News
- September 2000News
- September 2000Daily Pilot, September 29, 2000
"Irvine Co. throws weight behind Measure T"
"After careful consideration and measured analysis, Newport-Mesa's
largest developer opposes Greenlight initiative."
LA Times, September 28, 2000
Irvine News
Website Direct, September 27, 2000
Supervisors approves more El Toro spending
Website Direct, September 25, 2000 - updated September
26
Smith Tries to Pack Airport Land Use Commission
Website Direct, September 24, 2000
Air crash anniversary is reminder of airport dangers.
OC Register, September 23, 2000
“Radiation tests planned at toy facility”
“The warehouse, used to store gifts for the needy, also will
be checked for asbestos.”
LA Times, September 22, 2000
“Endangered Shrimp Could Pose Hurdle to Airport,
Tollway”
(Humans at danger too.)
Leisure World News, September 21, 2000
“Court denies review – Decision stands in donation
case”
LA Times, September 20, 2000
“County Keeps Own Counsel on Airport”
“Supervisors act to settle suit challenging longtime outside
attorney for aviation issues by adopting four-fifths mandate for private
lawyer.”
Website Direct, September 19, 2000
SCAG moves ahead on Regional Transportation Plan
Website Direct, September 19, 2000
Supervisors vote to study El Toro housing
Website Direct, September 18, 2000
City of Dana Point honors volunteers
Website Direct, September 18, 2000
Website Home Page Updated
LA Times, September 17, 2000
"Still Circling, 10 Years After Takeoff"
"As John Wayne marks the anniversary of its expansion, its future,
tied to that of El Toro, remains unclear. With the passenger cap set to
end in 2005, the clock is ticking."
Website Direct, September 16, 2000
Business Group Maintains Pro-Airport Stance
Website Direct, September 13, 2000
John Wayne passenger data released
Website Editorial Comment, September 12, 2000
What If?
Website Direct, September 11, 2000 - update
Judge does not rule today.
LA Times, September 11, 2000
"Credibility on El Toro Essential"
"No matter which way it goes, a judge's expected ruling this
morning on the legality of anti-airport Measure F can be 'a fresh start,'
one leader says."
OC Register, September 9, 2000
“County looks at El Toro rents”
Website Direct, September 8, 2000
No Jets at El Toro for Two Years
However, Lawsuits May Go On Forever.
LA Times, September 6, 2000
“Jail Expansion Plan Fails; Sheriff Has Had His
Fill”
Website Direct, September 4, 2000
Base Cleanup Debate
OC Register editorial, September 3, 2000
“The auction ends in Sacramento”
Newport Beach - Costa Mesa Daily Pilot, September
2, 2000
“What’s Up” with the Newport Beach City Council?
(For full articles see L.A. Times at http://www.latimes.com and O.C.
Register at http://www.ocregister.com/news/
Editor: We are not alone. In 1996, the website of the Seattle-area Regional Commission on Airport Affairs, RCAA, served as the model for the El Toro Airport website. RCAA is a public-private coalition, much like the local El Toro Coalition. Success by RCAA, in their ten-year effort to block construction of a third runway at Sea-Tac airport, provided early encouragement for anti-airport organizing in Orange County.
From the Seattle Post-Intelligence, September 29, 2000. “The Port of Seattle suffered another setback yesterday in its plan to build a controversial third runway at Sea-Tac Airport when the state Department of Ecology decided the proposal does not adequately address environmental concerns. The port agreed to withdraw its application for a wetlands permit yesterday -- one day before the state agency was expected to reject the application.”
“Yesterday's development was the latest in a long line of delays, changes and court battles over the third runway since it was first conceived… At the time, [pro-airport] Port of Seattle commissioners predicted it would cost $217 million to build the runway. Since then, estimates have soared to $773 million, and the runway is still being challenged in federal court.”
“How long the decision will delay completion of the project remains the subject of intense debate between those who support the runway and those who oppose it. Al Furney, vice president of the Regional Council on Airport Affairs, said yesterday's decision could be ‘a devastating blow to the project. My guess is that it means a three-year delay for the port,’. If third runway opponents are right, completion could be pushed back until sometime in 2009.”
