Fourth Qtr 1999
Fourth Qtr 1999
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Website Direct, December 30, 1999
Third Strike for Opponents of Measure F
OC Register, December 30, 1999
“Suits filed over land limits at old base”
“Leisure World is latest to push for freedom with its property.”
NEW YORK TIMES, December 27, 1999
“Plans for Military Base Divide Orange County”
OC Register, December 25, 1999
“El Toro study may sway vote”
“ Both sides say the county's report will provide ammunition
in fight over Measure F.”
LA Times, December 24, 1999
“Cost for El Toro Airport Doubles in County Report”
“Impact: Long-awaited environmental impact study shows price
tag now $2.9 billion, concedes South County will suffer 'significant' jet
noise and reveals lifting of night flight ban.”
Website Direct, December 23, 1999
County Releases New El Toro EIR
Airport Price Tag Goes Up
LA Times, December 22, 1999
“County's Business Comes Under Scrutiny”
“Supervisors question contracts, project oversight during debates.
Fiscal responsibility is the common concern.”
Website Direct, December 21, 1999
More "Devious" County Dealings
LA Times, December 20, 1999
“Consultant Gets to Skip Disclosure”
“Irvine, Spitzer complain that county waived monthly updates
on El Toro airport planning as
$9.1-million contract requires.”
LA Times, December 20, 1999
“Business Leaders Polls Apart on El Toro”
“Most executives in Irvine-funded survey say airport would make
recruiting harder. Others asked in a different way by Business Council
tout economic benefits.”
OC Business Journal, December 13, 1999, posted December
16
“UPS Expands at Long Beach Airport”
LA Times, December 15, 1999
“Airport Noise Deal Raises Suspicions”
Website Direct, December 14, 1999
Court Allows "Late" Ballot Statement
OC Register, December 14, 1999
“Anti-airport city touts poll”
“ Business leaders say tainted quality of life may hurt recruitment.”
Newport-Costa Mesa Daily Pilot, December 14, 1999
“Council OKs $1.25 million for El Toro”
“Money, which is not in this year's budget, will come from expenditure
reductions, bankruptcy
recovery funds and revenue increases.”
LA Times Editorial, December 12, 1999
“Living With Bankruptcy's Lessons”
OC Register, December 11, 1999
“Pro-airport camp loses an argument”
“ Ballot statement against initiative won't appear in voter guide.
Registrar says it arrived late.”
LA Times, December 10, 1999
“Court OKs Candidate Statements in Voter Packet”
LA Times, December 8, 1999
“'Measure F' Label Riles Airport Foes”
Wall Street Journal, December 8, 1999
"Airbus Board Is Seen Clearing Giant-Jet Plans"
Website Direct, December 7, 1999
Smith, Silva and Coad Give “F” to Safe and Healthy
Communities Initiative
LA Times, December 6, 1999
“Health Study Will Analyze LAX's Effects on Inglewood”
“The EPA and FAA will meet with city officials Wednesday. Residents
report various medical
problems.”
LA Times, December 6, 1999
“Five Years After a Very Costly Lesson”
“A billion-dollar debt remains from Orange County's bankruptcy,
which changed the culture of government. Experts say it could happen again.”
LA Times Editorial, December 5, 1999
“Irvine's El Toro Gambit”
Website Direct, December 3, 1999
FLASH - County Fails to Convince State on Transfer
Airport Opponents are Jubilant
OC Register, December 3, 1999
“Transfer of El Toro on agenda”
“State panel could let the county take over law enforcement at
the base, and allow other public uses.”
LA Times, December 1, 1999
“New Tactic in El Toro War: Claim No-Fly Zone”
“Laguna Woods residents say decades-old deal that allowed Marine
flights has expired and that civilian jets need permission to fly over.
County says they're wrong.”
LA Times, November 29, 1999
“El Toro Fight Pattern”
“LAX Expansion Foes Say Orange County Must Help Carry the Burden”
Website Direct, November 29, 1999
Safe and Healthy Neighborhood Fund Raising Takes
Off
LA Times, Editorial, November 28, 1999
“Multiplying Divisions”
Website Direct, November 28, 1999
Website Working Way Through Technical Bugs
LA Times. November 25, 1999
“Irvine Set for Blitz on Airport”
“City-sponsored mail and TV ad campaign will ask voters to help
plan a 'Great Park' instead of international terminals at the former El
Toro Marine base.”
OC Register, November 25, 1999
“Anaheim's airport stance has a price”
“The city says its backing hinges on the county's assurance of
acceptable noise levels.”
LA Times, November 25, 1999
“El Segundo Sues L.A. Over Airport Work”
“Lawsuit claims small projects are part of an attempt to expand
the facility without formal approval.”
Website Direct, November 23, 1999
S&H Initiative Moves to the Ballot
Website Direct, November 22, 1999
Internet Address Problem Knocks Out Website
Website Direct, November 22, 1999
Sheriff Softens Position on Safe and Healthy Communities
Website Direct, November 22, 1999
Cal State Fullerton poll shows initiative favored
by over 2:1
LA Times, November 16, 1999
“Poll Portends Confusion in El Toro Vote”
“South County's opposition to an airport doesn't appear under
yes-or-no questioning, but does when initiative's
consequence is explained.”
