AIRPORT DEBATE

Agran’s biggest win is just another facade, reader says

Regarding Paul Clinton’s article “Getting ready to rumble” (May 31),

there’s an error here, in my opinion. Larry Agran’s biggest win was not

Measure F. It was a tentative victory, however, as you know the court has

indicated that it is an unconstitutional measure, something Barbara

Lichman and other members of the Airport Working Group were saying from

the onset and something that Agran should have known.

So it has been defeated in court. Measure F is not the law of the

land, and if you count that as a big win, then that’s probably very

consistent with what Agran likes to present, a little shell game of

facades. The Great Park is the Great Pork; it’s a big tax liability. It’s

a land grab by some wealthy people in Irvine and surrounding cities

around the Great Park who want to have a lovely little 3,500-acre park --

about 20 times the size of Central Park -- that they can enjoy with the

benefit going to them while all the good taxpayers of Orange County pay

for it. Just a facade, another facade, another illusion, just like

Measure F was.

RICHARD TAYLOR

Newport Beach

EDITOR’S NOTE: Richard Taylor is the a vice president of the Airport

Working Group.

El Toro is all ready to launch flights

Now that the courts are systematically deflating the Measure F

balloon, the El Toro Reuse Planning Authority has revived the “surface

wind scenario” at the former El Toro Marine Corps Air Station to keep the

pot boiling on the anti-airport program.

The surface winds at El Toro have not changed appreciably since the

ice age. When the architects designed the airport, they planned it to

take advantage of the existing meteorological and topographic conditions.

El Toro has been in continuous service for more than 50 years. It

serviced the largest and fastest aircraft in the U.S. inventory,

including Air Force One with the U.S. President on board.

I flew in and out of El Toro with C-124, B-707, B-737 and L-188 types

and experienced no problems. The air station was never found to be the

probable cause of an aircraft accident. This history is good and

sufficient evidence that gives rise to a rebuttable, if not a conclusive,

presumption that the airport is safe to support air carrier operations in

accordance with Federal Air Regulations Part 121.

Since El Toro in its present configuration complies with the necessary

Federal Aviation Administration criteria, now would be a good time to

commence cargo operations so any problems encountered could be resolved

on a small scale prior to commencing both cargo and passenger operation.

ELMER COTE

Newport Beach

Driving to Ontario isn’t convenient

On April 22, Brian P. Sullivan of Dana Point was allowed to wax

superficially on the El Toro airport issue suggesting that an airline

flight to London was available at Ontario International Airport (“El Toro

airport will never be realized,” Community Forum). Incredible. Sullivan

is obviously not a frequent flier.

Sullivan also declares that the “cold, hard truth of the matter is

that El Toro will never be opened over the violent objections of the

majority of Orange County citizens.” This Orange County citizen taxpayer

for 43 years, one who has fought the expansion of John Wayne Airport with

aeronautical education and experience, says yes it will.

The next South County effort that follows the failed Measure S and

Measure F that will forever settle the El Toro issue has county,

regional, state and federal legal hurdles that will become impossible to

overcome.

Sullivan’s concern about the proximity of John Wayne and El Toro

airports indicates an unawareness of the proximity of three major U.S.

airports that are as close to each other and have three times the volume

of flights: JFK, La Guardia and Newark.

Sullivan then describes a short, easy drive from Dana Point in South

County to Ontario Airport. The freeway distance of that short, easy drive

is more than 70 miles and traverses some of the heaviest traffic points

of the freeway system, such as the Santa Ana Freeway through Mission

Viejo, Lake Forest and Santa Ana; the Costa Mesa Freeway through Tustin,

Orange and Villa Park; the Riverside Freeway through Anaheim, Yorba Linda

and Corona; Interstate 15 through Norco, Cloverdale, across the Pomona

Freeway, through the dairy country, then onto the San Bernardino Freeway

to Vineland and the Ontario Airport visitor parking lot in San Bernardino

County.

At any point of this easy route, the traffic can become stop and go

from just a California Highway Patrol car parked on the side. With an

accident even on the opposite side of the freeway, the traffic becomes

stop and go for miles.

Every trip to my granddaughter’s in Pedley, off Interstate 15 in

Riverside, has resulted in traffic delays of sometimes half an hour.

There are no easy times to make the trip to Ontario except from 2 to 4

a.m.

RALPH P. MORGAN JR.

Costa Mesa