ELECTIONS: Proponents have collected 45,000 signatures since early April.

May 30, 1999

By GIL HOPENSTAND The Orange County Register

A weekly feature revisiting people and issues that have made headlines. To suggest topics for future updates, call Register Infoline at (714) 550-4636, category 7252.

Organizers of an anti-El Toro airport initiative say they have already gathered more than 45,000 signatures and predict they will collect many more than the required 71,206 by Sept. 1.

Volunteers since early April have solicited support for the Safe and Healthy Communities Initiative, going door to door and making their pitch in front of stores, in mailings and at community events.

The proposal would require two-thirds voter approval for the county to authorize new airports, jails or hazardous-waste landfills. If placed on the March 2000 ballot, it would need a simple majority of votes to pass.

"We've gotten a very enthusiastic response," said Jim Richert, the Lake Forest petition captain whose 85 volunteers have collected more than 4,000 signatures. "The issue is not the airport, but rather the voters having control over their own destinies."

The goal is 113,000 signatures, or an extra 50 percent, said petition chairman Jim Davy.

Signatures have mostly come from south-county residents who would live closest to the proposed international airport at the El Toro Marine Corps Air Station, or under its flight paths. As of mid-May, organizers had 25,000 signatures collected, largely from Lake Forest, Aliso Viejo, Mission Viejo, Foothill Ranch, Rancho Santa Margarita and Coto de Caza.

Organized signature-gathering efforts are in place in 22 county communities.

Los Alamitos officials are openly opposed to the proposal, and Newport Beach is spending $25,000 to find legal flaws in the inititaive.

"There are a number of elements of the initiative that our legal counsel tells us are defective," said Newport Beach Mayor Dennis O'Neil, who considers the proposal's two-thirds voter threshold "a big threat."

"I think that would be a difficult number to get to vote in favor of an airport at El Toro," O'Neil said.

Court challenges were to be expected, said Jeff Metzger, who is heading the initiative effort.

For example, his organization feared being sued over the petitions' not having Metzger's address on them. New forms were quickly printed, but Metzger assured that the signatures collected on sheets without his address are still legitimate.

"Safe is better than sorry," he said. "We're very comfortable we're within the law. We don't want to burden the court with a nonsensical suit like this."

Suzanne Slupsky, the Registrar of Voters election section supervisor, said petitions do not need to include a proponent's name and address.

New forms in hand, volunteers this weekend are scheduled to solicit signatures at the annual Garden Grove Strawberry Festival and Monday at the Flo-Jo Memorial Half-Marathon in Mission Viejo.

"People can hardly wait to sign it," said Irvine petition captain Cheryl Heinecke, who gathered support last weekend at the Irvine Spectrum from movie-goers awaiting "Star Wars: Episode I — The Phantom Menace."

"They think these massive decisions need to be put in the people's hands."