Website Direct, November 16, 1999
Anaheim support of airport predicated on NIMBY
issues
Website Direct, November 15, 1999
County Sued for Withholding Documents
OC Register Editorial, November 14, 1999
"When the majority doesn't rule"
Website Direct, November 12, 1999
FAA Documents Expose Concerns Over El Toro Plans
OC Register, November 12, 1999
“Disney comments anger El Toro backers”
LA Times, November 11, 1999
“Disneyland Decides It Doesn't Need El Toro Airport:”
“In surprise, top official says LAX and freeway improvements
are enough to get extra millions to new park.”
OC Register, November 10, 1999
“Airport foes’ tactics ‘good’
“Pro-airport supervisor sounds an alarm saying ‘they are winning’.
OC Register, November 10, 1999
“Coad would add jail to south-county courthouse”
“Laguna Niguel residents react angrily. It's 'madness,'
says mayor.”
LA Times, November 10, 1999
“Lawmakers oppose airport deal”
Website Direct, November 9, 1999
Attempt to circumvent initiative fails.
Counsel says county can not give up airport planning role to
a Joint Powers Authority.
Website Direct, November 8, 1999
Pilots Group Skyjacked by Coad Family
LA Times, November 8, 1999
“Cities Rethink Land Use by Base “
“South County municipalities are encouraging development near
the former military airfield as part of their anti-airport strategies.”
LA Times, November 6, 1999
“Light Rail Plan Stalled”
“Not even a special committee can decide whether the project
should move forward.”
Website Direct, November 5, 1999
Volunteer's graphics of West takeoffs posted to
website
Website Direct , November 4, 1999
Ron Packard to retire after 2000
Argyros to lead state GOP fund raising
Website Direct, November 3, 1999
Campaign Headquarters Open
Website Direct, November 3, 1999
Safe and Healthy Initiative moves towards ballot
Fate of 3 competing measures unclear
Website Direct, November 3, 1999
Voters action bears on airport issue
LA Times, November 1, 1999
“El Toro Combatants Will Spend $14 Million on PR”
“This year's budgets for both sides in the fight nearly equal
those of the previous 5 years combined. Polls show little movement in public
opinion.”
Website Direct, October 30, 1999
“Campaigning Reaches New Heights”
Website Direct, October 30, 1999
County pushing fix on old EIR
OC Register, October 28, 1999
“Plan would counter anti-airport initiative”
“A councilman offers supervisors 3 measures to put on the same
ballot.”
LA Times, October 27, 1999
“Airport Backers Float Their Own Ballot Measures”
Website Direct, October 26, 1999
ETRPA moves ahead on several fronts
OC Register, October 25, 1999
“Airport battle brings in cash”
“Consultants and lawyers say they're not getting rich off El
Toro-related contracts.”
LA Times, October 25, 1999
“County Finds It's Stuck in an El Toro Quagmire”
“A once-sure thing has become bogged down by planning details,
lease setbacks and tenacious opposition.”
OC Register, October 23, 1999
“El Toro mail blitz poised to begin”
“A pro-airport leaflet kicks off what promises to be a busy season.”
Website direct, October 22, 1999
County cautioned on stalling the initiative
Newport-Costa Mesa Daily Pilot, October 21, 1999
“El Toro foes say county can't skirt measure”
Southern California Logistics Airport press release,
October 20, 1999
"SwissGlobalCargo Inaugurates Scheduled Service
at Southern California Logistics Airport"
OC Register, October 20, 1999
“County looks to join a pro-airport group”
“Supervisors could then spend $400,000 on a marketing push.”
LA Times, October 20, 1999
“Plan Approved to Revamp Palmdale’s Idle Airport”
Website Direct, October 18, 1999
County floundering with JPA idea
Website Direct, October 17, 1999
LA Times Issues Correction on Bates Statement -
Too Little, Too Late
LA Times editorial, October 16, 1999
“LAX Can’t Do It Alone”
OC Register, October 15, 1999
“El Toro electorate has changed in O.C.”
“The county is surging economically, and the affected airport
area is more populous.”
Website Direct, October 14, 1999
Initiative Qualifies for Ballot
OC Register, October 14, 1999
“Cities prepare to form airport authority”
“Backers hope it will circumvent a new anti- airport measure.”
LA Times, October 13, 1999
“Initiative Aimed at Airport Plan a Lock for Ballot”
San Diego Union-Tribune, October 10, website posted
October 12, 1999
“Airport revamp plans stir lots of noise”
“Homeowners react to bid to turn Brown Field into cargo port”
LA Times, October 9, 1999
"Pilots' group offers El Toro runway plan
Website Direct, October 8, 1999
Assemblywoman Bates sets the record straight
OC Register, October 7, 1999
"School districts are in on El Toro"
Website Direct, October 6, 1999
"Presentations to an assembly committee on aviation
capacity"
OC Register, October 5, 1999
"Curfew effort at El Toro faces a turbulent future"
OC Register, October 5, 1999
"County still split on El Toro airport"
LA Times, October 2, 1999
“Palmdale joins airport expansion list”
(For full articles see L.A. Times at http://www.latimes.com and O.C.
