NEWS - May 2005
El Toro Info Site report,
May 31, 2005
El
Toro base
photos
OC Register editorial May 29, 2005
"Hijacking the
Great Park, episode III"
El Toro Info Site report, May 28, 2005
Flying to the East
Coast
El Toro
Info Site report, May 27, 2005
The Coad's are
still messing with El Toro
OC Register, May 27, 2005
"Great Park budget
OKd"
El Toro
Info Site report, May 26, 2005
Lennar on El Toro
transfer
LA
Times, May 26, 2005
"LAX Braces for
Summer Travelers"
El Toro
Info Site report, May 25, 2005
LAX noise bill
advances in Legislature
El Toro
Info Site report, May 25, 2005
Great Park Corp
Board meets tomorrow
El
Toro Info Site report, May 23, 2005
El Toro Veterans
Memorial planning sessions
LA
Times, May 21, 2005
"FAA Approves LAX
Modernization Plan"
Antelope
Valley Press May 19, 2005 Web posted May 20
"Election sparks
hope for [Palmdale] airport"
Daily Breeze, May 20, 2005
"Villaraigosa plans
LAX upheaval"
El Toro
Info Site report, May 19, 2005 late
Omitted document
stirs up ALUC meeting
El Toro
Info Site report, May 19, 2005
The news is no
news, yet
El Toro Info Site report, May 18, 2005
Hahn defeated for
reelection
El Toro Info Site report, May 17, 2005
No
report from yesterday’s Los
Angeles meeting
LA Times, May 17, 2005
"Great Park Board
Member Quits"
El Toro Info Site report, May 16, 2005
What's LA's basis
for a lawsuit?
Daily Pilot editorial, May 15, 2005
"Quit meddling, Los
Angeles"
OC Register, May 15, 2005
“Closed bases often
not turned over quickly”
Orange County Business Journal, May 14, 2005, dated
May 16
"Sim Calls for
Overhaul of Great Park Planning in Letter of Resignation "
El Toro Info Site report, May 13, 2005
BRAC closure list
released this morning; no SoCal airport candidates named
El Toro Info Site report, May 13, 2005
OC residents
strongly oppose LA operation of an airport at El Toro.
El Toro Info Site report, May 12, 2005
LA agendizes
airport lawsuit; ETRPA advises them to back
off
OC Register, May 12, 2005
“Airport vote's
effect unclear”
Daily Pilot, May 12, 2005
“Vote may reopen
local airport row”
OC Register, May 11, 2005
"L.A. eyes an
El Toro airport"
El Toro Info Site Report, May 11, 2005 -
updated
Los Angeles renews
El Toro quest
Union-Tribune, May
10, 2005
“Airport
authority staff favors expanding Lindbergh's Terminal 2”
El Toro Info Site report, May 9, 2005
Blogger promotes
new OC airport sites. We don't.
LA Times Business, May 8, 2005
posted May 9
"High-and-Dry
Areas Vie for 'Inland Ports'"
LA Times, May 8, 2005
"Allied City, Base
Fear Ax"
LA Times, May 7, 2005
"City Wants
Pentagon to Close Naval Station"
Gazettes.com, May 6, 2005
Long Beach “Airport
EIR Study Gets Fast Track”
El Toro Info Site report, May 5, 2005
Gordon’s airport
noise bill amended; will apply only to LAX
El Toro Info Site report, May 5, 2005
Local airports
report first quarter traffic
El Toro Info Site report, May 4, 2005
Lake Forest, San
Diego oppose regional airport bills
LA Times, May 3, 2005
"Candidates
Disagree on Future of L.A. Airport"
OC Great Park Corp PR
newswire, May 2, 2005
"Six Distinguished
Professionals to Serve on Orange County Great Park Design Jury Panel "
New York Times, May 1, 2005 posted May 2
"Airports less than eager to
make room for big new Airbus"
Click
here for last month's news stories
El Toro Info Site report, May 31, 2005
El
Toro base
photos
I recently roamed around El Toro with a couple of journalists working
on a military base closure story. Most things had not changed much, or
had deteriorated since last year when we posted several El Toro
pictures on this site. It was a chance to get some new photos of the
former air station.
This time, I took a picture of
the
base theater where the Navy held a contentious March 2000 public
hearing with several hundred airport opponents.
A celebratory
community open house is planned on the runways
after the transfer of title in July. In the interim, check our
pictures of the base
as it is today.
The Legacy Project, a
Great Park Corp sponsored group
of professional photographers, will present an exhibit The Edge of
Air
showing “documentary and aesthetically oriented photographs of the
now-shuttered MCAS El Toro, and its transition into the Orange County
Great
Park” at the Irvine
Fine Arts Center from June 12 through July 16.
OC
Register editorial May 29, 2005
"Hijacking the
Great Park, episode III"
"The warning signs have been posted and they keep getting brighter and
more urgent. Irvine Councilman Larry Agran and his allies are grabbing
control of the former El Toro Marine Corps Air Station and turning the
development of the Great Park and its hundreds of millions of dollars
in resources into the province of a small cadre of Irvine insiders."
"Dick Sim, the retired Irvine Co. executive, and one of only two
members of the Great Park Corp. Board of Directors with development
experience, resigned from the board earlier this month in frustration
at the lack of proper management procedures. This is stunning, given
Sim's experience, reputation for fairness and apolitical nature."
One of Sim's issues was "the elimination of the committee
system." Another "when the board voted to spend $600,000 to hold
a design competition for the park. Sim couldn't understand the rush to
do so, given that a new report found 1,000 toxic waste sites, some of
which would take 50 years to clean up. Why spend the money for design
work before anyone knows what can be built where?"
"Sim believes this design competition to be a total waste" . . ."And he
was angered by the no-bid contract proposed by the board to be awarded
to Forde and Mollrich for public relations. 'That's just for a PR
effort,' he said. 'What's our mission? To build a park. We don't need
to sell it to anybody. Funds aren't unlimited.'"
Click
for the entire editorial.
