Rick Taylor: Making the residents a No. 1 priority

June Casagrande

To Rick Taylor, an expansion of John Wayne Airport poses the

biggest and most immediate threat to Newport Beach’s quality of life.

But the struggle to contain airport noise and expansion is also an

example of how the city government needs to work harder to improve

quality of life in every aspect of the city, he said.

“We need to get back to the people in every aspect of city life

and get away from the effects of development dollars on our City

Council,” Taylor said. “It’s not about the Kolls, it’s not about the

Conexants, it’s not about the Marinapark hotels. It’s about the

people.”

Traffic congestion, water quality, integrity in government and

adding park space and playing fields are just some of the things the

City Council must take on as part of a fundamental shift in focus, he

said. But no battlefront in Newport Beach is more important to the

lives of everyday families than the airport, he said.

“My strong concern is that the John Wayne Settlement Agreement is

not all that the City Council has led the people to believe it is,”

Taylor said. “But make no mistake about it: There will be a challenge

to it. Orange County’s air traffic needs will be at 35-million

passengers a year by the year 2020, and the settlement agreement only

looks as far ahead as 9.8-million passengers. It’s not a question of

whether someone is going to challenge it. It’s a question of when.”

Taylor also said that the extension, in some ways, leaves the city

more vulnerable to airport expansion than before. For example, its

language allows some of the agreement’s stipulations to be altered,

which could mean an increase in flights prior to 2005 -- the date the

original agreement was scheduled to expire.

“We need to look at a regional solution. We need to consider El

Toro and even look to places like Ontario and Long Beach,” said

Taylor, a member of the Airport Working Group. “Newport Beach can’t

become the fall guy for all the air traffic in Orange County.”

As a Greenlight candidate, traffic is also high on his priority

list.

“The current City Council has actually weakened our traffic

phasing ordinance,” Taylor said. “They made it possible to declare

certain intersections as ‘infeasible intersections,’” meaning that

the traffic problems there are basically irreparable and that, as a

result, no changes should be made there.

Naturally, water quality and air quality are prime examples, he

said. But again, these issues can best be addressed by a council that

puts the people first, he said.

“I want to get up there and listen to people and make them feel

comfortable coming up to the podium to address their council. In my

mind, being on the City Council is one of the most humbling things

you can do. You’re a servant of the people.”

*

RICK TAYLOR

AGE: 46

OCCUPATION: Attorney

FAMILY: Married to Irene; son, 11, and two daughters, 4 and 1

EDUCATION: Doctorate from Western State University; bachelor’s

from Cal State Fullerton; U.S. Army Institute of Administration in

Indiana

COMMUNITY SERVICE: Member of the Newport Beach Citizens Aviation

Committee; mentor of Youth Volunteers in Parole; vice president of

the Airport Working Group; past director of Child Guidance Center of

Orange County; alternate for the Airport Land Use Committee of Orange

County