“State Sen. Julia Patterson, D-SeaTac, responded to the … decision by saying that she would introduce a bill in the 2001 legislative session to create a process for finding a place to build a new airport to take on some of Sea-Tac's heavy air traffic load…. The legislation would create and finance an independent commission to study air transportation needs and establish a process to choose a site for a new regional airport to serve the entire state.”
"The Irvine Co. has thrown its support behind Measure T and opposes Measure S, according to a letter sent Wednesday to proponents of the [City of Newport Beach] Traffic Phasing initiative."
Editor: The company used the following words that Irvine residents, and others in south and central Orange County, would like to hear expressed about their communities and El Toro Airport.
Gary Hunt, executive vice president of the Irvine Co. said, "'We are taking a position on this issue as a planner and as a company that has a long history and a long future in the community, and that cares a great deal about the quality of Newport Beach.' Hunt added that the company had conducted studies and weighed the pros and cons of both measures before deciding to take sides on the issue."
Comments? Click here for Message Board
"The city will continue its multimillion-dollar campaign to promote the conversion of the El Toro Marine base for use as a regional park. The City Council voted unanimously Tuesday to spend $1.1 million from Oct. 1 to Dec. 31 on mass mailings, television commercials, a newsletter, a Web site and community outreach.
Council members had voted in May to spend about $4.5 million in 2000-2001 on publicity for the Great Park plan, which would establish museums, parkland, open space, trails and other public uses on the now-abandoned base, which is also being considered as the site for a regional commercial airport.
Tuesday's vote included a provision that the mailers not be sent until after the Nov. 7 election. A total of 5 million pieces of mail are expected to be sent.
Yesterday, the Supervisors, acting as the Local Redevelopment Authority, authorized increasing the amount paid to a contractor for the second El Toro EIR. The contract was upped by $1,386,140 to a new total of $5,750,623.76.
The money is needed for additional air-quality analysis as ordered by a judge earlier this year. Also because the county allegedly received "more public comments on the airport master plan than they expected", more money was needed to respond. If they are so far off, as to how many comments they need to answer, how do they hope to estimate how many passengers they will need to serve?
The Board again postponed action - this time for 90 days - on an appointment to the Airport Land Use Commission. Supervisor Wilson has been seeking to reappoint Charles Zoffer to the commission, while Supervisor Smith sought to substitute pro-airport activist Tom Naughton from Newport Beach. Zoffer remains in the position in the interim. See story below.
Community activist Hanna Hill attended the Supervisors meeting, and yesterday's Irvine City Council meeting, and reports her observations in an e-mail posted here.
Click here to comment on this subject.
Supervisors Charles Smith has nominated Tom Naughton, founder of the Newport Beach Airport Working Group, and staunch pro-El Toro advocate, for a seat on the Airport Land Use Commission, ALUC. The matter comes before the Board at their September 26 evening meeting.
Naughton would replace Charles Zoffer of Laguna Woods, whose term expired on May 2. The Board of Supervisors has been stalling a Zoffer reappointment, postponing action for several meetings. Supervisor Tom Wilson has been seeking to have Zoffer reappointed to the ALUC and promised to fight for his nominee.
If Naughton is appointed, the ALUC would be stacked, 6-1, with pro-El Toro members. Denny Harris, a director of Citizens for Safe and Healthy Communities, would be the only anti-airport member. The Naughton nomination shows the shallowness of the Board majority’s pretense at open planning for El Toro.
ALUC is the commission that decides whether land use developments in
airport environs are compatible with aviation activities. Anti-El
Toro members have been in favor of lifting restrictions because El Toro
is no longer an airbase.
On September 25, 1978, a Boeing 727 crashed in a San Diego residential area killing seven people on the ground near Balboa Park. The plane, on approach to Linberg Field, collided with a Cessna aircraft. The accident is a reminder of the risks to passengers and those on the ground, from the slightest of human error, when planes fly in crowded airspace. Click here for details of the accident.
The most recent mailing from the El Toro Reuse Planning Authority, ETRPA, aptly calls El Toro Airport "A Dangerous Traffic Jam Over Orange County". If you did not receive a copy, call ETRPA at (877) 882-0222.
Click here to post your comments on the message board regarding this safety issue.
