Fingers crossed on new El Toro talk

June Casagrande

Jet noise almost completely drowns out Russell Niewiarowski’s voice

as he tries to explain over the phone why his hope for an El Toro

airport has gotten a boost from the news that L.A. Mayor James Hahn

has asked federal authorities to consider turning the closed Marine

base into a commercial airport.

“It’s not over till the fat lady sings, and she hasn’t sung yet on

this one,” said Niewiarowski, a former pro-El Toro airport activist

whose West Santa Ana Heights home is three doors down from John Wayne

Airport’s runway.

While governmental and nongovernmental organizations wage an ink

war, Newport-Mesa residents are a little more reserved about what may

or may not be a revival of the pro-El Toro airport cause.

“I don’t know how it’s going to turn out,” said Robert Hanley, a

30-year resident of Santa Ana Heights who supports creating a

commercial airport at El Toro. “I can’t predict what the outcome will

be. I probably won’t live long enough to find out.”

Residents are split on whether the city of Los Angeles has a right

to push for decisions outside its jurisdiction. Hanley, for example,

doesn’t see air travel demand as a county issue.

“This is not a local issue,” he said. “This is really a national

issue.”

But Newport Coast resident Gerry Ross disagrees.

“I don’t like the fact that they’re meddling in our local

government,” Ross said. “I think that L.A. has no business whatsoever

in doing an end-around on the will of the people in Orange County.

... We don’t interfere with the governance of L.A. County.”

Ross, like many of his neighbors, is torn over El Toro. Some

Newport Coast homes might suffer as much under an El Toro airport as

they would under John Wayne Airport’s expansion.

“I’m conflicted,” Ross said. “For a lot of reasons, an El Toro

airport would be good for us. I just don’t want it in my back yard.”

B.J. Johnson, an officer of the Corona del Mar Residents Assn.,

said the association may revive discussions of the matter with its

next membership meeting, but it’s too soon to be sure.

“Our association supported the [Airport Working Group] originally,

and in my opinion, I think there’s definitely a need for an airport.

It just seems so simple and logical to me that it should be at El

Toro.”