NEWS- September 2004

Today's Headlines - click on date for story
Bill Campbell's Third District Report, September 30, 2003
John Wayne Airport PFC

Irvine World News, September 30, 2004
"Candidates address council's role with Great Park development"

Daily Pilot, September 28, 2004
"Airport struggling to stay under the cap"
"With passenger levels at John Wayne climbing every month, activists already are looking past 2015, when limits on travelers annually are scheduled to end."

LA Times, September 28, 2004 - updated
"Trade Group Endorses Revised LAX Plan"

El Toro Info Site report, September 27, 2004
Airlines endorse modernization of LAX

El Toro Info Site report, September 27, 2004
"Consensus Plan for Los Angeles Airport Master Plan Wins Major Endorsement"

LA Times, September 24, 2004
"Cargo Hub OKd at March Air Base"

LA Times, September 24, 2004
"Ethics Policy Takes Root With Great Parks Board"

LA Times, September 23, 2004
"A state agency gives tentative approval to a high-speed rail line route that would go through Palmdale."

El Toro Info Site Report, September 22, 2004
Lively Great Park Corp. agenda for Thursday

OC Register, September 22, 2004
"Airport plan could put El Toro in play"
"L.A. councilwoman proposes airport authority that would include O.C."

OC Weekly, September 17-23, 2004, posted September 20, 2004
"Agran Trips on His Own Poll"

Press- Enterprise, September 20, 2004
"Stakes run high as airports compete"

El Toro Info Site Report, September 19, 2004
A job for the Great Park Conservancy Advisory Board

Supervisor Bill Campbell's Third District Report, September 17, 2004
"Great Park Conservancy"

North County Times, September 16, 2004, posted September 17
"New [SD] East County site recommended for regional airport

El Toro Info Site report, September 16, 2004
"8.4 and block the door."

LA Daily News, September 15, 2004
LA County "Supervisors reject Hahn plan for LAX"

NY Times, September 13, posted September 14, 2004
LAX, the TV Show

El Toro Info Site report, September 13, 2004
SCAG region air passengers up 8.8 percent

LA Times, September 13, 2004
"Irvine Mayor Target of Ethics Accusations"

El Toro Info Site report, September 12, 2004
Delay of sale is costly

Los Angeles Times, September 11, 2004
"Fall Auction for El Toro Parcels Set"
"We are ready to go,' says a Navy official. The sales of the Marine base land are expected to be completed by July."

Daily Breeze, September 9, 2004
"Can LAX growth be restricted by edict?"
"The fourth-busiest airport in the world is expected to reach its proposed passenger cap of 78 million a year in 2014, but experts are split on whether it can be enforced."

Los Angeles Times, September 8, 2004
"Daily Flights to Resume at Palmdale"
"After six years, airport will start service to North Las Vegas. The city is offering a year of free rent and subsidies to Scenic Airlines."

Orange County Register, September 6, 2004
"A breakup with a future"

LA Times Editorial, September 5, 2004
"An Immodest Proposa
l"

Press-Enterprise, September 3, 2004
San Bernardino "Airport master plan projects growth"


El Toro Info Site report, September 3, 2004
Organizing for the Great Park


Daily Pilot, The Bell Curve, September 2, 2004
Newport women lead the fight against more flights

OC Weekly, August 25 - September 2, 2004, Website posted September 1
"Agran’s Tree People"
"Somebody’s going to get very rich on the Great Park"

Click here for previous news stories


Bill Campbell's Third District Report, September 30, 2003
John Wayne Airport PFC

"John Wayne Airport proposed a $4.50 'public facility charge' on all enboarding passengers in order to pay for three capital improvement projects. At my request, the Airport continued the item in order to further study the fiscal necessity of levying this charge on passengers. So far, I am not convinced that this fee is necessary. I will closely examine the passenger load, capital improvement plan and financing models for John Wayne Airport before this item is brought back to the Board."

Website Editor: Supervisors Smith, Silva and Coad tapped John Wayne Airport for tens of millions of dollars to pay for the County's failed El Toro Airport campaign - without the need for a PFC. Thanks Supervisor Campbell for trying to keep JWA airport tickets competitive.

