Early Bird News... Week of August 5, 2002
El Toro Airport Message Board: El Toro Airport Message Board: Early Bird News... Week of August 5, 2002
Great Park plan for El Toro keys on reducing need for cars
http://www.ocregister.com/local/irvinegreatpark00805cci4.shtml
August 5, 2002
By ERIC JOHNSON
The Orange County Register
Part of Irvine's plan to turn the former El Toro Marine base into the Great Park includes building homes - from 1-acre golf-course estates to senior housing.
At the foot of the base, however, lies the most unusual concept: "transit-oriented development" based around the Irvine Transit Center in the Spectrum.
In the community of some 1,750 homes, walking or taking light rail would be the norm, not getting on a freeway.
The area is at the southern tip of the base and most of the 213-acre site lies within a 440-acre parcel already within the city limits.
Transit-oriented development, commonly known as TOD, is often dense, with housing mingled closely with retail and office space. Its fundamental concept is to make cars less necessary.
The idea is to put life's amenities within walking distance, said Mayor Larry Agran.
"It's near a transportation hub, vast employment centers and cultural and recreational opportunities," he said. "It sounds like an ideal place to live to me."
Some aren't convinced.
"I don't think the market's as large as they think it is," said John Kleinpeter, a former Planning Commission chairman who now heads a group opposed to a three-city light-rail project that includes Irvine.
"Cities around the country are offering great tax incentives to developers to build these communities, but they aren't successful."
Agran, though, said the Navy is counting on the transit-oriented development to be one of its biggest cash producers from a public auction of the El Toro base.
Irvine's plan hinges on selling certain parts of the base to builders of commercial and residential properties in exchange for those developers giving back huge parcels for public use.
Scott Bollens, a professor of urban planning at the University of California, Irvine, said development must parallel transit construction.
"For transit to work, whether it's Metrolink or CenterLine, there has to be denser, more clustered development," Bollens said.
"That's why it works in urban areas and it doesn't in suburban areas until you reach a certain density. You need a symbiosis between land use and a transit system."
But Kleinpeter called transit-oriented development a "small, niche market."
"For the people who choose to live next to train tracks, it provides needed housing," Kleinpeter said. "Most of the rest of Irvine chooses to stay away from the train tracks."
Steiner returns to O.C. -- sort of
http://www.ocregister.com/local/buzz00805cci.shtml
August 5, 2002
Everything is new again ... For a few years, former County Supervisor William Steiner left Orange County behind. He took a job with ChildHelp International in Arizona, leaving bitter memories of the bankruptcy and being prosecuted for willful misconduct (a charge that was thrown out -- still, it leaves a mark on a guy). But now, Steiner's back. He bought a house in the Orange hills in July and is mulling helping his son Scott Steiner, a deputy district attorney, mount another bid for Orange City Council. Steiner still works for ChildHelp, but will be spending more time in Orange County.
On the subject of bankruptcy-era supervisors, Gaddi Vasquez -- who stepped down amid the troubles -- is not back. He's still in Washington, heading up the Peace Corps. But the bloodline lives on in the County Hall as his son, Jason Vasquez, 23, has been hired as an aide to Supervisor Todd Spitzer.
If you don't think Orange County Fair Board seats are coveted by political hotshots -- and are partisan rewards for service -- consider this: Former Assembly Speaker Curt Pringle was appointed to the unpaid panel four years ago by then-Gov. Pete Wilson. Now that the Republican's term is up, Democratic Gov. Gray Davis is replacing him with Frank Barbaro, a lawyer who lives in Laguna Beach and who, not coincidentally, is chairman of the Democratic Party of Orange County.
Speaking of the fair ... When Garden Grove Councilman Mark Leyes moved into his house six years ago, he also got a back yard full of fruit trees and vines. With, as it turns out, prize- winning fruit. His oranges, figs and grapes all won blue ribbons at the fair this year. He's particularly happy with the award for oranges. "To be certified as having the best oranges in Orange County is a point of personal pride," he said. For the record, the events are a beauty contest -- fruits are judged on appearance, not taste.
Come fall, you'll be able to sample the finalists in the county's computer-voting derby. The county is now accepting proposals for the computerized voting machines. Finalists will be selected by September, when 11 public meetings will be held to allow the public to try the favored machines and give input before supervisors pick the winner. The new system should be in place by March 2004.
El Toro Ready for a Student Invasion
http://www.latimes.com/editions/orange/la-me-csuf5aug05.story
ORANGE COUNTY
Education: After a $1.4-million renovation, classes at Cal State Fullerton's new satellite campus begin Aug. 26.
By VIVIAN LETRAN
TIMES STAFF WRITER
August 5 2002
Until the Marines pulled out, the aging but graceful building off Desert Storm Way served as the headquarters for an elite squadron of pilots. Now, the building at the mothballed El Toro Marine base is on the verge of rebirth.
By the end of the month, Cal State Fullerton students will enroll in criminal justice, nursing, public administration, adolescent behavior and teacher-credential classes at the closed base.
The state university has signed a 10-year lease to use the 46,000-square-foot military leftover as a satellite campus, aimed at South County students who otherwise would have to drive across the county to reach the Fullerton campus. Nearly one-fifth of the 30,000 students enrolled at Cal State Fullerton live in the southern part of the county.
"We want to go where the students are," said George Giacumakis, director of the new El Toro campus. "So we thought it was time for us to spread out a little bit in that region. We're running out of space here."
Classes begin Aug. 26.
The number of students attending class at the old Marine base is expected to reach 2,500 for the fall semester--nearly double the enrollment of the college's previous satellite campus in Mission Viejo.
The college spent more than $1.4 million renovating the two-story Spanish-style building that once housed the Wing Command Headquarters.
The building will have 22 classrooms and 48 offices, as well as a cafe and a student bookstore. With the base largely unused, parking will not be a problem. There will be 550 marked spaces when class starts.
Plans to move and expand the South County campus to El Toro began in 1993 after it was announced the base would close. The lease was signed last fall.
Shuttles will transport students who are enrolled in upper-level and graduate programs between the Fullerton and El Toro campuses, university officials said.
"Now that the El Toro campus is closer to the main campus, we expect students to mix and match courses between the main campus and El Toro, or enroll exclusively at El Toro," said Sylvia Alva, assistant vice president for academic programs in Fullerton.
The El Toro campus offers complete degree programs, especially in education-related disciplines.
"Those were our most popular courses at the main campus, so we want to expand them to El Toro," Alva said. "There's a strong demand in California to prepare more teachers and so there's more course work in the teacher-credential area."
Marketing brochures about the El Toro campus have been sent to Cal State Fullerton students since April.
"It's an exciting venture for the campus. This is a project that has been in development for a long time and it's nice to see that it's all coming together," Alva said. "It's like having dual citizenship; you can move in and out of the two campuses as needed and it's exciting for the students in terms of the potential."
The history of the base will not be completely lost on students.
Giacumakis, a history teacher, plans to collect information and memorabilia about the old air base and incorporate it into a community history class.
More people flying, fewer flights in the air
From http://www.latimes.com/tcn/pilot/news/la-dpt-bizbriefs05aug05.story
John Wayne Airport witnessed a 4.3% increase in airline passenger traffic in June 2002 as compared to June 2001. While passenger traffic has totaled 715,613 as compared to last year's count of 685,949 passengers, the total number of aircraft operations during the same months decreased.
In June 2002 the total number of aircraft operations, which consists of both take-offs and landings, was 31,839, a 10.5% decrease from the June 2001 when aircraft operations totaled 35,572.
Similarly, the June 2002 commercial carrier flight operations also experienced a decrease of more than 2% while the commuter carrier operations (air taxis) showed a significant decrease of 44.7% when compared to June 2001.
Overall, the general aviation activity at the airport, which accounted for 76% of the total aircraft operations during June 2002, revealed an 11.6% decrease when compared to the same month last year.
The airport is a self-supporting enterprise, owned and operated by the County of Orange.
What did Steiner say when he left office and cast his last vote on El Toro? Something like "it's nice to be able to cast a vote on what I believe rather than worry about special interests. Something like that...very telling as I recall.
Fifth El Toro vote voided
http://www.ocregister.com/local/toro00806cci2.shtml
Smith lacked supervisors' support to put land measure on the ballot again.
August 6, 2002
By PETER LARSEN
The Orange County Register
County Supervisor Charles Smith spiked his proposal Monday for yet a fifth El Toro election after realizing he lacked a board majority to put it on the ballot.
"It's strictly a matter of support - I still think it's a good idea," Smith said of a ballot measure that would have given voters the right to approve development plans at the former El Toro Marine Corps Air Facility. He dropped it after only Board Chairwoman Cynthia Coad signed on.
Voters approved an initiative for a "Great Park" at the closed base, and Smith said he believes the 3,400 homes and 2.9 million square feet of commercial space that Irvine added should go before voters.
"I think the voters have a right to approve or reject any kind of commercial development at El Toro," he said.
Residents still are likely to vote again on El Toro this fall - but only on a nonbinding advisory measure.
Three of five board members said Monday that they will support a proposal by Coad for a November measure to urge the Navy to finish all environmental cleanup before El Toro is sold.
Smith and Supervisor Todd Spitzer said they would support Coad's ballot proposal. Spitzer said he would back her plan even though he suspects Coad wants to slow Irvine's proposed annexation more than clean the base - pointing to a December vote where she opposed a county study of El Toro contamination if it became a park.
Coad said she did so because El Toro was slated for use as an airport at that time.
"When a park is what it's going to be, we've got kids who are going to put dirt in their mouths," Coad said. "I've raised seven, I know there's a point when they put dirt in their mouths. We want to make sure it's not radioactive or toxic."
Tustin Marine base museum plan gets look
http://www.ocregister.com/news/blimppatch00806cci3.shtml
August 6, 2002
By MONICA VALENCIA
The Orange County Register
A plan to transform one of the cavernous blimp hangars at the former Tustin Marine base into the world's largest military museum could get a jump-start at today's county Board of Supervisors meeting.
The board is set to vote on an $88,730 contract to hire a consultant to prepare a study on building a self-sufficient military museum and cultural center in the structure.
The project already includes an inventory of more than $60 million worth of military tanks, aircraft, weapons and uniforms from donors and private collectors who have signed agreements to let the museum exhibit their war memorabilia.
The northernmost blimp hangar lies on an 84.5-acre lot at the closed Tustin Marine Corps Air Facility, which the county plans to develop into a regional park.
The time frame for the project is outside the county's control - the Navy needs to clean up a toxic plume near the hangar before it can be turned over to the county.
The Board of Supervisors, which unanimously ordered the study Nov.20, is expected to approve the contract at today's meeting.
Veterans' museum may fly
http://www.ocregister.com/news/blimp00806cci.shtml
Group is pushing for a military museum to be housed in blimp hangar at Tustin Marine base.
August 6, 2002
By MONICA VALENCIA
The Orange County Register
TUSTIN -- The tragedy of Pearl Harbor would be felt standing on the deck of the bridge of a warship. Division officers would shout, "Man your battle stations! This is not a drill!" The report of anti-aircraft guns would fill the room as the bombs of the Japanese Imperial Navy fell dangerously close.
The scene is one exhibit that visitors could encounter at the proposed Orange County Veterans Museum Project housed at one of the behemoth blimp hangars at the former Tustin Marine Corps Air Station.
"It's going to be loud and shocking, very Universal Studios-like, an absolute attack on all senses on what it was like Dec. 7, 1941, when the first bombs started falling," said Jeffrey Sharp, an archivist with the county's Veterans Service Office.
Sharp is helping develop the plans for the proposed museum, which would showcase Orange County's rich military history.
The Tustin base, then called Marine Corps Air Station Santa Ana, was instrumental in introducing helicopters for air-assault tactics during the Korean War. Many fighter pilots who served in Vietnam came from the El Toro base, Sharp said.
Furthermore, scores of aircraft-carrier pilots trained at Los Alamitos, and the first U.S. troops to fight in Korea came from Camp Pendleton. There was an outpost at Bolsa Chica used as a lookout for Japanese submarines. One of the larger Japanese internment camp round-ups occurred in Orange County at the Los Alamitos racetrack, Sharp said.
"Orange County is on the map because of its military presence," said county Supervisor Todd Spitzer, whose district includes the Tustin base. "We want people who come here to visit Disneyland and Knott's Berry Farm to also visit the (proposed) veterans' museum."
County officials are working with veterans' groups to put Orange County on the map again as the location of the world's largest military museum. Nationally, the West Point Military Academy is home to the largest military museum.
The plan calls for converting the 18-story-high structure into a museum that chronicles military history and honors the county's 227,000 veterans, the third-highest number in the state after Los Angeles and San Diego counties. Every day, the nation loses 1,700 veterans, according to the California Department of Veterans Affairs.
"World War II veterans are passing away every day," said Ron Melendez, manager of the Veterans Service Office. "We want to honor them before they go or move away."
