Plan Is the Product of Citizens, Not Pro-Airport Bureaucrats

On Nov. 3, Irvine citizens will vote on the advisory Measure D--a measure that provides them with their first opportunity to demonstrate support for the non-aviation Millennium Plan. This is an important step in the fight to defeat the disastrous El Toro International Airport plan.

Measure D helps educate citizens about the reuse options for the 4,700-acre El Toro Marine Corps Air Station. It does so by making a strong case for the economically and environmentally superior Millennium Plan. Measure D also includes a map that clearly displays the wonderful parks, recreational facilities, universities, museums, high-tech business parks and carefully planned residential areas that will make the Millennium Plan the foundation of central Orange County’s future as we enter the 21st century.

Unlike the ill-advised airport proposal that has evolved in the dim light of county bureaucrats’ offices, the Millennium Plan has grown from the bright ideas of citizens from the areas most affected by El Toro reuse. In May 1997, Project 99 surveyed thousands of citizens about their ideas concerning the best use for the El Toro property. The many creative ideas were discussed at workshops in October 1997.

These workshops, in turn, led to publication of “A Real Choice for a Better Future: Project 99’s Citizen Task Force Report on the Non-Aviation Reuse of MCAS El Toro.” The beneficial reuse alternatives that citizens developed were also passed along to the El Toro Reuse Planning Authority (ETRPA) for use in the development of the Millennium Plan. ETRPA also invited citizens to join economists, engineers and planners in developing a plan that will complement the fine communities surrounding the El Toro property.

At the center of the Millennium Plan are more than 1,300 acres of parkland and adjacent nature preserves. These acres are destined to become California’s fourth great metropolitan park in the tradition of San Francisco’s Golden Gate Park, Los Angeles’ Griffith Park and San Diego’s Balboa Park. In fact, the 1,300-acre park would be larger than Balboa Park and would provide outstanding recreational opportunities for all citizens. The Millennium Plan is designed to enhance the quality of life in Orange County, and best of all, unlike the county’s most recent “green and lean” airport proposal, the Millennium Plan does not include an environmentally destructive, 24-hour-a-day international airport.

Even with all of its benefits to the people of Orange County, the Millennium Plan is only a plan and is not set in stone. Important issues concerning traffic and the pace and character of development need to be carefully considered before the Millennium Plan can be implemented. The plan offers a thoughtful starting point for the development of central Orange County as a world-class place to live and work over the next half-century and beyond.

I am convinced that the citizens of Irvine will strongly support the measure. However, citizens need to understand that this measure is nonbinding, and it represents just one step in the fight to defeat the airport. An overwhelming response in favor will allow the citizens of Irvine to send a strong message to the Board of Supervisors on the El Toro reuse issue. Other communities adjacent to the El Toro property should also allow their citizens to voice their support for the Millennium Plan.

These advisory measures, I believe, will serve as the prototype for the ballot measure that really counts: a countywide, binding vote to be held sometime in 1999 or early 2000. That measure will allow citizens a real choice for the first time--between the airport and the Millennium Plan. I am confident that, with all the facts now available, the citizens of Orange County will make the right choice.