Q & A

In the fall, Steve Bromberg, along with John Heffernan and Gary

Proctor, were elected to the Newport Beach City Council in the biggest

turnover in the city in two decades.

While all three have vowed to improve relations between the council

and residents, they also have energized the council on an old, lingering

but also looming issue: the El Toro airport.

Monday night, the El Toro Reuse Planning Authority is set to reverse

its position on extending the flight restrictions on John Wayne Airport,

a move that likely will heat up the bitter battle between North and South

County once again.

Bromberg sat down with Pilot City Editor S.J. Cahn to discuss where

that fight is headed, and how Newport Beach is doing in getting a second

Orange County airport built.

How would you characterize the current state of the El Toro debate and

the potential for construction of an airport in South County?

It’s active and very aggressive on both sides. People have the idea we

ought to can El Toro altogether and just concentrate on JWA. (But) I

really do believe that the potential for an airport is good as long as we

have the county on our side. The federal government will have to become

involved. This is federal land and the need for more airports has become

a national issue.

That’s why El Toro is so important. There are a lot of people who want

to separate El Toro and John Wayne. They’re tied together. Everywhere you

look, in the papers, there is a need for airports. If we don’t have an

airport at El Toro, how are we going to deal with the need, 20, 30, 40

years from now? We need El Toro.

I think a lot of people who think we should separate them, they’re

good people, but we haven’t done a good job making it clear why the issue

needs to be tied together.

How has the new Newport Beach council, with the addition of you and

Councilmen John Heffernan and Gary Proctor, changed the city’s stance and

attitude toward the El Toro debate?

The stance has always been to support El Toro. The three new council

members are very active in the process. I don’t think the stance ahs

changed.

South County has done a magnificat job of spinning their position to

South County people and across the border to ours. That’s where the

problem lies. And you’ll see our city become active in disseminating

accurate information on John Wayne and El Toro to North County and to our

own.

A lot of those people didn’t vote the way they did [on the anti-El

Toro Measure F] because they don’t want El Toro. In those kinds of

situations, we need to become proactive to make sure every citizen knows

the truth.

Is the pro-airport side of the debate losing the public relations

battle to anti-airport forces? Why or why not?

No. We have three of the five county supervisors supporting El Toro.

The “debate” literature from South County is “spin” material. The

pro-airport side, other than those actually involved, are seeing that

without El Toro, we may well lose the support of the county as a need

exists.

I don’t think it’s a matter of winning or losing. Virtually everybody,

maybe not everybody but more than 90%, I talk to wants El Toro. It’s just

a lack of information. And that’s going to change. We’re going to get the

word out.

What steps do you think Newport Beach and other pro-airport groups

should take to convince the rest of the county of the need for an airport

at El Toro?

1. Pro-airport groups need to work together on the same page.

2. Commence an accurate and informative public relations program to

our North County neighbors, some of which may be ambivalent to the issue,

assuming that Newport Beach will simply take care of the issue.

3. Proper dissemination of accurate information on El Toro is

critical.

Are you concerned at all that stronger efforts by Newport Beach could

backfire and increase the resolve of anti-airport groups?

No. Their intent and goals are set and they have made those clear --

the legal attack on Measure A. [The El Toro Reuse Planning Authority’s]

position to oppose, legally and otherwise, the extension of the JWA

settlement agreement is nothing news.

ETRPA has shown its true colors. They’re now going to oppose JWA.

They’re not going to do anything on John Wayne. They don’t have the

power. They’re just very loud and vocal.

The have opposed us on everything, on every inch of the way. And now

it’s time for us to take the gloves off and show the true colors of ETRPA

and show they are adverse to our interests. They always have been.

What end do you foresee for the El Toro airport debate?

1. Strong public relations efforts in both North and South County.

2. The ultimate goal will be for a smaller airport with similar

restrictions to those at JWA.

3. Lots of “heat” with the challenge of Measure A.

Can you say, for sure, that there will be an airport at El Toro?

Let me just say this: This is going to be very difficult. Anybody who

doesn’t think so is kidding themselves.

But right now I feel we are doing everything the right way to get it

done. I don’t have a crystal ball, but I have a very strong sense we will

have an airport at El Toro. It will be smaller than originally planned.

More likely than not, it will have caps. More likely than not, it will

have time restrictions.

It will be like JWA. We’re committed to making it happen.