An all-out attack on the senses
Planners envision an interactive museum where veterans can bring their children and grandchildren to experience the sights, sounds and smells they remember when they served their country.
So far, more than $60 million worth of military artifacts has been collected locally and from 30 to 40 collectors internationally.
Many of the 94 vehicles from World War I to Desert Storm come from more than $1 million worth of restored autos and replicas used in "Windtalkers," a movie starring Nicolas Cage about a U.S. Marine assigned to protect a Navajo code talker from the Japanese.
Many of the military vehicles for the museum are stored in a county warehouse and yard at the Veterans Service office in Santa Ana.
In July, Bill Mannes, president of the United Veterans Organization, directed Melendez to launch fund-raising efforts for the museum, which would include a cultural center for groups to hold events and ultimately help make the museum self-sufficient.
Until the county-commissioned study of the blimp hangar is completed, it is unclear exactly how much it would cost to build the veterans' museum. Organizers aim to raise $1 million by Jan. 2003, $5 million in 18 months and $10 million in three years.
Time line still up in the air
Melendez, who plans to pursue state and federal educational grants for the museum, estimates that it would cost $3.5 million to bring the blimp hangar up to code.
It is unclear exactly when the blimp hangar will be transferred from the U.S. Navy to the county because a toxic plume near the hangar still needs to be cleaned up.
In the meantime, county officials are pursuing a lease with the U.S. Navy to use two buildings at the Tustin base for an interim museum, possibly by the end of the year, Melendez said.
Walt Ehlers, of Buena Park, the only one of eight Medal of Honor recipients in Orange County who is still alive, will also loan his war memorabilia to the museum.
"It's important for children to know about the founders of our country, and what (veterans) did to make this a free country," he said.
Register staff writer Gary Robbins contributed to this report.
El Toro Ballot Proposal Dropped
http://www.latimes.com/editions/orange/la-me-eltoro6aug06.story
ORANGE COUNTY
Supervisors: Smith fails to win support for a Nov. 5 referendum on Irvine's park plan.
By JEAN O. PASCO
TIMES STAFF WRITER
August 6 2002
Supervisor Chuck Smith withdrew a proposal late Monday that would have asked Orange County voters in November to authorize another vote on the fate of the closed El Toro Marine base.
Smith's move came as Board of Supervisors Chairwoman Cynthia P. Coad picked up support for her plan to ask voters to urge the Navy to completely clean the base before it is sold to private developers.
The flurry of interest in new measures was triggered by the Board of Supervisors' Friday deadline to place items on the Nov. 5 ballot.
Smith said he dropped his proposal after failing to draw enough support. He wanted a countywide referendum on Irvine's plans to add homes and other developments to an urban park at El Toro. In March, voters backed a measure calling for a park at the closed base instead of a commercial airport.
Irvine wants to annex the 4,700-acre base, adding 3,400 homes and 2.9 million square feet of office space to plans for a university, cemetery, golf and sports fields. The Navy announced in April that it would sell the base to the highest bidder under Irvine's annexation plans.
"Suddenly, some members of this board are selective about what they want the voters to ratify," Smith said in a statement.
Supervisor Todd Spitzer said public support is behind the Irvine plan. "For the board to put on an initiative without a groundswell of public support was going to be a failure," he said.
However, Spitzer said he will back Coad's proposal for a November advisory vote on an environmental cleanup at the base. He said he has long called for the Navy to do a thorough examination of contamination and to clean up the soil before any acreage is sold--the intent of Coad's measure.
Smith said he wasn't sure how he would vote on Coad's measure. He said he shared her frustration, however, because the Navy prohibited the county from testing soil at El Toro and based its cleanup plan on the base being used as an airport, not a park.
Supervisor Jim Silva didn't return calls for comment Monday.
If the park zoning voters approved in March "is the law of the land, we need to make sure the land is cleaned up for it," Coad said.
El Toro - Rex' LB Press Telegram letter
http://www.presstelegram.com/opinions/articles/0802/06/forum.asp
The Orange County supervisors may place El Toro back on the ballot. Sure, many people are tired of the debate and just want it to go away, including yours truly. But the underlying problem is that airport demand will just not go away.
Look at what's happening now. American Airlines has threatened to sue for more slots at Long Beach if they are not granted by January 2003. Last time there was a lawsuit (Alaska Airlines vs. City of Long Beach) the flight caps increased from 15 to 41 a day or 273 percent. Repeat that percentage and there will be 112 daily low altitude approaches over Los Alamitos, Seal Beach and Huntington Beach. In addition, there are two east-west runways that point at Cerritos and Orange Avenues. This would impact Cypress, Stanton, Anaheim and Buena Park.
The V Plan for El Toro has the blessing of the pilots' unions. This can be a win-win for all. No more hassle with LAX, no trips to Inland Empire airports. And best of all, nobody in the county has to get hurt and lose their home. If our county chooses to hit the snooze button now, they will have a very rude wake-up call in 2006 or sooner. The locals better have a solution, or Washington, D.C. will have one, and it won't be pretty.
Rex Ricks
Huntington Beach
THE FOLLOWING IS A HOAX. IT WAS NOT POSTED BY THE REAL MEDIA WATCHER AND SHOULD BE READ AS ONLY A PARODY.
We enjoy humor. Keep it coming. However, this Board takes a dim view of individuals posting as someone else or posting misleading information in a manner that attempts to look authentic.
To do so could lead to the poster's IP address being blocked. - EDITOR
------------
Airport planning behind the scenes
http://www.ocregister.com/local/interviewwithourgang.shtml
August 5, 2002
By HUGH JASS
The Orange County Register
One would assume that building the nation's third largest airport, one slated to serve over 30 million passengers per year, would entail a relatively open planning process. Not so in Orange County. The Register has obtained a tape made during a recent closed-door session of the Orange County Board of Supervisors that reveals a slightly less forthcoming approach to the planned airport at the former El Toro Marine Corps Air Station. Here is the transcript:
Supervisor Charles Smith – "This meeting is now in session. Does anyone know where Jim (Silva) went? He was just here a minute ago."
Supervisor Cynthia Coad – "He forgot his pen. He'll be right back."
Smith – "I've got an extra pen dammit. He can have my pen. The last time he went looking for his pen he never came back."
Coad – "(unintelligible)"
Smith – "What did you say?"
Coad – "Nothing. He'll be right back. Look, I know you don't like the way things are going but you don't have to take it out on us."
Tom Coad – "She's right Chuck. We’re all in the same boat here."
Smith – "Oh, the voice of reason. It’s your advice that got us into this mess in the first place. I should have known a dentist would turn everything into pulling teeth. You’re not even supposed to be in this meeting, this is a closed-door session."
T. Coad – "(snicker) Yeah, right."
C. Coad – "Speaking of formalities, did we send a closed-session notice to Todd (Spitzer) and Tom (Wilson)?"
Smith – "I put it on their desks myself, in the usual spot."
C. Coad – "Good, then I doubt they’ll be joining us today. I guess we can start."
Smith – "What about Jim?"
C. Coad – "Does it matter? If it matters to you, we’ll wait."
Smith – "No, let’s get this over with."
T. Coad – "Fine then. Our topic for today will be Measure B. I have a letter here I’d like to read. Como estas amigos, greetings from Spain..."
Smith – "Hang on a second. Is that machine running again?"
C. Coad – "I’ll check my purse."
Smith – "No dammit. That machine, the tape recorder over there."
T. Coad – "You know what, I think it is."
Smith – "Damn that Todd. I hate these snot-nosed up-and-comers. Think they’re sooo smart."
(footsteps, static, end of tape)
Is this for real? The link didn't work. If it is....talk about a smoking gun! Maybe now the Register and Times will do some real journalism and see what the hell is and was going on all these years at the County Hall
Excellent article. Hard-hitting. I read a similar article by Rodney Gozinya sometime back.
No, it is not. As you can see the phony "Media Watcher" is a Cox customer, not my IP.
Hey, if you want to pretend to be someone else, at least do it wisely.
Is there a way you can make the posting software reject the names MEDIA WATCHER and EDITOR unless posted by Len & (whoever Media watcher is)?
Yes Rex, you're absolutely right! If we don't cave in and allow at least the "V" plan to go forward, life as we know it here in Orange County will end by 2006. Oh, the humanity! My God, think of the children who won't be able to fly quite as effortlessly! Think of all of the business elite from Newport who will have to, shudder, spend a few more minutes travel time to a regional airport situated in such a way as to not forever ruin the quality of life for thousands of people.
I await Armageddeon.
The fake "Media Watcher" did leave another clue - the alleged reporter's name is (phonetically) huge ass.
That about sums it up.
Bob.
PS: As satire, I'd give it 8 / 10. :-)
Say the name of the Register reporter out loud
a couple of times. That should tell you all you
need to know about the "authenticity" of the
story.
I'm surprised they didn't use "Seymour Butz"
instead.
I went in and identified the post as a hoax. See above.
We like humor, including parodies, but they need to be honestly labeled as such. Imitations of other posters will not be tolerated. If you want to be clever, do so under your own moniker.
And a good imitation of Pignataro http://www.ocweekly.com/ink/00/15/el-pignataro.php
One of my favorite, especially the future telling last line.
Interesting comment from the "editor" of eltoronow to the Register story about killing Measure B, above:
http://www.eltoronow.org/daily.htm
(Editor: Supervisor Coad's Toxic Cleanup ballot initiative has support, but not by Silva)
My apologies to all. I certainly didn't intend to
mislead anyone. I thought it would be very
obvious that the article was just a joke. I can't
use my own moniker for parodies (for obvious
reasons) but from now on I promise to resist the
tempatation to hijack Media Watcher's untarnished
reputation.
This will cost you a visit to Tia Juana at the next Sam Adams club and drinks for everyone. Or a performance at the Karaoke club, or participating in that "mooning the Amtrak" annual event.
Silva's a genius!
He never really supported an airport at all but, could not admit it. He orchestrated the whole "encilada". He knew in 1999 Measure "W" would eventually kill the airport. Read the article MW posted from the OC weekly above. Truly telling.
SILVA: "How about W?"
Boy, I wish this was the truth. :-)
The fake "tape" is probably a good deal tamer than the real thing!
Measure will let residents say if they want Navy to remove poisons from base.
http://www.ocregister.com/local/toro00807cci2.shtml
August 7, 2002
By PETER LARSEN
The Orange County Register
El Toro is back on the ballot after county supervisors agreed Tuesday to ask voters in November to express their concern - or lack thereof - about environmental cleanup at the former Marine base.
The advisory-only measure proposed by board Chairwoman Cynthia Coad will let residents say whether they want the Navy to complete the cleanup of toxic contaminants at El Toro before it is sold or developed.
"This is simply good policy," Coad said. "It's hard for me to imagine that anyone, in good conscience, would be opposed to this initiative."
The ballot measure was approved 4-0, with Supervisor Tom Wilson absent. Supervisor Todd Spitzer, who opposed Coad and the board majority that long had pushed for an airport at El Toro, said cleanup of the base is needed regardless of what is built there - the now-dead airport or the current plan for parks, open space, homes and businesses.
"It's not anti- vs. pro-airport," Spitzer said. "It is about ensuring that whatever the ultimate reuse of the base, there will not be any additional costs to the taxpayer."
The measure is nonbinding on the Navy, which owns the base. A military spokeswoman declined comment until officials review the measure.
Lake Forest Councilwoman Marcia Rudolph, a longtime member of the citizen panel overseeing El Toro environmental cleanup, said the measure may be more symbolic than substantial.
"It's a nice gesture, but I'm not so sure it will do what it intends to do," Rudolph said. "To the degree that it raises the attention and the quality of the remediation, I think it's good.
"But I don't think we ought to get stuck in the quicksand of thinking just because parcels at the base are up for sale, that means the whole base is clean."
Rudolph said the panel believes much progress is being made with the Navy and other federal and state agencies working on the cleanup. Much of the remaining work will be completed by 2004 or 2005, she estimated, but some - such as the removal of contaminants from ground water - will take 30 or 40 years.
El Toro Vote to Seek Full Navy Cleanup
Land use: Orange County supervisors unanimously back a ballot measure to urge stricter detoxifying of the closed Marine air station before its sale.
http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-supes7aug07.story?coll=la%2Dheadlines%2Dcalifornia
By JEAN O. PASCO and EVAN HALPER, TIMES STAFF WRITERS
Orange County voters in November will be asked to urge the Navy to completely clean the former El Toro Marine base before it is sold, thrusting the issue of toxic pollution on the site to center stage as redevelopment plans proceed.
The base, which closed in July 1999, is on the federal Superfund list as one of the nation's most polluted sites. The Nov. 5 ballot measure asks the Navy to reconcile its cleanup plan for El Toro with studies by Irvine and the county contention that the Navy's plan is inadequate.
The move Tuesday to involve voters was unanimous among county supervisors--a rarity in El Toro's tumultuous eight-year planning history.