Register at http://www.ocregister.com/news/)
Opponents of Measure F, the Safe and Healthy Communities Initiative, struck out on their third try to derail the initiative in court. Today, Superior Court Judge Richard Aronson denied a request by former Newport Beach Mayor Clarence Turner and two other individuals, who failed in another attempt to have the initiative declared unconstitutional.
Last month, another Superior Court Judge rejected a lawsuit to keep the initiative off the March 7 ballot. That failed lawsuit was brought by the George Argyros-backed Citizens for Jobs and the Economy, the City of Newport Beach, and other promoters of an El Toro airport. The plaintiffs appealed the decision but a higher court found no basis for reconsidering their case.
The attorneys for the latest lawsuit are another former Newport Beach mayor, Tom Edwards, and Barbara Lichman, Executive Director of the Airport Working Group, a Newport Beach organization seeking to transfer jet noise and traffic from John Wayne Airport to a new airport at El Toro.
Jeffrey Metzger, an attorney and proponent of the Safe and Healthy Communities Initiative said, “The initiative is clearly constitutional and has now withstood three legal challenges. Opponents are afraid to have the people decide where airports and jails should be located because then the special interests won’t get their way. They are desperately trying to block a pro-democracy Yes on F vote.”
“Six months after the Marine Corps left El Toro, several communities near the base are fighting to gain control of land that for years had been restricted because of military flight paths. Their goal: to allow greater development of property made increasingly valuable by the growth of Orange County, the same kind of growth that ultimately forced the Marines to retreat from the county.”
“The association that oversees common property at Leisure World in Laguna Woods filed a lawsuit against the federal government … to lift restrictions on about 50 acres near the intersection of Moulton Parkway and El Toro Road. [The] association wants the limits lifted so it can build a new recreational clubhouse on nine acres it owns.”
“Last month, the city of Lake Forest filed a lawsuit against the Orange County Airport Land Use Commission, seeking the removal of similar development restrictions on property near the base. The limitations on the land in Laguna Woods and Lake Forest are similar, though imposed by different agencies. They include limits on the density, height and occupancy of buildings and were originally meant to keep land in the flight zone less developed.” to avoid interference with aircraft and in case of crashes.
“One of Irvine's few long-term irritants had been the adjacent and enormous El Toro Marine Corps Air Station…So it might have seemed a time for joy when the Pentagon announced a few years ago that… it was going to close the base. It did not work out that way. The Pentagon's decision has triggered not a celebration, but a new kind of cold war that has divided the county, north from south.”
“The issue is whether to build an international airport on El Toro's 4,738 acres, a plan supported by the older, more ethnically mixed suburbs to the north, or to use the land for parks, schools and other public amenities, as Irvine and the neighboring, mostly new cities to the south are urging.”
“The powerful subtext to this battle has left the cities here so bitterly divided that some experts worry the standoff could obstruct efforts to tackle other regional issues, such as affordable housing, transportation and education.”
"’The future of this county does not depend on whether they build this airport,’ said Mark Baldassare, a senior fellow at the Public Policy Institute of California and the author of an annual survey of attitudes in the county and its economy.’The biggest threat to Orange County's future is the conflict over the airport and what it is doing to the political climate, not the airport itself.’"
“Elsewhere these battles [over closed military bases] have frequently turned on concerns over job creation, but neither side here maintains that the vibrant economy needs an airport to grow. The county's unemployment rate has drifted to an almost negligible level of less than 3 percent and it has been generating about 40,000 jobs a year.”
"’This is not about creating jobs or creating wealth here,’ conceded Michael Lapin, manager of the county government's pro-airport planning group. ‘Those are ancillary questions. The issue is demand and quality of life, convenience.’"
“George Argyros, one of the county's wealthiest developers and possibly the airport's most ardent supporter, cast the battle in neo-Marxist terms. ‘It's a classic case of class warfare to me,’ Mr. Argyros said. ‘The south county is all spanking new and they live behind their guarded gates. It's almost the working people of the north against the haves in the south.’"
“Just the process by which the issue is being decided worries some people because of the way it has invited emotional responses. No company has a greater interest in the battle than the privately held Irvine Company, the largest landowner in the county and the developer of the city of Irvine. The politically influential company has not taken a stance, but it has expressed dismay at this lack of hard facts.”
"’The way the land-use issue has been approached turned traditional sound planning on its head,’ said Larry Thomas, the company's senior vice president. ‘By that I mean, without a detailed strategy, without a detailed economic analysis or specific plan a ballot measure was taken to the people. They voted from their gut. There wasn't a third category people could vote for saying, Tell me more about this.'"
“The latest El Toro airport environmental study will play an important role in the campaign over Measure F, the initiative that could ground the airport if approved by voters in March…. Measure F would require environmental studies, public hearings and approval by two-thirds of the voters to create toxic landfills, build or expand airports, or build or expand large jails near homes.”
“If it passes, the Board of Supervisors would have to hold hearings and an election on El Toro, or drop plans for the airport.”
