EDITORIAL

Get out your No. 2 pencils and keep your eyes on your own paper. It’s

time to take a test on what city officials from Newport Beach and Costa

Mesa should do regarding the proposed El Toro Airport in the wake of the

passage of Measure F. The ballot initiative requires two-thirds voter

approval for new airports in Orange County.

Please circle all correct answers for each question.

1. When the 25-year agreement to cap flights and hours of operation at

John Wayne Airport expires in 2005:

a) Flights could take off and land all night long.

b) Flights could double, even triple.

c) Homes and businesses surrounding the airport will be condemned to

make room for massive runways.

d) Life in Newport Beach and Costa Mesa could be a living hell.

Answer: All of the above.

2. Most Newport Beach residents want an airport at El Toro because:

a) It means more jobs in Orange County.

b) It makes the county’s economy more viable for the 21st Century.

c) It would make vacations easier, with non-stop flights around the

globe.

d) It would keep John Wayne Airport from expanding.

Answer: D. The other answers are partly correct, but no one denies

that the driving force behind the pro-airport movement is making

permanent the flight caps and curfew at John Wayne.

3. Measure F, which passed with nearly 70% of the vote, is:

a) The beginning of the end for an airport at El Toro.

b) A wakeup call for Newport-Mesa residents to figure out another way

to keep John Wayne Airport from expanding.

c) A mere “bump in the road,” as one Newport Beach consultant called

it.

d) Such a confusing measure that people actually thought they were

voting for an El Toro airport, not against one.

Answers: A and B. Only diehard El Toro airport supporters still cling

to the hope that commerical jets will someday fly out of the former

Marine base. The reality is this: If an airport at El Toro isn’t dead,

it’s on life support. It’s time for Newport Beach and Costa Mesa to turn

their attention to a problem that isn’t yet a lost cause: making sure

John Wayne Airport stays its current size.

4. The pro-El Toro airport strategy employed by Newport Beach and its

lobbying groups has:

a) Cost taxpayers millions.

b) Failed miserably.

c) Been recognized as a major disappointment by everyone except those

conducting the campaign.

d) Little chance to succeed in the future.

Answer: All of the above.

5. For Newport Beach, the major planks in any future El Toro strategy

should be:

a) Challenge Measure F in court.

b) Continue to pay millions for high-priced consultants who have

delivered about 30% of the vote for an airport at El Toro and lost any

momentum that a second airport once had.

c) Pray that the 3-2 pro-El Toro majority on the Board of Supervisors

remains.

d) Go to Plan B.

Answer: D. Newport may also want to fight the measure in court -- to

preserve whatever leverage it still has -- but it’s time for the battle

to shift.

6. Tom Edwards and Clarence Turner are:

a) Former respected mayors of Newport Beach

b) Historically, two of the most fierce El Toro warriors.

c) Two men who can read the writing on the wall.

d) The fathers of Plan B.

Answer: All of the above.

Edwards first floated Plan B -- a possible pact with South County

cities that would legally bind the entire county to fight both El Toro

and any expansion of John Wayne. And Turner then strengthened it, calling

for very restrictive language regarding land use around John Wayne, the

general plans as they affect John Wayne from each participant in the

agreement and a realistic commitment to solve the county’s air

transportation needs.

7. Plan B is worth trying because:

a) Residents -- in north and south -- have made it clear that they

don’t want a huge airport in Orange County.

b) If South County leaders are sincere, Newport Beach has a better

chance at stopping John Wayne expansion with them than without them.

c) It’s a no-lose proposition with plenty of upside.

d) It just might work.

Answer: All of the above.

8. Those not willing to try Plan B:

a) Believe the world is still flat.

b) Are dependent upon the prolonged battle for their paychecks.

c) Are in denial about the future of the El Toro plans.

d) Are so invested in the issue that their ability to be rational has

been clouded. Answer: All of the above.

Scores: If you got 0-2 answers correct, you could be a well-paid

airport consultant; 3-5 correct, you could join the Airport Working

Group; 6-8 correct, congratulations, you could be the key to stopping any

expansion of John Wayne Airport.