NEWS - April 2003W updates.)
El Toro Info Site report, April 29, 2003
County withdraws from two pro-El Toro groups
LA Times, April 29, 2003
"El Toro Sales May Hasten Base Cleanup"
Inland Valley Voice, April 29, 2003
"High-speed rail gets a boost"
El Toro Info Site report, April 28, 2003
Navy sale of land gains momentum
Daily Breeze, April 26, posted April 27, 2003
"New airport commissioner will focus on environmental effects
of LAX on nearby communities"
LA Times, April 26, 2003
"Pollution at El Toro Said Not a Threat"
El Toro Info Site report, April 25, 2003
Board to consider withdrawing from two airport authorities
OC Register Business Section, April 24, 2003
Runways and red ink
Now that air travel is slumping, O.C. is fortunate it didn't proceed
with plan to build an airport at El Toro.
LA Times, April 24, 2003
"CenterLine Mailer Violates Law, Critics Say"
El Toro Info Site report, April 22, 2003
Anti-airport agenda inching forward
El Toro Info Site report, April 22, 2003
Commissary boosters seize on housing angle
OC Register, April 19, 2003
"Much interest seen for El Toro"
El Toro Info Site report, April 18, 2003
Toxic riddle
Irvine World News, April 17 posted April 18, 2003
"Lennar Communities at El Toro"
El Toro Info Site report, April
17, 2003
Bill Campbell weighs in on El Toro
El Toro Info Site report, April 17, 2003
Meetings today
OC Register, April 16, 2003
"Forum planned on El Toro land"
El Toro Info Site Report, April 15, 2003
Is Airport Land Use Commission stalling
Board of Supervisors on El Toro?
Commission also may dodge Great Park issue
Inland Valley Voice, April 15, 2003
"Key congressman announces support for multibillion-dollar
high-speed train."
El Toro Info Site report, April 12, 2003
El Toro booster keeps trying
Baghdad "Yes", Irvine International
"No" ?
El Toro Info Site report, April 12, 2003
Newport and Inglewood, strange bedfellows
in airport fight
El Toro Info Site report,
April 10, 2003
Premature death notice
El Toro Info Site report, April 9, 2003
Wilson sends a message to SCAG
OC Register, April 9, 2003
"Potential hazards decline at JWA"
OC Register, April 8, 2003
"Base Marketing"
El Toro Info Site report, April 7, 2003
Litigation update
El Toro Info Site report, April 6, 2003
Half of El Toro websites evaporating
into cyberspace
LA Times, April 6, 2003
"El Toro Auction May Hit a Snag"
"Pollution from a dump for construction waste
could block the sale of a 270-acre part of the base. The site
is key to Irvine's 'Great Park' proposal."
New York Times, April 4, 2003, posted April 5
"Money Problems Made Airlines
Safer, F.A.A. Says"
Washington Post, April 3, 2003
"In Selling Calif. Facility,
Navy May Have Base Hit"
"El Toro Air Station Destined for Parkland,
Development as U.S. Applies Lessons of Past Closures"
OC Register, April 3, 2003
"Board battle set for high court"
Wall Street Journal, April 2, 2003
"A New Airline Policy: Kill
United"
Click here for previous
news stories
El Toro Info Site report, April 29,
2003
County withdraws from two pro-El Toro groups
Today, the Board of Supervisors voted to withdraw
the county from the Southern California Regional Airport Authority,
SCRAA, and from the Orange County Regional Airport Authority, OCRAA. The vote
on each item was 3-2 with Supervisors Smith and Silva in the minority. Neither
of the pair explained their votes.
A resolution to effect the previously approved
pre-annexation tax transfer agreement with the City of Irvine was
delayed until next week.
LA Times, April 29, 2003
"El Toro Sales May Hasten Base Cleanup"
"Proceeds from Web land auction may also suffice to speed toxin removal
at other sites, Navy officials say."
"The Navy hopes to collect enough money from this fall's auction of the
former El Toro Marine base to pay for accelerated environmental cleanup there
and at other closed bases, officials said Monday. . . Sale proceeds will go
into a fund earmarked for cleanup of Navy, Army and Air Force facilities.
Navy officials said Friday that they expect El Toro land to be cleaned up
within three years at a cost of $70 million." See our firsthand report
below.
"Some 3,700 acres will be offered for sale, with 60% earmarked for open
space and public uses. Industry officials estimate the base will bring between
$800 million and $1.2 billion."
"An updated environmental review of El Toro released Monday showed areas
scattered around the base that still must be cleaned. The largest portion,
encompassing the southwest corner, will be leased
instead of sold to developers because it lies above contaminated
groundwater that could take decades to fully clean."
"A lawsuit filed last year . . . could delay the auction. Filed by the
Airport Working Group of Orange County, the suit challenged an earlier Navy
environmental review as inadequate. The group supported building a commercial
airport at the base, a plan rejected last year by Orange County voters."
"Court hearings are scheduled for this summer, though the case could be
settled before then, [Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary of the Navy]
Arny said."