For more,
including a link to the entire Great Park Corporation budget and
organizational structure, click here.
El
Toro Info Site report, May 28, 2005
Flying to the East
Coast
JetBlue flies from Long
Beach,
Ontario, and just added non-stop
service from Burbank to New York’s JFK
airport. Could Orange
County
enjoy such convenience?
The only non-stop service from John Wayne to the
east
coast is on Continental Airlines to Newark,
a good
airport for accessing the “Big Apple” but not always the best gateway
for
connections to Europe.
Continental’s prices are higher than
JetBlue’s. There are no non-stops from OC to Washington, Philadelphia
or Boston.
JetBlue flies A320 aircraft on its Burbank-NYC
trip and presumably
could use the same planes from Orange County
where A320’s are
regularly employed for thousands of JWA flights. Burbank’s
runways – at 5800 and 6800 feet – are somewhat longer than JWA’s
current 5700 foot main runway.
Courtney
Wiercioch,
Deputy Airport Director for Public Affairs, tells us that Jet Blue has
not
applied for slots at John Wayne. The airport has a waiting list of six
new
carriers with Air Canada
holding seniority in the line. Wiercioch also says JWA’s existing
airlines,
like Southwest Air, “would love to provide more flights.”
John
Wayne Airport
is constrained to 10.3 million annual
passengers (MAP) which can grow to 10.8 MAP under an agreement
negotiated between the County and Newport Beach. It is operating at a
million passengers below the current limit.
Wiercioch says
the terminal size is the constraint keeping management from allocating
more
slots right now, primarily because of space recently committed to
security
screening. Expansion
plans are in the works.
El
Toro Info Site report, May 27, 2005
The Coad's are
still messing with El Toro
In
January, unseated Supervisor Cynthia Coad and her husband Tom went to
Los Angeles to urge the City Council to butt into the Navy's sale
of El Toro. They supported the concept of a Los Angeles
International Airport at El Toro.
Earlier this month, the duo made the rounds of congressional offices in
Washington, with a representative of a Native American group from
Orange County, to talk up Indian use of land at the former base.
Under the Base Closure and Realignment Act, (BRAC), Native Americans
have priority claims on excess federal land before its disposal. We
presume that the Coads were trying to delay completion of the sale,
arguing that the Navy's compliance with the BRAC process was flawed in
this regard.
By now, the Coad's should accept the wishes of the majority of county
voters for the non-aviation reuse of El Toro. If they are so interested
in Indian affairs they could help raise money for a Native American
cultural center in the Great Park museum district.
OC
Register, May 27, 2005 - updated
"Great Park budget
OKd"
"The
Great Park board of directors unanimously approved an $8.8 million
budget Thursday for fiscal year 2005-06. The money will come from
development fees."
"The board also approved the selection of a six-member jury that will
be charged with evaluating the final contestants for the park design. A
separate jury will winnow the submissions to six finalists."
Columnist Frank Mickadeit added his spin on the meeting. "The park
board is moving dangerously toward eliminating a strict open-bid policy
for the hundreds of millions of dollars in future public-works
contracts."
Website Editor: Much of the
discussion consisted of Directors' inquiries about GPC plans to spend heavily on
PR and outreach items such as two "mail-back' opinion surveys at
$125,000 each, $40,000 for phone and Internet surveys, $429,000 on
three quarterly and one annual "Benchmark Report"
brochures, $100,000
split between "Legacy" photographic documentation of the base reuse and
a "History" project, $50,000 on "Promotional materials", and "needs
assessment". The budget also includes $255,250 for "Helicopter and
vehicle leases for Site tours, business travel and expenses for 5 site
visits with 4 Directors plus staff per visit, membership in Chamber of
Commerce, mileage reimbursement and other meetings/seminar costs."
Click here for the
budget that was approved unanimously.
El
Toro Info Site report, May 26, 2005
Lennar on El Toro
transfer
Bob Santos, the Lennar executive with direct control over the company's
El Toro development provided a status report to the Great Park Corp
meeting today. He made these comments::
Lennar and the Navy are on
schedule for a July 12 transfer of title.
Most of the company's
recent discussions with the Navy have been about Los Angeles and how
the impending close of escrow might affect the status of any litigation.
Santos said "Most of the
news seems to be good." Lennar is hoping that in LA, "cooler heads will
prevail."
Also today, it was reported that Lennar plans an invitation-only
celebration on July 12 if Navy officials can make that date. A big
community open house at the former base is contemplated for Saturday,
July 16.
LA
Times, May 26, 2005
"LAX Braces for
Summer Travelers"
"A record number
of international passengers is expected starting Memorial Day. Other
airports also prepare for a busy season."
"Low airfares, a weak U.S. dollar and an expanding array of flights to
destinations around the globe are expected to contribute to record
international traffic at LAX this summer."
"Airports throughout Southern California are bracing for record
passenger traffic from Memorial Day through Labor Day. And airline
officials nationwide expect the busiest summer season since the
previous peak in 2001."
"The record-breaking travel season at LAX comes as Mayor-elect
Antonio Villaraigosa grapples with what to do with his predecessor's
$11-billion modernization plan for the facility. The proposal,
which faces litigation in state court this summer, probably is years
away from being built, and its first phase wouldn't address some of the
most glaring deficiencies at LAX, including crowded terminals."
Click
for the entire article.
El
Toro Info Site report, May 25, 2005
LAX noise bill
advances in Legislature
Assembly Bill 556 moved another step towards passage in Sacramento
this week. The
bill codifies into state law existing regulations regarding airport
noise standards and procedures for obtaining and renewing airport
noise variances and applies this specifically to LAX, prohibits Los
Angeles from operating LAX unless it receives an airport noise variance
from the Department of Transportation (Caltrans), and expands
requirements for public hearings associated with this permit.
Recorded support for the bill came almost entirely from the Los Angeles
area. There was no recorded opposition. Councilmember Mimi Walters from
Laguna Niguel voted against the bill in her Assembly committee.