Irvine World News, September 30, 2004
"Candidates address council's role with Great Park development"

Each candidate for Irvine Mayor or a City Council seat in November's election was asked to express their views on this question. The brief statements showed no major fundamental disagreement in their positions. All appeared supportive of the project.

"At Tuesday night's meeting, the City Council unanimously approved an impromptu motion made by [Councilmember Christina] Shea that requested information from a variety of agencies regarding companies that might be preparing to bid for Great Park contracts."

She also made a "request that the Great Park Conservancy disclose all its donors and the amounts donated" and "all financial information."

Click here for both articles.

Daily Pilot, September 28, 2004
"Airport struggling to stay under the cap"
"With passenger levels at John Wayne climbing every month, activists already are looking past 2015, when limits on travelers annually are scheduled to end."

"John Wayne Airport's passenger levels have soared every month for the last year as a result of increased capacity allowed by the settlement agreement that governs airport operations. August was its busiest month ever, with more than 872,000 people using the airport."

"If the airport were to reach the cap before the end of a given year, it would have to be shut down until the year's end, [AWG's Tom] Naughton said." Website Editor - That won't happen because airport managers withdraw a small fraction of each airline's seat allocation months in advance if traffic is running ahead of projections.

"Solutions will be a long time coming, but officials and airport activists are working toward them, both behind the scenes and out in the open."

"In the next few weeks, Newport Beach city officials will begin discussions with Orange County supervisors about four issues over which the city would like to have more control. One of those issues is John Wayne Airport."

"[City Manger Homer] Bludau said it will be several months before he can provide details on what the city is proposing, but keeping a tight hold on airport passenger levels will be a top priority for the city for at least the next decade."

"Hoping to address the transportation problem regionally, Los Angeles City Councilwoman Cindy Miscikowski is pushing a plan to manage traffic at LAX that could include creating a regional airport authority, a body that would essentially force Southern California officials to come to the table and talk airports."

"'The councilwoman recognized that we do need to have some sort of a regional solution,' said David Kissinger, who is Miscikowski's airport-relations deputy. 'Typically, state legislation would enable a regional authority that would require the local agencies to sit down and be a part of this regional authority.'"

"A regional authority theoretically would have the power, for example, to resurrect the proposal for a commercial airport at the closed El Toro Marine Corps Air Station, an option Orange County voters nixed in 2002 when they voted to rezone the land as a park. Some Newport-Mesa activists have tenaciously held on to the El Toro airport idea."

"'I don't see it as likely,' Kissinger said. 'My own personal view is that, today, if you wanted El Toro to happen, you would need federal intervention.'"

"[Charles] Griffin . . . said recently that he plans to travel to France later this month to suggest that plane manufacturer Airbus buy El Toro when it's auctioned off this fall and use it to accommodate the new, larger passenger plane the company is developing." Website Editor: Sorry Charles, This is not likely to meet Irvine's zoning regulations.

Click to read the entire article . . .

LA Times, September 28, 2004 - updated
"Trade Group Endorses Revised LAX Plan"

"As the City Council on Wednesday begins to weigh a modernization plan for Los Angeles International Airport, Mayor James K. Hahn and Councilwoman Cindy Miscikowski are working overtime to win over the remaining detractors in the community."

"Miscikowski's plan would allow projects with a broad consensus to move forward, including a consolidated rental car center, a transit hub and a FlyAway bus system. Her plan would also move the airport's southernmost runway 50 feet closer to El Segundo."

"But the jubilation that accompanied the airlines' endorsement could be short-lived. Negotiations with other major players, such as the city of El Segundo and a coalition of community groups, have hit turbulence and it's unclear if the city will be able to appease them."

See articles below for more on this development. Click for the Times report  . . .

The Daily Breeze reports The ATA President "declined to discuss capacity issues . .  Instead, he focused on what he said were the compromise plan's benefits."

"Carriers still have concerns about the plan's goal of constraining the world's fourth-busiest airport to its current theoretical capacity of 78.9 million annual passengers and 3.1 million annual tons of cargo. . . .Some experts believe efforts to constrain the airport will prove fruitless, and some airline officials believe LAX's actual capacity is well above 78.9 million passengers."

