Limits at John Wayne: Needed, or Hypocritical?

Re “Board OKs John Wayne Flight Caps Through 2015,” Feb. 27:

The Board of Supervisors is to be commended for its leadership in planning responsibly for the future of John Wayne Airport. John Wayne is critical for the future of Orange County, especially for residents of the corridor cities of Santa Ana, Costa Mesa, Newport Beach, Orange, Tustin and Anaheim. Residents of these cities directly experience the environmental effects of John Wayne but, along with residents throughout the county, benefit from having a local airport.

The board voted unanimously to certify the environmental impact report and direct staff to negotiate an extension of the agreement using Scenario 1 as a basis. Scenario 1 maintains the 10 p.m. to 7 a.m. curfew restrictions until 2015, and, recognizing the need for limited and controlled future growth, allows for an additional four gates and 12 flights per day.

I am honored to have been able to work with the board and council members from the other cities that feel committed to protecting the interests of our constituents. I thank all the supervisors for their leadership on this issue and look forward to continuing to have John Wayne Airport as a friendly neighbor for decades to come.

Jose Solorio

Councilman

Santa Ana

*

Those who support more air travel in Orange County wanted to build an El Toro airport, but they don’t support adding more air travel in Orange County at the same time?

After reading that the Board of Supervisors agreed that artificial flight restrictions and caps should be renewed at John Wayne Airport, and that 9,000 “Renew the caps at JWA” postcards came in from the residents of Newport Beach, Costa Mesa, Orange, Anaheim, Tustin and Santa Ana (many of whom support an airport at El Toro), I was astonished.

How can one support future commercial air travel and at the same time be against it? This just goes to show the voters of Orange County how confused--or should I say hypocritical--the opponents of Measure W really were. If we really need more air travel in Orange County to help relieve the congestion and future demand, we must support the lifting of artificial flight restrictions, caps and curfews at John Wayne.

However, the message is clear now: Orange County does not need more airports or flights.

Chris Borders

Laguna Niguel