El
Toro Info Site report, May 25, 2005
Great Park Corp
Board meets tomorrow
The Board of the Great
Park Corp meets tomorrow, Thursday, to amend the 2004-05 budget and
approve a 2005-06 budget. The current fiscal year's budget is amended
to $2,122,250. The amount or breakdown of the new budget is not
reported in
the online agenda.
A media advisory puts the budget at $10 million.
The $10
million budget forms the framework for the development of the Orange
County Great Park. It lists priority
programs for the infrastructure development and preparation of the
property for development. It also provides
funding for on-going public outreach efforts that informs Orange County
residents about the progress of the Park’s development and enables them
to participate in the Park’s development.
A press briefing will be
held Thursday at 12:30 PM in the Conference and Training Center at
Irvine City Hall.
The public is welcome at the Board meeting which commences at 1:00 PM
in the same location..
El
Toro Info Site report, May 23, 2005
El Toro Veterans
Memorial planning sessions
A 2-hour Planning Session is being held for veterans groups and
interested veterans/individuals.
When: Monday, May 23 from 5 to 7 p.m.
Where: Irvine City Hall - First Floor
Anyone who would like to attend should respond to Elizabeth
Pearson
Please provide: Your name, group you are representing, address and
e-mail address
A second planning date - an all day Stakeholders Conference - is
scheduled for June 18 from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. at Chapman
University. If you cannot attend the first session, but would
like to receive an invitation to the Conference, email Elizabeth
Pearson.
LA
Times, May 21, 2005 - updated
"FAA Approves LAX
Modernization Plan"
"Federal officials signed off on the city's $11-billion modernization
plan for Los Angeles International Airport on Friday, allowing
construction to start and forcing Mayor-elect Antonio Villaraigosa to
make the issue a top priority."
"Villaraigosa said he had spoken with U.S. Transportation Secretary
Norman Mineta after the decision was announced and told him that he
opposed some of the plan's major components. Villaraigosa wants to
eliminate a controversial passenger check-in center near the San Diego
Freeway."
"'He indicated that the decision was well on its way, and that they
could not delay it because it was all ready to be issued,' Villaraigosa
said of the conversation."
The Federal Aviation Administration . . . decision Friday does
not mean the city must follow the plan to the letter. . . or take any
action at all." It makes changes more difficult.
The mayor-elect said, "'I believe that we need to develop a regional
approach to expanding capacity,' adding that he thinks other airports
should absorb some of the growth in passenger traffic."
Click for the entire Times article.
The
LA Daily News amplifies on the story with "Hahn's messy legacy". The paper notes that "Villaraigosa,
like most other elected officials, supports the proposed so-called
'green light' projects, which include reconfiguring the south airstrip,
a consolidated rental car center, and some transportation improvements."
Website Editor: Meanwhile, an expected lawsuit
against the federal government, to block the sale of El Toro, was not
filed as anticipated this week.
Antelope
Valley Press May 19, 2005 Web posted May 20
"Election sparks
hope for [Palmdale] airport"
"The election of Antonio Villaraigosa to the Los Angeles mayoral post
is drawing applause from Antelope Valley Democrats and hope from other
leaders that the new mayor will push development of Palmdale's
airport."
"On his campaign Web site the mayor-elect speaks of his support for
expanding the airport. 'We must build a major airport north of the (San
Fernando) Valley in Palmdale and expand to the east at Ontario
Airport,' Villaraigosa said in the statement."
More
. . .
Daily
Breeze, May 20, 2005 - updated
"Villaraigosa plans
LAX upheaval"
"Dramatic changes are in store for Los Angeles International Airport
with this week's mayoral victory of Antonio Villaraigosa, who is
promising to shred the current LAX modernization plan and replace most
of the commissioners whom the man he
defeated, James Hahn, appointed to run the airport department".
"Los Angeles city attorneys believe that scrapping part of the master
plan would trigger years of new environmental reviews because the
controversial projects contain mitigations that apply to the entire
plan. The city has spent $146 million and 10 years developing airport
modernization scenarios pushed by Hahn and his predecessor, Richard
Riordan."
Website Editor: The impact of
Villaraigosa's actions on litigation planned by Los Angeles to block
the El Toro sale is unclear at this moment. He takes office on July 1
but is already influencing city policy.
More
. . .
El
Toro Info Site report, May 19, 2005 late
Omitted document
stirs up ALUC meeting
Tonight's Airport Land Use Commission meeting proceeded smoothly with
the approval of minutes, reelection of the same commissioners and
officers for another year and leafing through correspondence in the
commissioners' meeting packets. When the point at which staff was
supposed to provide a status report on their work to rescind the El
Toro Airport Environs Land Use Plan (AELUP) was passed by without
comment, the mood changed.
Alternate Commissioner Len Kranser called for the staff report. He
noted that the minutes showed Commission Chairman Gerald Bresnahan's
"intention to confer with County Counsel to determine the appropriate
course of action" regarding removal of the AELUP restrictions. Would he
please advise the commission on these discussions?
Bresnahan said that the County
Counsel's opinion could not be discussed in open session since it
concerned a letter marked as confidential - "Attorney Client
Privilege". Neither could it be discussed in closed session because it
did not deal with litigation or other matters appropriate for closed
sessions. Consequently, it could not be discussed. Bresnahan was unsure
that he ever had to agendize the removal of the AELUP but was prepared
to confer and study the matter further with counsel in a bi-partisan
subcommittee.
Commissioner Tom O'Malley of ETRPA joined in to present copies of a May
10, 2005 letter from the California Department of Transportation,
Division of Aeronautics regarding change in the City of Irvine's
zoning. The ALUC had previously ruled the zoning inconsistent with its
El Toro AELUP. The letter was to Irvine and had been copied to
the ALUC but omitted from the commissioners' packets.
The Department of Transportation letter concluded "Since the facility
closed in July 1999 and was sold on February 2005, the likelihood that
the military will return to use the base is no longer a factor. It is
the Department's view that the Orange County ALUC may no longer have
the need or authority to advise in the land use planning around the
land previously known as MCAS El Toro."
