Click here for previous news stories

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El Toro Info Site report, November 30, 2005
Time is money

Key reuse activities at the former El Toro base - selection of a master park designer and demolition of the runways - have been delayed. In February, Irvine's expected schedule read "Fall 2005: Work begins to break up runways and install roads and utilities."
 
On July 12, Lennar paid the federal government $649.5 million dollars for the property and then gave Irvine a $200 million down payment for park infrastructure.
 
At a typical 6 percent interest rate, $849.5 million costs about $140,000 a day . . . almost $20 million since July. Whatever interest rate Lennar pays for money, and Irvine and the federal government are earning on it, it's a big number.

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Wall Street Journal. November 29, 2005
"As Many Airports Make Room for the Huge Airbus Jetliner, Los Angeles Lags Behind"

"Airports around the world are scrambling to prepare for the arrival next year of the mammoth Airbus A380 superjumbo jet, a plane so large that some facilities must be rebuilt to accommodate it. But many of the worst bottlenecks for the new aircraft could develop at Los Angeles International Airport."

"Despite its renowned aviation tradition and fast-growing Pacific traffic, Los Angeles International faces increasingly tough challenges in revamping its cramped, 1960s-vintage facilities to get ready to become the busiest U.S. gateway for the A380."

"While it isn't scheduled to receive its first A380 until the spring of 2007, LAX faces daunting political, legal and logistical hurdles."

"Decisions over the next few months, including those involving construction of a pair of interim superjumbo gates and relocating the longest, southernmost runway that is also designated for A380 operations, will determine whether LAX bolsters its position or loses out to airports elsewhere."

"Los Angeles airport officials, exhibiting a new sense of urgency, say they now have the political consensus and financial wherewithal to handle the load. Some smaller projects were started this summer, and contracts for large-scale runway improvements are slated to be awarded in the next few weeks."

"LAX officials are struggling to resolve litigation [See article below] by surrounding cities challenging aspects of the master plan for growth. Settlement negotiations are nearing a climax, and an announcement is expected later this week, according to local officials. But a new mayor and recently appointed airport chief executive who inherited the problems have precious little time to resolve them."

Click for the entire article.

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Daily Breeze, November 29, 2005
Airport negotiators seek time to reach agreement
 
"Attorneys finalizing a deal on the future of Los Angeles International Airport have again asked a judge for more time to wrap up their negotiations. The groups involved in the secretive talks appear to have reached a broad framework for a settlement, several sources said. But they continue to haggle over the details."

"That kind of settlement would put to rest years of dispute and debate over a vast plan to refashion LAX."

"Los Angeles County, neighborhood groups and neighboring cities - El Segundo, Inglewood and Culver City - sued to block the plan."

"'We're still trying to work it out,' said Barbara Lichman, an attorney representing the county and the cities of Inglewood and Culver City." More . . .

Website Editor: We bet that agreement will be reached on moving the south runway - a top safety consideration.

It also seems likely that the surrounding cities will win a John Wayne Airport-type cap on the number of passengers allowed to use the airport, backed up by a reduction in the number of gates from what exists today. Go someplace else if you want to fly.

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OC Register, November 26, 2005
"Is the Great Park too great?"
"Some designers, board members are pondering the lower cost and higher appeal of a smaller project."
 
"At about 1,350 acres, the proposed Great Park would be one of the biggest metropolitan parks in the nation. Too big perhaps, some are saying, and too much to build even in the originally contemplated 20-year window. And, the $401million in developer fees Irvine will collect likely won't be enough to build all of the park."
 
"The Great Park Corp., which is responsible for its development, probably will have to seek grants or other revenue sources to build all that has been planned. As planners' dreams of the park have become more concrete over time, they have realized costs will escalate."
 
"Some designers and Great Park board members are wondering if a smaller park might be more attractive and less costly. And while it would require a zoning change, slicing off a bit of the planned parkland could mean more space available to build housing, which falls far short of demand."
 
"Downsizing the park surely would be politically difficult. Skeptics from the beginning have been critical of the meld of development and traditional park functions; they would howl at allocating more area for development. 'We questioned the grandiosity of the Great Park from the beginning," said Reed Royalty, president of the Orange County Taxpayers Association. "Mainly people were voting against the airport.'"

