NEWS - March 2004
Today's
Headlines - click on date for story
Burbank Leader (LA Times), March 31, 2004
FAA calls for
bigger airport
Bob Hope Airport
must add space or be overrun with demand by 2013, report says.
Officials say they cannot comply.
El Toro Info Site report, March 30, 2004 -
updated
FAA report: LAX,
LGB, BUR, and SNA need expansion
El Toro Info Site report, March 29, 2004
A photographic
visit to El Toro
LA Times, March 28, 2004
"Irvine Marks
Takeover of Base"
El Toro Info Site report March 27, 2004
John Wayne
utilization moves up
Irvine World News, March 25, 2004 posted March 26
"El Toro CSUF
enrollment up"
LA Times, March 26, 2004
"Key Aide to Hahn
Quits Amid Probe of Agencies"
El Toro Info Site report, March 25, 2004
Treading water
El Toro Info Site report, March 23, 2004
More on Kerry's El Toro statement
El Toro Info Site report, March 22, 2004
Kerry weighs in on El Toro reuse
El Toro Info Site report, March 21, 2004
Who Flew?
OC Register, March 20, 2004
"Terminals arriving at John Wayne"
LA Times, March 19, 2004
"U.S. Subpoenas Records From LAX Officials"
El Toro Info Site report, March 18, 2004
Airport Land Use Commission refuses to budge
LA Times, March 17, 2004
"L.A. to Help Fund 'Maglev' Train Study"
LA Times, March 15, 2004
"Alterations to LAX Plan May Not Fly"
El Toro Info Site report, March 14, 2004
DFW prepares to pass LAX
El Toro Info Site report, March 12, 2004
Ontario passenger study sheds new light on O.C. demand
El Toro Info Site report, March 10, 2004
John Wayne Airport Developments
El Toro Info Site report, March 8, 2004
AWG reports finances
Tom Coad a Director
El Toro Info Site report, March 6, 2004
Auction schedule slipping
LA Times, March 5, 2004
"El Segundo's Mayor Wants New LAX Plan"
El Toro Info Site report, March 5, 2004
Two years since passage of Measure W
Daily Breeze, March 3, 2004 posted March 4
"Airport president's ouster sought"
El Toro Info Site report, March 2, 2004 -
updated March 3
Election results of interest to airport opponents
John Wayne Airport media release, March 2, 2004
John Wayne airport upturn
Click here for
previous news stories
Burbank Leader (LA Times), March 31, 2004
FAA calls for
bigger airport
Bob Hope Airport
must add space or be overrun with demand by 2013, report says.
Officials say they cannot comply.
"Bob Hope Airport needs to expand to meet future demand, according to a
new Federal Aviation Administration report, but airport officials say
increasing the capacity is not in the airport's future."
"[An official] was reacting to the pending release of an FAA report
that says Bob Hope, along with several other regional and national
commercial airports, must expand to meet increased air traffic over the
next 16 years. Burbank joins facilities such as Long Beach and John
Wayne airports in needing to expand by 2013 and 2020, two threshold
years considered by FAA officials in the study 'A Look into the Future:
An Analysis of Airport Demand and Operational Capacity Across the
National Airspace System.'"
Website Editor: The local Burbank article, like a
similar one in the Long Beach newspaper over the weekend about Long
Beach Airport, curiously fails to mention that LAX also is listed in
the report as needing to expand. There still is no coverage of the FAA
report in the major Los Angeles or Orange County papers.
El
Toro Info Site report, March 30, 2004 -
updated
FAA report: LAX,
LGB, BUR, and SNA need expansion
One wouldn't find it by reading the LA Times, the Daily Pilot, or OC
Register but the FAA said last week that our local airports need to
grow. On March 26, the FAA provided a first look at a draft study that
listed 43 airports in need of expansion. The resultant Associated Press
story was carried by dozens of newspapers internationally but the
closest the news came to this area was an article picked up and carried
on several websites. Click for a typical version of the wire
service story as posted on this site.
Details on the FAA/MITRE report are sketchy. It is expected to be
released in May. We talked with Marcia Adams, the FAA's spokesperson
today. She could not provide any details on how much expansion is
needed at each airport or what "planned" capacity improvements they
referred to at LAX. She said that the list of airports was read at a
recent conference panel with no written documentation supplied.