“Tests will begin today for asbestos and radiation at an El Toro warehouse where about 100,000 toys are stored for needy children for the holidays, officials said Friday. Under pressure from the county, the Navy agreed to do the tests now - instead of early next year - so questions about the safety of the warehouse could be answered more quickly.”
“If the building on the former El Toro Marine Corps Air Station is found to be clean - Navy consultants believe it will be - the toys could be released to the groups that gathered them in time to distribute to disadvantaged families in December.”
Editor: On August 31, Rob Richardson, Interim Executive Director of the county’s El Toro program wrote to the Navy, “It is incumbent upon the DON/USMC to identify those persons, including County employees, who have been exposed to radiological material and friable asbestos in Buildings Nos. 360 and 319, to determine the levels of any such exposure and to develop a plan for resolving any resultant health concerns.”
“Prompted by a lawsuit, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service on Thursday proposed setting aside 12,060 acres in Southern California, including patches of the closed El Toro Marine Corps Air Station, as critical habitat for the endangered Riverside fairy shrimp. If the proposal is adopted, it could add one more hurdle to already controversial plans to build a commercial airport on the former military base.”
“Critical habitat is land considered crucial to the survival of creatures on the brink of extinction. A designation allows the Fish and Wildlife Service to modify or prohibit activities that would severely harm the habitat on federally regulated land. The proposal, which includes land in Los Angeles, Orange, Riverside, San Diego and Ventura counties, must be finalized by May 1… If the vernal ponds at El Toro are designated as critical habitat and are at risk of being destroyed by airport construction, the agency could order changes to the project.”
“Attempts to reach Navy officials familiar with the species were unsuccessful. Jane Hendron, spokeswoman for the Fish and Wildlife Service's Carlsbad office, declined to comment on the proposed airport's effect on fairy shrimp. Under the law, the agency could kill the project, but that has happened in fewer than 1% of critical habitat cases nationally.”
In another environmentally related matter, this one concerning humans, the website has posted a study conducted near Boston’s Logan Airport which “demonstrates that serious damage is being done to the health of the residents of Winthrop [a nearby suburb] at current levels of airport activity, and this damage correlates with location” or distance from the airport.
In 1996, a trustee for the mother-in-law of George Argyros, and another Leisure World resident, brought a lawsuit against governing groups in Leisure World, challenging the community’s contribution of $500,000 to Taxpayers for Responsible Planning. The contribution was to support the fight against El Toro airport.
This May, an appeals court ruled that the contribution “was legal and allowed under the corporate bylaws” and public law. “Last week, the California State Supreme Court sent a one sentence letter to attorneys indicating that it would not review the appeals court decision which supported the … right to make the donation.”
It became “harder Tuesday for Orange County to use outside attorneys to defend its plans for a new airport at El Toro… In a closed-door meeting, board members unanimously approved a conceptual agreement settling the [law]suit, filed in 1998 by South County cities challenging the hiring of Carlsbad attorney Michael Gatzke. Gatzke has represented the county on aviation matters since 1969.”
“Under the settlement, the five-member board can hire outside counsel for the airport only on a four-fifths vote… The settlement was approved earlier this month by representatives of the El Toro Reuse Planning Authority, who want the formidable Gatzke precluded from any new El Toro lawsuits. Spitzer said Gatzke--who has collected nearly $2 million for his El Toro work--is too expensive and hasn't kept the county from losing in court.”
Financial terms of the settlement were not disclosed, but ETRPA’s primary goal - of removing Gatzke - was accomplished.
The Southern California Association of Governments issued its Notice of Preparation of a Draft Program Environmental Impact Report for the region’s transportation future. SCAG is the official agency charged by the state with transport planning in six counties: Los Angeles, Orange, San Bernardino, Riverside, Ventura and Imperial.
The draft study will consider five aviation alternatives for the region:
Only one of the five scenarios has JWA growing at all, and in that case to only to 9.4 MAP, despite the airport’s generally accepted 14-15 MAP physical capacity.
Click here to visit the relevant page of the SCAG website and then click the link to the “2001 Regional Transportation Plan (RTP) Update Program Environmental Impact Report (PEIR)”. Public comment will be accepted for 30 days. A useful summary table can be found on page 17 of 24.