Public attention on the 4,700-acre base has focused on whether it should be rebuilt as a commercial airport. Voters in March grounded that plan, instead approving zoning for a large urban park.
Supervisors agreed Tuesday that a swift and complete cleanup of El Toro transcends arguments over what should be built there.
A public call for full cleanup could resonate beyond Orange County. Congress is moving toward approving more military base closings in 2005, meaning more communities would be eyeing the Navy's record at El Toro.
Board of Supervisors Chairwoman Cynthia P. Coad, who drafted the measure, said the county has an obligation to ensure the Navy cleans the land before it is sold.
Unexpected pollution discovered at other closed bases has stalled redevelopment and added millions of dollars in costs.
The Navy plans to dispose of the base by auctioning it off to developers next year. The winning bidders will be permitted to build on 16% of El Toro and will have to donate the rest for public use as a condition of sale.
"Experience at other bases should be a wake-up call to this board and taxpayers throughout the county," Coad said. "This gives developers a fair shake too, so they know what they're getting."
Navy officials were unavailable for comment Tuesday on the ballot measure.
Passage would put pressure on the Navy to defend its cleanup plan, said Greg Hurley, an environmental attorney and past chairman of the El Toro environmental review board.
The Navy's plan was approved while El Toro was still slated to become an airport. Irvine now hopes to annex the base and expand the amount of development. The 4,000 acres that developers will be required to set aside for public use as part of Irvine's plan would become a "Great Park," with golf courses, playing fields, a university, a cultural complex and a cemetery.
County supervisors don't "want the legacy of being the people behind the bench when the biggest environmental catastrophe in the county went by them," Hurley said. "It gets Irvine residents thinking about it too. They have to be very careful about what they decide to do out there because it could easily bankrupt the city."
Some say the ballot measure is a move to shame the Navy into doing a more thorough review of El Toro. If there was no record of hazardous substances on a section of the base, for example, the Navy didn't test the area, according to the Navy's own review. The Navy barred the county from taking its own soil samples.
"It's an attempt to put political pressure on them," said Aimee Houghton, associate director of the Center for Public Environmental Oversight, a Northern California group that monitors base cleanup nationwide. "One of the biggest lessons people have learned is to get assurances upfront that they will be getting cleanup consistent with their land-use plan for the base."
In November 2000, San Francisco voters overwhelmingly passed a similar referendum demanding the Navy do a better job of cleaning up Hunters Point, a shipyard on San Francisco Bay that was closed in 1977 and that is also on the Superfund list. Cleanup of Hunters Point remains unfinished.
"[The measure] passed, but we can't say for certain that it had an effect," Houghton said. "If the Navy was susceptible to these kinds of things, they never would have let themselves get to the point they are at with these bases."
The National Assn. of Installation Developers, a Washington group that advises communities on the base conversion process, has been pushing the military to release better information about contaminants on bases early on.
"You are having ballot measures and things like that because communities are not always getting quality information," said Tim Ford, the association's deputy executive director.
Sometimes, political pressure is the only way to get the government to act, said Gene Stuard, vice president of the Forrestale Group, based in Louisiana. The company assesses the damage to property caused by contamination. Orange County's ballot measure is an "excellent approach to the problem," he said.
State environmental officials wouldn't comment on the ballot measure, but said they will conduct confirmation field tests on the base before allowing it to be transferred to private ownership.
"They will have to go back and clean anything that is still contaminated or we won't approve the transfer," said Ron Baker, spokesman for the Department of Toxic Substances at the California Environmental Protection Agency. If contamination is found later, the Navy will have to come back and remove it.
Supervisor Todd Spitzer, who fought the airport but backed Coad's ballot measure, said he will campaign for its passage. But that still won't assure complete cleanup at El Toro, where toxic dumping took place for 56 years.
"The base will never be fully cleaned up," Spitzer said. "I don't know if it is even scientifically or economically possible."
Life after Measure W
http://www.latimes.com/tcn/pilot/news/la-dpt-nbbrfs07aug07.story
BRIEFLY IN THE NEWS
August 7 2002
Millennium Group hosts airport meeting
"Life after Measure W; What's Next for Communities in the John Wayne Airport Flight Corridor?" is the title of a presentation to be given by the New Millennium Group at 7:30 p.m. Thursday at the North Bluff Clubhouse, 2490 Vista del Oro, Newport Beach.
The talk, open to the public, will look at ways the El Toro base might still absorb future air-travel demand. Information: Ann Watt, (949) 263-0708.
El Toro alternative found lacking
http://www.latimes.com/tcn/pilot/news/opinion/la-dpt-comment07aug07.story
COMMUNITY COMMENTARY
By Esther Fine
August 7 2002
Charles H. Loos may have been a journalist at one time, but his Aug. 2 letter (Community Commentary, "El Toro isn't the only option for an international airport," Friday) certainly lacked the required investigative qualities necessary for providing good reporting.
Loos questioned the money spent on the planning and promoting of an El Toro airport, finding it a waste that could have gone for more welfare programs or infrastructure projects. Then, he returned to the old, tired argument of finding another site like Camp Pendleton and building a transportation system to get to it.
Loos seems to have been taken in by South County's propaganda machine. He should have read the numerous and exhaustive official reports that explain the serious air and ground transportation problems our region is facing without El Toro. Every potential possibility for another airport, including Pendleton, has been thoroughly examined and discarded due to "fatal flaws."
The ugly truth is that without El Toro airport, John Wayne Airport will be forced to expand significantly. To keep our quality of life, property values and sanity, Newport Beach was forced to counter the massive misinformation campaign by South County cities. Trouble is, Irvine's nearly $20 million to stop an El Toro airport was no match for the meager $3-plus million the Newport Beach City Council provided.
When Loos sees JWA expanding and Newport Beach deteriorating, he might want to reconsider his position. Cities within the JWA corridor should have spent whatever needed to secure an El Toro airport because there is no issue that will prove more important.
* ESTHER FINE is a Newport Beach Realtor.
Media Watcher,
If I haven't thanked you before, I am now.
You do a great job.
To everyone else, I want to say that as I sit here at work today, and as I travel, I constantly check this site for El Toro news. next to my family, my job, faith, etc.......this issue is near the top for me.
But I have to now say that I can could care less about the expansion of JWA.......I say JWA 24/7. Now I know that some of you will respond by saying that:
-"We need to also fight JWA expansion because of quality of life issues".
-We need to be "understanding" because "not everyone in NB is pro-airport".
-"Increase in flights at JWA will also cause increases in traffic in the surrounding areas".
-Yada, Yada, Yada.
Well, why were we called "Nimby's" and the folks in NB and CDM are not?
JWA has been a commercial airport for many years, and many of their residents moved there knowing this.
Measure F would have helped protect them, and they either chose to ignore it......or lobbied hard against it.
Newport Beach is getting precisely what they deserve.
Reminds me of when I played football in college. When I left home to start my Freshman year, and reported for "two a day" practices in mid-August, I thought I was really tough. And then within a couple of days of practice, I began getting my brains beat out by Seniors who were bigger, stronger, and faster than I.
Sure did humble me. Problem was, those Seniors remembered when they were Freshman, and took no mercy.
My point is NB, and their leaders (not to mention Coad, Silva, and Smith) should have shown mercy early-on, but they didn't. Their mentality was to keep pounding, and pounding, and pounding. South County finally "woke up", and we started doing some pounding of our own.
I say please don't forget the pounding that we've taken for the past 9 years. I won't.
I won't forget arguing with my wife about selling the house and moving to Palos Verdes or Redondo Beach, since it's close to my work.
I won't forget explaining to my kids why we may have to move.
I won't forget all of those jerks who attempted (and are still trying) to ruin our quality of life and equity positions.
I'm angry, and I will never forget all of this crap.
So please, all of you bleeding hearts for NB, CDM, Costa Mesa:
JWA-24/7 !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
JWA-24/7 !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
JWA-24/7 !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Another thing,
We should all call Ann Watt from the Millennium Group, and tell her she's full of crap, and wasting her time.
Better yet, show up in person.
The NY Chief would get their attention!!!!!!!!
I am not sure about the rest of you, but Coad's "clean-up guarantee" measure could in fact give the AWG the needed extra time to re-instate an airport at El Toro.
As it says, it could take until 2005 or longer depending on the county's discursion of how clean the base needs to be in order for Irvine to annex the land and the Navy to start the bidding process. That's three plus years too many for Smith, Silva, and (God forbid) Tom Coad to reconstruct a new airport plan.
Hell, NPB is still having battle-plan meetings on the very subject of re-exhuming the airport. There propaganda machine is spinning its wheels in every local newspaper.
Also it's a brilliant stall plan, who in their right mind would vote against this measure? Everyone wants this property cleaned as best as it can and everyone knows the government is notorious for doing half-ass jobs in areas like this.
DBinLF, what's your take on this???
Chris, read the fine print: the vote is ADVISORY. It will have NO BEARING on how and when the Navy will complete their cleanup tasks. It's not an issue to be concerned about ... period.
Ruling leaves counties holding breath
http://www.pe.com/localnews/riverside/stories/PE_NEWS_nrsuit07.ec03.html
HOUSING: It says the state can set regional goals, but went too far. The Inland area's share is undecided.
08/07/2002
By BETTYE WELLS MILLER - THE PRESS-ENTERPRISE
RIVERSIDE - A state housing agency went too far when it rejected a proposal by regional planners to limit housing growth in the Inland area by thousands of homes, a Superior Court judge ruled.
But the decision released Tuesday also upheld the right of state housing officials to set goals for regions and cities.
The effect of the ruling by Superior Court Judge Robert G. Spitzer will not be known until this fall, when Spitzer will deal with the second phase of a consolidated suit involving the Southern California Association of Governments, Riverside and San Bernardino counties, and the cities of Moreno Valley and Chino Hills.
Spitzer found that the California Department of Housing and Community Development "acted in excess of its authority and in violation of the law" when it invalidated housing reductions for Inland communities while validating others in Los Angeles and Ventura counties.
"It's extraordinary to have the court make those kinds of statements about a state agency," said Mark Huebsch, a Newport Beach attorney representing Riverside and San Bernardino counties and Moreno Valley and Chino Hills.
The state agency, however, called Spitzer's ruling a victory.
SCAG's Regional Housing Need Allocation Plan initially proposed the construction of 504,751 single-family homes and apartments by 2005 in the six-county region it serves. About half of the residential units proposed -- 214,230 -- and more than 40 percent of the region's low-income housing goal were allocated to Riverside and San Bernardino counties, which have less than one-fifth of the region's population.
SCAG is the regional planning agency for Riverside, San Bernardino, Los Angeles, Orange, Ventura and Imperial counties.
After the Inland counties and several cities protested, SCAG trimmed 66,777 units from the regional housing goal, most of it from the Inland Empire.
The state rejected the lower number in December 2000, but adopted a slightly smaller goal of 503,536. That was followed by a suit against SCAG and the state by the Inland counties, Moreno Valley and Chino Hills. Then SCAG filed a separate suit against the state. The suits were consolidated last August.
Spitzer concluded that the reductions SCAG awarded to the Inland Empire were valid.
Given that finding, the Inland counties and cities are hopeful that the state housing department will certify their housing plans.
The state could impose financial sanctions on cities and counties that do not meet housing goals.
Spitzer said the state can determine California's housing needs and should use the best, most current data available to make those decisions.
Julie Bornstein, director of the California Department of Housing and Community Development, called the ruling a victory in a statement.
"We are pleased that the court recognized the state's appropriate role in the statewide planning process that is designed to ensure that local jurisdictions adequately plan for anticipated population growth," she said.
Colin Lennard, a Los Angeles attorney representing SCAG, was pleased with the finding that state housing officials abused their authority, but said he had hoped the court would find in favor of SCAG's lower allocation.
"We will have to wait and see what the court does in phase two," he said.
Spitzer scheduled a status conference for 9 a.m. Sept. 20.
Thaw may bring relief
http://www.pe.com/localnews/riverside/stories/PE_NEWS_nrroad07.584f1.html
TRAFFIC: Riverside and Orange counties' leaders agree a new roadway should be built.
08/07/2002
By DAVID SEATON THE PRESS-ENTERPRISE
RIVERSIDE - Leaders from Riverside and Orange counties say a thawing of their icy relationship over transportation issues has led to consensus that a new highway between the counties should be built.
Described as a "breakthrough" and "quantum leap" forward in county relations, the new diplomacy could eventually lead to an alternative to the jam-packed Highway 91 that shuttles Inland commuters into Orange County job centers.
"There seems to be a breakthrough that we have to do some planning for the next 10 to 25 years," said Shirley McCracken, an Anaheim council member and a director of the Orange County Transportation Authority. "This is a new experience for Orange County and Riverside County, I believe."
The unity is the result of meetings between elected leaders that expanded 90 days ago to include city officials and such major landowners as the Irvine and Mission Viejo companies, said Riverside County Supervisor John Tavaglione.
