The Friends and Foes of El Toro Airport
Several readers expressed their deep concern and displeasure over Los Angeles Mayor Richard Riordan’s plans to expand Los Angeles International Airport (Letters, March 15).
It’s obvious that they haven’t been reading the Orange County edition of The Times. If they had, they would have read that bigger airports are better for the community. The Orange County supervisors and Newport Beach businessmen have told us repeatedly that creating the 38-million-passenger El Toro international airport in the middle of a bedroom community will create high-quality jobs, lower air pollution, reduce crime, eliminate traffic congestion and raise property values. So why would Los Angeles residents be so naive as to complain about expanding LAX? Or do they know something we in Orange County don’t? I mean, politicians wouldn’t lie to us, would they?
RONALD O. DAVIES
Laguna Hills
General Electric slashed jobs at a New York plant. Three hundred to 350 [employees] will be transferred to Atlanta, to be closer to a major airport. [That] emphasizes the importance of a major airport, or the lack of one, to jobs and the economy of a community.
The scenario does not have to be repeated in Orange County because of our good fortune to have a major airport in our future, El Toro.
KENNETH M. HOLLAND
Newport Beach
Of the dozens of letters I have read on these pages concerning the El Toro Airport, none have touched upon what I consider to be the biggest reason for not proceeding forward with any large-scale development of the Marine base property as currently planned.
What is ignored is that the Marine base abuts one of the highest traveled commuter transportation corridors in the country.
This means that unless there is an incredible increase in the capacity of our transportation infrastructure for that area, there is no way that the existing freeways and proposed toll roads can also support an airport serving 22 million passengers, plus an untold number of cargo flights.
To put this in perspective, I have questions for those who commute daily from Anaheim Hills to Newport on the 55, or from Westminster to Irvine on the 405, or from Brea to Santa Ana on the 57, or from Los Alamitos to Tustin on the 22.
Could they imagine if an airport three times the size of John Wayne was built at a point midway through their commute? How much more brutal the drives will be with all the air-shuttle vans and Federal Express trucks further crowding the traffic lanes as they are trying to get to work?
I can already hear airport proponents arguing that the traffic will be handled by the recent expansion of the El Toro “Y” to 26 lanes and the pending completion of the two toll roads.
As someone who makes the commute every day, however, I can tell you that there is already heavy stop-and-go traffic at the “Y” during the rush hours.
LOUIS K. RAYMOND
Laguna Niguel
Your March 15 editorial, “Financing O.C.’s Future,” is a good reminder that the Orange County Board of Supervisors and their staffs have a lot of work on their plate.
The board and its chief executive officer and their staffs ought to be given kudos for handling the trip from adversity to wellness. But as you point out, there’s still quite a journey toward covering all of the county’s needs.
It’s now time for the people of the county to bury their hatchets and come together on the El Toro issue.
It’s easy to understand the critical role the El Toro development will play in Orange County’s future.
Wouldn’t it be wonderful if the groups supporting and opposing an airport joined and placed all their energies behind a win-win strategy that provided a whole lot of benefits for everyone?
Let’s stay informed and get behind the county board and its outstanding staffs and help make miracles happen.
VICTOR JASHINSKI
Newport Beach