Supervisor Tom Wilson moved, and the supervisors approved by 5-0 today, a motion to “Direct staff to develop a request for qualifications, or request for proposals, for affordable housing rehabilitation and management organization to oversee the renovation and activation of housing units at MCAS El Toro.” Wilson offered to head a study team along with El Toro program manager Rob Richardson.
While there was apparent agreement, Chairman Smith stated that, “We need to pursue legislation at the state or federal level” to prevent the City of Irvine from “using this as a tool to promote annexation.” Smith is linked with the stalled Lou Correa attempt to block Irvine annexation in Sacramento. Wilson expressed hope that any future legislative attempt would include input from others so as to develop more acceptable language.
The City of Dana Point hosted a lunch today, and honored about 35 of its resident volunteers who were instrumental in the victory of Measure F. Dana Point residents have been active in the anti-airport effort, filling numerous key positions in the El Toro Coalition and in Citizens for Safe and Healthy Communities, the campaign committee.
While Dana Point is the ETRPA city farthest from El Toro, a committed group of community leaders have helped to lead the South County fight and fuel participation by neighboring cities.
The Dana Point vote was 85 percent in favor of Measure F. While the small city represented about 2 percent of the total vote for Measure F, its citizens collected approximately 20 percent of the signatures on petitions and 20 percent of the funds raised at the grass-roots for the campaign.
Click here and post ideas on how communities can become more active in stopping El Toro Airport.
At the suggestion of a long-time viewer, we’ve added a counter that shows the number of days that the skies over OC have been “safe and healthy” and quiet. The last Marine jets left El Toro on September 8, 1998 – over two years ago.
We’ve removed the Millennium Plan link from the homepage, recognizing that the non-aviation plan for the base is a work in progress and that the 1998 plan has evolved. ETRPA and Irvine are cooperating to refine the plan, incorporating what has been learned from the original, prize winning Millennium Plan and from the lower-density “Great Park” version proposed by the City of Irvine. A link to the original Millennium Plan is available on the website’s ETRPA page. A link to the City of Irvine’s website, and preliminary Great Park information, is available on the Links page.
In recognition of the increased interest in our Message Board, a direct link to that website feature has been added to the homepage.
The El Toro Airport Info Site was started four years ago, and continues to change with the debate that we are covering.
"Ten years after officials spent $310 million to unveil a modern John Wayne Airport, its future remains mired in the latest phase of a 25-year battle over whether it will be the only commercial airfield in Orange County. The uncertainty reigns even as Orange County residents increasingly have said in opinion polls that they would rather cast their lot with the mid-sized airport than have the county build a $2.9-billion counterpart at the closed El Toro Marine Corps Air Station."
"Now, as traffic at John Wayne approaches a court-ordered limit of 8.4 million passengers a year, nervous airport-area residents are monitoring this weekend's 10th anniversary festivities with an eye toward 2005, when the passenger cap expires."
"Four years ago, the Board of Supervisors officially designated John Wayne Airport part of a two-airport system, to be joined in 2005 by a new airport at El Toro envisioned to serve 28.8 million passengers a year… Since then, about $40 million in proceeds from John Wayne-[much of it] earned from landing fees and terminal concessions--has been spent planning the new El Toro airport, whose environmental impact report is about a year away from final approval."
"The airport now offers 140 arrivals and 140 departures a day among 10 carriers: Alaska, America West, American, Continental, Delta, Northwest, Southwest, Trans World Airlines, United and USAirways. The latest airline interested in serving John Wayne, Aloha Airlines [with planned flights to Hawaii] said statistics show that Orange County residents are among the busiest travelers in the country.
"Ultimately, the fate of the airport is inexorably tied to who wins the debate over El Toro. If there is no new airport, most county, state and federal officials predict that it will be only a matter of time before supervisors turn to John Wayne Airport. … In recent months, anti-airport activists have pledged to work with Newport Beach-area groups to keep the county from expanding John Wayne Airport beyond its current size" provided that there is agreement on no El Toro.
Click here
for list of website reports on John Wayne Airport.
Click
here to post your comments on this topic.
On September 12, we summarized a Times article, reporting that the pro-airport Orange County Business Council said, “regardless of Judge Otero’s ruling” the airport planning needs to undergo “a fresh start”, and a new EIR “before it is brought to voters”.