Tavaglione said the talks may have saved seven years of planning because federal and state wildlife officials have agreed to let Riverside County include a new freeway route in its wildlife conservation plan. That plan will be voted on in several months. Amending the plan to squeeze in a new freeway could have taken seven years, Tavaglione said.
"That was unacceptable, at least to me," he said.
Eric Haley, executive director of the Riverside County Transportation Commission, credited the detente to U.S. Rep. Ken Calvert, R-Corona; Orange County Supervisor Todd Spitzer; and Tavaglione.
"It's a major jump-starting of the process," Haley said, "but there's still an awful lot to do."
A second freeway, which transportation experts say would cost more than $1 billion and take at least 10 years to plan and build, would accommodate a projected doubling of Riverside County's population over the next 25 years.
Commuters from Riverside County traveling into Orange County make the 91 a parking lot during rush hours. The Orange County transportation agency hopes to buy out a 10-mile strip of privately owned toll lanes that many blame for the congestion. The purchase would open the door for the freeway expansion -- a door currently closed because of a noncompete clause between the toll owner and Caltrans.
Spitzer said as chairman of the Orange County transportation agency and the Republican candidate for the Assembly in a new district that straddles both counties, he has pushed Orange County toward accepting Riverside County's desire to build a second freeway. In turn, Spitzer said, Riverside County has compromised and agreed that improving the 91 itself is a major priority.
State legislation expected to be introduced soon would permit the sale of the toll lanes to the Orange County Transportation Authority and create a two-county advisory group to continue studying dual transportation issues, Spitzer said.
On an average weekday, 250,000 vehicles travel Highway 91.
Spitzer said he has one condition for a new freeway: that it connect to existing toll roads or freeways without spilling cars into any Orange County city.
"The data will drive the conclusion about what will be the best alternatives," he said.
Tavaglione said current ideas for a second route will be studied. Those include tunneling through the Santa Ana Mountains, double decking the 91, following railroad land that parallels the 91 between Interstate 15 and Highway 241 toll lanes, expanding and straightening the Ortega Highway, and a corridor between Interstate 15 and the 91 where it connects to the 241.
"They're conceptual at this point," Tavaglione said. "But there's acknowledgment that these ought to be studied, and there's more that may be proposed."
Just out of curiosity, how can the 91 Express
Lanes be the cause of traffic congestion on
the 91? My understanding is that they begin
and end at the County line. While they have a
bearing on the ability of OC to widen the 91,
what is keeping RivCo from doing the same?
And why is the traffic in the early AM backed all
the way to the 15 and beyond, if the Express
Lane is the cause?
What am I missing here?
Since I was taking a trip down Memory Lane, I
thought I'd include this oldie from Esther Fine,
the author of today's DP commentary posted
in today's news a few posts up:
1/20/02 LA Times letters
Your editorial tried to make controversies
surrounding the park issue more clear.
The most significant fact is that the park plan
advertised in the glossy brochures is not the
park plan promises for the March ballot. It
does not include any new building projects.
Also important is that voters need to consider
the potential revenue losses to the county if
the El Toro property becomes a park instead
of an airport. Reports on the subject conclude
about 80,000 jobs and $6 billion in annual
economic activity would be sacrificed. Now
that we are in a recession, that lost [sic]
becomes even more significant.
Esther Fine
Newport Beach
____________
See, *she* understood Measure W wasn't
about the construction of a Park. Why did
everyone ignore her insight and allow
themselves to be "duped"?
Notice how whenever there's a positive news story
mentioning the Orange County BOS its always Todd
Spitzer's name that appears? Some of our other
Supes should take a hint.
... and Media Watcher. You're on – I'll buy the
drinks and moon the trains (hell, I do that
anyway).
Grem; Which do you do first?!
You guys (and gals?)! Thanks for the laugh.
King,
JWA 24/7 happens in 2006 anyways. Whether anyone wants it to or not. Right now we have the lead and the ball. All we have to do is hold the ball and run out the clock.
However, I do hate to see Tustin get any blowback for this. They voted 60% for W and Mayor Thompson and councilmember Worley (?) supported the Great Park.
Also, there's the city of Orange, they deserted OCRAA and Mike Alvarez was one of the first North County politicians (besides Spitzer) to catch on and support the park. Even if he won't get the endorsement for Todd's seat, why root for Orange to get more flights?
I also apply the same principle to San Clemente. They gave us 64%, so I would also not support Pendleton International. Let's not forget who our friends are.
RivCo, thanks for the posts. On my computer the PE web page is worse than the Commentary page of the Register. Just sits there, moves very slowly and often words from pervious page remain as ghosts on the new one.
Scammed by Irvine -Register letter
Orange County taxpayers should be livid about the shenanigans being attempted by the city of Irvine as it steamrolls an end-around play on controversial Measure W. County Supervisor Todd Spitzer, who is a tool of the south county's El Toro Reuse Planning Authority, and Irvine Mayor Larry Agran have admitted to U.S. Navy authorities that Measure W was a sham initiative to bury any prospects of an international airport under a magical "Great Park'' while circumventing the law of Measure A, which authorized a commercial airport at El Toro.
Measure A is still the law in Orange County despite the underhanded manipulations of the city of Irvine. There is no other logical solution to satisfy Orange County's air passenger demand.
Ralph P. Morgan Jr.
Costa Mesa
Measure A is still the law in Orange County?
Ignorance truly is bliss!
SP, a perfect short letter that even the Reg will publish.
2 things.....
1] On JWA 24/7. I agree. No Mercy. Our tax dollars built the beautiful/underused JWA. It should not be artificially capped, esp. after the battle. To the victor go the spoils. Yes, Tustin would be impacted, but, htey will never hear a 747/DC-10, and it will never be as bad as the proposed El Toro would have been. Maybe now Nimby Beach will appeal the Measure F decision. 
2] The road between OC and Riverside. It is badly needed. Ever try heading east between 3pm and 8pm? A tunnel theough the mountains is a great idea. It won't precipitate mowing down the mountains. I like a route that would continue the 133 through to the I-15 and even keep going to the I-215. Would make my trips to Palm Springs much nicer.
On JWA24/7, I agree too. As for the potential noise increase, JWA has buffer zones much bigger than El Toro ever did. The buffer zones are also known as “Costa Mesa” and “Newport Beach”.
Airport's backing on the decline
http://www.ocregister.com/local/survey.shtml
August 8, 2002
(the whole "article" is a gif document, let's see if I can post it - MW)
-- Peter Larsen
(949) 454-7363
What's amazing is, take the results from 3/01
to 2/02 and average them together, and you
basically have your margin of victory for
Measure W.
For all the chatter one reads about how polls
are skewed and not predictive, here is an
example where they were exactly right.
No mention in the Times, Daily Pilot, nor is the story on the AWG website.
Editor, hold your horses re the DP, unless you have the print edition in your hands, as its online edition is still parked on.. August 7 ;-)
Which was it, Chapman? That last year, in a similar poll sponsored by the OCBC trumpted a reversal of the airport/park poll?
An idea whose time has come: "Let's not put a major airport smack in the middle of a suburban area."
Once the public's perception of the proposed airport got past the County BS ("turnkey conversion, no noise, no traffic, no pollution, etc.") it was all downhill from there for airport backers. It's really funny to still read letters referring to our fraudulent and deceitful anti-airport propaganda campaign -- many Newport heads are still firmly and forever buried in their respective rectums!
One of the biggest turning points (IMHO) was really not our doing, either -- it was the flight demonstration. Talk about shooting yourself in the foot, BIGTIME! For most people, the noise issue trumped pollution, traffic, safety, cost, and all the other strong reasons to oppose an airport, it turns out! (Noise was never my largest airport issue -- I guess it's a graphic reminder of our societal focus on immediate gratification, or am I being too anal once again? -- anyway, it works for me if it kills the airport!)
So now the public opinion is clearly and firmly anti-airport, and we have little to fear from any possible future referendums. But there is still the cloud lurking on the horizon concerning legal and legislative actions. This fall should see those questions pretty well answered, I should think.
I would like to propose that the Navy give the existing golf course to the City of Irvine as a municipal course, with certain caveats to preserve the fee rates for the military retires and thereby keep a reasonally priced golf course for the public.
Just to chime in with my agreement with The King. JWA 24/7. I agree with everything he said. I also have suffered the anxiety of wondering if I have to move or not before my prop value tanks. I've also spent what to me is LOTS of money fighting NPB and their puppets. We've always been called selfish, NIMBY types living in "gated" communities. How untrue. Why has nobody pointed out how the Newporters live? How they've been pushing their wealth around to get their way at the expense of so many others?
I say: JWA 24/7 !!!!
MW...nice job with the .gif.
It's only a matter of time before Irvine annexes El Toro, and then this thing is finally over.
However, let's not forget our friends who have helped us in Tustin. They deserve more than a thanks for their 60%.
If we are to push for JWA 24/7 then can we at least open up our wallets for our friends in Tustin who will lose their homes. If ETRPA has some extra $$$, then we should always take care of each other. Never desert your allies. You never know when you will need them again someday. Also, if Pendleton International ever gets on the drawing board, we should be ready to help our friends in San Clemente as well.
On the otherhand, Newport and CM can fend for themselves. They got a little over 3 years left to figure out what to do.
I don't think JWA 24/7 would be a good idea. The
residents of NB and CM don't deserve to be
punished for believing the lies their leaders
told – that was just human nature. In fact, now
that the truth has come out, we've seen some very
nice Pilot letters from NB residents. That said,
I don't think its our responsibility to protect
Tustin from JWA expansion either. OCX would have
been much worse for Tustin than JWA ever will.
Their support for W wasn't altruism, it was
self-preservation. Let the cities affected by JWA
determine its fate.
Ppaul, thanks, just followed the instructions on the left. I am trainable ;-)
As for the previous poll, was still CSUF and I was thinking of the one from last year http://www.eltoroairport.org/news/news-0701.html#0725-csuf where OCBC Press Release as well as Julie Fuentes' appearance on the late OCN claiming that: "The opinions of Orange County residents have shifted somewhat in the direction of support for a planned international airport at the closed El Toro Marine Base, according to the latest Cal State Fullerton - Orange County Business Council (CSUF-OCBC) survey of County residents. The airport plan still trails in Orange County opinion."
First of all, nothing we say or do is likely to have ANY impact on what happens at JWA. That issue will be decided by the litigants and the ATA. Life is not always fair.
Second, there is NO NEED to make JWA into a 24-by-7 airport. JWA can handle the business demand for their services during their current operating hours, and without physically expanding the airport. JWA is sized to handle NEARLY TWICE it's current passengers & flights, with only the simple addition of the gates that were planned initially, but deep-sixed by the earlier legal agreement.
Everyone should just cool down a bit on this 24-by-7 business, and simply realize that the demand for airline services at JWA will dictate the numbers of flights and the operating hours -- not the vote of the public.
The SCAG projections for OC passengers are bogus, and the actual demand will grow by around 67% over the next 20 years -- to about 12 MAP.
Campuses, housing for elderly key base parts
http://www.irvineworldnews.com/Astories/aug8/eltoro.html
By Eric Johnson
Irvine World News
August 8, 2002
Cal State Fullerton will officially move onto the vacant El Toro Marine Corps base later this month when fall classes begin at the university's 2,000-student satellite campus.
It's just the first piece of the educational puzzle at a revamped El Toro. Ultimately, the base could be home to branches of UC Irvine and Chapman University as well.
Measure W, the March land-use initiative that county voters passed in March, allowed for the closed base to be used for educational purposes.
The educational section of Irvine's plan to redevelop the base is at the northwestern end of El Toro, off of Trabuco Road. Some 276 acres in total have been set aside.
Cal State Fullerton's campus will open Aug. 26, with more than 200 upper-level and graduate classes in business administration, education and nursing, among others, the university announced this week.
Bordering the educational sections of the park are 75 acres of research and development property, 28 acres of retail space and 800 senior housing units on 80 acres.
The city's plan relies on the Navy selling land for housing and commercial projects in return for large donations of land for public uses.
The senior housing would be an independent living community, not assisted living, City Manager Allison Hart said.
And the housing can be built quickly, depending on how fast purchasers want to turn it around.
"It's not in an area of the base that needs any cleanup," she said.
Runways, however, are on a portion of the 80 acres. It's estimated it will take 1 1/2 to two years to tear up the runways.
Community Development Director Sheri Vander Dussen said senior housing is in high demand.
"The census tells us that the population is aging," she said. "There's a good market for assisted living, as well as communities that allow people to live independently but also provide support services. In the housing industry, senior housing is a good niche to be in."
The city currently has 886 senior housing units and roughly 1,000 mobile homes (which are primarily occupied by seniors).
Planning around senior housing is different than around traditional residential neighborhoods.
