THE FRED COLUMN -- Fred Martin

Once again, I have had a world-class brainstorm.

The bells have rung and the light bulb gleams over my head.

You see, I have thought of a way to cast Orange County as the preeminent

forward thinker among governments.

I can end our civil war over the El Toro Airport before real blood is

shed. While my concept can’t retrieve the millions of dollars that have

already gone down the rat hole, it can staunch the flow of the gazillions

yet to be spent on lawyers, pollsters, flacks and other political types.

As with so many historic ideas, mine is simple: Put the Orange County

airport where people want an airport.

Don’t hand down a death sentence for the quality of life of tens of

thousands of residents. I don’t mean only those whose lives are already

impacted, but the million or so more who will suffer if or when John

Wayne is expanded, or El Toro is converted.

Put a new airport in some Godforsaken stretch of Mojave where the basic

facilities of a massive, 24-hours-a-day international airport (i.e. ample

runways and countless square gigamiles of vast wasteland) already exist.

The last growth figure I recall for southern California was 6.7 million

additional bodies by the year 2020. In other words, by the time a kid

born today is able to legally order a beer, that chunk of planet Earth

that ranges from Santa Barbara to the Mexican border and the Pacific

Ocean to the Nevada and Arizona borders, will somehow have to absorb a

populace the size of Los Angeles, San Diego, San Francisco and San Jose

-- o7 combinedf7 .

Obviously, the battle over airport facilities in Orange County cannot be

just a street fight between Newport Beach et al vs. the lumped-together

municipalities of South County.

What air facilities serve Orange County and on what parcel of real estate

they are located is a huge regional problem that affects every city,

every county, every industry and nearly every individual business.

Yes, there is SCAG, the Southern California Association of Governments.

SCAG has just released a study that says, in essence: Don’t rely on

adding El Toro to LAX and beefing up Ontario -- that ain’t gonna cut it.

It strikes me that airports are much like freeways: When you expand one,

or build a new one, it’s overwhelmed the very day it opens. And from that

day on, it’s all downhill.

Southern California is an airport mess. San Diego can’t expand Lindbergh

Field because its location adjacent to downtown makes it especially

dangerous. Ontario was supposed to be the salvation, or so said

yesteryear planners. But it, too, is bulging.

Expansion potential of LAX is iffy because citizens are fighting growth,

especially the city of Inglewood, which is hoping for a 6 p.m. landing

curfew (vs. the 12:30 a.m. curfew currently in effect).

Expanding John Wayne is unthinkable and converting El Toro will probably

be in the courts when that kid I mentioned above is in the final moments

of a long life well-lived.

In Colorado, we have a good model of what I mean. Thanks to the vision of

then-mayor Frederico Pena, Denver put its new international airport way,

way out in the boondocks. When you hit the proper offramp from Interstate

76, a sign tells you the airport is still 10 miles away. At that point,

you can’t even see the peaks of the terminal building, which looks like a

cross between a circus tent and a lemon meringue pie. Despite some

chaotic birth pangs, the airport has evolved into a model for the

ultimate international airport.

Orange County can do even better. Instead of fighting a costly, divisive

intra-county war over whether to El Toro or not to El Toro, it strikes me

that maybe some cooler heads should at least take a hard look at an

Orange County airport that isn’t in Orange County.

There are places out there -- Adelanto is one -- that have former Air

Force landing facilities, which would roll out any color of carpet you

want to have an international airport in the backyard.

The necessary high-speed train technology to get people there exists

right now in the 140-mph bullet Amtrak is testing for the Washington,

D.C. to Boston run.

Someone in authority should be thinking in terms other than the lock-step

the county is in now. Someone in authority should be looking into the

feasibility and possibility of putting Orange County International

somewhere it would be wanted.

What could it hurt?

Change in Plans: Beginning in December, the Fred Column will be running

the first Monday of the month. I’m now writing a weekly column for our

local daily, the Fort Collins Coloradoan, and I have some other writing

projects in the works. Cutting back now seems a reasonable thing to do.

See you next month.

* FRED MARTIN is a former Newport Beach resident who now writes from his

home in Fort Collins, Colo.