Editorial

For the last 10 years, nearly $11 million in tax money from the

residents of Newport Beach has gone toward the planning and pushing for

an airport at El Toro.

Oh yeah, that $10.94 million to be exact is just city money and it

doesn’t count the $50 million in county tax dollars (Newport Beach and

Costa Mesa pocketbooks included) that have gone toward the same effort,

an effort that took a major blow at the ballot box this month.

Now, we hear rumblings that the pro-El Toro airport forces aren’t

finished spending money yet. That they will be asking for more money from

the Newport Beach City Council to pursue their pro-El Toro efforts in the

courtroom and elsewhere.

We urge Newport Beach leaders to act with caution and guard the

taxpayer’s from what may become an even bigger monetary loss.

The ability to overturn the Measure W vote, which called for rezoning

the closed Marine base from aviation use to recreational use, will be a

difficult if not impossible task.

Still, we’re sure that the legal minds and political analysts of the

Airport Working Group and the Citizens for Jobs and the Economy will be

making the case to go forward.

Those groups most likely will need a big infusion of cash to do so,

and after enjoying the use of millions in taxpayer money over the years,

who would blame them for not wanting to shut off the spigot?

But the council needs to resist or at the very least, ask for a full

accounting if any cash is sent that way.

Recently, we asked for such an accounting of how the Airport Working

Group has been spending taxpayer funds. So far, we have yet to get answer

from either city or working group officials.

We presume there have been major battles won with those millions,

namely two countywide measures passed in favor of an airport and the

overturning of Measure F in the courts.

Again, we can only just presume, since we haven’t been handed the

details.

Even if we were, we can’t help but note there is a big difference in

the fatally flawed Measure F and the recently passed Measure W, which was

clearly built to withstand court challenges.

An even bigger loss is that of longtime El Toro proponent county

Supervisor Cynthia Coad, who has been replaced by vocal El Toro adversary

Chris Norby. With Norby in Coad’s seat, the board majority will take a

tilt toward South County’s anti-airport position.

Indeed, Supervisor Jim Silva even talked of backing down from his

pro-airport stance if Measure W passed.

And don’t forget that the Navy has already put the wheels in motion to

sell off the land to the highest private bidder, which would doom any

plans for aviation forever.

The council needs to keep that all in mind.

Even if more money is to be spent on pursuing the El Toro dream, the

obstacles to ever seeing an airport at that site are enormous.

And with the odds stacked that high, better that private funds are

used in those efforts and not risk losing even more than the $10.9

million the Newport taxpayers have probably already lost.