Inland Valley Voice, April
29, 2003
"High-speed rail gets a boost"
"U.S. railroad agency to take lead in study of environmental issues for
Ontario-Vegas link."
"A high-speed rail project linking Ontario with Anaheim and Las Vegas got
a boost Monday with an endorsement from the Federal Railroad Administration."
"The Federal Railroad Administration, which is part of the Department of
Transportation and develops national rail policy, has agreed to be the lead
agency and federal sponsor for an environmental study for the 269-mile magnetic
levitation train, said Bruce Aguilera, chairman of the California-Nevada
Super Speed Train Commission."
"'We are very pleased that the FRA is interested enough in this project
and that it is moving forward,' said Ontario City Manager Greg Devereaux.
'We think this project, should it come to fruition, will be part of the solution
for the regionalization of airports and air traffic in Southern California.'"
"Ontario officials have touted the rail as a way to encourage Orange County
residents to fly out of Ontario International Airport instead of Los Angeles
International Airport."
Website Editor: It may also reduce the number of flights from Southern
California to Las Vegas, freeing up runway capacity for longer distance
travel.
El Toro Info Site report,
April 28, 2003
Navy sale of land gains momentum
A standing room only crowd of over 500 interested parties crammed the
Officers Club at the former El Toro Marine airbase to hear details about
the upcoming land sale. Congressman Chris Cox called today "an historic day."
Cox stated that the El Toro sale would generate 4 times as much revenue
for the federal government as all previous base closures combined. The congressman
has been a long time
proponent of selling the land.
Wayne Arny, Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary of the Navy (Installations
and Environment) stressed that the proceeds would be used to clean up El
Toro and other closed bases as well as to help recoup the cost of moving
the military operations.
Arny said that 70 percent of El Toro already has been cleaned to state
and federal standards and qualifies for a Finding of Suitability for Transfer
(FOST).
The remainder is suitable for Lease in Furtherance of Conveyance (LIFOC),
an interim status pending final cleanup. Banks traditionally will lend
for private development of LIFOC property. The surface of this land is
suitable for residential use while final cleanup of a toxic plume of ground
water "120 feet down" proceeds.
Representatives of the General Services Administration and Collier Seeley
International, their commercial partners in the sale process, met with
business people from around the world today to provide tours, present data,
and review the bidding procedures. The former base property was renamed
Heritage Fields and a new website,
HeritageFields.com was launched to provide information on the sale.
Daily Breeze, April
26, posted April 27, 2003
"New airport commissioner will focus on environmental effects
of LAX on nearby communities"
"Los Angeles Mayor James Hahn’s latest nominee to the airport commission
said Friday he will look more closely at the negative effects Los Angeles
International Airport has on nearby neighborhoods. The City Council voted
14-0 to approve Miguel Contreras, executive secretary-treasurer of the Los
Angeles County Federation of Labor, a powerful player in the campaigns for
council and other city offices."
“'There are a lot of issues of environmental justice at the airport
that have to be addressed,' Contreras said."
Website Editor: The "environmental justice" term is used by SCAG, was
part of the Nakano bill, and comes up in calls to
move airport burdens to El Toro from minority neighborhoods near LAX.
"Although some council members focused on environmental issues, Councilman
Jack Weiss argued that the region’s economic future is 'critically linked'
to expansion of the airport."
Website Editor: At the latest SCAG Aviation Task Force meeting, Los
Alamitos Mayor Ron Bates suggested that the region's economic future
is linked to building El Toro. Regional and even state, economic need -
and whether it should be served at LAX or El Toro - is likely to central
to a last push for El Toro airport in the state capitol.
LA Times, April 26, 2003
"Pollution at El Toro Said Not a Threat"
"Cleanup will cost about $70 million, but there is no serious danger
to building plans, Navy says. One watchdog doubts the assurances."
"Lingering contamination at El Toro will take about three years and
$70 million to clean up, but poses no serious threat to the construction
of homes, businesses and park land on the former Marine base, Navy officials
said Friday."
"The Navy's final report on base pollution, to be released Monday,
will show that most the land is clean and suitable for unrestricted development,
said Wayne Arny, deputy assistant secretary of the Navy for installations.
Officials also plan a public forum Monday to explain how the base will be
sold in pieces to developers this summer. 'We're ready to put all the property
up for auction,' Arny said."
"But Greg Hurley,
an environmental attorney who has monitored El Toro cleanup issues for
eight years, warned against accepting the Navy's assurances that much of
the land is clean."
Website Editor: Hurley will be remembered for being paid
by the Airport Working Group to write a report about El Toro pollution.
He is currently engaged, with Barbara Lichman, in the AWG lawsuit against
the Department of Defense seeking to block the base sale.
"Base land is expected to fetch between $800 million and $1.2 billion,
by far the most that any branch of the military has received for property
sales."
"Among the contaminated areas is a 6-acre site near the runways where
tests showed levels of TCE, or trichloroethylene, and a 9-acre former construction dump near 1,100 planned homes."
"The Navy plans to use proceeds from the sale of El Toro to complete
the cleanup and treat pollution at other military bases throughout the
country."