Rather than discuss the core significance of the letter - that the ALUC
was out of business at El Toro - commissioners questioned the meaning
of the words "sold" and "may" and challenged whether the person who
signed for the Division of Aeronautics had the authority to speak for
the Division.
Eventually, ALUC Executive Director Joan Golding apologized to the
commission for not including the letter in this month's packet of
correspondence.
Commissioner Melody Carruth of Laguna Hills urged the commissioners to
stop forcing cities to put forth extra ALUC compliance effort on El
Toro area projects that are "a complete waste of time." She referred to
El Toro airport as a "dead man walking."
Commissioner Harry Dotson, a member of the pro-airport Orange County
Regional Airport Authority, retorted in an aside, "It is still
walking."
El
Toro Info Site report, May 19, 2005 - revised
The news is no
news, yet
The Irvine World News posts an editorial
cartoon telling Los Angeles to "Back off" on El Toro.
Interestingly, the Irvine paper and the Newport Beach Daily Pilot are on the same
side on this issue.
But unless we blinked and missed it, none of the Los Angeles newspapers
that our team regularly checks, including the Times, have said "boo" on
this explosive subject. It has been more than a week since the LA City
Council
told the Airport Commission to "reinvestigate any and all means,
including litigation, to ensure that the offer by the City to lease . .
. El Toro and operate it as a commercial airport is given full
consideration by the United States Government."
The Airport Commission met in closed session on Monday to review the
case that Los Angeles lawyers have been building over the past months.
We do not expect this week's election of a new mayor to deter the
pro-El Toro forces in LA from proceeding with litigation. See article below. They are expected to attack the
federal process whereby the former base is being sold. Their goal
is to delay the transfer of the property to private hands for
non-aviation use while LA pursues changes in state law to allow a
takeover of El Toro.
The Orange County Board of Supervisors is silent on the subject,
holding its fire waiting for more information about LA's plans.
El Toro Info Site report, May 18, 2005
Hahn defeated for
reelection
Los Angeles will have a new mayor. Incumbent James Hahn was unseated by
Antonio Villaraigosa in yesterday's runoff election.
Orange County voters had no say in the election but many rooted for
Hahn's opponent after the mayor's attempted hostile takeover of the
former El Toro base. Hahn, his senior staff and city council supporters
sought to convert El Toro to a commercial airport to relieve LAX from
anticipated future growth. His pitch to Washington to derail the El
Toro sale was made without consultation with and
in
direct contradiction to the wishes of the Orange County Board of
Supervisors and voters.
Villaraigosa's stance on El Toro is less apparent. He has said that he
opposes expansion of the Los Angeles airport but has publicly pointed
to Palmdale and Ontario - airports owned by LA - as the relief.
During the campaign Villaraigosa derided Hahn's El Toro gambit as "a
last-minute, desperate attempt to paper over his record of failed
leadership."
Election of a new mayor will not end attempts to change state law and
enable LAX to operate an El Toro airport. The scheme has numerous
proponents elsewhere in Los Angeles County. Neither does it rescind the
efforts of the LA City Council to block the sale to Lennar. Hahn's
defeat does take some wind out of the movement's sail.
El Toro
Info Site report, May 17, 2005
No
report from yesterday’s Los
Angeles meeting
The Los Angeles Airport Commission did not
disclose what
action, if any, it took in closed session regarding initiating
litigation over El Toro.
Charles Griffin of Newport
Beach
attended and sought to bring up El Toro
in
connection with items on the public agenda. There was little reaction
from the commission.
In an email to this website's editor, Supervisor Bill Campbell,
Chairman of the Board of Supervisors, said he wanted "to gather
more information regarding LA's specific plan of action " before
agendizing a response to Los Angeles. He said, "Please be assured that
. . . Orange County will fight LA's attempts to place an airport at El
Toro."
LA Times, May 17, 2005
"Great Park Board
Member Quits"
"A former Irvine Co. executive resigned abruptly Friday from the public
corporation overseeing redevelopment of the closed El Toro Marine base,
saying the Orange County Great Park board suffered from wasteful
spending and muddled priorities."
"Richard G. Sim, instrumental in building the Irvine Spectrum business
and shopping complex, spent 18 months on the nine-member board and was
the only member with experience in large-scale development."
"Sim expressed his concerns in a resignation letter to Irvine
Councilman Larry Agran, who chairs the board."
"The board also is preparing to award what could be a million-dollar
contract to a public affairs firm without competitive bidding, Sim said
in his letter. When he protested to fellow board members, he said, he
was told that the contract with Forde
& Mollrich of Newport Beach didn't need bids because it was an
extension of an earlier contract."
"Sim said in an interview Monday. 'My concern is that we seem to be
more interested in PR than we are in planning. When you run a business,
you try to do something before you talk about it. We've got our
priorities all mixed up.'"
"Sim also questioned a $600,000 contract for choosing a company to
design the public areas of the Great Park, including $125,000 for a
search coordinator."
Click
for the entire article.
El Toro Info Site report, May 16, 2005
What's LA's basis
for a lawsuit?
Some message board posters ask the question. Others answer that there
is no basis. We take a more cautious position and assume that a lot of
high-priced legal research was conducted on this question over the past
year.
The LA Airport Commission meets in closed session today to consider
suing the Navy and federal government over the El Toro sale. They may
not report their decision until it is implemented. We anticipate a suit
claiming that the Navy's conduct of the federal Base Realignment and
Closure Act (BRAC) process was flawed. Perhaps the Navy failed to dot
every i and cross every t. Los Angeles probably will ask a court to
require some part of the process to be done over.
Litigation, even if it loses, is a way to create delay while Los
Angeles lobbies the Legislature to rewrite state laws and allow the
city to seize control of El Toro. The Orange County Business Journal
(July 5-11, 2004) reported that Los Angeles City Councilwoman Cindy
Miscikowski, whose district includes LAX, wants a law "calling for
creation of a regional airport authority - one with 'teeth' that would
have the power to compel participation and create incentives for other
counties to bear their fair share of the air traffic burden."