"Shrinking the park area would be an unpopular idea, said Larry Agran, chair of the Great Park Corp. board. Perhaps more likely would be an agreement to defer decisions on parts of the park until later - perhaps much later."
 
"Shaving acreage off the Great Park will make a barely perceptible difference in the county's park acreage. According to the county figures, park acreage in the county is about 44,000 acres - the equivalent of 32 Great Parks."

Click for the entire report.

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LA Times, November 24, 2005 - updated November 25
Close Calls on LAX Runways High Despite Attempts to Reduce Them

"The head of the Federal Aviation Administration, saying the world's fifth-busiest airport is running out of options, believes the best solution is to begin work 'without delay' to reconfigure the two sets of parallel runways. The plan, which could cost up to $1.5 billion, has been stymied for years by opposition."

"'It's very hard to exaggerate the seriousness of the runway safety problem here,' said FAA Administrator Marion Blakey during a recent interview in the tower at LAX. 'I don't know of anything else we could do at LAX short of pushing the southern runway south and doing the same thing, frankly, on the north.'"

"About 80% of the close calls between aircraft at LAX occur on the busier south side after pilots land on the outer runway and use taxiways to cross the inner runway on their way to the terminals."

"LAX had the sixth-highest rate of near misses between aircraft among the nation's 30 busiest commercial airports from Oct. 1, 2004, to Sept. 30. John Wayne Airport in Orange County and Long Beach Airport, which handle fewer large aircraft, had the second- and third-highest rates."

"The city's airport agency and the FAA started discussing moving the airport's southernmost runway 55 feet closer to El Segundo in the late 1980s to make room for a center taxiway. Pilots would use the new taxiway to slow down before crossing the inner runway on their way to the terminal."

"Ihe runway project has been ensnared in a lawsuit filed by communities [principally El Segundo] near LAX. The suit claims that the environmental studies for the airport's $11-billion modernization plan understate the effects of pollution, noise and traffic."

"'If you fly from LAX, you are at an increased risk than if you are at other airports,' said Najmedin Meshkati, director of USC's aviation safety program."

Read the entire article . . .

Associated Press and the OC Register comment: "Spokeswomen at Long Beach and John Wayne airports said most runway incursions at their facilities involved small, private planes. The problem at LAX has commanded the most attention: It mostly serves commercial aircraft, giving it the greatest potential for a catastrophic accident."
 
Website Editor: At Boston's Logan Airport, which has the nation's worst incursion record, the Massachusetts Port Authority has recommended building a new taxiway so planes that are preparing to take off or have just landed can circumvent the airport's runways instead of crossing them.

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Daily Breeze, November 22, 2005 posted November 23, 2005
"Beat-up LAX terminal to receive a major face-lift"

"One of the most scuffed and stained passenger terminals at LAX is getting a $2 million gloss, part of a renewed effort to make the airport a little more appealing."

"Terminal 3 greets millions of travelers each year with cracked tiles and antiquated toilets, dull lights and walls painted a shade of lemon custard. Much of the terminal was designed with a 1960s flair-and hasn't changed much since."

"Airport officials have begun to pay more attention to such quick fixes, after years of envisioning the future in terms of multibillion-dollar projects. They want to spruce up the aging terminals and make them safer in a matter of months, not years."

"The airport routinely ranks near the bottom of traveler surveys. And Terminal 3 isn't helping its case." Click for more . . .

Meanwhile, a Los Angeles public employees union threatens to demonstrate at LAX on Sunday, disrupting homebound Thanksgiving traffic. See articles in the Early Bird news thread.

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LA Daily News, November 22, 2005
"Holiday travelers to gobble up gas"

"Some 2.9 million Southern Californians are expected to travel this Thanksgiving weekend, a 4.7 percent increase over last year, the Automobile Club of Southern California said Monday. About 2.3 million will drive, nearly 5 percent more than last year, some 400,000 people will fly and the rest plan a cruise or train trip."

"Officials at the Los Angeles International Airport are seeing the same flat numbers, due to higher airfares and some airlines cutting flight schedules due to fuel costs. Passenger volume from Friday through Monday is expected to reach 1.8 million people, the same as last year."

"But Bob Hope Airport in Burbank is anticipating a passenger volume of 20,000 people beginning Wednesday, compared with 15,000 last year."

Other newspapers report "Last year, nearly 129,000 passengers traveled through John Wayne Airport during Thanksgiving weekend. Although airport officials haven't made any projections, this year the numbers could be even higher."