El Toro Info Site report,
April 25, 2003
Board to consider withdrawing from two airport authorities
The April 29 Board of Supervisors agenda has an item by Supervisor
Tom Wilson to withdraw the county from the Southern California Regional
Airport Authority SCRAA, "effective immediately."
Supervisor Bill Campbell sent an e-mail bulletin today saying that
he will place an item on the same agenda to withdraw the county from the
Orange County Regional Airport Authority, OCRRA.
Good! Until he was removed by Board Chairman Tom Wilson this year,
pro-El Toro airport Supervisor Chuck Smith was the county's representative
to both groups. Smith still remains as O.C.'s official representative to
the Southern California Association of Governments, SCAG.
This website has a reputation for sometimes irritating friendly elected
officials and professionals, as well as those on the other side. We have
an advantage, being a single issue media with an uncluttered focus. We
are never distracted from what needs to be done to settle the El Toro reuse
and we never stop reminding anyone who
will listen.
OC Register Business Section,
April 24, 2003
Runways and red ink
Now that air travel is slumping, O.C. is fortunate it didn't proceed
with plan to build an airport at El Toro.
"Can you imagine that Orange County could have been building an international
airport at the old El Toro base just about now? If airport supporters
had won the debate, construction might be under way today - smack in the
middle of air transportation's worst financial crisis."
"If you'd like proof why Orange County should thank its collective
lucky stars for the demise of the airport plan, digest some recent news
from Greater Pittsburgh International."
"This airport owes about $675 million on bonds after its 1992 expansion.
Thanks to recent travel mayhem, Greater Pitt's sugar daddy, US Airways,
operates in bankruptcy court."
Read
the entire article with comments on SCAG's aviation forecasts
on the Message Board.
LA Times, April 24,
2003
"CenterLine Mailer Violates Law, Critics Say"
"Transit authorities deny that the flier was public advocacy directed
at voters in Irvine, where the light-rail proposal faces a ballot test
June 3."
"Critics of a proposed light-rail line say Orange County transportation
officials ran afoul of laws barring public advocacy by sending a promotional
mailer to 40,000 Irvine voters just weeks before a citywide vote on the
project. The mailer, sent last week by the Orange County Transportation
Authority, touts the planned 11.4-mile CenterLine project through Irvine,
Santa Ana and Costa Mesa. Irvine voters will decide June 3 whether it should
run through their city."
"Orange County Supervisors Chris Norby and Bill Campbell, who sit
on the OCTA board and who oppose the rail line, questioned the legality
of the mailing, which cost the agency $28,000."
"The California Supreme Court ruled in 1976 that a public entity
cannot use public funds or resources to promote or oppose the qualification
or passage of a ballot measure. The court ruled in Stanson vs. Mott that
advocacy could be defined as the 'style, tenor and timing' of a public-paid
message even if it didn't overtly urge a 'yes' or 'no' vote."
"In
December 2001, a San Diego County Superior Court judge suspended
Orange County's $8-million 'Just the Facts' program, which provided details
on a proposal for a new airport at the closed El Toro Marine base."
"In January 2002, a similar lawsuit challenging $3.7 million in
spending by Newport Beach [granted to the Airport Working
Group] was settled."
"As envisioned, CenterLine would run from UC Irvine to John Wayne
Airport through the Irvine Business Complex on the city's west side.
It would continue north to South Coast Plaza, then along Bristol Street
to Santa Ana's Civic Center area, ending at the Santa Ana train station.
Transportation officials are seeking more than $750 million in federal
funds for the $1.4-billion project. Construction would begin in 2006, with
the line opening in 2009, according to an accelerated scheduled released
Wednesday."
El Toro Info Site report,
April 22, 2003
Anti-airport agenda inching forward
On January 31, Bill Campbell was sworn in to office and an anti-airport
majority finally took control of the Board of Supervisors. In anticipation,
grass roots and ETRPA leaders proposed an agenda for undoing the prior
Board's El Toro airport plans. Some are surprised at the gradual pace with
which county government makes such changes.
On February 25, the Board voted to rescind the El Toro Airport
System Master Plan, a key move that was communicated to the FAA this
month. The Board also asked the Airport Land Use Commission (ALUC) to
revise local land use restrictions accordingly. The Board resolution will
not be on the ALUC action agenda until May 15 because ALUC staff said it did not have enough time to prepare
a report for the April meeting.
On March 4, the Board approved a pre-annexation tax transfer agreement
with the City of Irvine. However, a staffer detached the necessary resolution
for notifying the Local Area Formation Commission (LAFCO), which must
act on the annexation. That lapse will have to be corrected by another
Board vote on April 29.
Changing the county's legislative agenda, which guides county lobbyists
in Sacramento, was another top priority. The Board met today for a workshop
"discussion and possible adoption of Legislative Program Procedures".
After much debate as to who will be authorized to write letters to the
Legislature on behalf of the county, action was put off for two more
weeks.
