El Toro Dividing Cities, Officials

In his letter published on Dec. 28, Orange County Business Council President and CEO Stan Oftelie wrote, “The Orange County Business Council believes that the decision to explore the possibility of an interim cargo use at El Toro Marine Corps Air Station is sound.”

This is untrue. Mr. Oftelie has no idea what the Business Council members believe on this point because he has never asked us. In fact, many of us believe that the Board of Supervisors’ recent decision to explore a “possibility” that is illegal under federal law is a waste of taxpayer dollars, irrespective of the possible merits of the aviation reuse plan in general.

I call upon Mr. Oftelie to conduct an objective poll of all members of the Orange County Business Council on El Toro reuse plans, and to publish the results of that poll.

Until he does so, he has no legitimate basis for purporting to speak for us on this sensitive issue.

WILLIAM TOLIN GAY

Costa Mesa

* Newport Beach hires a former county supervisor, Donald Saltarelli, to block Irvine’s El Toro base annexation efforts (Dec. 24). Amazing!

Like Irvine Mayor Christina L. Shea, I too have never heard of one city trying to block another’s expansion bid. What is the logical extension of this bureaucratic meddling? “Lake Forest hires Bob Dornan to fight Newport Beach’s attempts to annex the Newport Coast area”? There are more productive ways for Newport Beach to avoid “the expansion of a ‘near-capacity’ John Wayne Airport” (which of course is a false statement in itself given the artificial caps on traffic) than to attempt to dictate the policies of nearby cities.

March Air Force Base with its 13,000-foot runways, the ongoing expansion of Ontario Airport and LAX, Norton Air Force Base, Long Beach Airport and even Palmdale all offer alternatives to siphon off John Wayne traffic if less traffic is the goal and not developer’s interests or political favor.

CHARLES HASTINGS

Lake Forest

* The Marines, Navy and the Air Force have been routinely and safely flying all types of aircraft off El Toro runways for over 50 years. Modern technology and know-how can readily update El Toro to modern operating standards to enable the transition to commercial use and safe flight operations.

The economic impact of a modern, commercial, international airport at El Toro would be impressive. One only needs to look at the Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport to get some idea.

Phoenix airport sits on 2,232 acres and has two runways with the construction of a third runway to be completed by spring 1999. The Phoenix airport system currently pumps $13.5 billion into the greater Phoenix economy annually at no cost to taxpayers.

The expected economic impact by the year 2005 is $22 billion. It served more than 30 million passengers in 1996 and efficiently connects travelers with more than 120 international and domestic cities. It flies nonstop flights to the United Kingdom and Germany.

The people of Orange County have twice indicated they like the idea of an airport at El Toro. A lot of people don’t like it, but there are a lot of people who don’t like broccoli. That’s what a democracy is all about.

Rep. Chris Cox, Supervisors Todd Spitzer and Thomas W. Wilson would better serve the cause were they to work together and focus on solving problems associated with the airport’s development rather than impeding the process.

VICTOR H. JASHINSKI

Newport Beach