"A spokeswoman for San Diego International Airport, said that airlines are projecting about a 6 percent increase from last Thanksgiving."

Website Editor: LAX officials continue to blame the airport's sagging domestic business on "fuel costs" and airlines cutting flights. However, these factors don't seem to affect other regional airports. We think LAX's decline as a domestic airport has more to do with difficult ground access, crowded terminals and security hassles.

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El Toro Info Site report, November 20, 2005 - updated
San Diego seeks an answer to its future aviation needs

San Diego County is in the midst of a long and costly effort to determine how it will meet future aviation needs. The California legislature created the San Diego Regional Airport Authority, SDRAA to find a solution and put it before county voters next year.

According to the Union Tribune "Two-thirds of San Diego County voters are inclined to support an expansion or replacement of their airport, a poll has found, but most are a bit hazy on the idea of who would wind up paying for it."

Much less certain is where a new airport will be, whether Lindbergh Field will be part of a two-airport plan, and whether a majority of voters will support it once they see the recommendation.  The SDRAA must select a preferred site (or sites) and, by next April, place a binding measure on the November 2006 ballot.

Expansion of the existing Lindbergh Field - the first choice of many who don't live in the impacted area - can be done only by adding a runway and displacing thousands of residences and businesses.  The authority appears to be backing away from that painful option.

Closing Lindbergh and using of one of the county's military bases has been promoted by many.  The 24,000 acre Miramar Air Station is most frequently mentioned. A piece of Camp Pendleton was favored by others. Under political pressure from elected officials, who were afraid that the commission's study of a base might lead to its being cut in the latest round of base closings, the planners steered clear of the military properties until the past month.
 
The politicians won and the airport planners came up empty handed. No major bases were closed or shrunk.

Now, the commission is eyeing joint military-civilian use of Miramar in the face of Navy opposition. The county voters have no authority to force joint use on the military.

Other site alternatives are located far from the population that will use them. Proponents of a remote airport in the Imperial County desert east of the city are pushing for their version of Palmdale Airport linked to the city by high speed Maglev trains.

Some parties are recommending against a new airport and in favor of rail links from San Diego to John Wayne, Long Beach Airport, LAX and Ontario. They overlook that all but Ontario have hung out "No Vacancy" signs.

Ultimately, the SDRAA either will have to ask the Legislature for a reprieve - there has been talk of a two year delay - or present an option to the voters. Presumably the voters could turn it down and the authority has no answer for what it then will do for Plan B.

It currently unclear as to who will mount the privately funded election campaigns for and against the ballot measure. Each alternative has its backers and opponents.

While San Diego leaders are struggling with what to do once the single runway at Lindberg Field is maxed out, Orange County officials have a related problem.

County voters and the Board of Supervisors determined that they do not need, want, nor could they successfully operate a second commercial airport at El Toro in close proximity to John Wayne Airport. Instead, a $440 million third terminal project is planned for John Wayne. Unlike San Diego, Orange County is reluctant to maximize utilization of JWA's theoretical runway capacity or to expand the airport's footprint because of opposition from flight path communities. JWA is Southern California's third busiest after LAX and Lindbergh Field.

For O.C., the preferred answers are improved ground connections to airports in surrounding counties that have more land and less congested airspace and high speed rail to the most visited cities outside of this region.

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El Toro Info Site report, November 18, 2005
Long Beach studying terminal expansion

The Press Telegram reports "City officials are bracing for a 45-day flood of public comments regarding the draft environmental impact report on proposed Long Beach Airport terminal improvements."

The draft EIR concludes that an expansion from the present 56,320 to 102,850 square feet is superior to smaller alternatives.

The airport has a maximum authorized capacity of 41 daily commercial passenger flights. LGB's previously unused 25 commuter flight slots also may be put to use.
 
The newspaper notes that the number of flights "could even grow if future planes become quieter." Long Beach noise regulations provide for a periodic review of the caps and an increase in the number of authorized flights based on conformance to the airport's noise budget.  Regulations state that "If the Air Carriers, as a group, generates cumulative noise sufficiently below its budget in a given year, additional flights may be permitted in the subsequent year(s)."

"The terminal project is needed to accommodate 3.5 million people that now use the airport annually and the nearly 5 million passengers that could fly through it with growth among the commuter flights and more commercial flights under a scenario where planes become quieter."