Airport opponents want to eliminate avigation easements in areas
impacted by the former Marine airbase. That proposal was referred to
the Planning Department where it is not expected to emerge before July,
and then only because Board Chairman Tom Wilson insisted that it receives
some priority.
Supervisor Campbell reports that he is "working to have the County remove itself from
the Orange County Regional Airport Authority." OCRAA is a co-plaintiff
with the Airport Working Group in an as-yet-unsettled lawsuit against
the county to overturn Measure W. Some wonder why the county is still in
OCRAA.
On the positive side, Board Chairman Wilson has actively communicated
to the Southern California Association of Governments, SCAG, that Orange
County opposes creation of a regional airport authority with
power to overrule local control. Supervisor Chuck Smith seemed supportive
of a regional approach that includes El Toro.
El Toro Info Site
report, April 22, 2003
Commissary boosters seize on housing angle
The San Diego North County News reports (April 20) "Demonstrators
at Camp Pendleton call for housing"
"About a dozen people stood near the main entrance to Camp Pendleton
on Saturday calling on lawmakers and military officials to reopen military
housing facilities and a commissary at a former air base in Orange County."
"Keep the Commissary is an Orange County citizen's group urging
congressional lawmakers to fund the housing restoration and to reopen
the El Toro commissary, essentially a supermarket for military families."
"Several local lawmakers have looked into the project, but most
of them say it's not feasible. Representatives for lawmakers said this
week that the housing project at El Toro has too many obstacles. Military
officials oppose the idea because the homes are too far from Camp Pendleton
and because the renovation project would be too expensive."
Keep the Commissary leaders apparently hope that moving Marine
families from Pendleton to El Toro will provide additional customers to
help justify reopening the former El Toro store. Critics of their position
say that it makes more sense for the retirees to drive to the Pendleton
commissary a few times a month than for active Marines to have to make
the commute from El Toro to Pendleton every day.
OC Register, April
19, 2003
"Much interest seen for El Toro"
"Worldwide inquiries expected when online auction begins in summer."
"Developers from around the world are expected to consider the
[El Toro] project. Executives at Colliers Seeley International
say the size, complexity and scope of the project likely will mean the
successful bidder will be a coalition of building companies – a residential
builder linked to a commercial developer allied with a golf-course creator
joined with a transit specialist, and so on."
"El Toro will be auctioned in four giant parcels, each planned
for a mix of residential and commercial. But about 84 percent of the
area to be sold will remain in open space, which will be created and
maintained by developer fees and property taxes."
"Colliers Seeley says the open-space requirement will enhance
the project's worth. 'Who would not want to live and work next to that?'
he said."
"Sale of the El Toro lands is expected to bring in about $800
million, based on sale prices at the Tustin base. It will be larger than
all previous sales of Navy land combined."
Website Editor: The Airport Working Group of Newport Beach
is litigating against the federal government
in an attempt to block the sale.
El Toro Info Site report,
April 18, 2003
Toxic riddle
Riddle: What do Anthony Pignataro of the OC Weekly, Jean Pasco
of the LA Times, and Tom Naughton of the Airport Working Group have
in common?
Answer: They have all latched onto the presence of a contaminated
construction debris landfill, in the corner of the former Marine base,
as a big issue.
The Weekly, once a great Larry Agran ally, now chides the
Irvine Mayor for ignoring the contamination with an article, "Toxics?
What Toxics? Agran and Irvine’s about-face on El Toro contamination".
See the OC Weekly website or the bottom of this website's message
board thread where it is posted.
Pasco and the Times see the 9-acre dump as a potential "snag"
and "key" to the entire Great Park in a
story posted below:
Naughton refers to the dump as "in the middle of a parcel
to be sold for construction of 1,100 homes." He unleashes the inaccurate
charge in an April 9 fundraising letter to Airport Working Group faithful.
Naughton's letter seeks funds for the AWG's lawsuit against the Department
of Navy, Department of Defense and Secretary Rumsfeld, seeking to block
the sale of El Toro. The protector of Newport Beach and advocate of a
polluting El Toro airport is now the guardian of Irvine's environment.
As we have written often, the El Toro fight is not over until
it is over. These issues of opportunity will keep cropping up. A city
official told us that the dump is "no problem. Given the apparent great
interest in the property, the city and Navy should provide an answer
as to what will be done about it. See story below.
Irvine World News, April
17 posted April 18, 2003
"Lennar Communities at El Toro"
"Lennar Communities, one of two home builders who bought portions
of the Tustin Marine Corps helicopter base last year, will be placing
their bids this summer for the 4,700-acre El Toro air base."
"Last year, Lennar Communities, the largest public home builder
in the nation, teamed up with William Lyon Homes of Newport Beach to
purchase three parcels at the helicopter base . . . They paid $208.5
million for the property and plan to build 1,910 homes."
"'We're going to be very aggressive going after the El Toro
base, we think it's a wonderful opportunity,' said Bob Santos, division
president of Lennar Communities . . .. Lennar Communities would be
interested in purchasing all four parcels up for sale at the El Toro base."
"Lennar was the first master developer for base reuse in California.
