Newport officials backs kiosk effort

Paul Clinton

NEWPORT BEACH -- Councilman Gary Proctor wants visitors to the city to

understand the benefits of an airport at the closed El Toro Marine Corps

Air Station.

To accomplish his goal, Proctor said he will ask his councilcolleagues

whether the city should buy informational kiosks from Orange County that

are being used as part of the county’s “Just the Facts” public

information campaign.

Proctor said the kiosks could be placed at Fashion Island and other

locations known to attract crowds of visitors.

“In terms of the kiosks, they are very important,” Proctor said. “I

think there’s still a multitude of misinformation about what is being

proposed and what are the options.”

The county has already installed a kiosk in the terminal of John Wayne

Airport and one at the Westminster Mall. The airport kiosk is at the

southern end of the baggage claim area.

The Local Redevelopment Agency, the county’s airport planning arm, is

orchestrating the informational campaign.

The City Council is expected to consider buying one or more of the

kiosks at its Sept. 11 meeting, City Manager Homer Bludau said.

Each kiosk costs $9,973.

Set up in an interactive format, the device offers information

heralding the benefits of the county’s airport project. A majority on the

Board of Supervisors now supports an international airport at the former

base that would handle 28.8 million annual passengers.

The kiosks offer a brief informational video and three topic

categories -- “Master Plan,” “Facts” and “Subscribe.”

The kiosk allows viewers to browse the specifications of the county’s

airport and subscribe to e-mails and newsletters about the project.

In the video, a narrator says the airport is “essential to meeting

growing air service demand.” Without it, the region will “suffer

significantly,” the narrator says.

The airport will bring 146,000 jobs to the county, generate $4 billion

in personal income and $9.7 billion in revenue, according to information

in the kiosk.

Not everyone is as enamored with the kiosks as Proctor. Leonard

Kranser, a South County anti-airport activist, counts himself as one of

those people.

“The county’s program, including the kiosk, is an inappropriate use of

public funds to try to influence the outcome of an election,” Kranser

said.

Kranser’s group, the Community for Safe and Healthy Communities, has

launched a petition drive to bring a central park to the base.

The El Toro Reuse Planning Authority, a coalition of South County

cities, has also made that allegation in a suit against the county.