El Toro Info Site report, September 27, 2004
Airlines endorse modernization of LAX

The Air Transport Association today endorsed a modernization plan for Los Angeles International Airport (LAX) that would expedite development of much needed airport improvements.

An ATA press release "calls for the airport to move forward with essential elements of the LAX master plan, such as the realignment of the South Airfield to improve runway safety and enhancements to the Tom Bradley International Terminal. It would also require additional analysis and review before more controversial projects, such as Manchester Square, could proceed."

James C. May, ATA's president and chief executive officer spoke today at a media event on behalf of ATA member airlines, as well as the LAX Airlines Airport Affairs Committee, which represent 80-plus passenger, cargo, domestic and international carriers that serve the airport.

”From the beginning, we shared Mayor Hahn's dual objectives of creating a safer and more secure LAX while continuing to set a high standard for customer service,” May said. "The LAX Consensus Plan is good for Los Angeles. It's good for the airlines. It's good for travelers. It's also good for local jobs in greater Los Angeles. And it's good for the local economy by energizing LAX as one of this region's primary economic engines."

If approved by the Los Angeles City Council, the consensus plan would allow for work to begin on non-controversial or ”green-lighted” projects, which the airline industry estimates will cost $3 billion to complete. Airport users, including the nation's airlines, would share the costs for LAX improvements; the exact amount would be determined after federal grants are in place.

Click here for the entire press release and May's statement. The Air Transport Association made no specific mention of LA efforts to bar future growth at LAX and to move airport expansion to other parts of the region.


El Toro Info Site report, September 27, 2004
"Consensus Plan for Los Angeles Airport Master Plan Wins Major Endorsement"

A Los Angeles World Airports Media Release with the above headline reports that at 9:00 AM Monday. "Los Angeles Mayor Jim Hahn and City Councilwoman Cindy Miscikowski (District 11) will hold a news conference to announce a major endorsement of the Consensus LAX Master Plan for Los Angeles International Airport (LAX}."

Stay tuned. We will post a report on the mystery endorser after the press conference.

Details on the Master Plan which boosts the call for regionalization of airports is online at http://www.laxmasterplan.org/

The Hahn-Miscikowski consensus plan includes overriding the Los Angeles County's Airport Land Use Commission (ALUC). 

The Master Plan EIR is to be certified despite an appeal by the City of El Segundo. The city opposes relocation of a runway approximately 50 feet south to accommodate a new center taxiway between the south runways. The new center taxiways will improve airfield safety and reduce the possibility of runway incursions.

Under the LAX Master Plan (Alternative D), "the number of aircraft gates will decrease from the existing 163 to 153 to place practical constraints on numbers of operations and passengers handled and limit the throughput of LAX to approximately 78.9 MAP."

LA Times, September 24, 2004
"Cargo Hub OKd at March Air Base"
"Panel approves plans to build a warehouse, allow 20 flights daily, including 11 at night."

"An early Thursday morning vote to permit a commercial [air] cargo hub at March Air Reserve Base capped a marathon public hearing that revealed the deep divide between longtime residents and newcomers to the rapidly growing suburbs of Riverside County."

Opponents, "waved signs reading 'Let My Children Breathe' and 'Count Sheep, Not Planes.' "'I moved here because of three words: quality of life,' said one young veteran. 'Don't destroy my family's dream.'"

"Proponents said the project would create as many as 3,000 indirect jobs, reducing commuter traffic to Los Angeles and Orange counties. Critics countered that those would be low-paying warehouse jobs for people who could not afford to live in the higher-priced homes being built nearby."

Website Editor: Click here for the article, which echoes the El Toro battle of a few years ago.

LA Times, September 24, 2004
"Ethics Policy Takes Root With Great Parks Board"
"Vendors involved in the Marine base makeover must declare their links to members of the panel."

"Members of Irvine's Great Park Board of Directors adopted a conflict-of-interest policy Thursday after complaining that Mayor Larry Agran appeared to be directing business to one of his political contributors." Website Editor: The "complaining" came almost entirely from Irvine Councilmembers Christina Shea, Mike Ward and Chris Mears. The four public members of the Board largely avoided the allegations against Agran.