"You assume that they won't necessarily have access to cars," she said. "There's a desire to be near medical centers, shopping, senior programs and bus lines."
Proposed development at El Toro (other than park and open spaces uses) has gotten a fair share of attention since Irvine announced its detailed plans July 23.
On Tuesday, County Supervisor Charles Smith rescinded his bid to put Irvine's plan to a countywide vote because he lacked support on the board. Only Cynthia Coad indicated she would back the measure.
Smith said last week that the public should have the right to vote on the plan because it contained more residential and commercial development than Measure W promised.
Irvine plans to annex the land at the base within a year. If the city is successful, El Toro would no longer fall under the restrictions of Measure W, which was a county planning initiative.
Contact Johnson at (949) 553-2911 or ejohnson@ocregister.com
Supervisors put El Toro cleanup on November ballot
http://www.irvineworldnews.com/Astories/aug8/etclean.html
By Peter Larsen
For Irvine World News
August 8, 2002
El Toro is back on the ballot after county supervisors agreed Tuesday to ask voters in November to express their concern - or lack thereof - about environmental cleanup at the former Marine Corps air base.
The advisory-only measure proposed by board Chairwoman Cynthia Coad will let residents say whether they want the Navy to complete the cleanup of toxic contaminants at El Toro before it is sold or developed.
"This is simply good policy," Coad said. "It's hard for me to imagine that anyone, in good conscience, would be opposed to this initiative."
The ballot measure was approved 4-0, with Supervisor Tom Wilson absent. Supervisor Todd Spitzer, who opposed Coad and the board majority that long had pushed for an airport at El Toro, said cleanup of the base is needed regardless of what is built there - the now-dead airport or the current plan for parks, open space, homes and businesses.
"It's not anti- vs. pro-airport," Spitzer said. "It is about ensuring that whatever the ultimate reuse of the base, there will not be any additional costs to the taxpayer."
The measure is nonbinding on the Navy, which owns the base. A military spokeswoman declined comment until officials review the measure.
Lake Forest Councilwoman Marcia Rudolph, a longtime member of the citizen panel overseeing El Toro environmental cleanup, said the measure may be more symbolic than substantial.
"It's a nice gesture, but I'm not so sure it will do what it intends to do," Rudolph said. "To the degree that it raises the attention and the quality of the remediation, I think it's good.
"But I don't think we ought to get stuck in the quicksand of thinking just because parcels at the base are up for sale, that means the whole base is clean."
Rudolph said the panel believes much progress is being made with the Navy and other federal and state agencies working on the cleanup. Much of the remaining work will be completed by 2004 or 2005, she estimated, but some - such as the removal of contaminants from ground water - will take 30 or 40 years.
Contact Larsen at (949) 454-7363 or plarsen@ocregister.com
http://www.ocweekly.com/ink/02/49/letters.php
A LITTLE PARK IS BETTER THAN A BIG AIRPORT
Although the Weekly has always been the only shining star among the bought-and-paid-for media on the El Toro debate, lately you seem to be backtracking (Anthony Pignataro’s "The Incredible Shrinking Park," Aug. 2). Let’s face it: anything would have been a better deal than a second unneeded, tax-wasting, bond-busting, boondoggle El Toro airpork. However, when it was realized it would take more than Measure F to topple the kings and queens of the county Board of Supervisors, there was very little time to come up with a new and solid plan to save Orange County. Larry Agran and friends, however, did just that—they rezoned the base for a park rather than an airport. Sure, it was a slight bit overzealous to say the entire property would become park only, but I really don’t think anyone thought the entire property would just be a park (other than you, the Register and a couple of angry Newport Beach elite). We all knew Measure W was about destroying the airport—hell, the banners even said, "No Airport!" We still get a great park, some badly needed homes, more jobs, and—best of all—no second airport and no new taxes.
Chris Borders
Laguna Niguel
Anthony Pignataro responds: You say "anything would have been better" than the county’s proposed El Toro International Airport. Really? How about a depository for spent nuclear-fuel rods? Or a maximum-security prison? The county’s airport plan would have been a disaster because county officials were trying to fool residents into thinking it would be clean and profitable, when neither was the case. Your belief that no one "really thought the entire property would just be a park" contradicts expensive mailers sent out during the Measure W campaign; they promised El Toro would become all public parkland. If the Great Park so many voters passed was in fact just a Great Lie to fool them into killing the airport, then Great Park-promoting officials are as bad as those who pushed the airport.
Here was my original submission…
What don’t you get about NO EL TORO AIRPORT!
After reading your article (The Incredible Shrinking Park, by Anthony Pignataro August 1st, 2002), I have to say BOOOOOO! The Weekly has always been the ONLY shining star among the bought and paid-for media on the El Toro debate. However lately you seem to be backtracking. Let’s face it; ANYTHING would have been a better deal than a second un-needed, tax-wasting, bond-busting, boondoggle El Toro airpork. However when we realized it was going to take more than Measure F to topple the defunct kings and queens of the County Board of Supervisors, we had very little time left to come up with a new and solid plan to save Orange County. Larry Agran and friends however did just that, they re-zoned the base for a park rather than an airport. Sure it was a slight bit overzealous of them to say the entire property would become park only, and personally I really don’t think anyone really thought the entire property would just be a park (other than yourself, the Register and a couple angry Newport Beach elite). We all knew Measure W was about destroying the airport, hell the banners even said “NO Airport!”, it was no mystery what W was all about. Then after the Navy threw in the monkey wrench and said they would SELL the base rather than give it away, it was up to Agran and Irvine to salvage the park best they could, and I think they did a fantastic job! We still get a great park, some badly needed homes, more jobs, and best of all, NO SECOND AIRPORT and NO NEW TAXES! However keep up your negative stance; I am sure the OC Register could use a new propaganda reporter, just as much as I am sure Supervisor Chuck Smith could use a second newspaper to help him support another tax-wasting El Toro Airport initiative "Measure B". Here we go again!
Notice how Pignataro’s editors cut out the part of my letter...
“Then after the Navy threw in the monkey wrench and said they would SELL the base rather than give it away, it was up to Agran and Irvine to salvage the park best they could, and I think they did a fantastic job!”
Which is why the plan HAD to change, they had NO choice.
Also I guess publishing my little dig at the end was a bit to painful of a reality…
“However keep up your negative stance; I am sure the OC Register could use a new propaganda reporter, just as much as I am sure Supervisor Chuck Smith could use a second newspaper to help him support another tax-wasting El Toro Airport initiative "Measure B". Here we go again!”
I wonder if Pignatoro saw your original, or the edited version? Your original sure wouldn't have made sense with his reply about the fliers. Notice how far he has to reach with his( "How about a depository for spent nuclear-fuel rods? Or a maximum-security prison? )in response to your statement that anything would have been better than an airport. I think Anthony's ego is starting to get in the way of his obvious journalistic talent.
I hope El Toro hasn't claimed another victim.
A maximum security prison... just as advertised under Measure A, either an airport or Charles Manson Prison.
A Clockwork Orange: Diary of a mad county
by Matt Coker
August 9 - 15, 2002
From http://www.ocweekly.com/printme.php?&eid=37364
THURSDAY, Aug. 1 Democrat Gerrie Schipske, who hopes to take away Congressman Dana Rohrabacher’s 46th District seat this November, publicly chastises the Huntington Beach Republican for skipping a candidates’ forum, bending over for the airline industry (in the form of support for a commercial airport at El Toro and more flights out of Long Beach), and voting in Congress to protect offshore tax havens. (Speaking of offshore, Schipske could also ding Dana for asking Dubya not to ban new oil-drilling leases off the California coast.) But with all this Rohrabashing going on, it’s only fair to praise him for breaking party lines and voting in favor of an independent inquiry into intelligence agencies’ actions surrounding the Sept. 11 attacks. "I think the intelligence community has become an arrogant and somewhat incompetent bureaucracy," Rohrabacher says. "The worst thing we can do is let them get away with not being held accountable for their failures by clothing themselves in a veil of secrecy." It’s times like this we could kiss him—but no tongue.
FRIDAY, Aug. 2 Speaking of El Toro, the Foundation for the Great Park sends us a solicitation for funds, suggesting we give anywhere from $25 to $1,000 toward a world-class park where a military air strip used to be. And with our contribution of $25 or more, we can receive a Great Park Sport Utility Mug—which someday we’ll fill with Great Park Coffee from the Great Park Coffeehouse along the Great Toll Parkway that we’ll take to get to our job at the Great Office Park overlooking the postage stamp-sized Great Park.
From A Clockwork Orange: Diary of a mad county
by Matt Coker
August 9 - 15, 2002
http://www.ocweekly.com/printme.php?&eid=37364
Oh well, I guess if the OC Weekly can't find some type of fault with what is going right in OC, it just isn't worthwhile to print.
Where if the Register can't find some bribe money and influence out of what is going right in OC, it takes the opposed side that will.
Our local rags are so transparent they should be
printed on Saran Wrap. El Toro is the biggest,
most long-lived story to ever to hit this county.
How many El Toro-related articles are printed
every week? Lots. What could they replace them
with? Nada. Look at what is above, below, next
to, or on the flip-side of every El Toro article.
Its simple economics – less news, less
advertising, less money. The OC
TimesRegisterWeekly will say anything to keep the
controversy alive.
Gremlin, I thought that the correct phrase is Nada, Zilch, Nothing (or something like that).
Mexico to Compensate Airport Bidders
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
August 8, 2002
Filed at 10:22 p.m. ET
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/business/AP-Mexico-Airport-Canceled.html
MEXICO CITY (AP) -- The Mexican government will compensate companies that bid on a master plan to develop a new airport for the country's capital after the project was canceled.
President Vicente Fox called off the $2.8 billion project after violent clashes in July between police and landowners who opposed the development.
The federal airport agency, ASA, said Thursday that the bidding process for the master plan also had been canceled.
ASA will ``evaluate each of the consortia that participated in the bidding, in order to define the compensation in each case,'' the agency said in a press release.
The government planned to build the airport on the dry lake bed of Texcoco, east of Mexico City. But farmers in San Salvador Atenco protested against an expropriation order and the government's initial offer of $7,000 per hectare.
The farmers blocked highways, hijacked cars and seized 15 police and local officials to demand the release of leaders arrested during a clash with state police.
More than 20 million passengers used Mexico City's airport last year, and initial projections were that passenger traffic would grow to 29 million by 2005. The airport is surrounded on all sides by housing and offices and cannot be significantly expanded.
The government said recently, however, that a slowdown in the global airline industry after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks in the United States has made the existing airport viable for another seven to eight years.
MW - "Nada, zilch, nothing" would be just a
little over the top don't you think? I mean, I
don't want to come across as some sort of
drama
queen. I want people to respect me and take
me
seriously (I wash and comb my hair in the
morning
for the same reason ).
I have done my best' [and supported an airport at El Toro - MW]
http://www.ocregister.com/news/tony00809cci1.shtml
The loved and lambasted politician makes his exit announcement through bittersweet tears.
August 9, 2002
By ANH DO
The Orange County Register
Tony Lam, the politician who has come to personify Little Saigon, stood in his adopted homeland Thursday and - through tears - announced he was retiring from public life.
Lam, believed to be the first Vietnamese-American elected official in the United States, said it felt bittersweet not to run again after 10 years and three terms on the Westminster City Council. His voice broke as he said, "I have done my best to serve. To serve each and every citizen with honesty.
"At this time a decade ago I was busy knocking on doors, passing out brochures and asking the voters for their support, for money and endorsements. Not the easiest endeavor for a 55-year-old guy, but having lost everything when I left Vietnam, what more could I lose?"
At his side sat his wife, wringing her hands, taking off her glasses to wipe her own tears. The couple have six children - among them a chef, two dentists and a marine biologist - and nine grandchildren whom they plan to spend more time with.
"You know my husband. He has to go around; he can't sit still," Hop Lam says. "But all of us want him to stop the job with the city. In politics, there are too many stressful things."
She worries, too, about his health. He underwent quintuple heart-bypass surgery in 2000.
While Lam helped boost business in the city after promising to be a "tax fighter, crime fighter," he has had to prove time and again that he could be a force not only in his own community, but also in the greater community.
"I've been in the arena, and indeed my face has been marred with dust, sweat and blood," he said, paraphrasing one of his heroes, Theodore Roosevelt. "Still, I am proud to serve," he told a room full of friends at the Grand Garden restaurant. "I have loved every minute of it."
Lam's career in public service actually began in 1975, when he worked 48 hours straight to help evacuate terrified Vietnamese during the fall of Saigon. He escaped, coming to California, where he toiled morning to night running refugee camps. Then he opened a restaurant, serving shrimp cakes and crab dumplings, while learning to navigate local laws.
When he decided to be a candidate, former Mayor Chuck Smith encouraged Lam but said he didn't expect him to win.
"My advice was that he needed more than the Vietnamese behind him," remembers Smith, now a county supervisor. "I told him to go knock on doors and to look the Caucasian voters in the eye. And he did."