Miscikowski co-authored the resolution calling for litigation that the
LA City Council approved on May 11 and that led to today's action.
Daily Pilot editorial, May 15, 2005
"Quit meddling, Los
Angeles"
"The Los Angeles City Council's 11-0 vote last week to ask the Los
Angeles Board of Airport Commissioners to pursue obtaining the former
El Toro Marine Air Corps Station as an airport was way out of bounds."
"Don't get us wrong. We think converting El Toro to an airport is a
fine idea, but the concept of Los Angeles using any and all means,
including litigation, to obtain the land is ludicrous. L.A. has about
as much right to demand El Toro for an airport as Newport Beach does to
annex Beverly Hills or Bel Air for a new jail or a football stadium."
"El Toro is Orange County's responsibility and no one else's. The
county's voters made their choice in 2002 -- opting for the Great Park
and more housing -- and, regardless of whether we agree, it's their
decision to make."
"Any attempt by Los Angeles to take this property should be rejected
outright. The actions of the City Council are insulting and arrogant."
Website Editor: As we've said, even those who are
pro-airport oppose an LAX takeover of the former El Toro base.
OC
Register, May 15, 2005
“Closed bases
often not
turned over quickly”
”The auction that
delivered El Toro base
to developer Lennar is an exception.”
The
article, originated with the NY Times as “More
Closings Ahead, Old Bases Still Wait for Hopes to Be Filled”.
“Even as the recommended base cuts announced by
the
Pentagon on Friday create new waves of anxiety and lobbying, many city
officials across the United States continue to wait on the promises of
smooth
redevelopment and new civilian uses that came with the previous
rounds.”
”Although those base closings were designated a decade or more ago,
about 219
square miles of former military property have still not been
transferred to
local authorities, about 28 percent of the total, the Government
Accountability
Office reported in January.”
Website
Editor: The article cites multiple causes for
delay. If the Los Angeles City Council has its way, the delivery of El Toro to private hands also could be stalled.
The LA Airport
Commission meets tomorrow to consider a lawsuit to stop the federal government’s
scheduled July transfer of title to Lennar.
Orange
County Business Journal, May 14, 2005,
dated May 16
"Sim Calls for
Overhaul of Great
Park
Planning in Letter of Resignation "
“Retired Irvine Company executive Richard ‘Dick’
Sim has
resigned from the board of the Great Park Corp., leaving in his wake a
withering critique of the process for remaking the former El Toro
Marine base.”
“His letter gave no reason for his decision to
step down.”
“People close to the nine-member board said Sim
was
frustrated with several policy decisions. His relations with board
Chairman
Larry Agran had been strained, they said.”
“Sim called on the board to expand its
membership to
include representatives of more OC cities, rein in ‘excessive’ spending
on
public relations and hire an independent chief executive and other
managers,
rather than rely on city of Irvine staffers.”
"Sim’s letter does not mention Agran. But it
clearly
challenges the
power of the former mayor."
Click
for more . . .
El Toro
Info Site report, May 13, 2005 - revised
BRAC closure list
released this morning; no SoCal airport candidates named
This morning, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld released his draft list
of military bases to be closed. No major Southern California bases were
on the list.
The
San Diego Regional Airport Authority was not presented with a
single major parcel of military land to ease its search for a new
airport site. The MCAS Miramar had been rumored as a closure target and
was high on the Airport Authority's list. It will remain open. The
March JPA airfield, which also was on the Airport Authority's candidate
short list - despite its location outside of the county - survived the
cut.
There were no closures recommended for Orange County, a result that
will produce a sigh of relief for neighbors of Seal Beach Weapons
Station and
Los Alamitos Joint Forces Training Base. They
had feared that their communities might become embroiled in a
commercial airport battle such as the one some of them supported at El
Toro. Seal Beach came out of the process unscathed,
with
only the inland portion of its detachment in Concord California to
be closed. This outcome may frustrate Newport Beach's quest for
a second OC commercial airport to relieve John Wayne.
El Segundo avoided the feared loss of the economically vital Los
Angeles Air Force base.
Before closures or downsizings can take effect, the Defense
Department's proposal must be approved or changed by a federal base
closing commission by Sept. 8, and then agreed to by Congress and
President Bush, in a process that will run into the fall.
El Toro
Info Site report, May 13, 2005
OC residents strongly
oppose LA operation of an airport at El Toro.
Yesterday's admittedly unscientific Register County Line Poll asked
"Should Los Angeles have any say about the
use of the former El Toro Marine base?" The result was:
Yes 34%
No 64%
Airport supporters,
using
their previously publicized tricks for multiple voting, jumped to
an early lead in the poll but could not hold on to what would have been
a phony propaganda victory.
A scientific and unbiased poll
conducted
by Cal State Fullerton confirmed that even airport backers rejected
the idea when asked whether they support an airport at El Toro "run by
LAX". Airport support slumped to about 25 percent with an overwhelming
75 percent opposed to a Los Angeles operated airport in Orange
County.
El
Toro Info Site report, May 12, 2005
LA agendizes
airport lawsuit; ETRPA advises them to back
off
The Los Angeles Airport Commission agendized the
following
item for closed session deliberation on Monday:
CONFERENCE
WITH
LEGAL COUNSEL – ANTICIPATED LITIGATION (GOV. CODE SECTION 54956.9c):
1.
LAWA/CITY OF
LOS ANGELES VS. THE SECRETARY OF THE NAVY AND THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA RELATING TO
THE CITY’S OFFER TO LEASE
THE FORMER EL TORO MARINE CORPS AIR STATION AND OPERATE IT AS A COMMERCIAL AIRPORT
A May 12 letter from the
El Toro Reuse
Planning Authority cautions:
Your
council
needs to understand that it will face fierce opposition if it pursues
this
proposal. We will actively and forcefully defend our reuse plan – as
mandated
by the overwhelming majority of county voters.
