From the Newport - Costa Mesa Daily Pilot, January 23, 1999

Pilot news is available on-line at: http://www.latimes.com/HOME/COMMUN/PAPERS/PILOT/NEWS/

Piecing it together
Orange County Airport Alliance is the newest player in the battle to convert El Toro Marine base into an airport.
By JENIFER RAGLAND
 

An emerging new force of El Toro airport activists has a vision: to stop the endless spin cycle that has plagued the divisive debate and left the vast majority of county residents feeling dizzy at best. Orange County officials must decide whether to build a mid-sized international airport at the closing El Toro Marine base -- a decision that has evolved into a classic, high-stakes North vs. South war.

As each small faction pulls out all stops to win the fight, the bulk of the county seems unengaged and uninspired. The Orange County Airport Alliance -- a new nonprofit agency christened just this week -- is attempting to change that.

"The idea is for a broad-based foundation, with people from all walks of life from all over the county, whose main concern is a fair and accurate representation of the benefits and impacts," said Newport Beach Deputy City Manager Peggy Ducey, who has been working with other consultants for several months to pull the group together. "This is a true alliance, in both participation and funding."

But critics already are calling the alliance a "pro-airport bureaucracy" that will serve no purpose but to support high-paid consultants. Five initial entities are tentatively participating: the city of Newport Beach, the Orange County Business Council, the city of Los Alamitos, the Airport Working Group and the city of Anaheim. Other cities and groups are expected to fold in as well, and the group may even include people from South County.

Their proposed course of action is to:
* Bring in more businesses, public agencies, cities, airport support groups, labor and minority groups to carry the El Toro airport message.
* Come up with a game plan that will guide the alliance as well as each individual entity during the next year.
* Fund the alliance through a variety of sources, making sure Newport Beach doesn't pick up the entire tab.
* Create mailers, Web sites and videos to get information out to the public in a way that encourages involvement in the planning process.

"I think we need to stop our arguing and look at the kinds of things we can resolve," said Anaheim Councilwoman Shirley McCracken. "None of us wants to force negative impacts onto any part of the community."

The Orange County Regional Airport Authority, a municipal coalition that includes 11 cities, will be separate from the alliance, although Ducey will remain its executive director.

The alliance will be governed by a 12-member board of directors made up of representatives from each participating agency or interest group. So far, confirmed board members are Newport Beach Mayor Dennis O'Neil, Airport Working Group member Bing Girling and Los Alamitos Mayor Ron Bates. "It's not another organization, but a mechanism to pool the financial resources and expertise," Ducey said.

The alliance also would serve to coordinate the pro-airport voice, which has long been viewed as fractionalized, said Don Saltarelli, a Newport Beach consultant and former Orange County supervisor.

That is a stark difference from South County, where the seven cities are solidly united against a commercial airport at El Toro. Irvine Mayor Christina Shea, who is a board member of the anti-airport El Toro Reuse Planning Authority, said the alliance seems to be headed in the right direction. "I think the premise is real good, and what I would like to see happening is for them to invite South County to participate," Shea said. "If at least we could all agree to get the accurate facts, once and for all the residents could get truthful information."

But Meg Waters, the reuse authority's public relations consultant, said she finds it hard to believe that's what Ducey is proposing because the authority has not been invited to participate. "I would be very skeptical of Peggy controlling the information and claiming that is factual because I think they lie through their teeth," she said.

Ducey is proposing an annual budget of $1.5 million for the alliance, with the first six months funded by a $350,000 grant from Newport and $350,000 from other sources. Exactly what that money is used for -- including staff and consultants now paid for by Newport -- will be decided by the alliance.

Other details, including who will chair the board and where the other funding is coming from, will be finalized during the next week. The initial proposal will go to the Newport Beach City Council at a study session on Monday and will be discussed further at its goal-setting session, set for Jan. 30.

FIGHTING THE NEWPORT IMAGE On the pro-airport side of the El Toro battle, the front line thus far has been made up of elected officials and individual power players in Newport Beach. It has been the only vocal pro-airport city and virtually the sole funder, having poured millions into the effort. The city alone has spent $2.7 million since 1995, according to the its Administrative Services Department.

The city is emotionally involved because it has a personal stake in seeing El Toro become a reality -- the threat of an expanded John Wayne Airport. And its wealthy, influential residents have proved they are willing to pay any cost to make it happen.

But that also has been a weakness in the El Toro debate because anything coming from Newport Beach is often dismissed as being another tactic in a selfish plot to rid itself of John Wayne. That's why Newport isn't the right messenger, said political consultant Eileen Padberg. "For Newport Beach, they have a conflict of interest because they're saying international flights are not OK over our homes but they are OK out at El Toro," Padberg said. "I think support or opposition has got to be broad-based in order for the rest of us to get involved, and for the pro-airport side, it's not been broad-based at all."

Ducey said she and others witnessed that roadblock time and time again while meeting with officials in other parts of the county. That is partly how the idea for the alliance came about. "What airport opponents have tried to do over the past year is paint Newport Beach in a bad light, as being self-serving and trying to shift impacts to another community," she said. "Part of the process has been proving to people that we have credibility insofar as we truly want to solve an air transportation problem without creating a new problem somewhere else." Newport Mayor O'Neil said that is evident in the city's avid support of a two-airport system.

"We don't want John Wayne to close, but it has been the perception that we want to lay off our problems to others," he said. "That is not what we're about at all."

TURBULENCE AHEAD City officials are reviewing their airport strategy to prepare for the year ahead, which figures to be both turbulent and expensive. Here's why: * Anti-airport powers are planning an initiative for March 2000 that could effectively kill the county's El Toro plans.
* Despite two measures in 1994 and 1995 that passed in favor of an airport at El Toro, public support appears to be waning, based on poll data.
* Most of the county's supporting documents for the airport, including important but complex noise and cost estimates, will start streaming in by summer.
* The Orange County Board of Supervisors in December is expected to adopt a formal reuse plan for the Marine base, which is scheduled to close in July.