“Jeffrey Metzger, chairman of the initiative committee, said he believes that Measure F will pass with or without the information in the county documents. He said the EIR just provides an example. ‘It should be up to the voters to make these decisions — that something this large, with this many people affected, should not be based on a slim majority of the Board of Supervisors,’ he said.”
Results of the OC Register poll for Christmas Eve:
"Does the country's El Toro environmental impact report released Thursday
make a good case for a new airport?"
373 responded, 80% said NO.
“The cost of a proposed airport at El Toro has nearly doubled to $2.9 billion, county officials announced Thursday in a long-awaited environmental review, which also acknowledged for the first time that many areas of South County will face ‘significant’ jet noise. The report… also shows that the county has abandoned its promise to pursue a nighttime flight curfew at the proposed El Toro airport. Instead, officials will try to persuade the airlines and the federal government to restrict the loudest jets from flying at night, something no other airport has accomplished.”
Most of the money for the airport will come from new revenue bonds and John Wayne funds but general county funds will also be needed. "’They can't pay for OCX [Orange County International] unless they steal money from John Wayne Airport, raise fees on passengers and launder general fund money to free up John Wayne Airport money for El Toro,’ [Supervisor Todd] Spitzer said.”
Click here for more details on the airport plan. Information will be continuously updated as the 10,000- page report receives careful analysis.
Today's OC Register poll:
"Does the county's El Toro environmental impact report released Thursday
make a good case for a new airport?"
Call before 6:30 pm December 24:
714-550-4636, ext. 7261. To vote NO press 2.
The county presented its new environmental impact report for El Toro today. The price tag for the airport was officially increased from $1.6 billion to a new estimate of $2.8 billion. Few people were surprised, since many expect the eventual figure to climb to $4-5 billion.
Continuing to shelter its plans from scrutiny, the county did not make a copy of the report available to the El Toro Reuse Planning Authority (ETRPA), even though ETRPA’s non-aviation plan is a part of the study. County CEO Jan Mittermeier refused to brief Supervisor Tom Wilson on the report when she came to his office this morning and found that ETRPA Executive Director Paul Eckles had been invited by Wilson to sit in on the meeting.
Comments on the 10,000-page report are due by February 22. Critics questioned why the report was released on the eve of the holiday season, which will cut into available time to study the voluminous data.
The County report draws unfavorable comparisons between the latest airport plan and a 21 month-old non-aviation plan submitted by ETRPA on March 31, 1998. The Millennium Plan has been revised since then, to lower density and traffic impacts, but the Supervisors refuse to consider the changes. Instead, the County spent time and taxpayers money studying and comparing the airport against an out-of-date non-aviation plan.
“County supervisors on Tuesday raised questions about lax oversight of county business during a series of debates heavily tinged with acrimony over the controversial El Toro airport plan. Led by Supervisor Todd Spitzer, board members questioned a $271,000 contract for an El Toro public-relations campaign, an audit on the company overseeing use of the closed base and an agreement for redistributing $7.5 million received from lawsuit settlements that followed the county's 1994 bankruptcy. While the items were separate, they were linked by a single concern: exercising the board's responsibility for financial oversight.”
“The series of debates began with discussion of a county staff request for $271,000 for … a public-education campaign on El Toro through June. The contract requires the firm to submit monthly progress reports before it can be paid. But Spitzer questioned that provision, pointing out that an identical requirement for monthly progress reports had been waived by a staff manager on an earlier $9-million contract with another company planning the county's two-airport system. How can supervisors trust what they are signing, Spitzer asked, when contracts can be changed without board knowledge or approval? He suggested that county airport planners have become so worried about having their actions questioned by airport opponents--of whom he is one--that they have directed consultants ‘not to produce a paper trail.’”
Michael Lapin, Manager of the El Toro Master Development Program, announced this morning that the long overdue Environmental Impact Report for El Toro will be released at a press conference on Thursday, December 23 at 1:00 PM. By delivering the 10,000 page, 80 pound report at the start of the Christmas-New Years holiday, the county makes the job more difficult for those who need to analyze and challenge the report within a tight deadline. One of the ETRPA staff members who must copy, distribute, and begin to study the huge report on Christmas eve used the gentle term, "devious" to describe the County tactic.
“Irvine officials are questioning why a county manager allowed the consultant planning an airport at the closed El Toro Marine base to be paid more than $8 million so far without submitting the monthly progress reports required in its contract. The reports by P&D Consultants of Orange were to include a summary of work and each task performed, and were required to be filed before the county paid the monthly invoices, according to the July 1997 contract signed by then-Board of Supervisors Chairman William G. Steiner and P&D. In January 1998, Bruce B. Wetsel, then manager of the county's El Toro aviation team, sent a letter to P&D waiving the monthly reports. Wetsel, who has since left the county, said the reports weren't necessary because ‘the county and P&D are in contact on a daily basis.’”
“Irvine officials said the invoices are inadequate to verify expenses for the largest public works project in Orange County. The contract, which originally was for nearly $7 million, has been amended 19 times and is now about $9.1 million.”