It appears that when voting for the resolution the LA City
Council may
not have been aware of the potential fiscal impact of entering into a
long,
drawn-out legal battle with the public and private stakeholders in El Toro.
Moreover, ETRPA points out
that:
El Toro is
not an appropriate site for a large-scale commercial airport.
Furthermore, Orange
County
already has the second largest airport in the SCAG region. We have
recently
increased the passenger caps so that John Wayne may accommodate the
county’s
future growth.
OC
Register, May 12, 2005
“Airport vote's
effect unclear”
"So has the battle for El Toro come
back to life?”
"No one
the
Register talked to
Wednesday was entirely sure what a possible legal fight might mean or
whether
it could affect plans for the Great
Park at the former [El Toro]
Marine Corps base."
"’The City
Council is
asking the question, what options . . . would enable us to operate El Toro as an airport?’ said David Kissinger,
airport
relations deputy for Los Angeles City Councilwoman Cindy Miscikowski.”
"’The
important thing is
that the Pentagon and the Department of Transportation are both far
beyond the
point when they could consider any other options," said [Rep.
Christopher]
Cox, R-Newport
Beach. ‘If there
were a lawsuit, the
only difference is some lawyers would be a lot richer,’" he said.
“Meg
Waters, spokeswoman for the
El Toro Reuse Planning Authority, said the group's attorney Terry Dixon
could
not find any legal grounds on which Los Angeles can stop the Great Park
development from going forward or even who they would sue.”
"L.A. has done
some wacky things," Waters
said. "Technically, the base is sold, so do they sue Lennar or the
federal
government?"
More
. . .
Today’s
Register County Line Poll asks "Should Los Angeles
have any say about the use of the former El Toro Marine base?" To respond, call (714) 550-4636 extension
7261 or go to http://www.ocregister.com/
and scroll down the right side column to vote online.
Daily
Pilot, May 12, 2005
“Vote may reopen
local airport row”
”Just when the issue of a possible commercial airport at the former El
Toro
Marine air base seemed dead, the Los Angeles City Council is getting
involved.”
”The resolution passed by the council stated that the base is an asset
to all
Californians, not just Orange County residents.”
”The Newport Beach-based Airport Working Group opposes expanding the
existing [John
Wayne] airport and has supported the El Toro idea. The group’s vice
president, Richard
Taylor, said he’s glad to hear that
Los Angeles
is getting involved.”
”’When Los Angeles speaks—they have a lot of clout in
Washington.
Maybe they’ll sit up and listen,’
Taylor
said.”
Website
Editor: Do Taylor and the AWG also believe that
John Wayne is “an asset to all Californians, not just Orange
County residents,” to be run
by Los Angeles?
Click
for the entire Pilot article.
The
Irvine World News coverage of this subject reports: "Congressman
Chris Cox called the action, 'good politics in L.A.' with a contentious
mayoral race just around the corner. 'There is certainly no immediate
threat of litigation or any other course of action,' Cox said."
The Register quotes Supervisor Tom Wilson saying
"I see
this as another political step in L.A.'s history of politics."
Website Editor: We encourage
concerned citizens to
contact
their supervisors. Urge that the Board of Supervisors, at
their next meeting, officially condemn Los Angeles interference
in a matter settled by the leaders and voters of Orange County and
their federally designated Local Redevelopment Authority.
OC
Register, May
11, 2005
"L.A. eyes an
El Toro airport"
"Los
Angeles City
Council votes to pursue 'any and all means' to build an international
airport at the former O.C. air base."
"Los Angeles city leaders are still determined
to see an international
airport built at the former El Toro Marine air base, and today they
promised a legal fight to make it happen."
"The City Council voted 11-0 to ask the city Board of Airport
Commissioners to pursue 'any and all means, including litigation' to
force an airport at El Toro."
"It leaves unanswered whether a lawsuit could halt or mire the Great
Park development plans already under way at the former base."
LA Times political correspondent Jean Pasco, interviewed on Real Orange this evening called the
move "political" and said it would literally "require an act of the
Bush administration" to succeed. More below.
El Toro Info Site
Report, May 11, 2005 - updated
Los Angeles renews El
Toro quest
This morning, the Los Angeles City Council
renewed its
quest for a hostile takeover of El Toro to be run as an an adjunct to
LAX. The Council unanimously approved a motion by Councilmembers
Cardenas and Miscikowski “requesting that the Board
of Airport Commissioners reinvestigate any and all means, including
litigation,
to ensure that the offer by the City to lease the former Marine Corps
Air
Station El Toro and operate it as a commercial airport, is given full
consideration by the United States Government.”
Irvine Mayor Beth Krom called the resolution a
disservice to the people of Los Angeles and an insult to the residents
of Orange County. She said, "The federal government has fully
considered Los Angeles's ill-conceived plan to lease El Toro for
airport use and they have repeatedly rejected it. Instead, the
Navy wisely chose to sell the property at auction to Lennar
Communities, a company which is working closely with us to create the
Orange County Great Park at El Toro."
It is time for the Orange County Board of Supervisors, as the
governing body of this county and the Local Redevelopment Agency for El
Toro, to pass a resolution condemning Los Angeles interference in this
local land use matter.
Chairman
Bill Campbell's January letter to the LA Council deserves
reinforcement by
official and unanimous Board action.
Union-Tribune,
May
10, 2005
“Airport
authority staff favors expanding Lindbergh's Terminal 2”
”Expanding the airport's newest terminal makes better sense than a
proposed new
structure east of Terminal 1, according to staff analysts for the San
Diego
County Regional Airport Authority.”
”Either option would add 10 aircraft gates to San Diego International
Airport's
inventory of 41. The goal is to meet projected increases in air
operations
through 2015.”
”The estimated cost of the Terminal 2 expansion and other improvements
to the
airfield and parking is $536 million.” More
. . .
Website Editor:
For reference, John Wayne
Airport
is planning
to add 6 aircraft gates bringing its total to 20.
Los
Angeles, proposes to eliminate 10 gates
at LAX, shrinking from 163 to 153 and El Segundo
politicians are seeking to reduce the number of gates to 142. The goal
is to force future passenger demand to other airports.
