Be bold in El Toro support

Hold on to your seats. And your caps. The grounded roller coaster has

been patched up enough that we can take another ride on the El Toro

Express. Meanwhile, the Agran Ark launched on the lake in the Great

Park has sprung a leak. And the victory champagne Rep. Chris Cox was

sharing with his Navy and development pals has gone flat. The new

ride may be bumpy, but at least there’s movement. So climb aboard.

All this, of course, because Los Angeles Mayor James Hahn has

asked the federal government to allow him to run a commercial airport

at the closed El Toro Marine Air Base, where Cox and his beloved

“private sector” are setting up shop. The projected need for airport

space in Southern California is expected to double in the next 20

years, and Hahn wants us to know that we won’t have Los Angeles to

kick around any more in trying to fill that need. “LAX,” he says,

“has clearly taken the brunt of the region’s aviation demand,” and it

is time for Orange County to be apportioned its fair share.

The outrage south of Newport-Mesa because Hahn pointed to El Toro

as the logical place to assume that “fair share” has been wonderfully

cacophonous. We should listen. And learn. Here’s how the anti-airport

folks responded, according to news stories in the Pilot and Los

Angeles Times.

The Orange County Board of Supervisors, by a 3-2 vote, sent off a

letter to U.S. Secretary of Transportation Norman Mineta telling him

to bug out because the county doesn’t want an airport at El Toro.

Board Chairman Tom Wilson had already sent a letter of his own to

Mineta telling him that the Board of Supervisors “will not tolerate

any attempt by the city of Los Angeles to overturn a local land use

decision made by the voters.”

An Orange County delegation in Washington pressured Rep. Jane

Harman (D-Palos Verdes) into withdrawing an amendment to an aviation

funding bill that would have required “sharing the burdens and

benefits of air transportation.” Supervisor Bill Campbell described

the Hahn move as a “Hail Mary pass” and called the White House to

promise a fight against it. And Pastor John Steward, who heads the

Clergy for Wholesome Communities, called it “morally wrong” and

asked, “When is enough?” -- a question I don’t recall him posing

after voters had twice approved the El Toro airport.

That’s a cross-section of what their guys are saying. So how about

our guys? The ones who believe firmly that the El Toro airport is an

incredible opportunity, virtually handed to us at a critical stage in

meeting the air transportation demands of this region? How are they

responding to this unexpected rising of El Toro from the dead?

Only two are quoted in the news stories I’ve seen.

Tom Naughton, president of the Airport Working Group, said that he

is “quite pleased with the leadership Mayor Hahn has shown on this

regional issue” and “the AWG supports it 100%.” And Newport Beach

City Councilman Tod Ridgeway also pledged his support, but added: “I

don’t think there’s anything for us to do. In Newport Beach, we have

always said that we’re not in the airport development business. This

is a regional and national growth issue, and it’s not best addressed

by cities or initiatives or referendums.”

Now, however you feel about El Toro, you’ll have to admit that

these comments don’t come very close to the fervor of the

anti-airport folks. So I called our guys in the hope of getting a

little more fire and clarity.

Naughton didn’t return my calls, but Ridgeway obliged cheerfully.

Our conversation was interrupted several times by planes taking off

from John Wayne, which lent a little drama to the discussion, at

least on my end.

I asked, since the El Toro opponents are writing all these letters

and making phone calls and sending delegations to Washington,

wouldn’t it be a good idea for the Newport Beach City Council to let

the targets of all this attention know that there are some people

back here who support the airport and welcome Hahn’s action?

Ridgeway said: “I see no political advantage in writing such

letters. As elected officials, it’s important for us to maintain the

coalition that joined us in the cap fight at John Wayne. Why would I

want to challenge that sleeping dog? This is a larger issue.”

Does he feel that the residents of Newport Beach are being

properly represented by this passive approach to the reopening of the

possibility of an airport at El Toro?

Ridgeway said: “There are split opinions here on the airport at El

Toro. There is a lot of opposition to it, for example, in Newport

Coast.”

Will the Newport Beach City Council at least address this issue by

seeking some means of representing the pro-airport position in

Washington?

Ridgeway said: “I don’t see any of this coming before the City

Council. Our No 1. job is protection of the JWA cap. Stirring the pot

would threaten the support for that position.”

Given all these cavils, how would he sum up what he sees as the

proper stance of the Newport Beach City Council in response to the

Hahn proposal?

Ridgeway said: “This is our last hope, but it’s the hard way. It’s

back to repeating the Measure W debate all over again. We’re staying

the course, but we have to be careful not to be too aggressive. It

can’t be our fight alone, because we have too much to lose.”

If any of our City Council members disagree with this assessment,

it would be good to hear from them. They might also like to consider

that maxim of the old Green Bay Packers that “the best defense is a

good offense.” So far, caution has paid off in a Great Park where an

airport was twice the choice of voters.

Meanwhile, we will carry Ridgeway’s fighting words on our standard

as we do battle for our last hope. A lot of my neighbors are writing

their support to Mayor Hahn with a copy to U.S. Transportation

Secretary Norman Y. Mineta. If that’s the way you feel, you might

want to do that, too.

You might also want to beef up caution with a pinch of passion and

a dash of aggression on behalf of the strong wishes of the majority

of the electorate in assessing City Council candidates at the next

municipal election.

* JOSEPH N. BELL is a resident of Santa Ana Heights. His column

appears Thursdays.