Newport Beach, El Toro and Negative Effects

Re “Builders Fret After Vote in Newport,” Nov. 22:

The citizens of Newport Beach voted down a Koll Center expansion project in their neighborhood, thus halting the development of a 10-story office tower, sending a “warning” to developers. Apparently Greenlight, a Newport Beach slow-growth initiative, was the force behind this defeat of growth, noise, traffic, pollution etc.

But isn’t this the same group of people trying to jam a mini-LAX down our throats at El Toro? Talk about growth, noise, traffic and pollution! Hundreds of daily and nightly flights, including wide-body and freight aircraft. Millions of cars and thousands of jet-fuel trucks in our neighborhoods. Western take-offs over homes, schools and parks in Irvine. To the Newport Beach citizenry, that’s acceptable growth?

Dan Pabich

Irvine

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The Newport Beach Koll project failed to be approved by voters because the project had no benefit to the residents. The project would have added only $28,000 annually to city coffers, about 40 cents per resident per year. In return, the project would have generated traffic and degraded our quality of life.

Koll proponents obviously knew their project lacked merit since they chose to run their campaign based on misinformation and dirty politics. Newport Beach residents are simply tired of the endless stream of massive projects that enrich developers at the cost of our quality of life.

Robert Caustin

Newport Beach

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Talk about the ultimate “NIMBY,” listen to these hypocrites that live in Newport Beach. All of a sudden they are worried about stopping development because their quality of life is at stake.

Are these the same people who want to develop El Toro airport and criticize us south Orange County residents about being NIMBYs because we do not want the noise and pollution?

One for all and all for one, “stop the airport at El Toro.”

Andy Abrecht

Aliso Viejo

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After reading about the Newport Beach vote to squelch the Koll building, I was appalled by the hypocrisy in the reasoning that the building would “create too much traffic.” Dana Parsons hit the nail on the head in his Nov. 25 column. Too much traffic in Newport Beach is not to be tolerated, while the traffic created by an international airport is somebody else’s problem. And they accuse us, the anti-airport force, of being NIMBYs!

Mary L. Santoni

Irvine

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Let me see if I’ve got this right. Newport voters use the Greenlight initiative to stop the Koll project because they find its effects unacceptable while trying to prevent a countywide vote on a commercial airport at El Toro.

The negative impacts of the El Toro airport on the surrounding communities would be infinitely larger, of course, than the impacts of the Koll project on Newport Beach. Indeed, as the FAA report pointed out, the adverse impacts of a commercial airport at El Toro would not just be confined to its local area. It would also have an adverse impact on air-traffic flow for the entire region. Kudos to Dana Parsons for blowing the whistle on this breathtaking hypocrisy from our neighbors by the bay.

Len Gardner

Laguna Woods

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I find it ironic that Newport Beach residents have reserved for themselves the right to reject any major development, such as the Koll project, but have been the first to label those opposed to an El Toro airport as NIMBYs. Now that they are publicly advocating a “quality of life” philosophy, let’s see if they will continue to force unwanted and unneeded development upon their neighbors. Any bets?

Kurt Page

Laguna Niguel