Let Chaos Reign.
The following article from the Orange County Business Journal is reproduced with the approval of the OCBJ. The articles are published electronically here as a public service. The OCBJ supports the conversion of El Toro to a commercial airport. Statements made by the authors do not necessarily reflect the views of the El Toro Airport Info Site Team.
Published June 5, 2000
MEMO TO THE PRO-AIRPORT SUPERVISORS:
Scrap the idea of having an up-or-down referendum
on El Toro Airport this
fall. I understand the attraction of washing
your hands of this whole messy,
wrenching, divisive affair by leaving it to
a plebiscite. It would be the
easy way out-if 50% plus one of the voters
give thumbs down, the El Toro
airport plan is history. If 50% plus one say
yes to the plan, then you've
gained cover from the anti-airport onslaught.
But it would be more than the easy way out
- if would be a cop out. El Toro
is likely the single biggest issue any of
you will ever deal with in your
political lives. Give it the deliberation
it deserves.
The problem with public opinion on this issue
is that it changes; what a
majority of voters thought when they passed
the pro-airport Measure A six
years ago, or when they passed the anti-airport
Measure F three months
ago, or what they will think this November
or the November after that has a
lot to do with shifting currents. It's your
job, as statesmen, to look beyond
the surface currents, to the underlying merits.
Before throwing the airport to the mercies
of the electorate again, why
not try a new approach (pun possibly intended).
There is talk of alternative
flight routes, and also talk of a drastically
scaled-down airport plan
(in this vein, see yours truly’s four-step
program for saving the airport,
March 20 issue), and long-overdue talk about
a more open and competent planning process.
There are other reasons not to rush to ballot-box
judgment. Give the
electorate some time to mull over the non-airport
alternatives. I suspect
the public will reject the Millennium Plan
once its negative impacts
(including tax expenditures) are comprehended,
but in any case, allow
time for a full airing.
Besides, neither side in this debate looks
ready to field its starting team right now. The pro-airport side is moving
to replace CEO Jan Mittermeier as airport czar, which promises fireworks,
and the anti-airport side looks
ready to split over Irvine’s “great park”
idea.
My own suspicion is that a part of the airport opposition has been motivated by a desire to discourage anything from happening at the former Marine base—no to an airport, no to a Millennium plan, yes to letting weeds grow.
That strategy could work for a nice, long while,
too, until the federal
government throws its weight behind one initiative
or another—an airport,
perhaps, or a university campus, or a nature
preserve, or an auction for
developers.
Airport proponents have assumed such delay
works against an airport. And
to the extent it has squelched cargo flights
and created a “new reality” of
a placid field where once a roaring military
base existed, they’re correct. But in the wake of Measure F, and
an increasing public perception that the idea of an airport at El Toro
is hopeless, delay could become the airport’s friend.
Measure F doesn’t repeal the airport plan,
it just throws up a roadblock;
Measure A’s airport zoning remains intact.
Patience, please. Hunker down. Let the fur fly.
-- Rick Reiff