Down to Business in El Toro Debate
* What business problem is the country trying to solve with the proposed airport at El Toro?
Cargo? Our cargo transport needs are being met by current air courier services. The dollar savings and timing advantages that we would experience by shipping goods out of El Toro versus Los Angeles International Airport or Ontario are not material--which is to say that most firms would not notice the difference.
Business travel? Our employees who travel internationally make flight choices based upon schedules, pricing and convenience of connections. In our views, LAX will always be far superior to El Toro on all three counts.
Future need for air transport, although somewhat difficult to estimate, is as likely to decrease as to increase. The physical size of computer hardware is shrinking, so more products can be shipped on fewer planes. Software and documentation manuals are being distributed over the Internet, which eliminates shipping altogether. Simultaneously, video teleconferencing is decreasing the need for international business travel. The high-technology business community perceives both air cargo and passenger needs diminishing, not growing.
The biggest favor that the county could do for the high-tech community is to help us maintain a high quality of life in the area. In order to grow and prosper, employees in high-tech companies must continue to attract and recruit the highest caliber of information technology professionals to Orange County and the Irvine Spectrum. Knowledge workers, such as software and hardware engineers, require an environment that is conducive to creative thought and problem solving. Planes taking off or landing every few minutes, at 70 to 90 decibels, is not conducive to knowledge worker productivity!
MICHAEL A. CORNELIUS
Vice President
Law & Administration
Western Digital Inc.
Irvine
Re “El Toro Is Second Airport Fight for Newport Activists,” April 26:
Nowhere in your article was it mentioned that two plans being considered for an El Toro airport called for an increase in flights out of John Wayne Airport and that Newport Beach is not arguing that point.
Newport Beach residents live directly in the flight pattern of John Wayne Airport with only Bristol Street as a buffer zone. We knew that there was an airport here when we moved into this neighborhood and we haven’t complained.
We also don’t complain when South County residents fly out of John Wayne Airport without a thought to those of us living under the flight path. That’s the price we pay for living in this extraordinarily beautiful part of the world.
The tone of The Times’ article was confrontational and hostile. Irresponsibly throwing around words like “battle” and “fight” does nothing but exacerbate the mob mentality that is going on out there. Contrary to popular belief, Newport Beach residents are not the only people in Orange County who voted for the new airport.
FLORENCE STASCH
Newport Beach
Well, it’s finally happened. I’ve been waiting for someone to expose the truth about Newport Beach’s drive to push the El Toro airport down the throat of the rest of the county.
When I moved to Orange County in 1964, Orange County Airport was a small private field. After spending millions of dollars, over the very vocal objections of Newport [residents], we have a very beautiful and functional county airport, albeit limited in size, number of flights and hours of operation.
These limitations are due to the Newport residents’ ability to buy the support of others in the county who didn’t care anyway, as it didn’t affect them or their lifestyle. Sound familiar?
Now, more millions are being spent to add much-needed parking at John Wayne. And all of it wasted. Obviously, as soon as the El Toro airport is fully operational, John Wayne Airport will be history.
Oh, right, the plan the Board of Supervisors has selected includes a “people mover” to connect El Toro with John Wayne, which is calculated to lull everyone into believing that John Wayne will continue to operate.
How long do you think it will take Newport Beach’s movers and spenders to get that provision deleted as too expensive once El Toro has been railroaded through? Bye bye John Wayne. No more flights over Newport Beach’s rich and powerful.
JIM MOORE
Mission Viejo
Re “Hedges Labels Anti-Airport Group a Front for Leftists,” April 29:
With regard to the letter supervisorial candidate John W. Hedges sent about contributions to Project 99, one of three scenarios appears to be correct.
Hedges may have made an honest mistake regarding Project 99 and its chairman, Larry Agran, in which case all he has to do is publicly acknowledge his error in order to clear the air.
If it was not just an honest mistake, then he is either recklessly irresponsible with the truth or not competent to research facts and arrive at a factual conclusion.
In view of the circumstances that Hedges is an airline pilot and city councilman in Newport Beach, one would think he would be capable of the latter. If in fact it was not an honest mistake, then he would seem to be a poor choice as a county supervisor.
JACK WEBER
Irvine
I have been following with great interest your coverage of Supervisor Tom Wilson’s total flip-flop on the El Toro airport issue. What a hypocrite!
This is the same supervisor who has been telling us for the last 16 months that he is absolutely opposed to any type of airport at El Toro. The very same supervisor who made a motion to support the county’s plan that would place a 19-million-passenger airport at El Toro.
Not only does Wilson not represent the interests of his constituents no matter what side of the issue they are on, but he is clearly not capable of handling the job as a county supervisor, much less deal with this most important issue in the county’s history.
MICHELLE L. WITHROW
Aliso Viejo
