Compliments, not competition, needed in airport discussion

Among the letters in your July 7 edition about “finding a place to

land more air traffic,” the only one that made any sense came from

the Darth Vader of South County, Leonard Krasner. The futile hope

that somehow the prospect of an airport at El Toro could be revived

should have died when the Airport Working Group recently abandoned

its misguided last-gasp attempt to stall the Navy’s turnover of the

base to Irvine.

Krasner correctly points out that the linchpin of any long-term

solution must rely upon the formation of a broad consensus among all

stakeholders, and that such a consensus cannot be formed until there

is a peace treaty.

As Krasner points out, the Airport Working Group is seen in South

County as Newport’s Darth Vader, thus it is the least likely group

that ought to lead the way in making peace. In other words, the

winning Darth Vader gets to eliminate the losing Darth Vader as part

of the spoils of victory.

The depth of our failure to recognize what the next step must be

is made evident by the fact that Leonard Krasner, the enemy

personified, had to point it out to us. We must join with the rest of

the county in implementing a long-term solution to the county’s air

transportation needs.

The noise-impacted communities of Newport Beach, Costa Mesa and

Tustin have a special role to play in that effort, and they must work

together harmoniously to succeed. That role is to prevent any further

growth in air traffic at John Wayne beyond what has already been

agreed to. Success in that endeavor is the linchpin that will

accelerate the rest of the county’s realization that John Wayne

cannot possibly be the long-term solution, which, in turn, will

accelerate the development of a consensus.

The first step is to dissolve the Airport Working Group and

replace it with a much broader coalition that can reach out to the

rest of the county.

DAN EMORY

Newport Beach