Airport Foes Blast Display at John Wayne

It may be lean and it may be green. But for South County, it’s obscene.

Folks opposed to a new airport at El Toro are seeing red over a display in John Wayne Airport’s baggage claim area touting the new “lean and green” plan for a regional county park built around the proposed airport at the former Marine base.

Using lines from its television advertising, the county tells travelers of the anticipated benefits of building Southern California’s second-largest international airport at the 4,700-acre base, which closed in July.

But foes of Orange County International, the working name for El Toro’s proposed airport, charge that the message is misleading and, moreover, that such blatant advocacy has no place in a county facility.

Efforts by Supervisor Tom Wilson to have the display removed failed. So Wilson, who opposes the El Toro project, on Tuesday brought the issue before the county Board of Supervisors.

“It may contain a catchy phrase but is as far away from reality as anything could be about creating an international airport at El Toro,” Wilson said, comparing the divisiveness of the sign to the Berlin Wall.

However, the board voted 3 to 2, as it has on nearly every airport issue, to allow the sign to stay.