"Directors unanimously adopted the ethics guidelines after learning that city staffers had been directed on behalf of Agran to work with Raphael 'Ray' Chaikin, who holds an interest in nurseries, on providing trees for the proposed Great Park."

"Agran rejected the concerns, but voted to strengthen the ethics policy by requiring vendors to declare relationships with board members. Agran said he has had many contacts with people who want to do business at the park — and there's nothing wrong with it."

"Chaikin, who now lives in Alaska, said in an e-mail that the tree issue has been overblown by the mayor's political enemies to attack Agran's integrity before the Nov. 2 election."

Click for the entire Pasco story.

Website Editor: Councilmember Christina Shea, asked that City staff collect information on the contributors to the Great Park Conservancy and an on three entities involved with Great Park trees. She withdrew the motion after protracted debate.

LA Times, September 23, 2004
"A state agency gives tentative approval to a high-speed rail line route that would go through Palmdale."

"The California High-Speed Rail Authority board tentatively approved a plan Wednesday to route the proposed bullet train through the Antelope Valley, with a station in Palmdale [near the airport]. A final vote is scheduled for December."

"The proposed 700-mile rail network, with trains traveling up to 220 mph, is intended to whisk riders from Los Angeles to San Francisco in 2 1/2 hours . . . The entire project, from San Diego to Sacramento, is projected to cost more than $30 billion." Experts estimate the trip from downtown Los Angeles to Palmdale will take "as little as 26 minutes."

Website Editor: The project will relieve pressure on LAX by delivering LA County passengers to Palmdale for flights and by reducing the number of air passengers overall. Data in the LAX Master Plan shows that one-third of all origin and destination passengers using the SCAG region's six airports are going to other airports within a 400-mile radius with the Bay area topping the list.

Click for entire article.

El Toro Info Site Report, September 22, 2004
Lively Great Park Corp. agenda for Thursday

The Great Park Corp. Board will meet on Thursday, September 23 at 4:00PM in the City Council Chambers at Irvine City Hall. The agenda has been posted on the City website.

Item 4.3 Revised Procurement Policy agendized by Councilman Mike Ward seeks to add language to the GPC procurement rules to "require the 'Proposer' [of a contract] to avoid the appearance of conflict of interest."

Item 9 Great Park Contracts agendized by Councilmember Christina Shea is intended to examine controversial expenditures such as contracts involving trees for the park.

Members of the public who favor an open and honest development of the Park are encouraged to attend.

OC Register, September 22, 2004
"Airport plan could put El Toro in play"
"L.A. councilwoman proposes airport authority that would include O.C."

"A Los Angeles city councilwoman is proposing creation of a regional airport authority that would have broad powers on the location and levels of commercial air service."

"As envisioned, representatives from Los Angeles, Orange, Riverside, San Bernardino and Ventura counties would be included in the authority, which conceivably could seek to resurrect El Toro as a commercial airport."

"Councilwoman Cindy Miscikowski said she will bring up the regional airport authority issue at meetings beginning next week to address Los Angeles County concerns in the Los Angeles International Airport master plan about air quality, traffic and dispersal of future air traffic growth. LAX lies in Miscikowski's district."

"Regional airport authorities such as those in San Diego, New York, Boston and Washington, D.C., typically hold the power to override local decisions on airports and so, for example, could determine that an airport ought to be built at El Toro."

"But even backers of such an airport authority concede that recapturing El Toro as a commercial airport would take federal intervention."

Click for the entire article.

Website Editor: The federal government probably would need to stop the sale scheduled to begin this fall and to be completed by mid-2005. It likely would take an act of Congress to change the Navy's disposal plans. The California legislature - where Los Angeles has much more clout than Orange County - then would get involved, overriding local authority on the zoning. It is theoretically possible, but not easy.

OC Weekly, September 17-23, 2004, posted September 20, 2004
"Agran Trips on His Own Poll"

The Weekly continues its heated attack on Irvine Mayor Larry Agran, to the discomfort of those of us who want the non-aviation development of El Toro to proceed with maximum community trust and support. The Weekly summarizes several accusations reported elsewhere.