To view the EIR, visit www.longbeach.gov. We recall that Orange County did not publish its El Toro EIR's online.

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Irvine World News, November 17, 2005
Great Park travelers return weary but with ideas

"After 10 days venturing across the globe for clues into the firms that might design Orange County's Great Park, recently returned board members and staffers talked about what the trip meant to them and what they learned."

Christina Lo, manager of engineering for the Great Park said "that the trip helped the group to better understand not only the firms, but the budgeting and scheduling and maintenance of parks."
 
"Michael Pinto said he likes the Ken Smith design best, but [like other board members quoted] wants to reserve judgment until the trip next month to Northern California to meet the Royston Hanamoto staff and see some more of their projects."

Click for the entire report and an accompanying story on what's next. The IWN also offers a cartoon comment and an editorial opinion on how the trips might have been better organized. "Councilman Larry Agran said he is relying on other board members’ observations and views, because he did not travel on the European leg of the visits. 'I’m going to have to absorb through osmosis,' he said. If he can rely on someone else’s report, why couldn’t the rest of the board do the same?"

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El Toro Info Site report, November 16, 2005
Get us to the plane on time

The question of how best to get Riverside County residents to jobs in Orange and Los Angeles Counties has been receiving much attention. The Riverside-Orange County Major Investment Study Policy Committee - made up of Riverside and Orange County officials - is giving major attention to an expansion of the 91 Freeway.

Nowhere in the newspaper reports is there any mention of how to get 50,000 more Orange County air travelers to airports each day. That's about how many more of us will be flying in 2030 if we believe the Southern California Association of Government's forecast of a doubling of air passengers to and from this county.

Since John Wayne Airport is restricted to only modest growth in the years ahead, Long Beach is under similar legally enforceable constraints, and the folks around LAX are negotiating to put a passenger cap on that airport, the future airports for the OC are at Ontario and possibly March Inland Port.

Ontario lies to the north of the 91 Freeway and March to the south. While transportation planners are looking at how to get inbound workers to their jobs, we hope they are also concerned with getting outbound air passengers to their morning flights on time.

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OC Register, November 15, 2005
Assessment puts hefty tab on El Toro battle

Columnist Frank Mickadeit writes, "El Toro airport fighter Len Kranser has come up with the best estimate I've yet seen of what the doomed planning effort and fight cost taxpayers and private entities - $150 million to $200 million."

"The largest single area of expenditure was the $55 million county taxpayers spent for the planning and the legal fight with airport opponents. South-county cities and grass-roots opponents spent around $50 million, depending on how you calculate Irvine's contribution. Then there are federal costs, private-industry promotion, the pro-airport cities' expenditures and more."

"The one piece of the plan I'd like to revive is designating the county's major airport "OCX."

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El Toro Info Site report, November 14, 2005
Lowdown on the runway demolition party

At the July 12 event marking the transfer of the El Toro property to Lennar and Irvine, we discussed a runway demolition celebration with several key individuals. Initially, Lennar said "this summer". Subsequently we heard "maybe a weekend in October".
 
The company hosted a VIP celebration in August for electeds, public and Lennar staff and Washington invitees; an important event but very restricted in attendance.

Todd Spitzer's office has tried to pin down Lennar about a public party and distribution of souvenir pieces of runway concrete, so far without success.

Some type of event was contemplated by Irvine when $50,000 was included in the Great Park Corp budget under "Public Information and Outreach - Groundbreaking event".  After discussions with Great Park Corp CEO Wally Kreutzen and Irvine Mayor Beth Krom it appears that there is still official interest in Irvine for holding a public celebration in anticipation of the Great Park - "in the spring."
 
Stay tuned. The runways will be there for a while.

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OC Register, November 13, 2005
"After Great Park board members visit parks in the U.S. and abroad, questions linger about whether the lessons were worth the costs."

Website Editor: Viewers who have been following the Register's coverage of the Great Park board's trip to Spain, France and New York are provided with a wrap up report today.

Our main question continues to be why the board included an overseas designer in the competition in the first place. The problems of travel, communications and long term hands-on involvement in an evolving park design should have been obvious from the outset.

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OC Register, November 13, 2005
"Great Park looks to cut back on golf"

"Great Park planners are debating the future of golf at the old base. Originally, plans called for 45 holes of golf at the Great Park, which will inherit and improve the existing El Toro Golf Course, an 18-hole course on the southeast side of the base."