“Supervisor Todd Spitzer, who opposes the new airport, said the lack of detailed reports by P&D is another example of the county's pattern of secrecy when it comes to planning the new airport. Earlier this month, a coalition of eight anti-airport cities filed a lawsuit against the county, contending they have been denied public documents. ‘Their worst nightmare is public scrutiny over their actions,’ Spitzer said of pro-airport county officials.”
“Dueling visions of what an El Toro airport would mean to the Orange County business community were unveiled last week, and each immediately spurred protests from the opposing side. According to a survey funded by the city of Irvine, nearly two-thirds of county business executives believe an airport at El Toro would harm the quality of life that helps attract new workers. But that finding was swiftly countered by a separate study, paid for by the Orange County Business Council, claiming just the opposite.”
“Julie Puentes of the Orange County Business Council [said], ‘Our study was purely a look at economics, and we think the state of the economy is a very important indicator of the quality of life.’”
“Meg Waters, spokeswoman for a coalition of cities opposed to an airport at El Toro, said the Business Council is out of step with what business leaders want. ‘Obviously, if an international airport in Orange County was important to economic growth, we would not be one of the strongest economies in the world today,’ she said.”
“The county hasn't released its own economic analysis of the airport… That economic review, contained within a state-required environmental impact report, was to be released last summer but is now due sometime this month.”
“United Parcel Service opened its expanded Gateway facility at Long Beach at the end of November. The expansion doubles the company’s capacity at the airport… UPS signed a 20-year property lease for the 8.2 acre site last year that includes two 10-year renewal options.”
“Supervisors Todd Spitzer and Tom Wilson said it appeared from county records that officials raised John Wayne Airport noise limits in 1993 without authorization from a federal judge.”
"’If these changes weren't filed with the court, [airport officials] were agreeing to put more noise into the Newport Beach and Santa Ana Heights community, and they did it without court approval,’ Spitzer said… He even suggested during the meeting that ‘if this is true,’ county officials may have purposely acted to increase noise over John Wayne's neighbors to increase pressure for construction of a second airport at the closed El Toro Marine base. But Chairman Charles Smith cut Spitzer off before he could finish, saying: ‘Now, wait a minute. You're making some allegations here that are unfounded.’"
If the changes were not properly authorized, “airlines could protest any fines they received for violating the noise limits since 1993, and cargo flights may need to be re-approved.”
A judge reversed the Registrar of Voter's decision that ballot arguments, from the Argyros-backed Citizens for Jobs and the Economy, arrived late and could not be including in the voters' booklet. Judge William McDonald decided that a wall clock took precedence over a telephone check of the exact time when the doors to the Registrar's office were locked. He ruled that the anti-Measure F ballot arguments could go into the pamphlet for the March 7, 2000 vote.
His ruling had nothing to do with the merits of the Safe and Healthy Communities Initiative or with the ballot arguments themselves. Both sides will now write rebuttals to the opponent's statements.
“High-powered business leaders queried in a recent poll say an El Toro airport would taint the quality of life, making it more difficult to hire and retain top-drawer employees. In the survey, released Monday by the city of Irvine, 59 percent of the executives said the planned airport would hurt their businesses, while 35 percent said it would help their companies.”
"’They are very concerned with anything (relating to) keeping or attracting a work force. That's the key thing on their minds,’" said pollster Robert Green of Penn, Schoen & Berland Associates.” Pollsters interviewed executives from 303 of the 2,757 companies with offices in Orange County and annual sales or revenue of at least $5 million.”
“Among the poll's findings: When asked about their ‘biggest transportation concern,’ 63 percent said traffic flow; 20 percent said availability of mass transit; 12 percent said proximity of a major airport.”
“NEWPORT BEACH -- City Council members Monday night approved spending $1.25 million in money not included in this year's budget to support turning the former El Toro Marine base into a commercial airport. In order to award the grants to two pro-airport activist groups, council members agreed to reduce the city's operating expenses by $350,000, use about $450,000 in anticipated bankruptcy recovery disbursements and use $450,000 in projected extra revenue.”
“The grants will be divided between Citizens for Jobs and the Economy, which will get $750,000, and the Airport Working Group, which will get $500,000. The money will be used to distribute information throughout the Orange County community on the benefits of building an airport at El Toro…. The City Council supports an international airport at El Toro in order to avoid expansion of John Wayne Airport.
Editor: - In addition to lobbying for the El Toro airport, Citizens for Jobs and the Economy appears to be leading efforts against the Safe and Healthy Communities Initiative, Measure F. See story below. South County cities are aggressively opposing the airport but are not providing financial support for the Yes on F campaign which is entirely funded by private contributions.
“[At] the five-year anniversary of the bankruptcy … the county is living in a very real way with a very costly and prolonged lesson. The fiscal recklessness of former Treasurer-Tax Collector Robert L. Citron and his lying when questioned in the spring of that year about the true state of the investment pool have exacted a price on parks, libraries, health care, law enforcement and the construction of jails. Were it not for Citron's losing bet on interest rates, it would be possible for the county to have these services.”
“The hope that the bankruptcy would produce a government that was more responsive and accountable has not been realized fully. … in many ways, the kind of arrogance in county government that created a climate where the excesses of Citron were possible has reemerged, especially in the county's botched stewardship of the controversial El Toro base reuse process.”
