SOUNDING BOARD -- Russell Niewiarowski

The Newport Beach City Council can’t have it both ways (“El Toro

V-plan blasted by Bludau,” Thursday).

On one hand, they paint the picture that they are not airport planners

and cannot get involved with formulating educated solutions on how to

bring El Toro out of its nose dive.

Then on the other hand, they want to maintain total control over both

John Wayne Airport and El Toro and paint the picture that they are doing

everything they can to prevent any JWA expansion and to promote/secure El

Toro.

Again, speaking from both sides of their mouths, the majority of the

council members have now agreed to press forward with an

environmental-impact report to allow John Wayne Airport to expand. Why?

Because the council had admitted long ago that neither they, the Airport

Working Group, Citizens for Jobs and the Economy, nor the county could

ever conceivably build El Toro amid all the opposition to the plan.

Rather than switch to better dance partners and hand off the bat to

someone more likely to hit a fresh new home run, the council instead

chooses to make the V-plan and its advocates the scapegoat to their

failed El Toro.

The question has to be asked: Why is Newport Beach turning up their

nose to such an obviously better El Toro alternative airport plan instead

of embracing it like some officials in North County are? And why is Costa

Mesa, the second most affected city closest to John Wayne, still just

yawning?

The answer is quite simple. It appears as though the majority of the

pro-development Newport Beach City Council march in lock step with the

Irvine Co. and are looking to their development interests rather than our

quality of life interests and the best interests of Orange County’s

future in securing an El Toro airport. If the [desire] to annex Newport

Coast is more important than securing El Toro, then we are being

misrepresented.

We need El Toro, and we need to promote a reasonable, downsized, less

threatening, less adverse, safer and quieter V-plan alternative for El

Toro that creates the greatest benefits for Orange County while

protecting the residents’ quality of life. It is completely unrealistic

to think that we can certify the county’s flawed environmental-impact

report for the airport and transfer the former Marine Corps Air Station

property into the hands of the county, and then magically insert a new

airport alternative.

Come March, the people will have only one drum beat to vote on: Irvine

and South County’s Great Park if Newport Beach residents don’t wake up

and assist us in placing the Orange County Public Benefits initiative --

the V-plan -- on the March ballot to defeat the Great Park.

Keep your noses down and your heads up. We can secure El Toro if we

work together to promote the right El Toro plan now.

* RUSSELL NIEWIAROWSKI is a Santa Ana Heights resident and is

president of the pro-airport New Millennium Group, which devised the

V-plan.