They are building on two bases in San Francisco, Hunters Point, and
bidding on another. They are also developing on Mare Island in Vallejo."
El Toro Info Site report,
April 17, 2003
Bill Campbell weighs in on El Toro
An e-mail bulletin from Supervisor Bill Campbell today reports
the following:
"I am pleased to announce that a resolution supporting the
Tax Transfer and Pre-Annexation Agreement for Marine Corps Air Station,
El Toro will appear on the April 29, 2003 agenda of the Board of Supervisors.
This will put the annexation of the former military base one step closer
to its eventual annexation by the City of Irvine for development of
the Great Park."
Website Editor: When the Tax Transfer agreement was approved
by the Board of Supervisors on March 4, an essential resolution
sending the action to the Local Area Formation Committee (LAFCO) was
detached by a county staffer and not acted upon. The April 29 action
will repair the lapse.
"The Board will also consider a resolution to remove the
County of Orange from the Southern California Regional Airport Authority
on April 29. In addition, I am working to have the County remove itself
from the Orange County Regional Airport Authority. Both of these authorities
had been advocates for a commercial airport at MCAS, El Toro."
El Toro Info Site report,
April 17, 2003 - updated
Meetings today - SCAG and
ALUC
The SCAG Aviation Task Force agreed to go forward to the
next planning step allocating
aviation capacity amongst the region's 11 airports, without
El Toro, and with LAX capped at 78 million annual passengers.
Lake Forest Mayor Richard Dixon asked why the second Orange
County airport was even shown on SCAG charts and maps when it is "dead."
Supervisor Charles Smith, the County's official representative to SCAG,
quipped in response that the "the runways are still there."
Los Alamitos Mayor Ron Bates signaled the main thrust of
El Toro advocates by arguing for study of the economic loss to the
State of not having the additional airport at El Toro. We expect this
argument to be taken to the California legislature in a last ditch
attempt to overrule the voters of Orange County.
The Airport Land Use Commission met
and decided to accept a staff recommendation that ALUC still has
authority over land use outside of the El Toro base perimeter but not
inside it.
OC Register, April 16,
2003
"Forum planned on El Toro land"
"A forum to discuss the sale of 3,500 acres of the former
El Toro Marine base is planned for 10 a.m. April 28. Rep. Christopher
Cox, R-Newport Beach, will open the forum. Presentations will be
given by Wayne Arny, principal deputy assistant secretary of the Navy,
and Peter G. Stamison, regional administrator for the U.S. General
Services Administration."
"Sessions on the mechanics of the land sale and tours
of the base will follow. The land will be sold through an online
auction, which is expected to begin in the fall."
El Toro Info Site Report,
April 15, 2003
Is Airport Land Use Commission stalling Board
of Supervisors on El Toro?
Commission also may dodge Great Park issue
The Airport Land Use Commission seemingly will stall
the Board of Supervisors and dodge the City of Irvine's Great Park
plans at its next scheduled meeting on Thursday, April 17.
On February 25, the Board of Supervisors rescinded the
Airport System Master Plan for El Toro. The Board voted to "Submit
resolution to the Airport System Land Use Commission for preparation
of the Airport Environs
Land Use Plan to reflect this action." Airport-related restrictions
on development around the former airbase are obsolete.
The ALUC has not acted on this Board request. Commission
Chairman Gerald Bresnahan of Westminister cancelled
last month's scheduled meeting. ALUC has not agendized
an action item for this week to implement the Board resolution.
Assistant Secretary of the
Navy Wayne Arny and Congressmen Chris
Cox and Ken Calvert have weighed in unsuccessful to try to
get ALUC to lift the land use restrictions around El Toro.
In a related matter, the City of Irvine has submitted
its Great Park plan to ALUC in accordance with state rules. This
was legally necessary since the commissioners refused to remove El
Toro from the Airport Environs Land Use Plan and their scope of official
review.
Curiously however, ALUC staff (Joan Golding of John
Wayne Airport) recommends "the Commission find that it has no statutory
jurisdiction with regard to City of Irvine General Plan Amendment,
Pre-zoning, Zone Change and Development Agreement for the Orange County
Great Park at MCAS El Toro and the adjacent IRWD [Irvine Regional Water
District] site."
Either ALUC has jurisdiction over El Toro or it does
not. It seems like time to decide.
Inland Valley Voice, April
15, 2003
"Key congressman announces support for multibillion-dollar
high-speed train."
"Proponents of a 269-mile, high-speed train that would
stop in Ontario on its way between Anaheim and Las Vegas won public
backing Monday from the chairman of the House Transportation Committee."
"The Anaheim to Ontario line would stop at Ontario International
Airport and is seen as part of a strategy to meet the future demand
for air travel in the region.
"'This will make us the airport for Orange County,' [Ontario
Councilman Alan] Wapner said."
"El Segundo Mayor Mike Gordon said the Maglev is the
best way for his and other communities near Los Angeles International
Airport to hold down the growth of LAX and push more passengers to
airports like Ontario."