Clearly, the FAA sponsored analysis has a different view of Southern
California airports than the one developed by the Southern California
Association of Governments, the official regional planning agency. SCAG
assumes no expansion at LAX and has future travelers distributed over
numerous regional airports. Ontario, which is not listed by the FAA
as needing expansion before 2020, is the keystone of the local plan and
is intended to grow dramatically.
El Toro
Info Site report, March 29, 2004
A photographic
visit to El Toro
Those who attended the Great Park Conservancy celebration at the El
Toro Officers Club this past weekend had a chance to see some of the
former base up close. Click here for a few photos of El Toro
today.
A notable change from previous visits was the presence of City of
Irvine police cars. El Toro is now within the city's boundaries and its
control over public safety and land use planning.
Agriculture, which will be a permanent part of the El Toro reuse, is in
full swing.
Cal State Fullerton's El Toro campus is open for business and poised to
grow into a major educational facility at the Great Park.
The El Toro stables are in use. Hundreds of recreational vehicles are
stored on acres of vacant land. Model airplanes are soaring over the
runways. This activity serves as a small reminder of the larger public
uses that will be coming to the former military base.
On the other hand, large numbers of military residential units,
warehouses, and offices in serious disrepair after 5 years of disuse,
stand idle awaiting their removal as the land is put to new uses.
LA Times,
March 28, 2004
"Irvine Marks
Takeover of Base"
"The mood was downright giddy at the closed El Toro Marine base
Saturday as about 200 local dignitaries and south Orange County
activists gathered to celebrate a moment nearly a decade in the making
. . . Irvine's annexation of the base this year."
"The annexation capped one of the fiercest political battles in county
history: the fight over whether to convert El Toro into a commercial
airport."
"'We talked about this day for a long time,' said [grass roots
activist] Carl Schulthess . . . who was among the crowd inside the
base's officers club. 'When they do blow up the runway I'm going to
keep a piece of it, like they did with the Berlin Wall.'"
Website Editor: The Great Park
Conservancy hosted the event and invited elected officials and a long
list of volunteer leaders from the Measure F and W campaigns.
El Toro
Info Site report March 27, 2004
John Wayne
utilization moves up
Airport management reports a "record setting February for John Wayne
airport - Number of passengers utilizing airport up 16.6% from the same
time last year."
Commercial carrier operations showed an increase of 8.1% while
"commuter carrier (air taxi) operations posted an increase of 52.3% due
to the addition of Atlantic Southeast Airlines/Delta Connections, which
began service as a new entrant on September 1, 2003."
Click here for a graphical representation of the trend at the
airport. The allowable number of passengers at John Wayne was increased
to 10.3 million per year last year but the actual traffic is also
constrained by the permitted number of flights per day.
Irvine
World News, March 25, 2004 posted March 26
"El Toro CSUF
enrollment up"
"Despite a drop in overall enrollment at California State University
Fullerton, the number of students attending the university’s El Toro
Campus rose to 3,506 this spring, up from 2,940 in the fall. Among them
are 1,185 students attending courses solely at the shuttered Marine
base."
Website Editor: The university
contemplates a busy 400-acre 14,000-student
El Toro campus. This was one of
the reuses envisioned in Measure W and incorporated into the Irvine
plan for the property.
LA
Times, March 26, 2004 - updated
"Key Aide to Hahn
Quits Amid Probe of Agencies"
"Deputy Mayor Troy Edwards, 37, [who] has been one of Hahn's most loyal
supporters and served as the mayor's liaison to the multimillion-dollar
agencies that run the airport, port and the Department of Water and
Power" resigned Thursday. "He has been a controversial figure since the
Los Angeles County Grand Jury began investigating allegations that
contracting at the agencies is linked to campaign donations."
"With the mayor under persistent legal and political pressure over
contracting practices at Los Angeles International Airport, Edwards'
departure was seen by some political observers as an attempt by the
Hahn administration to clean house."
"Some also have called on the mayor to remove Airport Commission
President Ted Stein, who has been a Hahn fundraiser. Stein declined to
discuss his plans Thursday."
Website Editor: Edwards and Stein
co-authored last year's attempt by Los Angeles to take
control of the El Toro base and operate it as part of Los Angeles
World Airports.
Click for the entire Times article.
