How to Meet Future Airport Needs?

* Re “John Wayne Airport or El Toro?” (Letters, Oct. 22): I agree with Dan Emory of Huntington Beach that current restrictions at John Wayne should be renewed. However, current law would prohibit certain restrictions that are allowed at John Wayne, specifically, restrictions on nighttime flights at El Toro. Second, although the military jets were much louder than commercial jets, they were infrequent. We often went for days without hearing a jet. We rarely heard them past 10 p.m. A commercial airport would ensure jet noise for us all night long every night of the year. As for the “huge residence-free noise buffer zone,” those military jets taught us how inadequate that buffer zone is. Additionally, this buffer zone does not provide a buffer from jet fuel exhaust.

As a resident of South County, I feel it is my right to fight the construction of an airport at El Toro. As a parent, I feel it is my duty to fight the airport in order to ensure a better quality of life for my children. Mr. Emory lives too far away from the airports to experience any of the negative effects. Therefore, he has no right to call me a “rabid fringe” simply because I want my children to have what Huntington Beach children have: safe, quiet, jet fuel-free skies.

MARYANNE ROSE

Laguna Niguel

* Dan Emory wrote that the county should honor an agreement it made 15 years ago to Newport Beach. This agreement, according to him, requires the county to seek an alternate airport site “with El Toro as the prime candidate.” Since when does one city in the county make an agreement with county government that places a large commercial airport near many other cities without their knowledge or consent?

This kind of agreement does demonstrate why South County residents are so leery of a county-planned airport. What other kinds of agreements that affect us has the county been making with Newport Beach behind our backs?

PATRICIA M. PEQUET

Laguna Hills

* In response to Len Kranser’s letter (“Should John Wayne Airport Be Expanded?” Oct. 15), he now is pushing to expand John Wayne and renege on his campaign rhetoric to maintain caps in order to sway voters toward Measure F. He suggests increasing the passenger caps, thinking that that will resolve all of our problems. An increase in the cap would result in many more flights. It’s naive to believe the airlines will fill their empty seats with the increased cap and keep the number of flights the same. What they do, and have been doing, is flying more flights.

Also, despite the cap, the number of flights have been increasing over the years, and with the proliferation of private jets, it’s to the point of being intolerable. John Wayne is well into our backyards, and Kranser wants to make sure it expands into our frontyards too.

The El Toro airport, under the Pilot Assn.-supported V plan, would not have any neighborhoods near the flight path like John Wayne or Burbank. The V plan’s flight paths are complementary to John Wayne’s, and you still would have plenty of room left over for the Great Park.

MARY BURY

Newport Beach

* Newport Beach can’t have it both ways. Newport Beach residents cannot have the cooperation of South County in fighting for maintaining the curbs on John Wayne Airport at the same time they are fighting for the establishment of El Toro as a commercial airport. Their real objective is, obviously, to close John Wayne. Why else would Newport Beach be desperately trying to overturn Measure F, which would stop expansion of John Wayne? We in South County didn’t all just fall off turnip trucks.

TRISTAN KROGIUS

Monarch Beach

* Norm Ewers (Letters, Oct. 6) stated that the city of Irvine gave $650,000 to the Irvine Chamber of Commerce for the Destination Irvine program. The city actually contributes $360,000 per year to the program. The private sector will match those funds this year.

Ewers tried to point out a contradiction in the city’s supporting Destination Irvine while opposing the airport reuse plan for El Toro. He states that Destination Irvine will “increase demand for the airport the council is trying to kill.” Irvine is approximately 50% built-out at the present time. Destination Irvine is assisting with the planned commercial and industrial growth to build-out. Like many South County cities, we anticipate growth over the next 10 to 20 years. With this growth comes increased transportation needs--of all types. The management of this growth does not create a contradiction with the city’s position on El Toro.

MICHAEL J. FITZGERALD

JACQUIE ELLIS

Irvine Chamber of Commerce