Airport Debate

Columnist hits a few good marks

Steve Smith continues to amaze, as usual, by coming out of left field

with a left hook to airport protagonists that Joe Frazier would be proud

of (“Want to see the El Toro airport fly? Here’s how,” March 10). Woody

Airport was great, but he misses the elitist tone of the Newport Beach

constabulary. How about “The Great Open Woodland Airport Park of Orange

County?” GOWAPOC might be a little long for any airport ID tag, but so

what.

Secondly, Smith is exactly right about the public relations program.

The same old tired faces carry no water. We need Joe Isuzu. We hear he is

available. For $5 million, he might be available for a few days work.

RON AND ANNA WINSHIP

Newport Beach

Overturning Measure F not likely

It has been reported that the El Toro Reuse Planning Authority has

filed an action to set aside Los Angeles Superior Court Judge James

Otero’s decision that deemed Measure F unconstitutional. Because of the

thoroughness of Otero’s ruling and the standards of review that apply,

this appeal appears to be nothing more than another stalling tactic.

Otero had several different legal grounds for his decision. If the

trial court is right on any one legal ground, the judgment will stand.

Therefore, to succeed on appeal, the planning authority will have to

convince the appellate court that Otero was wrong on all areas of his

legal analysis. Such an outcome is highly unlikely.

Otero politely suggested that if the county or its citizens want to

prohibit the El Toro project, it has the option of repealing Measure A.

ELMER L. COTE

Newport Beach

Newport residents have opinions that count, too

Your article (“Newport to give nearly $3.7 million to El Toro

campaign,” March 15) for public outreach to open the closed El Toro

Marine Corps Air Station as a commercial airport stopped short of calling

up officials of the city of Irvine to see what they thought.

However, you did interview Santa Ana Heights resident Ann Watt for her

opinion on the spending. Watt speaks in favor of redesigning the El Toro

airport before it is used. This is a delaying tactic, rather than

supporting the airport as the Marines built it.

El Toro is the best planned airport in the world due to the

14,000-acre buffer zone and fuel-saving crossed runways pointing to where

airplanes need to go. All we have to do is turn on the lights.

I believe you should interview taxpayers of the city of Newport Beach,

not Santa Ana Heights residents, for their opinion on how we should spend

our money.

DON NYRE

Newport Beach

South needs to work with North

Steve Smith’s article in the Daily Pilot (“Want to see the El Toro

airport fly? Here’s how,” March 10) misses on a few key points. The

“attitude problem” that he defines as Newport-Mesa trying to force the El

Toro airport “down the rest of the county’s collective throats” is the

mantra often repeated by the South County propaganda machine headed by

Meg Waters and company.

Just the opposite is the case.

El Toro has been here for 50 years, longer than most of the South

County residents have lived. It is the South County cities that have

shoved themselves down the throats of the rest of us in Orange County.

The county has spent $34 million to plan a commercial version of El Toro

as required by law, and the money came from John Wayne Airport, not the

taxpayers. The $5 million approved by the Board of Supervisors is, as he

says, for a public information campaign; it is to counteract the $40

million of taxpayer money already spent by South County in their campaign

of misinformation and lies about El Toro.

As to whether or not having another airport at El Toro makes sense,

consider that Orange County ranks second only to Los Angeles County in

population and is ranked third in the generation of goods and capital

equipment investment in California.

It is the economic engine that is driving the prosperity in the

county, and especially South County. The concept of a nostalgic feeling

of the ‘50s -- the bucolic way of life and the homey atmosphere that are

enviable attributes of the neighborhoods in South County -- will not be

destroyed by an El Toro airport, and in fact may not be sustainable over

the long haul if an adequate infrastructure, including an airport, is not

put into place.

This is a major population and industrial center that is expanding. It

is time for South County to join the rest of the world and become a

willing partner with the rest of the county in a program of controlled

growth that will benefit all of Orange County.

I do, however, agree wholeheartedly with Smith’s comment that the

amateur ad men and planners are tiring.

Sorry, Steve, your amateur status disqualifies you for the job of ad

campaign manager.

WILLIAM J. KEARNS

Costa Mesa

South County cares only for itself

The true hypocrisy of the anti-airport NIMBYs is really showing now.

Before the election, Measure F was about the health and safety of our

communities, which was the reason given for including toxic waste dumps

and jails in the initiative.

After the election, Measure F became a mandate against the airport,

even though many citizens wrote letters stating they voted for F to

eliminate any chance of a toxic dump in their community.

Measure F got overturned upon judicial review because of multiple

issues on a single initiative, and the Irvine City Council is quoted that

jails and toxic waste dumps were only included to give the Measure a

better chance of passing.

South County’s El Toro Reuse Planning Authority promoted, in myriad

mailers sent out, that El Toro is unneeded because other regional

airports would be easily accessible by a high-speed rail service. Yet,

the residents of Irvine recently voted down another rail line in their

city.

South County has stated that an airport on the 4,700 acres of the

former El Toro Marine base, which is surrounded by over 14,000 acres of

permanently open space, would destroy their “quality of life.” However,

the NIMBYs now officially want to increase the number of flights at John

Wayne Airport, which is only 470 acres with no open space around it and

where the residents are already subjected to hundreds of flights every

day.

Calling the anti-airport zealots hypocrites is a euphemism. They will

say and do anything and everything to sway public opinion their way.

DAVE BENT

Newport Beach