The Daily Breeze reports: "Along with
airport commission President Ted Stein, Edwards had shepherded the
mayor's airport redesign, which has drawn opposition from airlines,
several council members and nearby cities such as El Segundo.
Especially controversial are the project's $9 billion cost and a
proposal to build a remote passenger check-in facility east of LAX."
El
Toro Info Site report, March 25, 2004
Treading water
It's tough trying to report real news on the El Toro debate these days.
The ruling hasn't come down on the AWG lawsuit, challenging Irvine's
Great Park EIR. We hear that this is not ominous; Judge Jameson
proceeds cautiously. He has 90 days from the February 11 hearing, until
early May, but expected to provide a decision early this
month.
The Navy seems tied up in administrative, legal and environmental red
tape and is running way behind its schedule for
commencing the El Toro land sale. Invitations to Bid were expected in
February, then by the end of March, and now we hear "summer".
Stay tuned.
El Toro
Info
Site report, March 23, 2004
More on Kerry's El Toro statement
The
OC Register headlines the story reported here yesterday. (See
below
for the Senators's complete statement.) "Kerry calls for
reopening
El Toro military housing. Local officials say idea isn't feasible
and
candidate is out of touch on the issue."
"Presumed Democratic presidential nominee Sen. John Kerry unwittingly
stepped
into the middle of an Orange County political controversy on Monday
when
his office issued a statement calling on the Bush administration to let
military
families live at the closed El Toro Marine Corps Air Station."
"Kerry campaign officials seemed unaware of the firestorm that has
surrounded
every aspect of the closing and reuse of the El Toro base. When told
that
several local members of Congress already had broached the idea of
re-opening
the housing and were told the Marines found it wasn't the best
solution,
El Toro became less important to Kerry officials than the idea of
helping
military families."
"The statement specifying El Toro apparently was spearheaded by
[veteran
activist] Ken Lee, who has been crusading for years to reopen the El
Toro
commissary. Lee said he contacted the Kerry campaign a few weeks ago,
told
them about the issue and put them in touch with military families who
want
the housing reopened."
The Times reports, "The El Toro Marine base may be closed, but nearly
1,000
housing units at the former airfield have sprung back to life as
campaign
fodder."
"Navy officials couldn't be reached for comment. They have long
maintained,
however, that the Navy cannot afford renovating the military housing,
which
they estimate at $192 million."
"Preserving the military housing also would disrupt the Navy's plan to
auction
3,700 acres of the base later this year."
Post
your comments here.
El Toro Info Site
report,
March 22, 2004
Kerry weighs in on El Toro reuse
Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry released the following
statement yesterday. Kerry's proposal may win favor with airport
advocates anxious to retain federal control over El Toro. Democratic
leaders from the area around
LAX, and their small cadre of Republican allies in Orange County are
desperate
for ways to stall the impending Navy sale which will end any hopes for
a
commercial airport at the former base.
Kerry Urges the Bush Administration to Support our
Troops and
Address the Southern California Military Housing Shortage
March 21, 2004 Washington, DC. Today John Kerry released
the following
statement on
the El Toro housing situation in Southern California:
"A true sign of our patriotism as a nation is how we treat our men
and women of the armed services and their families. That's why I've
always fought for those our veterans and our troops ? on active duty
and in the reserves. It's why this week I unveiled a Military Family
Bill of Rights to ensure that we take care of the brave men and women
of our armed services and the loved ones they leave behind when
called to serve. It will provide our military families with
competitive pay, good housing, affordable health care, quality
education for their children, first rate training, and the most
modern weapons and body armor.
"And that's why the Bush Administration's stubborn callousness toward
Southern California military families concerns me.
"There are over 1,000 military families in the San Diego and Orange
County area, and too many of them desperately need affordable
military base housing. Yet George W. Bush's Administration refuses
to allow them to move into El Toro Marine Base leaving too many
struggling to find the money to pay for far more expensive housing.
Clearly this is no way for to treat our troops and their families. I
believe that El Toro should be opened for the military families who
need housing, and I urge this Administration to move quickly to do
so. For too long the needs of these families have been ignored, and
they have not been treated with the respect they deserve.
"Taking care of those who defend America is the government's sacred
duty. It's time George W. Bush showed military families the respect
they deserve."
Post
your comments here.
El Toro Info Site
report, March 21, 2004
Who Flew?
