Riordan’s Spin on El Toro Is Twisted

* With Orange County Republicans already concerned over loyalty to the party eroding under the arrogant imposition on South County of a commercial airport at El Toro by prominent Republicans, Republican Mayor Richard Riordan of Los Angeles comes to Newport Beach as a guest of George Argyros to advance the absurd spin that an airport would be vital for the poor (Dec. 8).

The fact is the non-aviation Millennium Plan is projected to create many more jobs countywide than an airport and six times the economic benefit by the year 2020: $13 billion versus $2 billion.

Further, our relatively underdeveloped neighboring Riverside County needs, wants and can accommodate a regional airport which could truly meet the requirements of the 21st century, as opposed to El Toro, which has limited potential.

The only people the El Toro plan would benefit are its developer, promoters and the “poor” people who live under the flight path of John Wayne Airport in Newport Beach, which they envision closing to make El Toro work.

TRISTAN KROGIUS

Monarch Beach

* Los Angeles Mayor Richard Riordan, while overstepping his boundaries by lumbering into Orange County to demonstrate his support for an international airport at El Toro, did thankfully add clarity to the issue.

The act of the mayor of one of the most smog-choked, traffic-gridlocked, crime-ridden cities in the nation being invited here by the rich and powerful pro-airport forces to let us know what direction he thinks Orange County should take is very telling.

What this man represents could be our future here if we are not extremely cautious. Characterizing those [who] really care about the future of our county and our communities by opposing the county’s airport plans as enemies of the poor is audacious and disingenuous drivel.

The truth of the matter is that Riordan has his own airport battle on his hands. The demise of communities surrounding Los Angeles International Airport has made people aware that they are fighting for their lives and are opposing further expansion.

Riordan apparently feels that offering his help in plundering Orange County may just be the solution to his problem in Los Angeles. Riordan shows his true intellect when stating his definition of an environmentalist as “a multimillionaire who has just closed escrow on his beach house.”

RICHARD W. LUBLINE

Aliso Viejo

* Larry Agran’s criticism of Los Angeles Mayor Richard Riordan’s visit to Orange County is puzzling.

Agran criticizes the mayor for coming to Orange County and daring to voice an opinion contrary to his own regarding the El Toro airport. Yet the El Toro Reuse Planning Authority recently invited Steve Albright from March Air Force Base and former Department of Transportation official Mary Schiavo to weigh in on this “local” issue. How ironic! I guess you’re only a carpetbagger if you support an airport at El Toro.

The truth is that meeting the explosive growth in demand for air service in Southern California is a regional problem. We need for everyone, in Los Angeles, Orange County and elsewhere, to step up to the plate and take responsibility for building the infrastructure necessary to maintain a strong economy.

CHUCK SMITH

Orange County supervisor,

1st District

* Isn’t it ironic that the “fat cat” supporters of the El Toro airport call upon the mayor of Los Angeles to push their white elephant proposal on Orange County?

With areas such as the San Fernando Valley, San Pedro and East Los Angeles seeking to pull out of Los Angeles and become their own cities, his legacy will be for allowing the second-largest U.S. city to disintegrate.

And Richard Riordan is telling us what is better for us? That’s what we call chutzpah!

NEIL MORCHOWER

Irvine

* Mayor Richard Riordan has come down to Orange County to promote the proposed El Toro airport and tell us how we can become more like Los Angeles, a city so screwed up that half its population is trying to secede.

He tells a room full of Newport fat cats and developers, none of whom will be adversely impacted by El Toro and all of whom hope to be further enriched by it, that they must not be “selfish” in spending the public’s money on this boondoggle.

He talks dreamily about the jobs that the airport will produce, while ignoring this month’s economic report from Chapman University, which said that Orange County’s job growth is already outstripping its population growth and housing capacity.

He also forgot to mention that the Los Angeles City Council had to pass a “living wage” ordinance to force airlines at Los Angeles International Airport to raise workers’ pay to the princely sum of $16,000 per year.

But in the final irony, multimillionaire Riordan told multimillionaire George Argyros and his multimillionaire developer pals that opponents of the airport are “multimillionaires” who don’t care about the poor.

If an international airport is built at El Toro, Orange County will become more like Los Angeles than Argyros and Riordan intend. It’s time for south Orange County to start looking more closely at the San Fernando Valley’s secession effort, and to begin a secession movement of our own.

ARNOLD BURKE

Lake Forest

* Riordan joins pro-airport side of debate. Riordan? Isn’t he the wealthy businessman whose visionary solution for safer schools in poor neighborhoods in his city was to offer them bulletproof glass?

ROD SIMENZ

Mission Viejo