Click here for the complete letter from this important group - which includes the Irvine Company and the Disney Company. Stan Oftelie, President of the OCBC, is often rumored to be the next “El Toro czar”, to take over for the county and save the airport project.
Viewers can make their own judgement as to whether the business group has really asked for a fresh start, or just a fresh coat of paint on the same old airport push. Commenting on Measure F, the letter says, “there is a wide array of opinion on what the voters intent was” but the measure’s success is attributed to “dissatisfaction with county information”. Read the letter and then come back here to click and post your reaction to the Message Board and see what other viewers say.
The airport reported that passenger volume for July 2000 was up from July 1999. However, the number of passengers using the John Wayne airport was down slightly from June - and still just below the number for July 1997. Click here for the airport's use trend.
Both sides of the El Toro battle have up to 90 days to ponder what they will do if Judge S. James Otero rules against them on the legality of Measure F.
It is a given that the losing side will appeal the decision to the next judicial level. It is less certain as to whether or not Measure F will be allowed to stay in effect during the lengthy appeals process.
If the pro-airport side loses, Airport Working Group Executive Director Barbara Lichman is quoted in the Register yesterday, saying that her side might turn to “another initiative”.
The pro-airport Orange County Business Council was reported in the Times, yesterday, to have said that “regardless of Judge Otero’s ruling” the airport planning needs to undergo “a fresh start”, and a new EIR “before it is brought to voters”. Even Board of Supervisors Chairman Charles Smith said the county must make “radical changes” in its airport plans. All of this implies that the present airport plan, Environmental Impact Report 573 which is in process, and the Navy’s Environmental Impact Study may be headed for the trash can. After six years, and an estimated $40 million the airport planning is about to start over.
The City of Newport Beach, one of the plaintiff’s attacking Measure F in court, may have shot itself in the foot. The City Council has asked the Board of Supervisors to help extend the passenger caps on John Wayne airport for an additional 20 years “with no change to the current legally permissible and authorized level of operations” – language right out of Measure F. If Measure F is overturned, it will be easier for the Supervisors to demand an increase of service at John Wayne. Action on the City’s request appears stalled, waiting for Otero’s ruling.
In a letter to the Newport Beach – Costa Mesa Daily Pilot, I cautioned, “any new initiative is unlikely to include safeguards against the expansion of John Wayne” as was the case with Measure F.
The Times headlines its story today, “Judge has doubts on airport measure”. Many of us in the courtroom were not encouraged by the direction of his questions. What will the anti-airport side do if Otero overturns the initiative?
The airport still faces many hurdles. Not the least of these is that both airline pilots associations and the air traffic controllers union question its safety. No judicial ruling can change the fact that the airport location is ringed by mountains and residential communities and is located in some of the nation’s most heavily used airspace. Opponents are certain to keep beating on this as an unsafe, unneeded and unworkable airport.
On the political front, airport opponents are studying their next move at the ballot box. One grass-roots group has gone so far as to begin to solicit funds for a March 2002 initiative. However, the El Toro Coalition of leading anti-airport groups - which developed Measure F – and the Citizens for Safe and Healthy Communities committee that ran the successful election campaign - have not committed to any particular new ballot measure or timetable. CSHC Chairman Bill Kogerman said, “We will do what we have to do when we need to do it.”
Click
to add your comments on the Message Board.
Judge S. James Otero announced that he wanted to hear oral arguments from the attorneys today and to read additional cases before issuing a ruling on Measure F.
Eight attorneys crowded the tables. On one side were four lawyers representing the City of Newport Beach, Citizens for Jobs and the Economy, and the Airport Working Group. On the other side were three lawyers hired by ETRPA to defend the initiative and its proponent. A member of the County Counsel's office sat sandwiched between the parties. The county is the official defendant in the suit brought by the Newport plaintiffs and is a plaintiff in its own suit seeking to overturn Measure F's spending limits.
Argument centered on the applicability of the single subject rule and on whether the initiative interferes with essential government functions. The judge wanted to hear more on these two key issues. There was no discussion on the legality of the two-thirds vote.
It was apparent from the complexity of the legal arguments that this case will be appealed by whichever side loses. A written ruling is expected in 30-90 days.