"But Lennar Corp. is uncertain about adding 27 more holes."

Website Editor: Click for the entire article. There is no mention of what Lennar would develop on the property to replace the golf. City zoning would govern the alternative use.

Plans for the commercially developed portion of the former El Toro base are gradually evolving to meet the landowner's economic objectives.

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El Toro Info Site report, November 10, 2005
JWA – More passengers served thru October, fewer flights overhead 

John Wayne airport released statistics for October. For the month, and for the year-to-date, the number of passengers served was up compared to 2004 while the number of commercial flights was down.

This has been a recent trend at the airport where limits exist on both the number of passengers and the number of noisy flights.

Airport and county management further limit the number of seats that can be flown whether full or empty. 

At Long Beach airport, the number of flights is limited by a “noise budget” while the number of passengers served is allowed to fluctuate so long as the impact on neighbors does not exceed agreed upon limits.

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Irvine World News, November 10, 2005

“Great postcards from the trip”
“Reporter offers daily reflections on the Great Park board excursion."

The IWN prints excerpts from OC Register reporter Norberto Santana’s blog as he followed the Great Park Board through its fact finding trip. The group returns to Orange County today.

The GPC board expects to chose a master designer in January and then to fill the vacant board seat.

Click here for the “postcards” followed by the latest full report published in the Register newspaper.

Santana’s running commentary also is online at http://blogs.ocregister.com/greatpark/

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OC Register Great Park blog, by Roberto Santana, November 08, 2005 posted November 9
"Subterranean Homesick Blues"

"As I walk into the meeting [at the offices of architect Ken Smith], I . . . meet Orange County's most adept and agile politician - Irvine Councilman and former Mayor Larry Agran. . . And just as he calls the meeting to order, my jaw drops after his next sentence."

"'I'm heading back to the West Coast later today,' he announces to the group. 'I've had the pleasure of being here with Ken Smith and his associates the last couple of days,' Agran says."

"Agran notes that board members have been wonderful troopers through their trip adding that they've 'learned a whole lot of things that I'm going to have to absorb by osmosis.'"

"Osmosis? . . . Couldn't board members have sent the CEO on this brutal march and done the same kind of osmosis thing?"

"I ask Irvine Councilwoman Christina Shea what she thinks about Agran missing the European trip."
 
"'There's no way through osmosis that you can come up with a balanced perspective on all designs,' she says, visibly irritated at the question - and Agran. 'If you didn't attend and didn't meet each designer and their projects, I question whether you should be voting,' she says."

"Then I meet North Orange County's best. Santa Ana Mayor Miguel Pullido has just arrived in New York and meets us in a cab at the first leg. Refreshed, Pullido joins the tour. He says his schedule was just too busy to head to the European leg. 'It's tough to do it all,' he says.

"He then notes that Agran line, adding 'you trust your colleagues. . . . If push comes to shove, we'll go take a personal look at Barcelona,' Pullido says."

Website Editor: The Great Park Board decided to not fill the board seat vacated by Dick Sim until after the park designer was selected "because any new board member likely would have missed all the designer presentations."

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El Toro Info Site, November 8, 2005
What the El Toro fight cost

The monetary cost of the El Toro airport fight has been estimated in the past at "over $100 million".  With the final demise of the airport, we set out to update that estimate.

The County and ETRPA provided accounting data fairly well segregated from other expenses. For other parties to the controversy, we relied on information in our files or solicited multiple informed guesses.

It all added up to between $150-200 million, plus an enormous price in time and energy, spent on an airport project that county residents probably never really wanted.

Click for more on who spent how much money.

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OC Register, November 7, 2005
"Great Park board takes whirlwind tour of Paris' mixed-use spaces to gain ideas."

"PARIS - Standing at the entrance to Parc André Citroën - the site of an old car factory that has become the center of a revitalized urban neighborhood full of new housing - the soft-spoken French architect Jean-Paul Viguier is showing the Great Park board Sunday what he and the firm of Royston Hanamoto Alley & Abey could do for Orange County."

"This weekend's visit is part of an unprecedented international tour to Barcelona, Paris and New York where three design firms are getting a chance to lobby board members during a rolling public meeting. Costs for the 11-member delegation - including hotels, flights, buses and food - will be about $50,000."

