Tearing apart the airport debate

Wow, my letter about putting the subject of an airport at El Toro to

bed appears to have done just the opposite. From the tone of the

letter writers who responded to my letter, it is obvious that one

should never discuss religion, politics or an airport at El Toro. I

do understand how strong are feelings and how deeply held are beliefs

on both sides.

But I do have to respond, because the thrust of my original letter

was that the issue of John Wayne Airport, the issue of an airport at

El Toro and the issue of Orange County’s economy had been lumped

together and are really separate issues. The letters responding to me

once again seem to pile all three issues together.

Lets get Orange County’s economic viability out of the way first.

I will never believe that the residents of Newport Beach who voted

for the Greenlight no-growth initiative and who voted down a proposed

eight-story office building near the Irvine border are in the least

interested in the county’s economic success. So let’s drop that one

right now.

One writer stated that all one had to do at El Toro was to turn on

the lights. I have been a close observer of airport development for

45 years and far from merely turning on the lights, billions of

dollars and years of work would have been required to turn El Toro

into a commercial airport.

And I am really tired of every person in favor of an airport at El

Toro suddenly becoming a flight zone expert. Let’s put flight zones

to bed right now. At Los Angeles International, the city of Los

Angeles bought and cleared out all of the homes in Playa del Rey

between the airport and the Pacific Ocean, giving airlines a

completely clear path for takeoff -- over open fields and the ocean.

What do pilots do? To save time and to save fuel they make a quick

right turn from the north runways right over the community of

Westchester and a quick left turn from the south runways right over

the city of El Segundo. Please don’t tell me about flight paths.

An airport at El Toro might have worked in 1960, but it was far

too late by 1990. I have seen reports on an alternative airport for

the past 30 years, and El Toro was always ruled out. Camp Pendleton

is still the best.

Now, let’s discuss something more peaceful, like Republicans

versus Democrats.

MARTIN A. BROWER

Corona del Mar