The majority of City Council members seem to agree with the alliance idea, but they will be concerned about making sure the city's resources are put to the best possible use. "I think allocating or spending money on airport issues needs to be with adequate background in order to justify that expenditure," said Councilman Tod Ridgeway. "I don't think we've had adequate information in the past."

Although Ridgeway reserved judgment about the alliance, he said he thinks building a broader base of support is the only way to win the debate. "Direct mailers are not going to work in the future," he said. "The overall effort for an airport needs to establish a greater understanding of all the components and have organization and direction."

O'Neil said he wants to see the city spend its money more efficiently, and believes joining the alliance may be a way to do that. "The alliance makes a lot of sense to me because it puts the airport into its proper perspective," he said. "This is a regional issue, not a Newport Beach issue." Councilmen Gary Adams and John Noyes agreed. "There are a lot more people than the people in Newport Beach who are interested in seeing an airport there, and the alliance is becoming representative of that," Adams said. "It's become a debate between Newport Beach and South County, and to me it's a countywide issue," Noyes said. "This is much more realistic, and I'm glad others are becoming involved."

Julie Puentes, spokeswoman for the Orange County Business Council, said she thinks the time is right for the alliance to come together. "I think the organization will force us to focus on what we are really trying to achieve with the conversion of El Toro and what the benefits really are," she said.

DOWNPLAYING THE RHETORIC The business of either supporting or fighting the airport is complex, with many different players working on the issue for many different reasons. "There have been two campaigns for it, there is a lot of money tied up and there are outspoken people on either side," political consultant Padberg said. "There is an awful lot at stake."

As such, not everyone thinks the alliance is the best mechanism to ensure an airport at El Toro becomes a reality. The strategy of the pro-airport side so far has been to treat El Toro strictly as a political campaign. In Orange County, that means using mostly hard-hitting direct-mail pieces to get the message out. That worked to get both Measure A passed and Measure S defeated in the mid-1990s, and is what Newport Beach-based groups such as the Airport Working Group and Citizens for Jobs and the Economy have continued to do for the past few years.

Bruce Nestande, president of Citizens for Jobs and the Economy and a former Orange County supervisor, said his organization isn't interested in joining the alliance because he doesn't think the group is necessary. "We have functioned as an alliance quite well in winning two campaigns, with each of the groups maintaining autonomy," Nestande said. "We don't think everyone needs to go under a single umbrella and create a whole pro-airport bureaucracy." He said he supports any pro-airport effort, but doesn't feel that his group will be enhanced by joining the alliance. "We have a niche and we will continue to fulfill that niche."

Tom Naughton, president of the Airport Working Group, said he thinks the effort does need to involve a broader base of people. Longtime members and former Newport mayors Tom Edwards and Clarence Turner agreed. "It will be a vehicle with which we can reach those other cities and say, 'This is your airport, too,'" Turner said. The working group met this week and decided to officially become part of the alliance, despite some behind-the-scenes maneuvering to give the working group more of a leadership role.

An issue the participating agencies likely will have to deal with in the future is the variety of philosophies within the alliance. The strident style of the Airport Working Group, for example, may conflict with others who are more neutral on the issue. But Ducey said she is confident the participating groups can work together to build a consensus. If they can pull it off, she said she could see the alliance really changing the face of the entire debate. "Everyone on that board believes that the airport question can be answered with facts, so spin isn't necessary," Ducey said. "The facts can be conveyed without rhetoric, inaccuracies or conflict."

Irvine Mayor Shea seemed to agree. "We need something that can really downplay the rhetoric in the tennis game that's being played between the north and the south," she said. The alliance has developed informational mailers and a video with a toned-down, fact-based message, rather than the scare tactics both sides of the airport fight have been accused of using.

Ducey said she also expects the group to commission independent studies on certain issues, similar to the business council's recent economic study and the Orange County Regional Airport Authority's analysis of the anti-airport Millennium Plan. Waters said that although she agrees there needs to be an unbiased coalition, she doesn't believe the alliance is that group -- at least not yet. "I don't think anything that comes from a pro-airport group, any more than anything that comes from an anti-airport group, can be judged as unbiased," Waters said. "It's like the fox watching the hen house. If [Ducey] is pro-airport, how is she going to possibly make it neutral?"

THE FIGHTING ISN'T OVER Recent actions by the Board of Supervisors have made it clear that the majority of the governing body for the reuse of El Toro is solidly in favor of a commercial airport.

That prompts this question: Why even bother with an alliance or any kind of pro-airport strategy? "The Board of Supervisors is only one of many public agencies that has a decision-making role in this," Ducey said. "Federal agencies are also subject to political pressure." She also said that the alliance is committed to making sure the airport is compatible with South County's quality of life, and the only way to do that is to be a part of the process.

Another motivation is to balance the anti-airport voice, which has been heard loudly by county residents. "For the proponents, the voice has been fragmented, so part of the reason for this is to unify that voice," Ducey said. "Even though there is solid support on the board, there are still critical decisions that must be made."

And, of course, there is the threat of another ballot measure. "We have to be prepared at any time to turn back an election challenge, and we can do that by energizing constituencies in favor of an airport," Saltarelli said.

But some opponents maintain that no matter what North County pulls together, South County won't give in. That theory was backed up by Padberg. "Quality of life and economics are two issues that immediately transcend anything," she said. "Once South County people decide the airport will interfere with their backyard barbecues, there's nothing to change their minds. They tend to dig in, and they tend not to be moved after that."
 

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