The Airport Debate -- Roar over El Toro and JWA caps intensifies

Measure F did not pass overwhelmingly because of jails or landfills.

It passed because a majority of Orange County voters did not perceive

a need for another airport. As long as the Orange County supervisors seem

willing to add more flights and passengers at John Wayne, that perception

will continue. The end result will be 20-plus million passengers using

JWA annually and a swath of “buffer zone” from JWA to the bay, something

that everyone says they do not want.

The fates of El Toro and JWA are inexorably linked, something that

only Supervisors Spitzer and Smith have figured out.

Without an extension of the existing limits at JWA, El Toro will

remain a parking lot. Look for Supervisor Wilson to find a reason to

drop his support for an extension and for Coad and Silva to support it.

THOMAS A. BUTTERWORTH

Balboa Island

We haven’t been this happy since 1994!

[Steve Smith’s] see no evil, speak no evil position on the extension

of John Wayne Airport flight restrictions was wonderful. Smith captures

the exactitude of the situation -- without question. What is Smith doing

in 2002?

Also, Dolores Otting also put the mark of Zorro directly where it

belonged!

RON AND ANNA WINSHIP

Newport Beach

Perhaps our community would be better served by someone other than our

lame-duck Mayor John Noyes, who, when asked if Newport Beach would

consider dropping our push for an airport at El Toro, said “The short

answer is ‘No!”’

I’d like to suggest that a better answer might be: “We shall consider

all our options.”

It’s obvious that Newport Beach is going to need to have a great many

more communities in our corner if we expect to keep any restraints on the

size of John Wayne Airport.

We, who are under the airport flight path, hope that our new council

will concentrate on this very important issue and not alienate those we

need to help us.

NORA LEHMAN

Newport Beach

The two-vote rebuff of Supervisor Tom Wilson’s proposal by his board

colleagues is indicative of slowly shifting opinions in other

supervisorial districts.

Each supervisorial district voted for Measure F, and each supervisor

has a majority of voters who are opposed to supporting an extension of

limits at John Wayne as long as Newport-Mesa continues their intransigent

stand of backing a very unpopular and unneeded airport at El Toro.

Wilson himself has stated many times that he favors no airport at El

Toro, as well as an extension of limits at JWA.

How long will it take Newport-Mesa voters to wake up to the fact that

they are harming themselves by continuing to back a new airport at El

Toro?

There will be no cooperation from South County in extending the limits

at JWA, as long as Newport-Mesa continues to follow its current

pro-airport leadership.

In the end, there will be no airport at El Toro, and if Orange County

airline passenger needs demand it, there will be additional flights and

additional hours of operation at John Wayne, unless the two sides of this

issue agree to work together.

MICHAEL SMITH

Mission Viejo

I read with disappointment your Nov. 22 article that stated the Orange

County Board of Supervisors had no present intention of trying to

negotiate an extension of the moratorium on 24-hour-a-day flights out of

John Wayne Airport.

The flights already adversely affect my quality of life. When the

Santa Ana winds blow, the jets fly over my backyard. Otherwise, after

they take off, the annoyance is merely the noise level. I cannot accept

24-hour-a-day flights.

If the local homeowners want to protest, I suggest a two-hour “drive

around” at the airport on a prearranged morning. If a few thousand cars

jammed the circle, I dare say that would make a strong statement.

I prefer not to do the e-mailings, but I would contribute some money

if others agreed to help. Please publish the letter to spread the word.

HOWARD M. LARSEN

Newport Beach

The Board of Supervisors’ refusal to begin the process of extending

the John Wayne flight restrictions gave the outgoing City Council a dose

of realism. It also served as a wake-up call to the sleeping residents of

Newport Beach.

The incoming City Council must take an active role in promoting an

airport at El Toro.

The action by the supervisors demonstrates that the John Wayne flight

restrictions are not guaranteed in any way.

If El Toro does not become a commercial airport, John Wayne will be

forced to expand and Newport Beach will become another Playa del Rey.

JOSEPH E. STASCH

Newport Beach

Lake Forest resident Richard Soden’s amusing letter (“What if El Toro

wasn’t an option?” Daily Pilot, Nov. 7) attempts to rewrite reality. He

happens to live by a natural airport, and there is nothing that can be

done about it.

The Marines knew this when they opened the airport 60 years ago,

before Lake Forest was built.

Why is a Lake Forest resident reading the Daily Pilot, which is a

local Costa Mesa and Newport newspaper?

DONALD NYRE

Newport Beach