“Supporters of an El Toro airport will not be allowed to make their case to Orange County voters in the official voter guide after missing a deadline Friday to file arguments against an anti-airport initiative on the March 7 ballot. Orange County Registrar of Voters Rosalyn Lever said official arguments against Measure F — the Safe and Healthy Communities Initiative — did not arrive before her office closed at 5 p.m.”
David Ellis, a consultant for pro-airport groups, “said he originally arrived at the registrar's office at 12:20 p.m. and delivered ballot arguments signed by five supporters. One of the signatures — from Gloria Stratton of Anaheim, a representative of Parents of Murdered Children — was thrown out by the registrar because Stratton was not registered to vote.” Ellis then went looking for another signer and returned late.
In related matters: - An Appeals Court refused a request, by the same pro-airport forces, to review a loss they suffered in a lower court. Last month, a Superior Court Judge rejected a lawsuit by the Argyros-backed Citizens for Jobs and the Economy and other Newport Beach-based organizations. The lawsuit challenged the Safe and Healthy Communities Initiative on constitutional and procedural issues. The refusal by the Appeals Court, to hear the appeal, leaves the measure in a strong legal position.
Airport opponents were also heartened by the news that Supervisor Todd Spitzer will run unopposed for reelection.
“Local candidates can include their political views in their statement of qualifications in the voter pamphlet… a state appeals court ruled in a case involving Irvine city government. Former mayor Larry Agran, in his successful bid for city council last year, submitted a ballot pamphlet statement that called for the defeat of Orange County’s plan for an airport at El Toro. [A lower court judge] “Ordered all references to Agran’s views removed from the statement, saying they were not ‘qualifications’. The appeals court said that Agran’s statement should have been left intact.”
Editor: - Following this ruling, we expect to see more South County candidates making their position of opposition to the airport part of their ballot statement. Candidates, who do not, may have a harder time getting elected.
“Airport foes contend that the board could have used another designation, including ‘A,’ and that the letter ‘F’ has a negative connotation--as in failure--which could be used by airport supporters to cast the measure in a negative way… ‘I could have used any of the 26 letters of the alphabet, but I chose 'F' randomly,’ [Board of Supervisors Chairman] Smith said.”
“One political consultant not involved in the initiative campaign said airport foes shouldn't be too distressed by the designation. ‘Was Proposition 13 unlucky?’ said Stu Mollrich, whose firm handled the landmark 1978 statewide tax reduction initiative.”
“The registrar's office also released the official title and ballot question for the measure.” The title and ballot question are written by County Counsel, not by the proponents of the initiative. A Yes vote is required for passage.
Official title: "An initiative to require two-thirds vote for ratification of new or expanded jails, hazardous-waste landfills or civilian airport projects."
The official question to appear on the ballot: "Shall this initiative measure, which would require that no new or expanded jails, hazardous-waste landfills or civilian airport projects could be valid and effective until ratification by a two-thirds majority of the voters voting in a county general election and require that the Board of Supervisors conduct a public hearing in each affected city prior to public approval, be approved?"
"The supervisory board of Airbus Industrie is expected to allow the Eurpopean consortium to give airlines detailed specifications for a 655-seat jetliner.... The A-3XXwould become the world's largest when deliveries begin in five or six years."
Three pro-airport supervisors disregarded good taste, fair play, and normal government practice to assign the ballot letter “F” to the Safe and Healthy Communities Initiative. The Registrar of Voters had previously written that the measure, which was the only initiative to qualify for the County March 7, 2000 ballot, would normally received the letter “A’ designation.
Supervisor Chuck Smith, when asked by fellow Supervisors Wilson and Spitzer about the choice of ballot letter said they had selected it “randomly”. Supervisor Spitzer said the designation “sends an F grade to the Board of Supervisors for their contempt of the will of the people.”
“Federal officials will convene a multi-agency meeting to plan a health study of how Inglewood residents are affected by their proximity to Los Angeles International Airport. Inglewood Mayor Roosevelt Dorn has lobbied hard for a sweeping review of the health of residents, many of whom suspect that emissions from aircraft and motorists en route to the airport are responsible for a variety of medical problems in the city. The study could be the first in the nation to determine the health effects of an airport on a nearby community.”
“The EPA study will compile an inventory of existing studies conducted in the area. Last summer, for example, the South Coast Air Quality Management District conducted limited air quality testing in and around Inglewood. At a test site one block south of the city, levels of elemental carbon--a reliable indicator of diesel pollution--were found to be more than 50% higher than the areawide average.”
Click here for a study of noise impacts near LAX on children.
“Five years ago today, Orange County did the unthinkable and declared bankruptcy, becoming an instant and enduring symbol of government greed and foolish risks. … the county still owes more than $1 billion. Paying the interest on that debt will cost taxpayers more than $800 million by 2027… tax dollars [which] otherwise could have been used on parks, libraries, health care, law enforcement or building new jails--an example, critics say, of some of the untold, untallied costs of the bankruptcy.”
