario airports would suffice. And San Diego is not out of the question.

As for noise levels, the exiting of military jets with no noise controls at all is going to be a godsend. Commercial jets would be no problem in comparison.

It boils down to economics; an international airport does not pencil out.

There are many other uses that will bring substantial revenues to Irvine and the county. Airport supporters should wake up. Next they will be forming the state or even country of Orange just because we have such a large economic base (and also an international airport?).

DAVID A. HANSON

San Juan Capistrano

* I don’t know which group is more repulsive, the pro-airport liars or the anti-airport liars.

Neither appears to be capable of honest discussion or compromise; both indulge in deliberately biased “analysis” twisted to portray only their side of the argument.

We cannot trust the “pro” side to protect the quality of life we now enjoy in Orange County; they appear far more interested in the economics of the airport.

And we cannot rely on the intelligence or reasonableness of the “anti” side; for them, there is no compromise, no discussion, no tests or unbiased analysis. There just must be no commercial airport, period.

So the “antis,” abetted by our South County city officials, waste our tax money in a doomsday defense that I fear will ultimately fail, just as the opposition to the road through Laguna Canyon ultimately failed. And when that happens, we will not have the best airport plan to preserve our living standards because the officials who represent those who care most will have had little or nothing to do with the planning process.

I have spent most of my professional life involved in commercial aviation, and I live in Laguna Niguel. I accept that an international airport at El Toro could be a commercial success and a boost for business in Orange County. It should be no great surprise that the most practical thing to do with an airport is to make it an airport.

I believe that it is possible to construct a modern airport that can be a good neighbor; the question is, will those necessary limitations on the airport make it an economic disaster? And, what are those practical limitations?

Modern commercial airliners are far quieter than the Marine jets we are accustomed to, on a one-for-one basis. But jet noise is a complex issue involving not just loudness but also frequency, pitch and time of day. The other social and environmental issues involved with an international airport are similarly complex.

I am tired of watching the “smog line” creep south another mile each year and seeing our local streets grow ever more congested, with new stop lights that proliferate like coat hangers.

I will not vote for commercial progress at any price. If there is to be a new airport, it must contribute to, not detract from, our way of life. I do not fully understand the effect of the various airport proposals on the quality of our life, and I trust neither side to inform me.

What we need is an impartial professional panel, immune to pressures from either side, to require and monitor analyses and practical tests of both the airport alternatives and the non-airport alternatives and then prepare an understandable, unbiased report to the citizens of Orange County, followed by a final vote to decide which El Toro alternative should be built.

Those “head-down-and-locked” pro-airport liars and anti-airport liars should be excluded from the oversight panel.

FRED BEARDEN

Laguna Niguel