El Toro Junkies Keep the Clash on Their Radar

In the heyday of the debate to turn the former El Toro Marine Corps Air Station into a commercial airport, Stan Oftelie bookmarked a pertinent website under his Internet favorites.

Not anymore, said Oftelie, president of the Orange County Business Council: “I’ve lost the website. I’ve reorganized it out of my life.”

But even after voters rejected the airport plan, and the federal government opened the auction Jan. 5 for the 3,700 acres to be redeveloped, El Toro junkies were continuing to follow the smallest details.

Consider Leonard Kranser, founder of the anti-airport website eltoroairport.org, which lists articles, links to the auction and provides a message board for members to exchange gossip and information.

Kranser updates the page at least daily. And even if Oftelie has fallen by the wayside, Kranser’s page continues to be visited about 1,000 times daily. The average stay is seven minutes.

When Los Angeles Mayor James K. Hahn or Fullerton Councilman Leland Wilson made last-ditch efforts to revive the fight for an airport, the number of hits increased dramatically.

“Mayor Hahn has been good for our circulation, and the city of Fullerton with their silly attempt,” Kranser said.

“Those things get people coming back to the website to see what the dickens is going on.... There’s a market out there that wants to be served.”

In reality, not much has been going on since 2002, when voters passed Measure W, rezoning El Toro from airport use to park and open space, with limited development.

“Maybe El Toro gets in our blood,” Kranser said.

Oftelie, who favored the airport, said both sides had been relentless, almost “maniacal” in their efforts.

“I was struck by how quickly they became intense about it,” Oftelie said. “It wasn’t something for a casual conversation, even in the earliest days of it. People were either going to win this or lose this, but either way, get out of their way.”

Anti-airport spokeswoman Meg Waters agreed: “With El Toro, you either win or you lose on this one. So it’s motivating for people that are competitive.”

Now, with the end in sight and the land up for auction, Waters said anti-airport backers didn’t want to rest.

“We would hate to have worked so hard for 10 years and then to lose [the battle] because were asleep at the wheel in the eleventh hour,” she said. “That’s why we stay on top of it.”

And there are few people more dedicated to keeping people informed than Kranser, a retired businessman who moved to Orange County in 1994 when pro-airport Measure A was gaining steam.

He and others launched a website. Others followed suit, until there were about 15 sites devoted to the El Toro debate, Kranser said. Most have closed.

Waters considers Kranser, author of the book “Internet for Activists,” as one of the first bloggers.

“I’m an old college debater, so I’ll talk on El Toro whenever somebody wants to listen,” Kranser said.