"Agran pushed for a taxpayer-funded deal that could have illegally funneled $20,000 to the Great Park Conservancy, a private organization largely under his control."

"Agran advocated Great Park landscaping projects at the same time Dornan and other Agran campaign contributors quietly created a maze of corporate entities designed to win multimillion-dollar landscaping contracts at the park."

"Agran and [fundraiser Ed] Dornan were caught secretly . . . directing a Cal State Fullerton telephone poll that spread lies about mayoral candidate Mike Ward . . . for example, that Ward wants a casino at the Great Park."

Click for the entire Scott Moxley article.

Calendar Thursday, September 23 at 4:00 PM when the Great Park Corporation - not to be confused with Dornan's Great Park Conservancy - will hold its regular open public meeting at Irvine City Hall. We hope some confidence will be restored.

Press- Enterprise, September 20, 2004
"Stakes run high as airports compete"

"Three Inland airports vying for a DHL air-cargo hub are fighting for more than just the 300 jobs they hope the company will bring to the area. Also on the line is a chance at business opportunities that would be difficult for those airports to otherwise obtain."

"Officials at March Air Reserve Base near Moreno Valley, the former Norton Air Force Base in San Bernardino and Ontario International Airport are pursuing DHL. Ontario already boasts an air-cargo facility operated by industry giant UPS."

"DHL wants to build a Southern California air-cargo hub to compete with FedEx and UPS in the cargo-delivery market . . . An air-cargo center is a necessity for high-end manufacturing companies and logistics and distribution firms, Inland economist John Husing said."

More . . .

El Toro Info Site Report, September 19, 2004
A job for the Great Park Conservancy Advisory Board

In a letter attached to the email bulletin quoted below, Supervisor Bill Campbell writes, "It was my understanding in joining the Great Park Conservancy Advisory Board that the Great Park Conservancy was established to raise funds for the Great Park's construction and to facilitate public input in the planning process."

This website recently published documents showing the amount of funds raised and how some of it was spent.

When the website editor requested a copy of the $30,000 international "expo feasibility study" we learned it was not available to the public. Had the Great Park Corporation sponsored the expo study, instead of the Conservancy, it would have been subject to disclosure under the California Public Records Act.

Our website has campaigned for open, honest, and speedy non-aviation development of El Toro. We are troubled by recent reports of possible irregularities in that process, all involving Conservancy Director Ed Dornan..

Hopefully, the Great Park Conservancy Advisory Board, to which Supervisors Campbell and Wilson lent their names, will advise the Conservancy on building public confidence in how money that is donated is put to use.

Supervisor Bill Campbell's Third District Report, September 17, 2004
"Great Park Conservancy"

"Recently the OC Weekly and the Los Angeles Times reported that the Great Park Conservancy increased a $36,000 bid submitted by a private contractor for tree removal services at MCAS, El Toro to add $20,000 to support the Conservancy. This did not seem proper. Therefore, I wrote to the Chairman of the Conservancy asking for an explanation. To view the letter, click here."

The connection between Tom Larson, the contractor referenced in the supervisors' letter and Ed Dornan was found by this website through an Internet search on Great Park trees. At a 2003 conference in Los Angeles, Dornan introduced himself as director of the Great Park Forestry Trust Inc. Larson and an associate, identified as principals in the Great Park Landscape Co. participated with Dornan in a panel presentation. We had not previously heard of either organization.

 North County Times, September 16, 2004, posted September 17
"New [SD] East County site recommended for regional airport

"Consultants working for the San Diego Regional Airport Authority, the panel charged with looking for a place to build a new regional airport, may add one more location to its list."

"The potential site is in East County at Corte Madera Valley, about 45 miles east of San Diego and five miles south of Interstate 8."

"The sites currently under review are: the March Air Reserve Base in Riverside County; two sites at Miramar Marine Corps Air Station in San Diego; Camp Pendleton, north of Oceanside; North Island Naval Air Station in Coronado; an unspecified location in the Imperial County desert; the existing downtown San Diego airport; a site in Anza Borrego, 95 miles northeast of the existing airport; and a site in Campo, 75 miles east of the airport."