“While there is a small chance of a repeat crisis, many of the core problems persist. … some say, politicians are too influenced by special interests. ‘Are there politicians who would take the risk of destroying schools, roads and flood control to find money to fund their pet programs? Absolutely,’ said Chriss Street, a Newport Beach financier who, with current Orange County Treasurer John M.W. Moorlach, tried to warn people before December 1994 about then-Treasurer Robert L. Citron's precarious house-of-cards portfolio. ‘There are a lot of people slurping at the trough.’"
“As county planners move closer to presenting a final El Toro commercial airport plan, the likely scenario is that supervisors next May will approve whatever is proposed. But don't tell that to the city of Irvine just yet. Irvine is doing some interesting things --in forging ahead with plans for itself and for others.”
“Irvine…has been doing for the base what the county has been derelict in doing. That is developing a credible alternative redevelopment plan for the base. Irvine has been touting its Millennium Plan II, with a 757-acre central park, a wildlife corridor, and commercial and home development as part of the city's application to annex the base. Before voting to rezone the base for a commercial airport under Measure A in 1994, voters in Orange County should have had the option of considering alternatives like this one. The county didn't do its job.”
This week, 450,000 Orange County residents will receive a mailer from the city asking for input on the design of a “Great Park” to replace the El Toro runways.
The State Lands Commission dealt county officials a stunning blow by postponing action on a requested transfer of jurisdiction over El Toro. (See article below.) The commission voted 2-0, with 1 abstention, to postpone retrocession action indefinitely. The commission is not expected to meet again before February. Airport supporters at the county, who were rumored to have been celebrating an anticipated victory last night, were stunned by the new delay.
The County had hoped to begin interim cargo flights this past July, right after the Marines left. Failure to obtain legal jurisdiction over the property has delayed that move.
Even if transfer of jurisdiction is eventually approved after January 1, 2000, any long term lease for cargo flights or similar aviation uses will require approval of 4 supervisors.
“The State Lands Commission today will consider whether to accept jurisdiction over the closed El Toro Marine Corps base from the federal government. The… Commission meets at 1:30 p.m. today in the first-floor auditorium of the Ronald Reagan State Building, 300 S. Spring St., Los Angeles.” The public is welcome.
“If the commission agrees to the recommendation of its staff, it will approve the transfer and Orange County will take over law enforcement at the base. The transfer — a process called retrocession — would allow the county to open more of the base to public uses. That could include everything from cocktails at the old Officers Club to air cargo flights as the county works to create an international airport at El Toro.”
“Airport opponents have fought the transfer and delayed it for months already. [County] officials have said the delay in retrocession has cost the county much potential revenue… The federal government refused to allow alcohol on the base as long as it remained responsible for law enforcement, the Officers Club was closed for several months. It since has reopened without alcohol.”
“The county also had hoped to begin air cargo flights as soon as the Marines left the base. That goal has been delayed several times and still must be negotiated in a master lease between the county and the Navy. Such flights now appear unlikely before 2001 at the earliest.”
“Some Laguna Woods residents… contend that Leisure World's developer signed over rights known as avigation easements to the Marine Corps for $3 million in 1963, allowing the military to fly over the property without the threat of lawsuits over noise, pollution and other aircraft-related problems. But those easements expired when the base closed July 2, residents said. Without new easements to replace them, they said, the county cannot bring flights for the new El Toro airport over Laguna Woods without their approval.”
The county, the FAA, and several attorneys familiar with aviation law disagree with them. They contend that Leisure World residents can not block the construction of the airport but can sue for damages after it is opened.
“The county contends that there is no legal requirement to obtain avigation (aircraft navigation) easements from South County homeowners to operate an airport at El Toro…. A spokesman for the Federal Aviation Administration agreed. The easements assure that the homeowners can't sue later for noise.”
NOVEMBER
LA Times, November 29, 1999
“El Toro Fight Pattern”
“LAX Expansion Foes Say Orange County Must Help Carry the Burden”
“Activists battling an expansion of Los Angeles International Airport in their backyard have begun fighting to put an airport in Orange County's. El Segundo Mayor Mike Gordon, whose city sits smack under the LAX flight paths… and members of LAX Expansion No! brought their crusade some 35 miles south last week, marching into an Orange County Board of Supervisors meeting to urge them to share the pain. LAX foes argue that building an airport at El Toro would reduce the need to expand LAX.”
The Monarch Bay Association in Dana Point is taking an active lead in neighborhood fund raising for the Safe and Healthy Communities Initiative. Monarch Bay Chairman Cliff Anderson reports that 35 percent of the residents in the community already have contributed and the door-to-door campaign continues. Through personal contacts by committee members, the community’s goal - to raise $100,000 - has been exceeded.
For information on what your community can do to raise funds for the Vote YES effort, call the campaign headquarters at 949-768-4583. Ask for Bill Kogerman or Jim Davy.
In an editorial lamenting the divisions between north and south Orange County, the Times writes, “There is further reason for concern arising from the structure of the Board of Supervisors and its ineptitude as a unifying body. Supervisors represent enclaves of voters in a way that does not reward statesmanship on important regional issues.”
