Let El Toro Airport Die in Peace

If you don’t count the 67 columns since 1993 devoted all or in part to the El Toro airport debate, I’ve kept quiet on the subject. And why not; I never cared whether they built the thing or not.

Apparently, however, my legacy will be that El Toro is the single subject about which I’ve written the most. As a sensitive yet tortured artist more attuned to other themes, I can’t tell you how painful that realization is.

When is enough enough? When will someone tell the players the game is over?

A Los Angeles Superior Court judge tried last week when he ruled that the ballot measure in March that scuttled the airport was not deceptive and should stand. Two days later, Gov. Gray Davis sank a bill that would have pressured counties to build or expand airports, declaring that Orange County voters had made up their minds on El Toro.

You all remember Measure W, don’t you? Orange County voters passed it 58% to 42%, voting in the Great Park plan and voting out the Great Airport plan. True, it was but the latest of four countywide votes on an El Toro airport since 1994 (the first two in favor of the airport, the last two against), but this one was considered the final word.

As it should be.

Can we have some closure, people? A candlelight vigil, if necessary? A group hug?

You can understand the pro-airport side’s aversion to giving up. To them, an airport at El Toro, which has runways in place from its military days and enough space to build a state-of-the-art facility, was heaven-sent. Plus, they argued, the county would need expanded air travel capacity in the next 20 years.

Orange County and an El Toro airport--happily ever after.

Knowing that, how could pro-airport forces possibly give up on their plan--especially for something as squishy as a park?

It’s like the guy hit with divorce papers who suddenly realizes his wife is about to marry someone else. He doesn’t want to give up the marriage because he knows he and his wife are a good match. If he can just drag things out a bit, he thinks, she’ll come to her senses and come back. Once she remarries, he knows she’s gone for good.

That’s what airport supporters see. Voters not only have asked for a divorce, they want to remarry. And once a park starts taking root on the former Marine base, the airport is gone forever.

The L.A. judge realized that, too. After breaking it gently to the pro-airport side with his ruling, he said: “Any time you have emotions that run so deep, there are going to be hard feelings. I assume there are going to be appeals.”

Time for the airport crowd to suck it up. They have to admit it’s over. They’ve lost the voters, and they aren’t coming back.

Not an easy thing to do, because, like a lot of spouses, they’ve misread why they lost. Ever since Measure W surfaced, the airport crowd argued that Orange County voters were being hoodwinked by the good-looking stranger. They argued that the park would never be built or that, if it were, it’d cost a fortune.

What they couldn’t or wouldn’t admit was that the new Great Park suitor wasn’t the problem. The problem was that, in the face of an appealing new alternative, they never convinced a majority of voters that an airport was a better choice. Or even essential.

Given South County intransigence against an airport, perhaps they never had a chance. Who knows? We do know that the airport side once had the voters but eventually lost them.

Whether the Great Park proves a perfect fit for Orange County remains to be seen. The airport supporters may be right in saying the county has been suckered.

Doesn’t matter. At this point, that lament is no more relevant than the cries of the deposed husband as his ex-wife stands at the altar with Hubby No. 2.

Like that poor slob, the classy thing for the airport crowd to do now is wish the winner well and silently walk away.

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Dana Parsons’ column appears Wednesdays, Fridays and Sundays. Readers may reach him by calling (714) 966-7821 or by e-mail to dana.parsons@latimes.com.