Costa Mesa has place in JWA handover

Should Costa Mesa have a place at the table when Newport Beach

officials and the Orange County Board of Supervisors sit down to

discuss the management -- and fate -- of John Wayne Airport? It’s an

interesting question, the answer to that seems, at first blush, to be

a resounding “yes.”

After all, the residents of the Eastside of Costa Mesa -- this

writer included -- will be significantly impacted by any changes made

to the airport. Anything that produces more air traffic -- or changes

the direction of existing traffic -- will affect us, as well as our

good friends and neighbors a couple blocks away in Newport Beach.

Should the city fathers of Newport Beach be eager to embrace us as

decision-making partners in this process? Logic, common sense and

plain old neighborliness would certainly seem to indicate so.

However, based on Costa Mesa’s consistently weak support for an

airport at El Toro -- such an obvious solution to the region’s

airport capacity woes that it is clear that only self-preservation

and pure politics governed the decisions of some of our officials --

one should not be surprised if Newport Beach is less than

enthusiastic about Costa Mesa trying to jump aboard the John Wayne

bandwagon now.

Where were our leaders when Newport Beach needed support in the El

Toro matter? Nowhere to be found.

Since the Great Boondoggle, er, Great Park is rolling along and --

despite recent mutterings about resurrecting the airport plan --

seems to be gaining steam, the only viable solution to resolving

Orange County’s airport capacity problem is expansion of John Wayne.

Recent articles about the addition of two “temporary” terminal

buildings to support increasing demand illustrate this problem loud

and clear. More demand equals more flights. More flights equate to

more noise. More noise equates to more complaints, etc.

Costa Mesa residents have every right to be apprehensive about the

direction -- literally -- that John Wayne will take. It’s not

unreasonable to believe that Newport Beach officials will view

flights directed over Costa Mesa a better alternative than continuing

to fly down the Back Bay, over Balboa Island and environs. If future

expansion of the airport requires longer runways and more

administrative areas then, by golly, the annexation of Santa Ana

Heights -- horse manure and all -- looks like a pretty good move to

me.

So, despite Costa Mesa’s previous weak support on airport-related

issues in the past, I wholeheartedly support Councilman Allan

Mansoor’s proposal that our city be given a voice and vote when it

comes to any changes in the status of John Wayne Airport.

Newport Beach officials may view John Wayne as a municipal issue,

but it’s not.

It is a regional issue and needs to be considered by a broader

constituency than those living within the borders of their city.

If, in fact, the Board of Supervisors is willing to hand off

control of the airport to a single city then, perhaps, all interested

cities should bid on the opportunity. Certainly, Irvine would jump at

the chance. That way, Irvine Mayor Larry Agran could have his cake

and eat it, too. He’d have his “Great Park” and his own little

airport, despoiling not a single resident of his kingdom.

Back to the point at hand. The answer to the question posed in the

first sentence of this letter is, indeed, “yes.” The leaders of our

city should demand a place at the table when the future of John Wayne

Airport is discussed.

GEOFF WEST

Costa Mesa