It is one type of challenge to predict how many people from each county
in the region will take a plane trip 26 years from now. The
predictors will have retired, moved to other work, or died before the
correctness of their forecast is known.
In October 2002, the Southern California Association of Governments asked
each county in the region for its forecast of air travel
demand for 2030. Response was poor so SCAG's consultants turned to a
sophisticated computer-modeling program for the answer. The program's
output, based on SCAG input assumptions, provides the basis for the
region's
next transportation plan.
It's quite a different type of challenge to ask how many people
actually flew last year from each county. One might expect current
information to
be more accurate that future forecasts, and be the baseline for making
those forecasts.
Who flew last year, or in any recent year? It turns out that the answer
is missing. It is not in the SCAG plan. Los Angeles World Airport spent
over $500,000 on a study and never published the findings. It is not in
the LAX Master Plan.
SCAG says it estimated passenger figures for only Orange County. We
assume that O.C.'s being singled out had something to do with the El
Toro debate.
Since determining each county's "fair share" of the aviation burden has
become a hot political issue, we resolved to make our own analysis of
air travel for each county in the region.
Clues exist in bits and pieces, diverse surveys and estimates made by
various parties. We have patched together the available information,
made our own educated guesses, and now offer the
only published breakdown of passengers by county. We
would welcome some official agency with greater resources to step
forward and help us
to refine these numbers.
Finally, we converted the results into per
capita statistics to get some measure of the relationship
between estimated aviation growth and the population growth that is
expected to fuel it.
If SCAG is right, we each need to fly almost twice as often - and a lot
more tourists will have to fly to Disneyland - to hit the forecast for
2030. However, SCAG has a
history of overestimating aviation demand. See you in 2030 to
find out . . . I hope.
OC Register,
March 20, 2004
"Terminals arriving at John Wayne"
"Sections of what will become two modular terminal buildings at John
Wayne Airport were expected to arrive early this morning. . . Crews
will begin assembling the pieces by Monday into two temporary commuter
air terminals, one to be placed at the north end of the terminal
building and the other at
the south end."
"The buildings are expected to be ready for operation by mid-April."
"They will mostly accommodate smaller regional jets, which now are
loaded through gates 1-B and 14-B."
LA Times,
March 19, 2004
"U.S. Subpoenas Records From LAX Officials"
"In a widening probe of contracting at the Los Angeles airport
department, the U.S. attorney's office has subpoenaed records and notes
from the files of Airport Commission President Ted Stein and airport
deputy executive
director James Ritchie."
"Contracting practices in Los Angeles also are a subject of a probe by
the Los Angeles County district attorney's office."
"Earlier this month, amid concern that there is at least a perception
of corruption in city contracting practices, the City Council voted to
prohibit commissioners from raising money for local elected officials.
At that time, two council members also took the unusual step of calling
for the removal of [Airport Commission
President Ted] Stein and
Deputy Mayor Troy Edwards, saying that they had cast a pall of
disrepute over the city." Edwards is responsible for overseeing the
airport and other parts of city government. Click
for full story.
El Toro Info Site
report, March 18, 2004
Airport Land Use Commission refuses to budge
At Thursday evening's meeting, ALUC Chairman Gerald Bresnahan again
refused to agendize a request for discussion on the El Toro
Airport Environs Land Use Plan (AELUP). The AELUP still includes
development restrictions in several cities around the former base
predicated on obsolete Marine Corps jet noise.
Bresnahan rejected a written request from Alternate Commissioner Len
Kranser to reconsider the AELUP in light of the settlement of the
Measure W litigation. Next, Commissioners Tom O'Malley and Denny Harris
made and seconded a motion to force a discussion of the El Toro
restrictions. It needed two more votes to overrule Bresnahan. The
motion failed when none of the other commissioners would join them or
support their effort to update the land use plan.
With County officials unable to budge the commissioners, legal action
by the negatively impacted cities and developers may be the only way to
lift the restrictions.
LA Times, March 17,
2004
"L.A. to Help Fund 'Maglev' Train Study"
"Planning for a high-speed rail system in Southern California moved
forward Tuesday when the Los Angeles City Council agreed . . . to spend
$563,000 to study the feasibility and environmental effect of a 50-mile
train
line run by a largely untested magnetic levitation system."
"The Southern California Assn. of Governments, which proposed the
'maglev' train,
wants it to run from the Westside — a specific terminus has not
been
chosen — to the Ontario airport, with stops at Union Station and West
Covina."