Click for more.

El Toro Info Site report, September 16, 2004
"8.4 and block the door."

AirFair, a Newport Beach based group, wants John Wayne Airport limited to 10.8 million annual passengers. See September 2 story below. While Airfare's mantra is "10.8 and lock the gate" the Orange County Land Use Commission, ALUC apparently supports "8.4 and block the door."

OC's ALUC is ducking its responsibility. ALUC's are created to protect airspace from encroachment by nearby land development.  State law requires ALUCs to look 20 years into the future, plan around the projected growth of airports, and set land use restrictions accordingly.

However, the OC ALUC resists updating its John Wayne airport environs land use plan, which is based on noise contours developed in 1984 for the airport's obsolete 8.4 MAP limits. If ALUC fails to protect the planned 10.8 MAP airspace, encroaching high-rise buildings and residential development in the flight paths could limit the airport's ability to grow.

Instead, its staff of county employees is engaged in the wasteful business of reviewing plans of all nearby cities for conformance with ALUC's out-of-date JWA restrictions.

That is typical for the renegade commission that also refuses to rescind its El Toro airport restrictions.

LA Daily News, September 15, 2004
LA County "Supervisors reject Hahn plan for LAX"

"Los Angeles County supervisors voted Tuesday to reject Mayor James Hahn's proposed $9.1 billion plan to modernize LAX and to study a new proposal by mayoral rival Councilman Bernard Parks."

"The board voted 5-0 and said it believed more attention should be given to the alternative proposed by Parks, which would focus more on regional airports, cap yearly passenger capacity at 78 million, extend the Metro Green Line light rail, and make enhancements to the Tom Bradley International Terminal."

"'We believe 10 years has been spent studying the wrong plan,' Parks told the board. "They have been studying an expanded LAX. They should have studied a master plan to enhance air transportation for the entire region.'"

Website Editor: Councilman Parks' proposal includes the creation of a regional airport authority. Many who take this position hope to impose more airport capacity on Orange County, eg. at El Toro.

NY Times, September 13, posted September 14, 2004
LAX, the TV Show

"How could something that feels so right be so wrong? Heather Locklear and Blair Underwood are dream casting, the trashy version of Faye Dunaway and Steve McQueen. There was every reason to expect their new series on NBC would be as deliciously campy as 'Dynasty' and 'L.A. Law.'"

"It isn't."

"'LAX,' which begins tonight [Monday], actually takes itself seriously as a drama about the Los Angeles airport."  More . . .


El Toro Info Site report, September 13, 2004
SCAG region air passengers up 8.8 percent

The number of passengers flying from the six airports in the Southern California Association of Governments region rose by 8.8 percent in July 2004 when compared to the same month a year ago.

International travel out of LAX set the pace, showing a 13 percent increase in volume. Foreign travel generated 29 percent of the passengers at LAX and 20 percent of the region's total traffic for the month.

John Wayne Airport, where the limit on the number of passengers that can be served was raised, is part of the trend with a 6.8 percent increase over the previous July. Click here for a graphical presentation of JWA traffic data. 

LA Times, September 13, 2004
"Irvine Mayor Target of Ethics Accusations"
"A former ally accuses Agran of improperly aiding political backers. He denies those charges, but some officials are seeking an investigation."

"Much is at stake for [Mayor Larry] Agran, who has spent most of his adult life in government or working for nonprofit organizations he created to promote civic activism."

"The [November Irvine City Council] election will influence the degree of Agran's continued sway over Irvine's ambitious $411-million redevelopment of the former El Toro Marine base as a Great Park. Agran introduced the park idea as an alternative to the county's plans for a commercial airport at El Toro and regards the park as his political legacy."

Website Editor: The Times article summarizes several ongoing controversies involving Larry Agran and his allies, including a utilities project, the award of city ambulance service contracts, and moneymaking opportunities in trees for the Great Park. The newspaper packages the story under a headline sure to appear in anti-Agran political mailers.