"American Magline officials said they would like to start
construction on the first phase by 2004 or 2005. The projected would
be completed between 2015 and 2020."
"The trip would take just less than 100 minutes."
El Toro Info Site report,
April 12, 2003
El Toro booster keeps trying
Baghdad "Yes", Irvine International
"No" ?
Mr. Charles Griffin, zealous advocate of the
V plan for an airport at El Toro, had this to say in an April 3
e-mail to the FAA's Associate Administrator of Airports. Mr. Griffin
also proposes rerouting JWA approach traffic to fly over El Toro "to
avoid existing noise-sensitive, politically-active communities."
"Thank you again for responding to my letter at the
direction of the White House concerning the surrender of the potential
Irvine International Airport at El Toro http://www.ocxeltoro.com
as the gateway to the future of Orange County by the President's
failure to provide authority to the FAA to establish a program to
accept property for a national airport...and by his failure to request
any Congressional action needed for the FAA to operate a civilian airport
at the former MCAS El Toro. . .while correctly requesting 80 billion
dollars to secure Baghdad International Airport as the gateway to
the future of Iraq per the Wartime Supplemental Appropriation Bill
HR1559."
El Toro Info
Site report, April 12, 2003
Newport and Inglewood, strange bedfellows
in airport fight
Yesterday's Daily Breeze, headlines a story about
the Ingelewood city elections, "Several candidates express
frustration with Thursday’s results and cite polling improprieties."
One of the candidates who reportedly did well in
"the often raucous 2½-hour ballot counting in the ninth
floor City Council chambers" was Mike Stevens.
Stevens is best known in Orange County for his "Lax
No, El Toro Yes" campaign that brought loads of Ingelewood residents
to Orange County meetings on busses paid for by "some
rich guy with an expensive watch."
Stevens brought his pro-El Toro campaign to Board
of Supervisors' meetings, anti-El Toro rallies, and the
streets of Newport Beach.
The Daily Breeze story includes this interesting
bit of information. “'We don’t know where these ballots slept
for the last week-and-a-half or who slept with them,' said George
Margolin, a Stevens supporter who filmed Thursday’s process
with a video camera."
Margolin is listed as a Director of the Airport Working
Group and is a pro-El Toro activist. His involvement in Inglewood
city politics is interesting.
El Toro Info Site report,
April 10, 2003
Premature death notice
In a report on the shrinking
number of websites covering El Toro we reported the demise
of the John Wayne Limits site. According to Newport Beach sources,
the City of Newport Beach forgot to pay their web domain fee, and
the domain expired on April 3. Oops! They paid up today and www.jwalimits.org is back on
the air.
We change their status from dead to dormant. The
latest news on the site is dated February 27, 2002. The site says
nothing about the new caps that supposedly went into effect on January
1, 2003. Come to think of it, the County apparently has yet to complete
the administrative procedures to allow more flights or to allow any
airlines to move up from the waiting list and begin service.
El Toro Info Site report,
April 9, 2003
Wilson sends a message to SCAG
Board of Supervisors Chairman Tom Wilson sent
a clear message opposing formation of a Regional Airport Authority
in a letter to Ventura County Supervisor
Judy Mikels, Chair of the Southern California Association
of Governments' Aviation Task Force. Wilson sought to squash the
recent SCAG proposal for a new multi-county authority to implement
aviation plans.
Wilson wrote last Friday, "In Orange County the
voters passed Measure W eliminating the aviation reuse of El
Toro, and the County and City of Newport Beach have developed a limited
expansion agreement for John Wayne Airport to address any future increase
in our aviation demand. The continued implementation of these
policies should rest only with Orange County local agencies without
the threat of interference by outside regional bodies."
"I am certain that many other decision-makers
have similar grave concerns relative to the creation of an un-needed
regional body, and therefore, would recommend that the creation
of such an agency be taken off the table," he wrote.
Chris Kunze, Manager of Long Beach Airport indicated
his concern at the
February task force meeting and characterized the SCAG proposal
to move from its traditional planning role to a Regional Airport Authority,
as "a big jump in logic."
OC Register, April
9, 2003
"Potential hazards decline at JWA"
"Potentially hazardous incidents on John Wayne
Airport's runways declined to four last year compared with 11
the previous year, the Federal Aviation Administration reported."
"Airport managers attributed the improvement to
wider stripes marking runways and taxiways, brighter runway lighting
and added pilot training. All the on-the-ground incidents at John
Wayne – "runway incursions" in FAA parlance – were considered minor
and not likely to result in collisions."
Website Editor: A February report that JWA had
the nation's worst incursion record produced the usual arguments
from the usual advocates that El Toro was needed. Apparently the
problem was solved without spending billions of dollars.
OC Register, April 8,
2003
"Base Marketing"
"The U.S. General Services Administration has
chosen Colliers Seeley International to market the sale of 3,500
acres of the old El Toro Marine base. The commercial real-estate
services company will set up an information center at El Toro."
Website Editor: An Irvine official reports
that there has been intense worldwide interest in purchase of
the property.
As to the presence of the dump for construction
debris recently reported by the Times as a
"snag", he said, "We do not see that as a problem."