"Virtually all board members admit that they've heard public questioning of such a trip . . .  But they all rigorously defend the expense, saying it's important to see the architects up close in their offices, as well as their projects, to get ideas. As elected officials, they all say they know the public is skeptical of such foreign trips but steadfastly defend their value."

Website Editor: Larry Agran, GPC Board Chairman, is not on the overseas trip.

"The trip also has been a first for the state's open meeting laws. Every day, in hotel lobbies or local parks, board members have stood in a circle calling the meeting to order."

"Small changes - such as lunch breaks - require motions and even a traffic jam delaying a park visit has triggered calls to attorneys seeking input on motions to adjust the schedule."
"The band of 11 Great Park board members and staff leave today for New York City, where they will spend Tuesday and Wednesday viewing parks there."
 
Click here for the full newspaper print report.

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The Press-Enterprise, November 5, 2005
”Doubts remain whether the $34 million upgrade [at San Bernardino Airport] will boost cargo and passenger services.”

”After two years and $34 million, the San Bernardino International Airport put the finishing touches on the 10,000-foot runway last week  . . . With the refurbished runway completed, air cargo and passenger operations that have avoided the airport might give it a second look, said airport operations officer Mark Gibbs.”

”No scheduled passenger or cargo flights currently use the airport.” 

“The draft of a report prepared by HNTB Corp., a national consulting firm for airports, bridges and highways, predicts that by 2008, 396,000 passengers -- about three 737s taking off and three landing every day -- and 410,000 tons of cargo will use the airport every year. “

”By 2013, the report predicts 920,000 passengers and 525,000 tons of cargo.”

Website Editor: SCAG includes San Bernardino in its 2030 forecast serving up to 8.7 million annual passengers.

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OC Register blog, November 4, 2005
"Off to Paris" from Norberto Santana with the Great Park trip in Spain

"Today, we arose early and walked several blocks to the EMBT offices for an eight-hour meeting that focused on basic issues, such as how much EMBT would charge for its services."

"But interestingly, the two developers working for Lennar - and also along for the trip - got up around halfway through the meeting and left without much comment."

 "I'm still struggling to figure the rationale for all of this…"

"And at the end of the day, none of these designers seem to be offering any great buildings or such. Mainly, it's moving a bunch of dirt around the old El Toro site. You'll either get a canyon, or a lake, or some wetlands."

"Aren't there plenty of firms in Southern California with experience doing that?"

Read Norberto Santana's entire blog post and add your comments about the Great Trip - on our message board.

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OC Register, November 4, 2005
“The Great Trip” 

OC Register reporter Norberto Santana is accompanying the Great Park Corp board and staff on its European trip. The group currently is in Spain. 

Santana indicates that the group may be detoured from its planned next stop because “With eight days of rioting in the suburbs of Paris, [GPC CEO Wally] Kreutzen said the French leg of the tour might have to be delayed.”

Click for his story in today’s paper “Great Park ideas take root in Spain . . . Board members say Barcelona firm's creativity, artistry would enhance O.C.” 

Santana’s running commentary is online at http://blogs.ocregister.com/greatpark/

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El Toro Info Site report, November 4, 2005

JWA Passenger Facility Charge 

The John Wayne Airport website provides details on the financing for the proposed airport enhancements. The total is estimated at $411 million.

Approximately $321 million of the project’s cost will come from a $4.50 Passenger Service Fee (PSF) intended to service debt and provide pay-as-you-go funds (PAYGO). Public comments on the passenger charge are invited in accordance with the law.

$58 million will come from airport reserves. JWA previously was tapped for $46 million to fund El Toro airport planning and promotion.

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LA Daily News, November 3, 2004
"Kennard confirmed as new airport chief"

"With a pledge to promote a regional approach to dealing with air transportation issues, the Los Angeles City Council on Wednesday confirmed the appointment of Lydia Kennard as director of Los Angeles World Airports."

"For Kennard, it is a return to the job she held from 1999 to 2003."

"One of the top issues, she said, is dealing with how air traffic can be spread across Southern California to ease some of the pressure on LAX."

"'We are looking at different plans, working with the FAA, on a regional airport authority concept that has real legal authority to look at ways to develop a regional approach to air traffic,' Kennard said."