El
Toro Info Site report, May 9,
2005
Blogger promotes
new OC airport sites. We don't.
One of the anonymous bloggers at OC Blog has decided that we need
another commercial airport in Orange County. We don't agree with him..
On May 8, the OC
Blog posted this by its member "Lurk": Lurk writes, "We suggested
(on March 28) that the Tustin blimp hangers and its surrounding 1,600
acres might be
turned into the airport we couldn't build at El Toro due to fanatically
self-absorbed south county NIMBY opposition." Website Editor: I think he means us.
Lurk continues, "Per
this morning's Register, another and possibly even better
opportunity arises from the potential closing of the Seal Beach Naval
Weapons Station as reported in Los Alamitos, Seal Beach bases in line
of fire. There's nearly 4,400 acres of available land at this site,
nearly the size of the El Toro property. With an over ocean
southwesterly take-off pattern similar to John Wayne's, or westerly
like LAX, this site could be a winner. Of course, the northern border
of the site is the readily accessed 405 and 22 freeways, and north of
the freeways is the integratable Joint Forces Training Base (Los
Alamitos National Guard) also mentioned in the Register article."
We post this so our readers will know what is being published elsewhere
by unidentifiable folks of uncertain credentials. Our El Toro Info
Site, and the ETRPA cities never advocated for a second Orange County
airport. Instead, the second OC airport concept is enshrined in the
City of Newport Beach's Aviation Policy as a means for protecting John
Wayne Airport from growth. Los Angeles officials like the idea as a way
to avoid growing LAX.
We "fanatical south county NIMBY's" supported Measure F because it
required a two-thirds countywide vote to approve building another
airport anywhere in OC. Most El Toro opponents also oppose adding extra
runways in our built up county when there is relatively empty space in
Palmdale and the Inland Empire, where new airports belong. We want
transportation planners to think about getting us there when the
airport terminals open.
LA Times Business, May 8,
2005 posted May 9
"High-and-Dry
Areas Vie for 'Inland Ports'"
"On the
Southland's periphery, the scramble is on to create complexes that will
help ease the crunch at the L.A.-Long Beach waterfront."
"For its entry into the inland port derby, Victorville has transformed the
former George Air Force Base into the Southern California Logistics
Airport and plans to build rail spurs from nearby Burlington Northern
Santa Fe tracks. Local officials tout the area's ample warehouse space,
labor force and airport power plant."
"In some respects, it is the most versatile of the new inland areas
seeking to capitalize on the boom in international trade. The airport
has North America's second-longest runway, and it can accommodate even
the largest airliners."
"Shippers 'won't have any nearby residential areas complaining about
congestion and noise, and we have a facility we are customizing for
air, rail and truck transport,' Victorville City Councilman Terry
Caldwell said."
Click
for the entire article. . .
LA Times, May 8, 2005 - updated
"Allied City, Base
Fear Ax"
"The bond between Los Alamitos and its Joint Forces Training Base
transcends business. But it could all end if the Pentagon shuts the
facility." "[The Los Al base] is one of dozens of military bases in
California and around the country that may end up on a Pentagon list of
recommended closures on May 16."
"That is enough to give pause to residents and city officials, who
earlier this year lobbied for the facility before a California
committee studying the bases. Base boosters say that, over the years,
it has become woven into their day-to-day lives."
"On any given day, the base is home to 850 personnel. On some weekends,
the base swells with 3,500 military reservists and National Guard
members."
"It is the only major airfield in Southern California, Army Col. Greg
Peck, Los Alamitos base commander said, with the ability to store
hundreds of military aircraft with two runways
- the shortest is longer than John Wayne Airport's - and more than 1
million square feet of parking space."
"'We can land and park any military or civilian aircraft with the
exception of the B1 bomber,' he said." Click
for the entire article.
Website Editor: Closing Los Alamitos
- or the nearby Seal Beach Weapons Station - likely would rekindle the
debate over whether Orange County needs a second commercial airport,
led by those hoping to divert future passenger growth from John Wayne
airport and LAX.
Today's
OC Register reports "The
talk running through town is that a regional airport or prison could
replace the 1,400-acre Los Alamitos base, but officials say those
options are virtually impossible because of air-traffic patterns and
dense urban development around the base."
LA Times, May 7, 2005
"City Wants
Pentagon to Close Naval Station"
"Other communities
hope to retain military bases, but Concord sees its 12,800-acre site as
a place to build houses, stores, schools, parks."
"As the Pentagon prepares a list of military bases it wants to close,
communities throughout California are pleading to have their bases
spared. Not Concord."
"Officials in this middle-class suburb 30 miles northeast of San
Francisco have asked the Pentagon to close the 12,800-acre Concord
Naval Weapons Station so it can be turned over for private development."
"Officials view the site, valued at $1 billion, as one of the last
largely undeveloped stretches in the San Francisco Bay Area. City
planners have tentative proposals for 13,500 homes, a shopping center,
a light-industrial park, libraries, schools and thousands of acres of
grassy parkland." More
. . .
Website Editor: It sounds like a reuse to rival Irvine's plan for El
Toro.
The Concord station operates as a
detachment of the Naval Weapons Station Seal Beach.
With other West Coast weapons facilities they offer "complementary
capabilities which, when added together, provide America's armed forces
with superior weapons storage, loading and maintenance services."
Gazettes.com, May 6, 2005
Long Beach “Airport EIR Study
Gets Fast
Track”
”An Environmental Impact Report of proposed improvements at Long Beach Airport
could be speeded up by as much as five months, but still will take
until next
March to get to the Planning Commission.”
”City
Manager Jerry Miller told
the council Tuesday that the EIR process essentially had to start from
the
beginning after a Feb. 8 council vote to limit the scope of the study
to a
maximum of 102,000 square feet, the smallest of three alternatives
recommended
by the Airport Advisory Commission.”