Public response to the City of Irvine's Draft
Environmental Impact Report for the Great Park did not produce
anything like the flood of adverse comments that followed release
of the county's airport plans.
El Toro Info Site
report, April 7, 2003
Litigation update
The website's Litigation
page has been updated. After passage of Measure W, most
of the El Toro cases were stayed with legal action put in abeyance.
The parties reserve the right to reopen some of these disputes if
Measure W is ever overturned or the county or SCAG takes proscribed
pro-airport actions.
The Airport Working Group is holding out on
settlement. AWG is balking at terminating its lawsuits against
the federal government and against Measure W. However,
the Newport Beach plaintiffs may be required to pay several hundred
thousand dollars of legal fees to the proponents of Measure W if they
do not negotiate an end to the package of lawsuits.
AWG Director Barbara Lichman's law firm received
a $250,000 payment of City of Newport Beach funds that
presumably is being used to finance the continued legal battle.
El Toro Info Site report,
April 6, 2003
Half of El Toro websites evaporating
into cyberspace
In 1996, this El Toro Info site was the only
website devoted to El Toro reuse and the Orange County airport
debate. By the time that voters passed Measure W last year, we
counted 15 El Toro websites in the process of researching and writing
Internet for Activists.
The tide has turned. The Internet may be exploding,
but the amount of El Toro coverage on the web is contracting
as the fight winds down. Half of the El Toro sites have given up
the effort. This week, the City of Newport Beach quietly closed its
JWA Limits website.
When books go out of print, there may be old
copies around. But when websites go off the Internet, most
of their content evaporates into cyberspace and is lost.
We've saved a few tidbits lest they be forgotten.
We retain the Newport Beach Aviation Policy
from the JWA Limits and the city's official website. It still
calls for an airport at El Toro.
We archive some of the Airport Working Group's tasteless
cartoons as a reminder of how bitter the fight became.
The ETRPA website is gone but we saved some of the best graphics
from the organization's highly successful mail campaign.
From the winning Measure F campaign, we saved
most of our own Safe
and Healthy Communities website.
And lest we forget, we archived the County's
grandiose scheme for a huge
global town center next to the runways at El Toro.
LA Times, April
6, 2003
"El Toro Auction May Hit a Snag"
"Pollution from a dump for construction waste
could block the sale of a 270-acre part of the base. The site
is key to Irvine's 'Great Park' proposal."
"Contamination from a hazardous-waste dump
on the former El Toro Marine base threatens to complicate the
Navy's plan to auction off a portion of the base for new homes this
summer. The closed 9-acre dump was used for discarded construction
material."
"The Navy still owns the base and has yet
to decide whether to clean the dump site and contamination.
The landfill is in a 270-acre parcel that also includes 850 homes
once used to house military families. Under the city's current plans,
as many as 1,100 new homes would be built on the property."
Website Editor: Under the county's airport
plan, this area noth of Irvine Boulevard was slated for use
as a golf course and cultural center.
"Soil samples taken at the old construction
dump showed arsenic, petroleum hydrocarbons, lead and benzopyrene
levels that exceeded federal limits for industrial and residential
development, Navy tests showed."
"What to do about the landfill . . . is the
kind of quandary that officials across the country commonly
confront as they develop closed military bases. The military cannot
sell the property unless it can certify that it is clean. If cleanup
is deemed too expensive, the land remains off-limits."
"Despite the uncertainty, the Navy intends
to sell the bulk of the base at public auction in June after the
property is annexed by Irvine. If the auction goes well, the Navy
hopes it will become a prototype for base sales across the country
. . . The Navy wants to sell El Toro, which closed in 1999, to help
recoup the cost of relocating troops and cleaning lingering pollution,
Navy officials said."
"The final analysis of the environmental condition
of the base, as well as the land's suitability for transfer to
new owners, will be issued by the Navy on April 28 followed by
a 30-day period for public comment." Click
here for the complete article.
Click
here for the Great Park Draft Environmental Impact Report.
The public comment period has now closed.
New York Times, April 4,
2003, posted April 5
"Money Problems Made Airlines
Safer, F.A.A. Says"
"WASHINGTON, - As the House, Senate and White
House wrangled over a subsidy package for the airlines, the
Federal Aviation Administration said today that financial strain
had improved safety at some airlines, and that inspectors had
been closely watching 11 financially weak carriers."
"Airlines with money problems have retired
some planes, leaving active fleets of 'newer, state-of-the-art
airplanes,' said Nicholas A. Sabatini, the agency's associate
administrator for regulation and certification. Some airlines
have retired all the airplanes of a particular type, making surviving
fleets simpler to operate and maintain, he said. And with fewer
planes to fly, some captains have been demoted to second-in-command,
so 'what you have on the flight deck is a very highly experienced
combination of crew members - in essence, two captains,' he said."
Website Editor: Perhaps the roads to the
airports are safer too with fewer travelers.