Changes in the Lam household took shape right after he started his initial term. He was so enthusiastic about his work that he didn't spend a weekend home during the first eight months, preferring to pore over agendas, meeting new residents and quizzing them before public hearings.
Invitations poured in for Lam to speak at conferences around the country. His victory led to profiles in The New York Times as well as newspapers in Southeast Asia. He traveled to Harvard University to talk about the future of immigrants in politics. Back in Westminster, he held strategy sessions with those living in the city's 18 mobile-home parks, who sought an ordinance asking park owners to pay them market value for their homes if they wanted to redevelop.
All the while, his booming voice heralded his arrival at dozens of Vietnamese cultural events. Yet in order to represent his fellow emigres, he had to make sacrifices.
While many of his peers flew to their homeland to visit family, Lam did not have that choice. He had become a symbol of a community known as anti-communist, said Jeffrey Brody, Lam's political adviser and a communications professor at California State University, Fuller ton. "It came with the job. He knew he couldn't return there."
Many immigrants, though, turned against Lam during the heated Hi-Tek protests that made international headlines in 1999, after a video-store owner put up a display of communist icons. Tens of thousands of refugees demonstrated. Lam refused to join them, citing the city attorney's advice to stay neutral.
Feeling betrayed, people picketed his restaurant, burned him in effigy and called him a "communist sympathizer." His business lost customers who were taunted and whose tires were slashed. Lam responded by spending as much as $100,000 in legal fees, suing for financial losses and emotional pain.
"He took a huge beating. It nearly killed him," recalls his pal, Mike Heusser, owner of Sunset Ford. Lam had helped the entrepreneur and the city start an automobile association, combining the six deal erships in Westminster. A million-dollar reader board is expected to go up this December at the Springdale exit of the San Diego (I-405) Freeway as a result. It will flash images, community messages and advertising.
"I had no access to the Vietnamese community, and he helped me understand it," Heusser said. "He's the utmost in integrity. Never wavered in his words. Just make sure that you put that I love the guy."
Some others don't share his sentiments.
"Some minor groups don't understand me and try to twist" his meanings, Lam says, unable to forget the heartache of community backlash.
"If nothing else, my years in political office have proved that I am a survivor," he said, eventually breaking into a huge grin. Applause could be heard from the crowd of city staff, commissioners and council members Frank Fry and Kermit Marsh, along with two dozen immigrant activists.
"Tony has a level of class that will be missed," said Marsh, whose yard posted signs supporting Lam years ago. "If he had just Vietnamese-American votes, he wouldn't be on the council. If he had been white, Latino or African-American, or if he'd worn a kilt to some events like I do, it wouldn't make a difference. He really cares."
Lam has four months in his final term. He has sold the restaurant to a niece and plans to ease into a post as general manager of a $6 million soybean and tofu factory owned by his family.
At the end of August, there will be a family reunion in Hawaii. And in October, when Lam turns 76, he and his wife plan a cruise to Panama. But his supporters said Lam's legacy will remain.
"With him and with the political maturity of our community, there will be more candidates," said Van Thai Tran, the Garden Grove councilman considered the second Vietnamese-American to hold political office in the United States.
"The second and third generation after him will do things in a different way," Tran said. "They will be much more confident in seeing themselves not just as refugees, but as Americans who happen to have a Vietnamese background."
Passenger numbers up at John Wayne Airport for month of July
From http://www.latimes.com/tcn/pilot/news/la-dpt-brief09aug09.story
Airline passenger traffic at John Wayne Airport grew modestly in July when compared with the earlier year.
The airport saw a 2.5% increase in the number of travelers who used John Wayne. For the month, there were 744,875 travelers compared with 726,451 from the previous July.
Airport managers issued the report Thursday. It represented the growing improvement in airport travel, after the crippling effects of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.
A drop in the number of commercial flights ran contrary to the jump in passengers, the report showed.
Flight operations dropped 5.6% during the month. However short-haul commuter flights, to San Diego, Oakland and other nearby destinations, also ramped up, by 13.6% from July 2001.
In the mixed-bag report, overall takeoffs and landings at John Wayne dropped 8.1% over the time frame. General aviation activity, which accounted for 74% of flight activity, also dropped, by 9.7%.
The biggest jump came in air cargo tonnage. The amount of freight jumped 36%, from 1,372 to 1,866 tons.
-- Paul Clinton
A political failure for Vicente Fox - SD Uniton Tribute guest editorial
http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/uniontrib/fri/opinion/news_mz1e9fox.html
By Carlos Mota
Mota is writer living in Mexico City.
August 9, 2002
It may be of little importance now for peasants and their brave wives of San Salvador Atenco, a small town north of Mexico City, but last week's announcement by the Mexican government that it is junking the Fox administration's most important public policy project is a serious signal that the president and his team cannot handle the big issues.
The project was the building of a new international airport for Mexico City. The decision about where to locate it took more than two decades. No PRI – the previous, long-standing party governing Mexico for 71 years – government reached a conclusion on the matter. President Fox did, after a year in office, and just in time to build it before he leaves the presidency in 2006.
But Atencos – as the people from this small town are now called – blocked the project. For the last nine months, they became machete-in-hand demonstrators. Every week, they would show up with their land tools at major government agencies in the city, claiming that "no plane will take over their lands."
These claims are endemic in Mexico, but teach us something critical about this country: The new PAN government has not learned a basic lesson from its predecessor, that is linking specific public policy projects to local communities.
PRI governments initially did a good job at developing close ties with the leaders of small villages when a major change was about to take place. The PAN government did not. By canceling this airport project, Vicente Fox exposed his lack of ability to promote major infrastructure changes in the future.
This is the second major setback for the Fox government in less than two years. The other one was the 2002 budget – dreadfully discussed and passed by a divided Congress – not to mention a large list of failures that includes not being able to handle a corruption case against a former Pemex chief executive officer.
But there are still interesting options for the new airport. One of them would be to open a bidding process in which not only nearby counties, but also other states can compete. The government should promote the idea that airports not only bring cargo and passengers, but also opportunities for local communities on becoming entrepreneurs around their renewed landscape.
There are already some signals that such a bidding process may work effectively. For example, Nuevo Leon's governor this week has been trying to convince Mexico City that international flights could be diverted to its capital, Monterrey, and even Guadalajara. He claims that no major investments are needed if these two cities' airports are upgraded. This might be a nice idea for decentralization, but Mexico City travelers would not like it very much, because they would have to change planes on flights that today offer direct connections.
It is urgent that a bidding process be instituted, because it may be the only way to get a consensus from inhabitants of potentially expropriated land. The current offer of the Nuevo Leon state should be taken only as another option. Ideally, at least three other locations near Mexico City can compete to get the project.
The idea is simple but powerful. Instead of placing an order from the central city, the government has to launch an Olympics-like, venue-bidding process. Counties would compete by submitting their best business environment projects, like local tax exemptions for new businesses, investment opportunities for foreign companies, easiness for incorporating new concepts and business services, and so on.
Most see the cancellation of Atenco's airport as the most fatal government failure to date, and not just administration critics. Congress plans to subpoena Secretary of Communications Pedro Cerisola to explain why this has become the worst political blunder of the year.
But what all this really means is that Mexico is still not ready to discuss major project and changes on a comprehensive way. Atencos may be irrationally happy for the recent airport decision, but the farmers' agenda is now sharply jumping from that cancellation to their supposed need for autonomy – something they are now claiming but that is new and that disrupts the real debate.
It is only a matter of time before a new airport is located in Toluca, Tizayuca or in the Xochiaca area, all of them counties near Mexico City. The Monterrey and Guadalajara options do not seem to fit for many. However, we must pray – probably to our newly appointed Saint, Juan Diego – so that the government will not take another 20 years to find a new airport site.
Why is a non-crisis being forced down our throats? - SD Union Tribune letter
From http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/uniontrib/fri/opinion/news_1e9lets1.html
Re: "Coalition formed to press for new airport" (B-section, Aug. 2):
San Diego Convention and Visitors Bureau CEO Reint Reinders is right in saying that, "for much of the public," the issue of a new airport does "not amount to a crisis."
So why are we getting this non-crisis crammed down our throats? And this newest coalition isn't even going to tell us where it will be put.
Julie Meier Wright, CEO of the Regional Economic Development Corp., says air cargo capacity is high on the list of needs for area industries. Well, why wasn't there more support for the Brown Field cargo airport plan that the San Diego City Council voted down?
Let's imagine a tourist flying in this week to attend a meeting at the Downtown Convention Center. After picking up his luggage and getting a taxi, he arrives at his downtown hotel in about 10 minutes. After checking in, he is enjoying our beautiful city within 30 minutes of arrival. Contrast that with our future visitor arriving at a new Miramar Airport at 3 p.m. An hour later, his taxi is still trying to get on the freeway onramp.
ARLENE FRENCH
San Diego
Agran's nearsightedness, Coad the environmentalist - Register letters
Irvine Mayor Larry Agran envisions a "transit-oriented development" for the residential part of the Great Park ["Great Park plan for El Toro keys on reducing need for cars," Local News, Aug. 5]. "In the community of some 1,750 homes, walking or taking light rail would be the norm, not getting on a freeway." Sounds like he already knows that in the future Orange County's freeways will be clogged with people trying to get to an airport.
Brad Hutsko
Orange
Convert to environmentalism?
It's quite amazing that Cynthia Coad has suddenly joined the environmentalist "tree huggers," at least as long as the tree is located at El Toro ["El Toro cleanup bill gets on ballot," Local News, Aug. 7]. While no one will dispute that the Navy must address any hidden toxins, through her entire singular term Coad has been quite willing to sweep any contamination under the runway "rugs" of her disastrous airport plan. So before Coad and the rest of the pro-airport crowd try to paint El Toro as a new Love Canal, I hope they take a moment to consider that the strawberries or tomatoes they consumed at their dinners tonight were, very possibly, grown at El Toro. The base may be less a toxic-waste dump than the environmentally born-again may have us believe.
Richard Soden
Lake Forest
Easing the hot temper of summer
http://www.latimes.com/tcn/pilot/columnists/la-dpt-bell08aug09.story?coll=la%2Dtcn%2Dpilot%2Dcolumnists
THE BELL CURVE
Joseph N. Bell
August 8 2002
One of the problems with summer heat is that it increases the irritation quotient exponentially. Matters that can be written off in other seasons as normal human aberrations, greed or stupidity cling to the brain in summer like a sweat-soaked shirt.
In an admittedly selfish effort at therapy, I would like to try to purge some of these irritations, both large and small. So, in no particular order of importance, we have:
(snip)
Irvine residents who fly out of John Wayne Airport. When I'm especially uncomfortably hot, it cools me down a bit to imagine a new security line at the airport in which home addresses are checked and all Irvine residents are sent to LAX. By OCTA buses.
El Toro airport no takeoff politically
From http://www.latimes.com/tcn/pilot/news/la-dpt-politicallandscape08aug09.story?coll=la%2Dtcn%2Dpilot%2Dnews
POLITICAL LANDSCAPE
By Paul Clinton
Daily Pilot
August 8 2002
Even though she has spent nearly two years promoting a regional airport plan that includes an El Toro airport, Costa Mesa City Council candidate Heather Somers says the issue is a non-starter.
Somers, a former councilwoman hoping to get back onto the dais, says she recognizes that an airport for the closed Marine base is unlikely even though a lawsuit challenging Irvine's park plan has been filed.
"It's not going to be a centerpiece [issue] for anybody [running for council]," Somers said. "It's on the backburner until the lawsuits are resolved."
Longtime El Toro airport advocates, including the Newport Beach-based Airport Working Group, have sued to overturn the March 5 passage of Measure W. That measure rezoned the base for open space, halting nearly a decade of county planning for an airfield.
After four years on the council, Somers lost her seat in 2000 by only 32 votes, trailing Councilwoman Karen Robinson. In early 2001, she went to work as a paid consultant for El Segundo, a city fighting to keep a cap on flights at Los Angeles International Airport.
Somers began pushing a regional airport plan that called for as many as 29 million passengers a year at a theoretical El Toro airport. The plan, a projection for 2025, was developed by regional planners.
Current council members, on March 19, endorsed the idea, which Somers had brought forward.
Here's help for a good night's rest
http://www.latimes.com/tcn/pilot/columnists/la-dpt-reportersnotebook09aug09.story?coll=la%2Dtcn%2Dpilot%2Dcolumnists
REPORTER'S NOTEBOOK
Lolita Harper
August 9 2002
I was putting my 3-year-old to sleep Wednesday when the thud-thud-thud of a helicopter propeller sounded loudly outside our window.
"Mommy, the police 'copter," Donovan said, excited because he is a little boy and almost all little boys love things that are loud. "I hear it again."
