Heed the Voters on El Toro

* Re “Time for a New Look at El Toro,” March 9 editorial:

What an inexcusable demonstration of ineptitude by all of them, not just the pro-airport supervisors. Fire them all and let’s start with a clean slate whose leadership will shepherd an El Toro planning process that generates creative and viable reuse options and will work without political or economic influence to generate consensus and provide facts about each option.

Then let the voters decide, and if one of the options includes some kind of airport, the county has just spoken: It must be such a good plan that it is supported by a two-thirds majority.

The worst thing that could happen now is the continuation of this zero-sum, battlefield mentality, sucking more energy, time and money down a rat hole.

Hear this, supervisors: The airport plan was a bad one. Respect the wishes of your constituents, get over it, and move on to constructive and collaborative planning for an El Toro we can all be proud of.

JEFF WILSON

Laguna Niguel

* Thank you for publishing Orange County Supervisor Jim Silva’s post-election comments on the El Toro development issue (March 12).

After reading it several times, I came away with a clear picture of Silva’s position. In a nutshell, nothing has changed for this supervisor.

He is still spouting the same pathetically inept cliches: $10-billion gift, huge unmet need for airport facilities in Orange County, Millennium Plan will strangle taxpayers, need another airport to grow economy.

He apparently thinks the previous two votes on El Toro are more important than the most recent one. He somehow thinks that public opinion will change if he regurgitates the same old demagoguery and says he is bringing us the facts.

The voters have decisively rejected all his arguments. Repeating the same tired drivel won’t make him any more convincing.

He just makes himself look sadly out of touch with reality.

GUS AYER

Fountain Valley

* Not only are the three pro-El Toro supervisors out of touch with their constituencies, but whom do you think they are serving when George Argyros spends $1.2 million to defeat Measure F, and the county couldn’t get the entire rest of Orange County’s population to contribute more than $100,000 to help in its defeat?

Imagine, the vast energies of the county’s chief executive officer, engineering, planning and finance departments being spent, for whose benefit?

The mere fact that the three have stated that they’re moving forward with their airport plans, regardless of the outcome of the vote, is proof enough that they are accountable only to a higher authority--certainly not us.

HARVEY H. LISS

Irvine

* It is to Silva’s credit that he now seems to be taking a more conciliatory tone.

Obviously, he sees the low esteem in which he and his two cohorts are held by the vast majority of Orange County voters.

Supervisor Charles V. Smith’s reported comments indicating his contempt for the vote of the people is just that: contemptuous. Make no mistake about Measure F, it was a vote on the actions of the three supervisors. They have been found wanting.

Silva bemoans that the airport express has finally been derailed, after having earlier been approved by county voters.

He ignores that Measure A was rushed through by airport proponents without any studies, alternates offered or serious questions asked. There were very few voters who knew the issues, and even then it was only passed by a 2% majority.

Now, Measure F was fully debated and passed 2 to 1. Anyone who says they did not know what they were voting for must have been on the moon.

The people have spoken decisively. The pro-airport supervisor majority had better learn to live with it.

GEORGE RATNER

Laguna Woods

* Your March 12 editorial “On the Wrong Runway” says:

“As a swing vote on the board, [Supervisor Jim Silva] could have used his powers to demand a different runway configuration.”

The Board of Supervisors can still approve the El Toro Master Plan and Environmental Impact Report No. 573 after including the public comments and answering the public’s questions and selecting the Wildlands Ranch Alternative Realignment of Runways, in volume 2-B, Section 8.9, as the Proposed Project.

See Web site https://www.smallquieteltoro.com.

CHARLES GRIFFIN

Newport Beach

* Your “On the Wrong Runway” read like it was written by the Los Angeles Times, not the Orange County Times.

If you did understand what was occurring in Orange County, you would not have taken this position and would realize that the people of Newport Beach do not have “representation” from our supervisor, Tom Wilson.

You state Supervisors Jim Silva and Charles V. Smith are clueless. I submit it’s The Times that’s clueless.

JOSH WALKER

Newport Beach

* Many thanks for the continuous and comprehensive coverge by the Los Angeles Times on the El Toro airport issue. Time and truth are allies of the people who oppose a community-destroying airport at El Toro. Thanks for being an agent of truth on this issue, and please keep up the good work.

MARCEL J. FERNANDEZ

Lake Forest

* Silva’s post-election defense of the El Toro airport plan makes me wonder what part of “no” he doesn’t understand.

BRADFORD A. HAWKINS

Irvine

* Silva’s letter is a perfect example of why Measure F is so necessary.

It appears that while the public began to share a deeper understanding on the problems associated with a commercial airport at El Toro, Silva was out of touch and never gave it a second thought.

A larger disconnect by Silva is indicated by his comment that Measure F backers “. . . contributed to a breakdown in the planning process.”

What Silva fails to recognize is that this measure began when he and his fellow pro-airport supervisors displayed total disregard for concerns surrounding El Toro.

And although he challenges airport opponents to negotiate “workable solutions,” Silva himself states in the very same letter “. . . El Toro remains the only viable site for another regional airport.” Gosh, that doesn’t sound like someone who really wants to negotiate.

Additionally, I question if Silva should be the one to ensure we keep sight of “key facts.” Silva seems ignorant of the fact that airports generate substantially more air pollution than homes.

Furthermore, many local business executives, including those at Walt Disney Co., would disagree with Silva’s statement that current air facilities are “inadequate.”

I doubt Silva’s comment that he “will continue to work to ensure that the community’s concerns . . . are addressed.”

STEVE HIRASHIKI

Aliso Viejo