Washington Post, April 3,
2003
"In Selling Calif. Facility,
Navy May Have Base Hit"
"El Toro Air Station Destined for Parkland,
Development as U.S. Applies Lessons of Past Closures"
"Determining the future of closed military
bases has led to rancorous land-use battles, but few have been
as protracted and divisive as the El Toro Marine Corps Air Station
in Orange County, Calif."
"Now, after 10 years, four countywide ballots
and more than $100 million in costs by vying parties, El Toro
is slated for reincarnation as the nation's second-largest
municipal park."
"For the Navy, which has owned El Toro since
1942, the property's upcoming sale, possibly this summer, will
easily be its most profitable since Congress passed the Base
Realignment and Closure Act of 1988. It shuttered or realigned
about 97 of the military's nearly 500 major domestic bases. In the
four rounds of base closures since then, the Navy has brought in
$265 million, the most of any of the armed services, and El Toro is
expected to exceed that amount."
"Arny said the Navy had planned to convey
the property at no cost to the county for construction of an
international airport, a plan voters narrowly approved in 1994.
Backlash quickly erupted from cities worried about increased
noise, air pollution and traffic."
"After a 2000 ballot [Measure F] killed
the airport, voters last year approved Irvine's plan for a
so-called Great Park."
"The [land] will be sold to developers in
an online auction -- by
late summer or early fall -- conducted by the General
Services Administration (GSA), which is responsible for disposing
of government property."
"Once sold, the land will be annexed by
Irvine and brought under its land-use controls. The buyer
must sign a development agreement in accordance with the city's
plan, which includes dedicating a portion of the land to the
public park. The city expects to raise $200 million in developer
fees and $153 million in property taxes from future property
owners inside the park's boundaries."
"Funding for museums and other cultural
facilities will have to come from private and corporate donations,
Irvine Mayor Larry Agran said."
"Although the Navy remained neutral throughout
the El Toro saga, it took a different tack from past closures,
opting to closely collaborate with Irvine rather than look for
a quick exit. Indeed, once the park idea took hold, the Navy wanted
to sell, but city officials advised patience. Along with annexation,
the city will "entitle" the land, which provides all the necessary
zoning, thereby sparing developers a costly process. Realizing that
entitlement could translate into higher bids, the Navy decided to wait."
"El Toro is unprecedented in the way we
worked with the community and in delaying the sale to increase
value," [Wayne Arny, the Navy's deputy assistant secretary for
installations and facilities] said. "We worked with their lawyers;
we debated the development; we tried to get more and they tried
to squeeze things in. It's been very cooperative."
"Arny said that based on the lessons from
El Toro, as well as the sale of land at Tustin Marine Corps
Air Station in September, also in Orange County, he foresees a
bigger role for public sales in the next round of base closures, expected
in 2005."
"Carol Arnold, deputy director of the property
disposal division at GSA's San Francisco office, said the agency
will advertise the El Toro property nationally and internationally,
using a Web site, fliers, newspapers and presentations to real estate
associations. Tours of the property have begun."
OC Register, April 3, 2003
"Board battle set for high court"
"Labor interests were rebuffed Wednesday
for the second time in legal efforts to preserve the governor's
right to appoint replacements to the county Board of Supervisors,
setting the stage for a battle before the state Supreme Court. The
4th District Court of Appeal last month upheld last year's Measure
V and Wednesday refused to reconsider the matter, which calls for a
special election to fill supervisor vacancies created by resignation
or death."
"Opponents' attorney Michael Feuer said
Wednesday that an appeal to the Supreme Court will be filed
by the April 11 deadline."
Website Editor: Currently, Bill Campbell
holds the seat and provides the important
3-2 anti-airport margin on the Board of Supervisors.
Wall Street Journal,
April 2, 2003
"A New Airline Policy: Kill
United"
"US Airways emerged from bankruptcy on
Monday, though its chief compared it to a drowning man who
found himself a little nearer the surface. United thinks it
will get out eventually too, though murmurs of liquidation continue.
Meanwhile, American Airlines is teetering . . ."
"The trouble is, cycling the entire industry
through Chapter 11 can't fix a problem of too many carriers
chasing too little traffic. Bankruptcy isn't meant to be a place
for whole sectors of the economy to hide out, hoping conditions
will change. That's why an epiphany has come to many observers and
investors: United Airlines must die."
"There's a precedent for a carve-up of
a vital transport network on a running basis -- the division
of Conrail between Norfolk and CSX in 1996."
" . . .Fewer people are flying as a portion
of GDP than they were two years ago, as if the economy were
regressing to an earlier stage of development."
"The urge to travel, and the urge to be
rational about it, will resurrect itself someday. In the meantime,
Washington is already hip-deep in the airline shakeout, administering
the bankruptcy courts, piling on security mandates and continuing
to collect hefty airport taxes that reflect assumptions about
traffic growth that are now dreamily optimistic."
Website Editor: Read
the entire piece on our message board. One possible
lesson here is that the future return to growth in passenger
volume may occur on fewer airlines operating proportionately fewer
flights with better load factors. That means that the need for
more runways may not increase at the same rate as the passenger
forecasts.
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