El Toro Info Site report, September 12, 2004
Delay of sale is costly

The Navy hopes to realize around a billion dollars from the El Toro sale. At today's interest rate on the national debt, the delay is costing taxpayers in the general neighborhood of $100,000 a day.

A top Navy official said this week that the sale "would begin this fall." He went on, "We expect [the documents] to be completed within a month or two."  See story below. The long awaited "documents" that begin the sale are the Invitations for Bids, IFBs that detail the terms and conditions and instruct prospective buyers how to submit offers.

It appears that the General Services Administration and the Navy may delay actually taking bids until after the Christmas - New Years holidays. Too bad. If the auction were begun a month sooner, there could be an extra $3 million in the government's stocking.

Los Angeles Times, September 11, 2004
"Fall Auction for El Toro Parcels Set"
"We are ready to go,' says a Navy official. The sales of the Marine base land are expected to be completed by July."

"Offering the most definitive timeline yet for the sale of the closed El Toro Marine base to developers, a high ranking Navy official said Friday that the auction for the land will begin this fall and be completed before the end of July."

"Demolition of the former military airfield's runway could begin shortly after that, erasing the physical vestige of a political battle that divided Orange County for a decade."

Click here to go to a site for details about how to pre-qualify for auction bidding.

Click here to read
Daniel Yi's entire LAT news story in the Early Bird News section.

Daily Breeze, September9, 2004
"Can LAX growth be restricted by edict?"
"The fourth-busiest airport in the world is expected to reach its proposed passenger cap of 78 million a year in 2014, but experts are split on whether it can be enforced."

"
Four years ago, a magic number materialized and proceeded to influence a mayoral race, frame the future of one of the world's top airports and prompt politicians to genuflect before it like members of a royal court."

"The number is 78 million, which is the most annual passengers that Los Angeles International Airport could theoretically serve in its current configuration."

"
But is the concept feasible? Aviation consultant Jack Keady of Playa del Rey believes the answer is no."

Click here to read Ian Gregor's entire story.


Los Angeles Times, September 8, 2004
"Daily Flights to Resume at Palmdale"
"After six years, airport will start service to North Las Vegas. The city is offering a year of free rent and subsidies to Scenic Airlines."

"The city's airport agency plans to reopen Palmdale Airport this fall in hopes that the dusty desert outpost 70 miles north of downtown will eventually lighten the burden on aging Los Angeles International."

"After offering no commercial service for six years, the terminal will open in November to a tiny Nevada airline with daily flights to North Las Vegas."

Click here for Jennifer Oldham's complete story in the Early Bird News

Orange County Register, September 6, 2004
"A breakup with a future "
"Massive O.C. construction projects will generate millions of tons of old concrete that developers hope they can use."

"Roads, runways and building pads in Orange County no longer needed or at the end of their serviceable lives soon will become part of some of the world's largest concrete recycling projects. And Tuesday, a preview of that work gets under way in Laguna Canyon, where a road built in the county's rural days will be born again."

Click here for  the complete article


LA Times Editorial, September 5, 2004
"An Immodest Proposa
l"

"Things are getting back to normal at Los Angeles International Airport after three slow years. A double-digit increase in passenger traffic this holiday weekend. A near-collision between a departing plane and an arriving jet last month. And — ho, hum — plans to modernize the terminals and reconfigure the runways are stuck in the same holding pattern they've been in for a decade. Yep, business as usual."

What about Palmdale?

Click here for the entire LA Times editorial

Press-Enterprise, September 3, 2004
San Bernardino "Airport master plan projects growth"


"San Bernardino International Airport could evolve in the next 20 years to where it serves about as many passengers each year as Long Beach Airport and moves as many as 750,000 tons of cargo, according to a draft master plan presented Thursday."

"The plan, which projects growth at the airfield portion of the former Norton Air Force Base, is the first step toward additional funding from the Federal Aviation Administration. The money would pay for runway extensions and new buildings the airport will need to accommodate that expected growth."

"Initial projections call for the San Bernardino airport to attract nearly 400,000 passengers and 410,000 tons of cargo by 2008, increasing to more than 900,000 passengers and 500,525 tons of cargo by 2013. The study projects that by 2023 the airport could serve as many as 2.5 million passengers and nearly 750,000 tons of cargo." Click for more . . .