Website Editor: SCAG
projects the area west of Los Angeles to be a major generator of
aviation traffic. It remains to be determined whether these
travellers
will use Ontario, if a maglev connection is provided, in
lieu of the much closer LAX ?
"The maglev proposal clashes with plans by the state-backed California
High Speed Rail Authority to create a railway of European-style
high-speed trains connecting Los Angeles and San Francisco. That plan
is much further along, its environmental studies largely complete."
Click for more.
LA Times, March
15, 2004
"Alterations to LAX Plan May Not Fly"
"Six months before the City Council gets its say on Mayor James K.
Hahn's $9-billion plan to modernize Los Angeles International Airport,
some legal experts are arguing that time constraints and strict
environmental laws will prevent the council from altering the
proposal."
"If the council makes significant changes, according to this line
of thinking, it might send airport officials back to the drawing board
and jeopardize the nine years and $123 million the city has already
spent
to devise a politically palatable LAX plan."
Website Editor: Didn't we hear similar
comments about abandoning plans for El Toro airport?
"Not everybody at City Hall agrees with this analysis. In particular,
Councilwoman Cindy Miscikowski, whose district includes LAX and who has
been critical of Hahn's plan, said she believes that the council can
and
should amend the proposal."
Click
for more.
El Toro Info Site
report, March 14, 2004
DFW prepares to pass LAX
In 2003, LAX was the nation's third busiest passenger airport behind
Atlanta's Hartsfield and Chicago's O'Hare. Dallas-Forth Worth Airport
was a close fourth and gaining. DFW served 8.5 million more domestic
passengers than LA but lagged in international traffic.
This month,
the Dallas Business Journal reports that DFW officials have
made an agreement with American Airlines to significantly expand
passenger
service. The Texas airport has a $2.6 billion capacity building program.
In contrast to Dallas' expansion plans, Los Angeles officials seek to
limit the capacity of LAX to less than what its runways can carry.
To accomplish this, Mayor James Hahn's $9 billion remodel of the
airport
will reduce the number of gates and El
Segundo
Mayor Mike Gordon is asking for deeper cuts in gate availability.
Los Angeles wants to increase regional aviation capacity by putting
more flights into other airports. Response to the concept is mixed. In
Palmdale there is interest in restarting passenger service. In Ontario
there
is willingness to expand to 30 MAP but not more because that would
necessitate
adding a runway. Resistance to adding much passenger capacity is coming
from other airport communities such as Burbank, Long Beach, Riverside
(March
Inland Port), and Orange County.
El Toro Info Site
report, March 12, 2004 - revised
Ontario passenger study sheds new light on O.C. demand
Data from a recent passenger
study conducted at Ontario Airport indicates that Orange County
residents were only 0.4 million of the 6.5 million passengers using
the Ontario Airport in 2003. Orange Countians were 10 percent of
Southern
California residents using the airport with most of the
remainder
living in San Bernardino and Riverside Counties.
A
1993 study had Orange County residents and visitors
producing 14 percent of ONT traffic.
"Convenience" and the "short commute" were cited in the latest study as
the main reasons for passengers choosing Ontario airport. ONT
passengers' median travel time to the airport from home or work was
reported to be 32.2 minutes. The report states, "When asked how much
less expensive their ticket would need to be to change airports, more
than half . . . indicated that no amount would change their mind . . .
Among those who did indicate a specific price, the average necessary
savings was between $106 and $109 dollars."
The study supports the proposition that some of the recent increased
traffic at John Wayne airport may result from more Orange County
residents choosing to use their local "hassle-free" airport and not
from any increase in their total amount of flying.
The data reinforces our confidence that Orange County passenger demand
was abouit 14 million annual passengers in 2003 and that the
SCAG forecast of 32 million O.C. passengers in 2030 may be too
high.
Confirmation of the 14 MAP estimate awaits release of a
major study conducted at LAX but never released.
This website obtained a copy of the unpublicized Ontario
International Airport Passenger Survey Final Report dated October
2003 through a California Public Records Act request.
El Toro Info Site
report, March 10, 2004
John Wayne Airport Developments
The Times reports, "a $4-million expansion of security checkpoints at
John Wayne Airport to improve airline safety and ease delays for
travelers won approval Tuesday by the Orange County Board of
Supervisors."