In the interim, Measure F is the law of the land. The county remains frustrated in some of its efforts to push the airport project. For example, the contracts for the county's Washington DC lobbyists have been on hold since June.
Click
to discuss this story on the Message Board
"Orange County must restore confidence in its hobbled plans for a new airport at the closed El Toro Marine base regardless of whether a judge today upholds an anti-airport ballot measure, a group of [pro-airport] business leaders said."
"Polls conducted earlier this year by The Times showed that only about a third of residents still favor an airport at El Toro… [However, Orange County Business Council Executive Director Stan] Oftelie and business council Chairman Tom Merrick said they will recommend in a letter today to county supervisors that outside experts be hired to conduct a 'peer review' of the county's airport planning documents. 'Let's be clear: Some people think the county has doctored the data' on El Toro, Oftelie said. 'We don't think that way, but let's find out.'"
"Chairman Chuck Smith, echoing comments by the council executives, said the county must be prepared to make 'radical changes' in its plans, including reducing the size of the airport and changing the takeoff and landing patterns to reduce opposition."
Click here to e-mail the Supervisors
on the "radical changes" that are needed to stop the waste.
“Now that county supervisors are landlords for a handful of tenants at the closed El Toro Marine Corps Air Station, from farmers to horse and RV owners, they want to know whether they ought to raise the rent. At a workshop Friday on managing El Toro, supervisors asked county staff to research a range of subjects, including comparing the rents currently charged at El Toro with those elsewhere in the Orange County market.”
Staff is to research “developing a business plan on how to expand the number of buildings available for use at the closed base. Only a handful are available at present, but another 43 have been cleared for use by the Navy, and more than 200 - and about 800 homes - could eventually be leased by the county.”
“Much discussion centered on whether -- or how -- to use housing at
the base. The pro-airport board majority is concerned that potential residents
of the base might vote to be annexed by the city of Irvine, which would
then kill the airport deal.” Under state rules, a landowner can block
annexation but 12 resident voters could override that obstacle.
The last Marine Corps jets flew away from El Toro two years ago, on September 8, 1998. The base is quiet, and most county residents hope that no aircraft will ever land there again.
Monday, a Superior Court judge will have something to say on that matter, when he rules on lawsuits brought against Measure F by the County of Orange, the City of Newport Beach and related parties. No matter how the judge rules, it is clear that 67.3 percent of the voters supported Measure F - to give the citizens of the county the final choice on whether or not an airport is built. Regardless of the legal rulings made in the case, the voter mandate is clear and elected officials would do well to heed it.
It is likely that the losing side on Monday will appeal. The litigation will continue until the Board of Supervisors finally accepts the will of the people. Unfortunately, taxpayers are stuck with almost all of the mounting legal bills.
On the Yes on F side, most of the grass-roots legal costs were funded by contributions to Citizens for Safe and Healthy Communities, the official coalition committee that ran the Measure F campaign. The separate, Irvine-based Safe and Healthy Communities Fund, paid a $25,000 legal bill. The nine cities of the El Toro Reuse Planning Authority (ETRPA) are leading the legal defense and are now carrying the litigation costs.
On the No on F side, the breakdown of the bills is unclear, with the
county paying part, the City of Newport Beach paying part, and the balance
presumably being paid by groups that have received substantial funding
from the City of Newport Beach.
The Times reports, “A compromise plan designed to ease jail overcrowding by enlarging the James A. Musick Branch Jail is dead, county supervisors said Tuesday, rekindling a legal battle to determine whether any expansion will occur at the Irvine site. The plan's failure prompted its author, Sheriff Mike Carona, to voice grave concerns about the continuing political quagmire over what is considered one of the nation's most cramped jail systems.”
“The sheriff's plan called for a maximum of 4,600 new low-security beds at Musick built over the next 15 years--far less than the 7,500 maximum-security beds sought by his predecessor, Brad Gates… Carona's proposal won the support of Lake Forest and Irvine, which promised to drop their lawsuit against the county's expansion plans as part of the deal.”
According to today's Register, the “hard-won compromise on the expansion of the James Musick jail languishes in the Board of Supervisors' to-do bin seven months after it was crafted… The deal was based on the hope that a remote location for another jail could be found.”