Living down the street from the Civic Center, which houses City Hall, the police station and a fire station, we get our fair share of fire and police vehicles whizzing by with flashing lights and sirens. My son is delighted by our location and insists we run to the window at the first sound of an emergency vehicle.
I, on the other hand, am not as enthusiastic, especially when the police helicopter is cutting into my valuable beauty sleep. I've been more bothered by the noise in recent months. I don't know if I'm just not sleeping as soundly or if the chopper is being used more, but it wakes me up at least three times a week, sometimes twice in a night.
Now, before you throw me in the same camp as the Committee to Abolish Helicopter Noise, let me explain. I would never suggest we get rid of the Airborne Law Enforcement program -- a collaboration between Newport Beach and Costa Mesa. I think it is a valuable crime-fighting tool and would gladly trade a little noise for increased security.
But living so close to the Costa Mesa helipad, I get to hear it each time it takes off and each time it lands. Helicopters are not housed at the city's helipad, but they do stop there five to six times a day between routine patrol shifts for refueling, said Costa Mesa Police Capt. Tom Warnack. The last fueling time is sometime between 11 p.m. and midnight, he said. I not only deal with the noise if there is an event in my neighborhood, I am guaranteed at least two fly-bys every night, with one after bedtime. Rather than call for the program to be grounded, I'll offer my humble suggestion: (One I thought of after being awakened by a helicopter last week).
Use government funds to sound-proof the homes within a certain radius of the heliport.
I have no detailed sound reports to say how large of a radius or how loud the helicopters actually are; I just have hours of sleepless nights to prove that helicopter noise is a nuisance for someone like me, who lives about 200 yards from the heliport.
I would offer that the county sound insulation program be used as a model.
John Wayne Airport offers double-paned windows, thicker doors and attic insulation to homes that lie within the "noise contour" area of the transportation hub. The program is free to the property owner, provided they sign a waiver not to complain about noise.
Of course, Costa Mesa would not be eligible for Federal Aviation Administration grants, like JWA, but it might qualify for other law enforcement grants. On the other hand, I know that the noise from a helicopter is much quieter than that of a commercial airline jet, and therefore the "noise contour" area would be much smaller and require less sound-proofing.
Warnack assured me that the city is very sensitive to residents' needs for peace and quiet and takes every precaution available. For example, helicopters fly over the fairgrounds during their descent to the police station to avoid nearby homes in College Park and forego a final refueling after the last shift, which ends at 3 a.m., because they don't want to wake residents. Helicopters are also equipped with new rotors designed to reduce noise levels.
"We are doing everything we can to mitigate the noise, but we are also doing everything we can to fight crime in the city," Warnack said.
Like I said before, if given the option, I would choose additional police protection in a heartbeat. While I have to endure the late night sirens and choppers, I also get the added comfort that emergency services are less than a block away if I ever need them.
I'm just offering my sound-proofing suggestion because I would like to be a secure and well-rested Costa Mesa resident.
* LOLITA HARPER covers Costa Mesa. She may be reached at (949) 574-4275 or by e-mail at lolita.harper@latimes.com.
Supervisor visit [to discuss plans for El Toro]
http://www.myoc.com/community/lagunawoods/news/
Aug. 7, 2002
Free ice cream and information will be served up for the residents of Leisure World from 2 to 4 p.m. Aug. 21 in the community's Clubhouse 1 Main Lounge, 24232 Calle Aragon. Fifth District Supervisor Tom Wilson, Laguna Woods Mayor Jan McLaughlin and Mayor Pro Tem Bert Hack discuss plans for El Toro. For more information, call the supervisor at (714) 834-3550.
-- Cheryl Walker, (949) 837-5200
Good idea Bell. And while we're at it, we can
build a special toll road for spoiled rotten
whiners from Newport Beach who wants to visit the
civilised world.
John Wayne flights should aim over Irvine - Daily Pilot letters
http://www.latimes.com/tcn/pilot/news/opinion/la-dpt-airportdebate10aug10.story
AIRPORT DEBATE
August 10 2002
John Wayne flights should aim over Irvine
The planned El Toro international airport is sitting in limbo, while the Navy, developers and the city of Irvine conspire to try to derail the airport. Meanwhile, noise complaints to John Wayne Airport are on the rise ("John Wayne noise level drops," July 31), while airplanes are more and more taking off strangely, instead of turning for noise abatement.
The only quiet airplane is one parked with the engines turned off. The best way to take off from John Wayne Airport is to fly north and make a sharp right turn over the city of Irvine. This will reduce complaint calls from Newport Beach, until the planned El Toro international airport opens where no one is in the noise zone, and then all the complaint calls will stop.
DONALD NYRE
Newport Beach
City Council members seem to have conflict
Newport Beach City Council members Tod Ridgeway and Gary Adams, and other council members who had hired Dave Ellis as their campaign manager, should have recused themselves from voting for funding to the Airport Working Group since Ellis was also hired as AWG's political consultant.
It is equally distressing and incomprehensible that these same City Council members have refused to fund the Airport Working Group when they need it most -- to fight the legal battle to overturn Measure W, also referred to as The Great Land Grab. This is particularly true since Rep. Chris Cox wasn't able to get the JWA settlement agreement extension added to an aviation bill, and the Airline Transportation Assn. has indicated its intention to legally fight any extensions to the John Wayne settlement agreement after its expiration in 2005.
Thanks, Greenlight, for your vigilance, and for the Daily Pilot and reporter June Casagrande for the coverage. Keep it up.
ANN WATT
Santa Ana Heights
South County won't use its Great Park
So we're going to have 3,400 homes in practically 3 million square feet of commercial property. It's going to be full of people that are going to be traveling at the airport. It's going to jam John Wayne. And there has to be more flights to accommodate all the growth that's coming in here in Orange County and it's going to also end up overtaxing LAX.
For God's sake, why couldn't they put in the airport and fairly distribute the noise between the north and the south? And, my God, take a look at the parks in South County -- beautiful, huge parks. Why would those people want to come up into El Toro to enjoy the Great Park that is never going to be?
Finally, does anyone know who Rep. Chris Cox's contributors (developers) are to his campaign?
JIM THOBE
Laguna Beach
Latest El Toro plan pleases this reader
I'm absolutely thrilled with Irvine's plan with the Navy. It means no monstrous airport in the middle of a residential area, a plan which should never have been considered in the first place.
ANN MERRITT
Corona del Mar
(Guess which letter will not be posted on AWG page - MW)
Propositions to Test Generosity of State's Voters
http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-ballot10aug10.story
THE STATE
Election: Deadline passes for measures to qualify for ballot. Those that make the cut seek billions of dollars for education, trauma care and other programs.
By GARRETT THEROLF
TIMES STAFF WRITER
August 10 2002
The deadline to qualify state and local propositions for the November ballot passed Friday, and voters will be asked to raise money for causes including education, emergency rooms and low-income housing.
Voters in Los Angeles County will vote on a parcel tax that would raise $150 million annually for the area's faltering emergency and trauma-care network. They will also be asked to authorize a $250-million bond issue to pay for upgrading several county science and cultural institutions.
Statewide, voters will be asked to approve bond issues to raise money for low-income housing, water services and public education.
Measures for individual school districts total more than $10 billion across the state, according to the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Assn.
Kris Vosburgh, executive director of the Jarvis organization, said he expects the amount of the bond and tax proposals to create a backlash.
"Many voters are going to be facing sticker shock," Vosburgh said. "There is a lot of anger, and it is much more than the usual election."
But a political consultant, Harvey Englander, said he expects voters to look at the propositions individually. He said many of the propositions face hurdles, not because they appear alongside other proposed spending increases, but because of the weak economy and the weak political coalitions behind some of them.
Pointing to Los Angeles County's health tax proposal, which was put on the ballot by a 3-2 vote of county supervisors, Englander said, "You'll have a strong argument in support, made by a powerful supervisor such as Zev Yaroslavsky. But making the opposing argument will be another powerful supervisor."
In Orange County, voters will be asked to urge the U.S. Navy to completely clean up the former El Toro Marine Corps base before it is sold. The base, which closed in July 1999, is on the federal Superfund list as one of the nation's most polluted sites.
The Nov. 5 ballot measure asks the Navy to reconcile its cleanup plan for El Toro with studies by Irvine and the county, which contend that the Navy's plan is inadequate. Voters in March approved turning the former base into a large urban park.
A public demand for full cleanup could resonate beyond Orange County. Congress is considering more military base closings in 2005, meaning that more communities could be looking to the Navy's record at El Toro. Pollution discovered at other closed bases has stalled redevelopment and added millions of dollars in costs.
In San Francisco, the November ballot will include a contentious battle over the treatment of the city's homeless waged by two supervisors who are expected to run for mayor in 2003.
Supervisor Tom Ammiano proposes building 1,000 low-cost housing units in the next two years, while Gavin Newsom wants to reduce funding for 8,000 or more people who live on the streets in one of the nation's most expensive cities.
In the city of Ventura, voters will decide whether to allow 1,390 luxury homes to be built on the city's hillsides. The developer has agreed to set aside 3,000 acres as permanent open space.
Opponents of Measure A argue that the initiative includes a detailed development agreement written by the hillside landowners without input from the city. They say this would lock in approval of certain aspects of the development before crucial environmental and traffic studies were complete.
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Times staff writers Jean O. Pasco, John Glionna and Jenifer Ragland contributed to this report.
John Wayne Airport Performance Improves
http://www.latimes.com/editions/orange/la-me-ocbriefs10.2aug10.story
IN BRIEF / SANTA ANA
From Times Staff and Wire Reports
August 10 2002
Continuing to improve since Sept. 11, passenger volume at John Wayne Airport reached 744,875 in July, a 2.5% increase in travel compared with the same month last year, airport officials said Friday.
Officials said that although the number of passengers went up, the number of commercial flight operations--takeoffs and landings--dropped to 7,359 last month, about 6% fewer than in July 2001.
Flight operations for commuter air carriers, however, rose to 1,027, about 14% higher than in July 2001. The numbers reflect the addition of air taxi services--AmericaWest Express and American Eagle.
Air cargo tonnage also increased, from 1,372 to 1,866.
"This is definitely a good sign," said Ann McCarley, an airport spokeswoman. "The numbers have been increasing every month since April. As far as passenger loads are concerned, the airport is doing well."
Furniture maker leases Ontario space
http://www.dailybulletin.com/business/articles/0802/10/biz03.asp
By KEVIN SMITH
STAFF WRITER Inland Valley Daily Bulletin
August 10, 2002
Facility will speed delivery of upscale patio furniture to regional retailers
ONTARIO -- A Chicago-based furniture maker is gearing up to open a 130,000-square-foot West Coast finishing and distribution center in the city in January, company officials announced Friday.
Woodard LLC has leased the building, at 5801 E. Airport Dr., for 5 1/2 years. The company declined to reveal the value of the lease.
''We're leasing a new building that was already there, but hadn't been used yet,'' company spokeswoman Joanne Scala said. ''The whole inside is being redone, and we're getting a state-of-the-art paint line. We have a special process where the paint is baked on so it can withstand the weather.''
The Ontario facility will initially employ about 20 workers, although that number may increase in the future, she said.
Founded in 1865, Woodard LLC is a leading manufacturer of wrought-iron, cast-aluminum, extruded aluminum and all-seasons wicker casual furniture under the Woodard, Lyon-Shaw and Carolina Forge brands.
The Ontario distribution center will allow the company to significantly reduce freight costs and cut down shipping times for regional customers in California, Nevada, Arizona and New Mexico, Scala said.
''This is a central location, and we like it because it's near the airport,'' she said.
Woodard operates another distribution center in Owosso, Mich., and two more in North Carolina.
Woodard products are sold by retailers such as Fishbeck's, which specializes in swimming pools and patio furniture and supplies, and Berk's.
-Kevin Smith can be reached by e-mail at k_smith@dailybulletin.com or by phone at (909) 483-9395.
Activists push to make LAX connection
http://www.dailybreeze.com/content/bln/nmgreenline10.html
By Ian Gregor
DAILY BREEZE
A black plastic plate containing a trio of thoroughly picked chicken bones sat on the pale green restaurant table in front of him as Dr. Ken Alpern convened the latest meeting of the Friends of the Green Line, an informal organization of he co-chairs. Around the dermatologist sat an eclectic group of 11 men and one woman ranging in age from their 20s to 60s, including environmentalists, transportation advocates, retirees, dot-commers and professionals with an interest in mass transit.
They had gathered on this recent weeknight evening in a corner of the Boston Market restaurant on Rosecrans Avenue in El Segundo primarily to discuss linking the Metropolitan Transportation Authority's 20-mile Green Line with Los Angeles International Airport.
Today, the 7-year-old rail line stops to the north at Aviation Boulevard — tantalizingly close to the world's third-busiest airport but far enough away that airport workers and passengers must board a shuttle bus to get to the terminal area.
Los Angeles Mayor James Hahn, as part of his $11 billion LAX renovation, proposes to reconfigure the transition.