"One potential solution is encouraging officials from Orange and San Diego counties to look at developing an international airport along their border to relieve traffic at LAX."  More . . .

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El Toro Info Site report, November 3, 2005
Why Spain?

Local newspapers have sniped at the Great Park Corp board's European trip. The Times reported "Four of the five Irvine City Council members leave . . .  for an all-expense-paid, nine-day trip to Barcelona, Paris and New York City . . . The itinerary includes two nights at the five-star Grand Marina Hotel in Barcelona."

"Traveling are seven members of the Orange County Great Park Corp. board - including the Irvine council members - a consultant and five members of the park board staff."

The Register observed "Four of the parks the group will be visiting are reviewed in a report by the Project for Public Spaces, a nonprofit New York-based organization that says it has helped about 1,000 communities in the United States develop public spaces."

"Their report lists a park designed by [Spanish Great Park finalist] EMBT as No. 1 on its world's 'worst parks' list. PPS ripped the Parc Diagonal Mar in Barcelona for its 'lack of games and activities.'"

The Irvine World News, on October 13, editorialized more supportively "Done right, the visits should be money well spent. We're only going to get one shot at the biggest and most costly public works project in the county's history, so the board can't be too careful or too public with each step in the process."

Then, today, the Irvine paper provided more coverage of the trip and noted that "a minority of the board and the council could have made this final journey and reported back to their colleagues, and the public . . . they could have saved some of the money being spent on air fare and five-star hotels."

This website never questioned the need to visit the offices and projects of the design competition finalists. It's an essential cost and a tiny fraction of what is at stake.

The real question should be: Why were overseas firms included in the first place? Designing a major park should be a continuing project with long-term involvement by key members of the design team. There will be numerous ongoing changes as funds become available, as environmental cleanup progresses, and throughout the building phases. Frederick Olmstead, the designer of New York's Central Park remained with that project for years to supervise its implementation.
 
An international design competition sounds impressive but is it practical to collaborate at such a distance? Could that be why the Spanish firm has no major projects for the board to visit in this country?

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LA Times, November 3, 2005
"John Wayne May Add Fee for Third Terminal"

"Passengers leaving from John Wayne Airport in Orange County may start paying a $4.50 departure fee next year to help pay for a planned airport expansion, county supervisors were told Tuesday."

"Airport Director Alan Murphy said the proposed fee would help raise a portion of an estimated $440 million needed for a third terminal - containing six additional passenger gates - more parking and a U.S. Customs office."

"There are now 14 gates in two terminals."

"The expansion would provide more facilities at the airport and would increase its yearly passenger count, but the count would remain under its court-mandated maximum." Website Editor: See yesterday's website report below on how the count is controlled.

"Airport departure fees are not unusual at airports. John Wayne is one of only six large commercial airports in the country that do not have such a fee, airport officials said."

Click for the entire Times article.

Website Editor: $46 million of John Wayne Airport funds went to plan and promote the El Toro Airport project.

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El Toro Info Site report, November 1, 2005 - updated
When will JWA hit its authorized limit?

Under the revised Settlement Agreement reached between the county and parties in Newport Beach, John Wayne Airport currently is authorized to serve 10.3 million annual passengers, MAP. Some activists in Newport Beach claim the cap will be reached next year.  We don't think so.

The limit will increase to 10.8 MAP in 2010. (In EIR 582, the physical capacity of the airfield was estimated to be 13.9 MAP, with the existing curfew and maximum noise limits.)

When and if the Settlement Agreement’s limits ever are hit depends greatly on how planners at the airport allocate seats to the airlines. The Board of Supervisors approves the allocations.

For the “plan year” ending March 31, 2005, the county authorized only 12.5 million seats to be flown and expected 9.5 million passengers. The actual passenger count came in just under 9.4 MAP.

In the current plan year ending March 31 2006, 12.8 million seats were allocated to carriers and 9.6 million passengers are expected.  The actual count may exceed the estimate this year, due to the large shift in domestic passengers away from LAX.

County management is reluctant to allow the number of passengers to grow to the number allowed by the Settlement Agreement. Historically, traffic is kept below the capped level to produce controlled growth and to avoid overloading the terminal facilities. This also keeps down the number of flights and their noise.

Those who wish Orange County could have non-stop service to Washington, D.C. or some other favorite location should understand that while the Settlement Agreement may allow the flights and passengers, the implementation of the agreement may not.

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