“Although Supervisors Tom Wilson and Todd Spitzer favor the agreement, the board [North County] majority apparently does not. Further, Smith wants to see how a court hearing, scheduled for next week, turns out. Then more talks could ensue to modify the agreement, he said.
“Supervisor Cynthia Coad said that she isn't in a hurry to water down the panel's 1998 decision to make Musick a maximum-security facility. And the search east of Orange for a new jail site - likely required if Musick isn't fully expanded - does not sit well with her because it is too close to homes [in her district.] Musick is 700 feet from Lake Forest homes,” - but there is no indication that this concerns her.
Editor: Neither newspaper comes right out and mentions Measure F. However, the Carona-Lake Forest-Irvine compromise agreement was very much caught up in the fight over El Toro and Measure F.
During the recent election campaign, Carona and the Deputy Sheriff’s Association backed the No on F side – objecting to the initiative’s jail construction limitations. Under Measure F, two-thirds of voters must approve any construction of 1,000 or more jail beds within one-half mile of homes. There is no restriction on jails built at remote sites.
Pro-airport Supervisors Smith, Silva and Coad, apparently anxious
to keep law enforcement on the No on F side, refused to endorse the Carona
brokered compromise when it was finalized prior to the March election,
and tossed it to a study committee, where it languished.
Dr. Charles Bennett, Chairman of the Restoration Advisory Board Technical Sub Committee criticizes a recent LA Times article on El Toro cleanup. His letter to the newspaper's reporter is reproduced here along with the original article. Dr. Bennett writes, "You do a major disservice to your readers and the community when you reproduce information supplied by the Department of the Navy (DoN) without adequate research on the quality of the information."
Dr. Bennett hopes that the newspaper will print his letter but has asked
us to publish it also. We receive numerous complaints from citizens regarding
local newspapers' reliance - without corroborating investigation -
on press release information from the county and others, regarding El Toro.
The Register notes that “The end of the [legislature’s] session is a time of hijacking innocuous-seeming bills for other purposes…Anti-El Toro airport activists were in a buzz the past few weeks as they feared attempts by pro-airport forces to sneak bills through the Legislature that would have advanced the pro-airport agenda.”
“The only El Toro-related bill that passed was AB 2078 - a reasonable measure restricting the use of city money to support or oppose initiatives”, but it was modified from its original draconian form, which sought to prevent ETRPA from continuing its public information program.
Editor: The Register made light of the danger, acknowledging that, “A few minor things were indeed on the table - a bill that would have delayed any Irvine annexation of the base [until 2007], a proposal to restrict any future El Toro-related votes [such as repeal of Measure A] to a general rather than special election. Those proposals didn't go anywhere.”
We don’t consider any of this “minor”. The will of the people was at risk. It is outrageous how pro-airport forces, including county supervisors, are pushing tactics to thwart the anti-airport preference of county voters. What went on in Sacramento shows their desperateness and the extent of their gall.
The fact that they were stopped cold is a tribute to the dedication and skill of anti-airport leaders – like Assembymember Pat Bates - who maintained intense vigil during the pre-adjournment chaos at the Legislature. To the last minute, her staff was monitoring computers for the addition of even a few words to existing innocuous bills.
Bates graciously thanked viewers of this website who sent thousands
of e-mail messages to Sacramento, protesting the most egregious of the
bills - Lou Correa’s failed attempt to turn a
Garden Grove sign ordinance into a ban on Irvine’s annexation of
the base property. The bill stalled in a Senate committee.
Columnist Steve Smith writes, “According to the Newport Beach City Council, growth appears to be good if it's more and bigger office buildings, more homes, more hotels to get the tourist dollar and more and bigger shopping centers to increase the tax base. But growth is not good if it means a bigger John Wayne to bring all those people here.”
“The City Council, which … decided that it can approach the county's
board of supervisors for support to limit John Wayne's expansion, should
get its fingers on the helping hands of the El Toro Reuse Planning Authority.
Either silly pride or the insistence of developers, or both, has prevented
them from doing so. In the meantime, the 2005 John Wayne curfew clock ticks
and instead of spending time fighting a bigger airport with the rest of
the county -- most of which also does not want a larger airport -- they'll
spend their time in court.”
Click here for previous news stories