"The money . . . will expand floor space in the main terminal
[by bridging over an open area] and create four new screening lines
to handle growing passenger volumes. Most of the cost of the project
is covered by a federal grant."
In another matter, first reported earlier
this week, the Orange County congressional delegation is
lobbying Transportation Secretary Norman Mineta to grant Aloha Airlines
one of a handful of new slots to be added at Reagan National Airport in
Washington. This would enable the carrier to provide direct access from
John Wayne Airport to the nation's capitol.
Planning is underway for the addition of four new gates at Orange
County's airport.
El Toro Info Site
report, March 8, 2004
AWG reports finances
Tom Coad a Director
The Airport Working Group has filed its mandatory Form 990
Return of
Organization Exempt from Income Tax for calendar year 2002.
The return shows that the organization raised $113,438 of public
support and spent $1,216,628 during the year. The expenditures came
largely from the balance of the $3.7 million
grant received by AWG from the City of Newport Beach in 2001.
We presume that much of the money was spent on efforts to defeat
Measure W which was passed by the voters in March of 2002. The
principal recipients of the funds were:
Contractor
|
Type of Service
|
Compensation
|
Chevalier, Allan & Lichman
(Barbara Lichman's firm)
|
Consulting
|
333,302
|
David Ellis & Assoc.
|
Consulting
|
261,589
|
Bruce Nestande
|
Consulting
|
202,668
|
Kutak Rock LLP
(Greg Hurley's firm)
|
Consulting
|
78,655
|
Greenstripe Media - NPB
|
Airtime
|
69,418
|
For the first time, Tom Coad, husband and chief of staff for
former Supervisor Cynthia Coad is listed as an Airport Working Group
Director.
El Toro Info Site
report, March 6, 2004
Auction schedule slipping
In
December we posted the following from the official Heritage
Fields land sale website. "It is expected that the [Invitation for
Bids] IFB will be available in early 2004."
The start date has slipped and now is being reported as: "The IFB will
be issued in late Spring/Summer 2004 and the auction would
begin approximately 60-75 days after the IFB is issued." A timeline on
the Heritage Fields site still lists the close of escrow as "Summer
2004"
but we are not taking bets on it.
With continued controversy over Mayor Hahn's plan to cap passenger
service at LAX and push the added traffic onto regional airports, pro-El
Toro sentiment could heat up again. El Toro opponents are like
a team that is winning in the final minutes of the game and would like
to see it over.
LA Times, March 5,
2004
"El Segundo's Mayor Wants New LAX Plan"
"El Segundo Mayor Mike Gordon says he will issue an ultimatum to Mayor
James K. Hahn today: Revise the massive modernization plan for Los
Angeles International Airport or face opposition from a formidable
regional coalition that helped kill previous airport expansion plans."
"To appease Gordon during the 2001 mayoral campaign, Hahn pledged that
if elected, he would limit capacity at LAX to 78 million passengers a
year."
"Gordon argues that the mechanism used in the mayor's plan
to discourage growth at LAX - reducing the number of airline gates
from the current 163 to 153 - assumes that airlines would move flights
to other airports. That is not necessarily the case, Gordon said,
because there is no incentive in the proposal for airlines to shift
their operations."
"To make growth limits stick at LAX, Gordon said, Hahn must reduce the
number of gates in his plan to 142 and forge a legally binding
agreement with El Segundo that would prohibit the city of Los Angeles
from adding gates at LAX until after Jan. 31, 2021."
"Gordon, who will finish his term as El Segundo's mayor next month and
is running for Assemblyman George Nakano's (D-Torrance)
seat in November, said he plans to remain active in the airport debate
and has already lined up a number of cities to fight Hahn's plan." Click
for the entire article and a related one that follows.
Website Editor: As further evidence of the continuing pressure for
El Toro we quote from the public statement of Burbank City Councilman
Todd Campbell at the last meeting of the SCAG Aviation Task
Force. "The major concern is that the distribution of flights is
being geared towards Los Angeles County as opposed to Orange County not
making up for their shortfall. It is extremely unfortunate that the El
Toro opportunity may be all but lost . . . I see this as a subsidy to a
county that is not bearing its fair share."