Hahn wants passengers to get off the Green Line at the Aviation station and step onto a moving sidewalk that will carry them to an automated people mover system. This, in turn, will transport them to a central reception facility 2 miles east of the airfield where they will check in for their flights before boarding another train to the terminals.
Friends of the Green Line see this plan as both an opportunity and an impediment.
They're glad that Hahn has thrust the dormant Green Line extension to the forefront. But they believe his proposed connection is too cumbersome. Forcing people to change modes of transportation multiple times will do little to encourage car-smitten Southern Californians to venture onto public transit, they believe.
They also fear that Hahn's people mover would block any future northward extension of the Green Line into Santa Monica, where it could link with another planned rail line.
“It's not really a true LAX connection,” Alpern said of Hahn's proposal. “People want a one-stop, one-seat trip into LAX.”
Friends of the Green Line may be a fledgling organization with an annual budget of perhaps $300, but its members do not lack sophistication when it comes to transportation issues and working with governments.
The group, which stresses consensus over confrontation, is an offshoot of the Friends 4 Expo Transit — private citizens who banded together to successfully push for construction of a rail line from downtown Los Angeles to Santa Monica on the old Exposition “Red Car” line. The MTA approved the first half of the project last year and construction is slated to begin in 2004 and 2008, said MTA spokesman Ed Scannell.
In addition to the LAX issue, Friends of the Green Line are interested in pushing the system south into Torrance, north to Santa Monica and east to the Metrolink Norwalk station.
The Green Line glides 17 miles along the Century (105) Freeway median, from Norwalk in the east to Aviation Boulevard in the west, before veering south for another 3 miles through El Segundo and Manhattan Beach before ending at Marine Avenue in Redondo Beach. It opened in August 1995 and serves about 27,000 daily riders, up from 23,000 a year ago, at an average speed of 37 mph, according to the MTA.
The MTA completed formal environmental studies of a northern Green Line spur into LAX. But it was never built; today, only a siding extends north a few yards from the Aviation station in a teasing reminder of what could be.
Reasons for the change of plans included a lack of funding and federal aviation authorities' objections that the extension would interfere with airplanes flying into LAX, which are less than 100 feet up as they roar over Aviation.
As a result, today's reality is that people who want to take the train to LAX must get off at the Aviation station and board a free airport shuttle bus to the terminal area. About 1.1 million air passengers and LAX workers are expected to take the Green Line to the airport this year, said LAX spokesman Harold Johnson.
Some MTA officials reportedly believe that the Green Line could be extended into LAX by 2006 but the project is not a priority.
Air travelers interviewed on the Green Line on Friday morning offered a range of assessments of the current system's convenience.
“It's pretty poor you have to get on the bus,” said Hollywood resident Jon Pierson, 44, who spent an hour on the Red, Blue and Green lines before boarding the shuttle.
“But I don't mind doing it because it saves time and money,” added the Minnesota-bound electronics store manager. “I'm going to use it on my way back.”
Convenience is a relative term, said Indiana resident Dave Couture, who was returning to the airport with his wife, Janelle, after spending a week at a West Coast Swing Dance convention in Downey.
“I think it depends on how many bags you're carrying,” said Couture, 46, a software engineer, who reached the terminal area from Norwalk in just 40 minutes.
Hahn understands concerns with the link between his people mover system and the Green Line, said Deputy Mayor Troy Edwards. But Hahn believes that concerns about the extension's effects on incoming aircraft remain valid, Edwards said.
“Rather than actually continue to fight that fight, we think it's less expensive and quicker to bring the automated people mover system to the Green Line,” he said, adding that travelers with no checked luggage likely will be able to bypass the Manchester Square terminal and proceed directly on the people mover to the terminals.
And Hahn's people mover plan, which the airport will fund, will be a vast improvement over the current situation, he said.
“The moving sidewalk will be seamless and will be built for today's convenience,” Edwards said. “It's not like you have to get on a bus and schlep your bags up the steps.”
Friends of the Green Line, however, believe a direct extension to Hahn's central reception facility is the only way to get swarms of people to take the line to the airport. Speed and cost are considerations, but rail lines can last 150 years so it's critical to build it right the first time, they said.
“A people mover's fine but look at the bigger picture,” said Dan Walker, an aerospace engineer and the Green Line group's co-chairman.
Walker and others contend that the technical obstacles to the extension can be overcome — a position shared by an MTA official who attended Thursday night's meeting. The group also believes that the Burlington Northern-Santa Fe Railroad's Harbor Subdivision tracks, which run on the west side of Aviation Boulevard and through Manchester Square, could be upgraded to serve as a Green Line extension.
This week, the group agreed to take the position that Hahn's people mover concept is not much better than today's configuration. But they don't plan to assail the mayor. Rather, they'll try to persuade him and other decision-makers that their position makes more sense, group leaders said.
“We're not interested in picking fights that don't need to be picked,” Alpern said. “Because we have no ax to grind, it enhances our credibility.”
Publish Date:08/10/02
The [LB Councilmembers] Webb/Carroll/Reyes-Uranga agendizing memorandum for the August 13 City Council meeting states:
From http://www.lbreport.com/news/aug02/webblgb2.htm
"Airport noise and flight issues are of local, regional, statewide and national concern. Due to recent national events and the apparent loss of El Toro as a possible new airport site, local municipal airports such as Long Beach are facing increased pressure from the Airlines and the FAA to accommodate additional flight activity. Outlying airports such as Palmdale, Ontario and Burbank have expressed strong interest in accommodating both regional, national and international flight activity at their under-utilized facilities. Given the regional nature of the problems associated with increased flight activity in the Southern California area, solutions must be explored that will minimize the adverse impact to cities that are being requested to bear the brunt of the increased activity.
We are asking that the City Attorney draft a Resolution for Council's consideration that would encourage state, federal and county legislators and administrators to explore solutions to this regional problem which will include the feasibility of utilizing outlying airports in less residentially developed areas. Decentralizing the burden of increased flight activity will reduce the impact to Long Beach, which will be adversely affected by increased flight activity and its attendant environmental impacts."
(See the complete story on the Long Beach thread - MW)
Controversy Is Airborne Once Again Over El Toro
http://www.latimes.com/editions/orange/la-edoc-lettersa11.1aug11.story?coll=la%2Deditions%2Dorange
Re "2 Supervisors Propose a Fifth Ballot Measure on El Toro Planning," Aug. 1:
At this point, it comes as no surprise that supervisors Cynthia P. Coad and Chuck Smith are still not convinced that the El Toro International Airport idea is a bad idea and dead. After literally having wasted millions of our tax dollars and displaying wanton disrespect for the residents of Orange County, they supposedly wish that we, the voters, should actually have a say in what goes on in Orange County. We are not fooled.
Their shameless arrogance and self-importance have no boundaries. The Irvine plan, which substantially satisfies the mandate of Measure W, is a wonderful solution for all of the residents of Orange County. Further, the demonstrated planning genius of Irvine is widely recognized. To Coad and Smith, we, the citizens of Orange County, say let's move on and stop boring us with your meaningless, self-serving and costly drivel.
Hans J. Roehricht
Lake Forest
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Many people are tired of the El Toro debate and just want it to go away, including yours truly. But the underlying problem is that airport demand will just not go away. It would sure be a fantastic world if we could indefinitely keep the status quo of flights at Long Beach and John Wayne airports. The catch is that the airline industry and the Federal Aviation Administration will just not stand for it and will sue.
Look at what's happening. American Airlines has threatened to sue for more slots at Long Beach if they are not granted by January 2003. Last time there was a lawsuit (Alaska Airlines vs. city of Long Beach), the flight caps increased from to 15 to 41 a day, or 173%. In addition, there are two east-west runways that point at Cerritos and Orange avenues. This would affect Cypress, Stanton, Anaheim and Buena Park. As one can see, Long Beach is not just a Los Angeles County issue.
A little farther down the road is John Wayne Airport. Without a reliever airport, doomsday will hit in 2006. No more caps, no more curfews and no more noise-abatement procedures.
Let's compare John Wayne to El Toro. For starters, John Wayne has no fuel pipeline. Hundreds of fuel trucks will clog the freeways. The San Diego, Costa Mesa and Corona del Mar freeways feed into John Wayne. At El Toro, there are the San Diego and Laguna freeways, Foothill toll road and Interstate 5, with more lanes and a train station.
At El Toro, there are no homes within two miles, and flights could be routed over open spaces.
Which brings me to my next point. Please consider the V Plan. The current airport plan of approaches from the south and eastern takeoffs only gives South County justification to spend millions and fight back.
I have to be totally honest. If I lived somewhere like Aliso Viejo, I'd fight it too.
When the jets are out of sight, out of mind, then people will be happy. Also, the V-Plan has the blessing of the pilots unions.
This can be a win-win for all. No more hassle with LAX, no trips to Inland Empire airports. And best of all, nobody in the county has to get hurt and lose a home. If our county chooses to hit the snooze button now, we will have a rude wake-up call in 2006 or sooner. The locals had better have a solution, or Washington, D.C., will have one, and it won't be pretty.
Rex Ricks
Huntington Beach
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Yet another attempt by pro-airport county supervisors to test the will of the people.
After eight years of acrimony and more than $50 million of county tax dollars wasted promoting an airport, the voters have been heard loud and clear by the Navy. No airport at El Toro.
Measure W comes along and Irvine comes up with a mutually acceptable plan that satisfies the Navy and the voters. Yet, two disgruntled supervisors, Smith and Coad, push to have another vote, claiming Irvine has too much control over county property.
Derek Quinn
Laguna Niguel
*
After reading the Letters to the Editor in Sunday's Times, it appears that the "Great Park" supporters continue to deal in innuendo and half-truths.
For example, M. Smith writes that airport supporters "want to triple Orange County air travel," a curious statement since the demand for air travel is coming from continued population expansion in South County.
I suppose that the increase in air travel from the thousands of homes to be built where the Great Park was to have been will be due to airport supporters.
What happens when Rancho Mission Viejo builds thousands of homes on its 12,000 acres? Guess what will happen when the developers start in on the airport buffer zone and proceed to build high-density housing as they have been doing in Irvine?
D. Blodgett claims that 600,000 residents of Orange County (read South County) would have their quality of life destroyed by an airport at El Toro.
He conveniently ignores the other 2.3 million residents of Orange County who will be seriously affected if Orange County will not pick up its fair share of air travel. Increased traffic will cause noise, pollution and more time on the road.
Like it or not, Orange County is part of Southern California, including cities from San Diego to Santa Barbara, all of which require air transportation. An air system is integral and vital to compete with rest of the world.
It would be lovely if we could shut out the rest of the world and bask in the quiet serenity of this bucolic land. Unfortunately, we are at the center of a rapidly growing population.
The builders and developers have great plans for filling up South County with as many profitable houses and commercial developments as they can. Keeping the large open spaces of El Toro, even with an airport, would be less disruptive of community living than the planned development.
It is about time citizens take control of the development activity to manage growth rather than stop it.
William Kearns
Costa Mesa
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Supervisor Smith is truly a political dinosaur. In his latest attack of "concern for the voters," Smith proposed yet another election on El Toro, this time to see if county residents want to approve the Navy-Irvine development plan. Mr. Smith, this sounds exactly like the ballot-box planning imposed by Measure F and so bitterly opposed by the pro-airport troika. Having completely ignored the voters for the last eight years, why the sudden concern?
I have one simple question for Smith and his cohorts: El Toro is still unincorporated land and Measure W is county law.
If Smith is so concerned about protecting the voters, where is the county's plan for the Great Park? It's apparently as nonexistent as the credibility of the Board of Supervisors.
Richard Soden
Lake Forest
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I applaud Supervisor Smith for proposing that another measure be placed on the ballot so that the public can decide how to reuse El Toro property. We do need another opportunity to vote on the issue, considering the recent explosive developments.
Measure W promised a grandiose park, but after all this time, there is no plan on how to finance it without an excessive new tax for Orange County citizens.
The toxic-waste cleanup remains a major issue if the land is not an airport.
Most important, we now learn some of the land will not be park, but homes and businesses. Instead of allowing projects that will worsen our air and ground transportation problems, we need an airport that will solve them. Part of that El Toro property must be set aside for an airport, and the rest used for parks, museums and recreation purposes. We now have more information to help us make a decision for our future, so let's vote again.
Marion Krone
Anaheim
Argyros in the news: It seems, according to an L.A. Times article (page one, section one, 8/11/02) that Argyros developed homes on an active earthquake fault in Yorba Linda.
While the geologist who did the original study clearly said to avoid building in the area, that geologist was fired by Argyros' company. The replacement geologist (long out of business) hired by Argyros said the fault miraculously stopped at one edge of the development, only to pick up somewhere on the other side.
Not surprisingly, Argyros refused comment on the story.
Another sad example, in my opinion, of the arrogance and lack of ethics of our Ambassador.
Bob.