Website Editor: SCAG forecasts SBDI serving a more ambitious 8.7 million passengers in 2030.

El Toro Info Site report, September 3, 2004
Organizing for the Great Park

The Great Park Corporation and the Great Park Conservancy are two very different organizations despite their similar names..

The publicly-created Great Park Corporation oversees the park development. The Corporation will collect over $300 million dollars from devel
opers and award the contracts that turn the former El Toro airbase into a site for parkland, sports fields, museums, and other public serving space. It operates under bylaws thrashed out in public debate last year.  Five of its nine board members are elected by the voters. The Irvine City Manager and staff conduct its day-to-day business. Its meetings are open and its files are subject to scrutiny under the California Public Records Act.

We are confident that the Great Park Corporation will be closely scrutinized and expect its work to be public, "squeaky clean", and to pass "the smell test."

The non-profit Great Park Conservancy (also known as the Foundation for the Great Park) is far less subject to public review. Its board of five private volunteers, including embattled Ed Dornan, selects its own members and makes its own rules.

The Conservancy raised almost $800,000 in private contributions during 2001-3. It spent about $650,000 according to annual reports required by the IRS.  Much of this went for "public information campaigns" and "community outreach" including newsletters, solicitations, special events and a website.

Additional sums were spent on projects including $14,000 to study a tree farm at El Toro, $30,000 for an international "expo feasibility study", and $20,600 for a "history project", a book about the genesis of the park.


Daily Pilot, The Bell Curve, September 2, 2004
Newport women lead the fight against more flights

Columnist Joseph Bell writes, "I met for coffee recently with two Newport Beach women who are helping to recruit an army of Orange County residents pledged to making life miserable for any public officials who attempt to raise, ever again, the current limit on commercial passengers or flights out of John Wayne Airport. Jean Watt and Melinda Seely were representing a political action committee named AirFair that was formed two years ago solely for that purpose." 

Jean Watt said, "We are tree-huggers, symbolically tying ourselves to the tree of JWA expansion."

"Since AirFair is adamantly opposed to any further expansion of John Wayne Airport, what does it suggest as an alternate solution to the clear problem of escalating demand in Orange County for airport facilities?"

"As to alternate solutions, AirFair simply opts out. 'This isn't about solutions but rather about presenting a problem in a very loud way,' Seely said. 'It isn't our role to come up with answers. It is the role of the people we elect. We're simply trying to require government to look for solutions that absolutely do not include any more concessions to the expansion of JWA.'"

"The flag, which AirFair is carrying into battle, reads: '10.8 Let's Lock the Gate.'"

Website Editor: The call for limiting John Wayne utilization to 10.8 MAP is echoed by residents around LAX, calling for "78 [MAP] and lock the gate." Someone has got to be thinking about the solution to how we all get around when the airports stop growing and the population does not. We agree with AirFair that it is the job of Orange County electeds and agencies of government including SCAG.

Columnist Bell thinks South County is part of the problem.  Once El Toro is fully removed from the formula and our constant attention, this website hopes to turn its energies to taking part in the solution.


OC Weekly, August 25 - September 2, 2004, Website posted September 1
"Agran’s Tree People"
"Somebody’s going to get very rich on the Great Park"

This website reported concern upon learning of fundraiser Ed Dornan's possible involvement in the purchase of trees for the Great Park.

The OC Weekly now reports in depth:

"Trees, it turns out, are like gold. Thousands of new trees will be needed on the 4,700-acre project; thousands of trees worth as much as $20 million already on the base will require relocation before construction; other trees will be deemed surplus and removed, perhaps for lucrative resale, after the U.S. Navy auctions the parcels to real-estate developers in the coming months."

"One thing is certain: somebody is going to get very rich from the Great Park tree business."

Website Editor: The Weekly suggests that the beneficiaries will be Ed Dornan and other political allies of Irvine Mayor Larry Agran. If any of this were true, support for the park development would benefit from Dornan resigning as a Director of the Great Park Conservancy and withdrawing from any dealings with the project.

Click for the entire Weekly article . . .


Click here for previous news stories