STEVE SMITH -- What’s up

The Airport Working Group presentation Tuesday night at the Lions Park

Community Center was billed as “the most important community meeting of

2001,” but it drew only a small audience. Costa Mesa residents saw

through the headline and spent their time elsewhere.

That was a smart move, because the charts and graphs were nothing more

than an encore performance of the pre-Measure F dog and pony show that

spokesman Tom Wall led about 18 months ago. The biggest difference was

that Wall, an experienced speaker, knew enough to smile once in awhile.

Wall did his job so well, in fact, that it took four speakers to replace

him last Tuesday.

One by one, working group mouthpieces dragged out the same, tired old

statistics proving conclusively that without a big, smelly, noisy new

airport in El Toro, the county will perish. They told us about how the

expansion of John Wayne Airport will bring a lot more pollution to our

area. That half-truth failed to include the fact that an El Toro airport

will pollute even more. Listening to them, you’d think they figured out

how to build and operate the world’s first fuel-cell airport. Yes sir, at

El Toro there won’t be any pollution anywhere from the thousands of

additional planes, cars and trucks.

A couple of the speakers even had trouble getting their story

straight. Costa Mesa city councilman Gary Monahan told us that “without

an airport at El Toro, there will be an expansion of John Wayne.”

That’s about as certain as one could be about anything, but hold on.

Only a few minutes later, speaker Tom Naughton said, “Without El Toro it

will be a real difficult chore to keep John Wayne intact.”

With apologies to the late Gilda Radner’s Emily Litella, “That’s very

different!”

Several times during the evening, there was a direct challenge to

those of us who believe that the big, smelly, noisy airport belongs

outside of the county and who also hold that John Wayne should not be

expanded. “Ask these people what they are doing to stop John Wayne” came

the challenge.

It’s an excellent idea. Outside of a few voices who have maintained

this position from the start and have not only let their local

representatives know how they feel but also promoted and supported last

year’s olive branch extended by the El Toro Reuse Planning Authority, too

few people have voiced their support of a no El Toro, no new John Wayne

strategy.

So please meet the working group’s challenge and call the county board

of supervisors, your local city council and any other relevant parties

listed in the front of your white pages and tell them you are opposed to

both El Toro and the expansion of John Wayne. They need to hear your

voice on this sensible position. Thanks to the working group for lighting

that fire.

Halfway through the presentation, the large screen on the stage showed

a quote from last February by planning authority executive director Paul

Eckles declaring that John Wayne’s expansion is the cheapest and fastest

way to meet the county’s aviation needs. That half-truth did not include

the information that Eckles’ quote was made a full year after the group

passed a resolution supporting efforts to limit John Wayne. That was the

olive branch; their way of bringing the El Toro mess to a close.

But the pro-airport folks refused to budge and after a year of

frustration the anti-El Toro crowd, fed up with the arrogance from the

pro-airport crowd, rescinded its offer. That’s when Eckles spoke.

The working group is not optimistic about the chances of stopping John

Wayne’s expansion. The fact is, if John Wayne’s capacity is increased

they will have to bear a large part of the blame. The working group,

along with other pro-El Toro forces, has put all of its eggs in the El

Toro basket and stubbornly refused any solution except a big, smelly,

noisy airport nine miles away.

This strategy has taken far longer than they anticipated and has now

run up against the ticking John Wayne clock. Desperate for a scapegoat,

the pro-airport forces are pointing fingers, even naming names, in a

shameful effort to absolve themselves of any responsibility.

Tuesday’s show was a sorry, last ditch, failed attempt to shift the

burden of responsibility to those who want to protect the county from the

type of airport that brings a lower standard of living, not a higher one.

Orange County is no place for a large new international airport,

particularly when other viable options exist.

That sentiment was best expressed by the gentleman sitting to my

right. After examining the regional map supplied by the working group, he

turned to his wife and said, “Why don’t they just build it at Camp

Pendleton?”

Oh, and please bring back Tom Wall. He’s a really good speaker.

* STEVE SMITH is a Costa Mesa resident and freelance writer. Readers

may leave a message for him on the Daily Pilot hotline at (949) 642-6086.