El Toro Info Site report,
March 5, 2004
Two years since passage of Measure W
Two years ago today, Measure W, the Orange County Central Park and
Nature Preserve Initiative was passed. It removed El Toro's Measure A's
airport land use designation from the County's General Plan
and redesignated the former base for non-aviation redevelopment. Since
then, all legal challenges to Measure W have been settled.
The Navy announced the day after the election that it would "honor the
decision of the voters." Close on the heels of that announcement was the
news that the property would be auctioned.
The Navy supported annexing the land to the City of Irvine to increase
its market value. That has been accomplished.
We are waiting eagerly for the auction to begin. After two years, the
ball is in the Navy's court.
Daily Breeze, March
3, 2004 posted March 4
"Airport president's ouster sought"
"Intensifying their pressure on Los Angeles Mayor James Hahn, two City
Council members called Tuesday for the removal of airport commission
President Ted Stein, citing ongoing investigations into
contracting by Los Angeles World Airports."
"The call from council members Cindy Miscikowski and Bernard Parks
coincided with the council's vote to ban commissioners at
the airport and elsewhere from soliciting campaign contributions
on behalf of the city's elected officials."
"Parks said Stein -- as well as Hahn's point-person on
the airport, Deputy Mayor Troy Edwards -- should step down because
the investigations into the airport by two grand juries are 'casting
a shadow' on the entire city."
Click
for the entire story. A related March 4 LA Times article
follows in the thread.
Website Editor: Readers of this website may appreciate Stein's
troubles since he is a powerful advocate for an airport at El Toro. Stein
and Edwards co-signed a secret letter to U.S. Transportation Secretary
Norman Mineta proposing that LAX takeover El Toro.
El Toro Info Site
report, March 2, 2004 - updated March 3
Election results of interest to airport opponents
Final election results follow::
ETRPA Chair Mimi Walters beat Supervisor Tom Wilson by 42.9 to 32.6
percent of the vote for the Republican nomination in
the 73rd Assembly District race. The winner seeks to replace long-time
airport foe Pat Bates, who is termed out. Given the heavily Republican
makeup of the district, Walters is favored to win the November
election.
Wilson will stay on to complete his term as county supervisor.
Supervisor Bill Campbell won, running unopposed for reelection in his
supervisorial district which includes Irvine.
In a race for the Republican nomination for State Senator, John
Campbell who has opposed the El Toro airport, swamped Ken Maddox who
previously supported the project. The vote was 60.5 to 30.0 percent.
In the contest for the Republican nomination for State Assembly in the
70th District, that includes both Irvine and Newport Beach, Irvine's
Chuck DeVore beat out Cristi Cristich of Newport
Beach by 46.3 to 26.5 percent.
Democrat Lou Correa got 43.7 percent of the vote for
a seat on the Board of Supervisors that has been held by airport
proponent Chuck Smith. Smith, who is termed out, will occupy the
position until the end of the year.
Correa will face the number two candidate, Bruce Broadwater, Mayor of
Garden Grove in a runoff electionon November 2. The City of
Garden Grove joined the AWG in a lawsuit against Irvine's Great Park
EIR. Correa is much more pragmatic on the airport issue and played
an important role in getting former Governor Gray Davis
to veto the pro-El Toro Nakano bill after it was passed by both houses
of the State Legislature.
Bill Jones won the Republican contest for the right to oppose U.S.
Senator Barbara Boxer in her November reelection effort. Jones
took a position against El Toro Airport when he ran
unsuccessfully for Governor in 2001. Boxer took a position
sympathetic to South County in a
letter in 1998.
More election results are posted on the O.C. Registrar of Voters
website page at http://www.ocgov.com/election/Live/e12/frameset.htm
John Wayne Airport
media
release, March 2, 2004
John Wayne airport upturn
"January was another busy month at John Wayne Airport as over 673,701
travelers passed through the Thomas F. Riley Terminal -- a 9.1%
increase from January 2003."
"'We had our busiest holiday season ever last year and ended 2003 with
a record number of passengers,' said John Wayne
Airport Director Alan Murphy. 'Things have yet to slow down. If this
type of trend continues, it appears that we may have another record
setting year.'"
Website Editor: The service restrictions on the airport recently
were raised from 8.4 to 10.3 million annual passengers,
(MAP). The airport logged 8.5 MAP in 2003. The universally-used MAP
statistic counts a round trip by an individual, consisting of two
flights,
as "two passengers or travellers".
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