”The call
for an accelerated
study was prompted by formation of a group called the Long
Beach Alliance. That
group unveiled its campaign last week with the slogan ‘Airport
Improvement, Not
Expansion. No more flights.’
“JetBlue’s
public and government
relations manager, said last week that JetBlue is helping to finance
the
alliance.”
”Debate
about the airport
improvements has polarized the city since they were first proposed in
2002. A
residents’ group called LBHUSH2 has contended that an
enlarged terminal would
invite more flights.”
See
the article and one that
follows it about Jet Blue’s position in the airport debate.
El Toro Info
Site report, May 5, 2005
Gordon’s
airport noise bill amended; will apply only to LAX
AB 556 is
one
of three airport bills being followed by this website. Its author,
Assemblyman Mike
Gordon of El Segundo drafted the bill to impose legislative
restrictions, including
penalties, on airport noise. On May 4, the bill was watered down in
response to
objections, and now applies only to LAX.
We still have
concerns that political restrictions on the utilization of the region’s
principal airport
are pushing passengers, willing or not, to other airports. This week, an
article on the world’s top 10 airports noted that “having
to spend a few hours cooling your heels at Los Angeles airport is
an experience to be avoided at all costs . . . The good
news for
New Zealand travelers is that San
Francisco . . . an alternative to Los Angeles [is rated as
one of] the
three best airports in North America.”
El Toro Info Site report,
May 5,
2005
Local airports
report first
quarter traffic
20.6
million passengers used the
region’s six airports in January-March 2005, an increase of 5.1 percent
over
the quarter ending March 2004.
The
percentage increase by airport
is as follows:
John
Wayne
|
5.1
|
Long Beach
|
5.8
|
Ontario
|
3.8
|
Palm Springs
|
4.9
|
Bob
Hope
|
7.7
|
LAX
(domestic)
|
3.9
|
LAX
(international)
|
8.0
|
Total
|
5.1
|
El Toro Info Site report, May
4,
2005
Lake Forest, San Diego oppose regional airport
bills
On April
26, the Lake Forest
City Council went on record as opposing two regional airport authority
bills in
the California
legislature. The council filed Notices of Opposition to both AB 1197
and SB 32.
The AB
1197 letter notes that
the bill “proposes a thirteen-member Commission. However, the
composition of
the Commission seems arbitrary, relegating some key stakeholders to
non-voting
member status while omitting others altogether . . . Ontario
and Los Angeles
are . . . the only two city representatives.” The bill is described as
“heavily
representing Los Angeles
interests.”
An April
15 letter from the San
Diego County Airport Authority opposed AB 556, calling it “a
one-size-fits-all”
regulation that would “divert critical resources and money”. “This bill
would
prohibit Caltrans [which oversees airport noise rules as part of the
Department of
Transportation] from modifying or updating the noise variance process
without
an act of the Legislature.”
LA Times, May 3, 2005
“Candidates
Disagree on Future
of L.A. Airport”
”Hahn pushed the
City Council to OK his plan to modernize LAX. Villaraigosa
voted against it but has not detailed his own vision.”
With the
election two weeks
away, “The two candidates for Los
Angeles mayor, who agree broadly on many issues,
disagree strenuously about one: how to fix the city's aging and
congested
airport.”
”Mayor James K. Hahn pushed the City Council to approve his $11-billion
modernization plan for Los Angeles International Airport in December.”
”His opponent, Antonio Villaraigosa, was one of three council members
to vote
against the controversial plan, although he never has detailed his own
vision
of what to do with the 76-year-old airport . . . The councilman's
reticence to
release his own LAX plan, however, has left some airport-area residents
wary of
what he would do at the airport if he won the May 17 runoff.”
”Opposition to the mayor's plan remains intense in airport-area
communities,
including Westchester and Playa del Rey, and many residents say
Villaraigosa's
vote against it is enough to win their support. The councilman has
landed
endorsements from influential politicians representing the airport
area.”
Congresswoman Maxine Waters and
Assemblyman Mike Gordon (D-El Segundo), who also recently endorsed
Villaraigosa,
don't believe Hahn's proposal would hold LAX to 78 million annual
passengers.
Website Editor: Orange
County legislators are
watching for
amendments to Gordon’s
Assembly Bill 1197. El Toro
could be added to the bill's list of airport sites controlled by a
proposed state-mandated and Los
Angeles dominated
regional airport authority. Such a change would win broad support from
Los Angeles politicians.
Click
for the entire Times report. . .
OC Great
Park Corp PR newswire, May 2, 2005
"Six Distinguished
Professionals to Serve on Orange County Great Park Design Jury Panel "
"The Orange County Great Park Corporation
named
a jury design panel today of six respected academics, architects
and professionals. The jury will review the qualifications of the
landscape architecture firms who are competing to design the Great Park
and recommend six finalists to the Orange County Great Park Corporation
board of directors. These finalists will have the opportunity to
develop a Great Park Conceptual Design Master Plan."
New
York Times, May 1, 2005 posted May 2
"Airports less than eager to
make room for big new Airbus"
"The European manufacturer is faced
with the challenge of convincing airports to reinforce runways and
convert arrival gates to accommodate the huge airliner"
"Few people predict that major airports will not be ready for the
A380. But there may be some close calls. Los Angeles International
wants to move one of its four runways several feet to the south to
create a center taxiway wide enough to be used by A380s after they
land. "
"But the plans have been bogged down in litigation, and Los Angeles
World Airports, the authority that runs the airport, is not sure it
will finish construction before the first flight is expected there, in
November next year. It says it has a backup plan: obtaining Federal
Aviation Administration approval for the plane to land on one of the
other runways."
"The airport has had to compromise in other ways. Because space is at
such a premium, it is converting only two gates at the Tom Bradley
International Terminal to serve A380s. To compensate, it is setting up
two other gates on the airfield away from the terminal."
"Virgin Atlantic Airways, one of the first buyers of the A380, has
cited the restrictions in Los Angeles as one of the reasons it pushed
back delivery of its six planes until early 2008."
Click
for more of the article. . .
Click
here for last month's news stories