“The current chairman, Charles V. Smith, acknowledged during flight tests that airplanes are loud, but has seemed indifferent to the psychological distress that a large number of county residents feel. A partner on the three-member pro-airport majority, Jim Silva, laments a runway plan that leaves westerly takeoffs over populated areas a possibility, but acts as if he has no power to demand something people might be able to live with.”
“Other issues await county leadership, but the high number of signatures leading to a ballot measure for next March suggests a groundswell of sentiment that people aren't getting satisfaction from politicians.”
It has been a tough week for members of the El Toro Airport website team and at the related Safe and Healthy Communities website at http://www.safe-and-healthy.org The website suffered its first service outage since beginning operations over 3 years ago, due to problems at its east coast web hosting service. Most, but not all, technical bugs have been resolved, though the Message Board is still functioning erratically.
“Voters throughout Orange County are being asked … to help Irvine plan what city officials have dubbed ‘the Great Park’ at the closed El Toro Marine airfield. A mail-in survey to 450,000 voters countywide--and a 30-second TV spot airing on most cable systems beginning today--solicits ideas for planning recreation, education and research facilities at the base.”
“The mail and TV ads hit a day after Irvine released an environmental report with a blueprint for what it wants built at the base instead of an airport. Called the Millennium Plan II, it features a 757-acre central park, a wildlife corridor, 15 million square feet of commercial space and about 3,000 homes. It is part of the city's application to annex the base.”
“Public opinion polls over the last three years have shown that support for the airport has eroded, with slightly more residents now opposed to the airport than in favor of it. That erosion indicates that Orange County voters want another shot at deciding what should happen at the base, [a consultant for Irvine] said. Redesigning the base into a showcase for arts, entertainment, education and recreation is a far better use of the property than imposing an unwanted, around-the-clock airport that would bring noise, traffic and pollution, Irvine Mayor Christina L. Shea said this week.”
“The city will continue to support an El Toro airport only if the county guarantees that flights will not create noise problems for its residents. City Manager Jim Ruth warned in a letter to the county last month that the city's support — long a cornerstone of the pro-airport camp — is not unconditional.”
“Among the commitments Anaheim seeks is a nighttime noise curfew, which the Federal Aviation Administration no longer readily permits,” and a routing of aircraft away from Anaheim Hills. “Loss of Anaheim's support would be a major blow to the airport effort. The second-largest city in the county has twice voted for an El Toro airport.”
“In a move that heightens tensions between local cities big and small, El Segundo has filed a lawsuit against the city of Los Angeles, charging that the metropolis is underhandedly attempting to expand Los Angeles International Airport without securing the required environmental approvals. El Segundo's suit alleges that since Los Angeles' master plan for airport expansion bogged down in community opposition, city officials have undertaken a series of smaller projects that increase airport activity, but fall below the radar screen of public scrutiny.”
“The suit pits the tiny South Bay community, which has spearheaded efforts over the past couple of years to organize other cities to help combat LAX expansion, against America's second-largest city. It also ratchets up the controversy over Los Angeles Mayor Richard Riordan's expansion efforts, which despite years of work remain mired in political quicksand. The resulting well-organized coalition of LAX expansion opponents is pushing for other airports, including those in Palmdale and in Riverside and San Bernardino counties, to absorb the bulk of the expected increase in airport demand over the next couple of decades.”
Editor:- LAX expansion opponents have also been outspoken in favor of building a commercial airport at El Toro to absorb LAX traffic.
Today, the Board of Supervisors voted, 5-0, to place the Safe and Healthy Communities Initiative on the March 7, 2000 ballot. A legal attempt failed to keep the Registrar from counting the record breaking 192,000 signatures on petitions. A legal challenge of the initiative’s constitutionality also failed when a Superior Court judge refused a motion to block it from being put before the voters.
Voters will now have a chance to “Vote Yes” on Safe and Healthy Communities, and to “Vote Yes” on whether they want to block El Toro Airport.
A problem at the east coast webserver for the El Toro Airport Info Site made the site inaccessible for almost 48 hours. No data or files were lost but plenty of confusion was raised after a Portuguese website was inadvertently assigned our address.
Friday, Sheriff Mike Carona issued a press release stating, “The headline of the Orange County Register misstates my position on the Safe and Healthy Communities Initiative… My concern [with the initiative] should not be misconstrued to suggest that a resolution to the County’s need for additional jail beds can not be found now, or any time in the future.”
Referring to the ongoing negotiations to find a jail site that is remote from residences, and therefore not subject to the restrictions of the initiative, Carona continues, “I remain extremely optimistic that we will, together, be able to arrive at an acceptable solution.”
A poll, conducted by the supposedly neutral CSUF Center for Public Policy in cooperation with the strongly pro-El Toro Airport Orange County Business Council, was released today. The joint press release and conference was slanted to emphasize the OCBC’s position that “there is much to do to inform the electorate about the provisions of this [Safe and Healthy] initiative” which the business group opposes.
Somewhat less was made of the fact that, “when read the ballot language, 54% of those responding to the poll said they would support the initiative, about 25% said they would oppose it, and 21% did not know how they would vote.” This mirrors other polls showing the initiative favored county-wide by a margin of 2 or 3 to 1.
“A new UC Irvine poll shows that a March ballot initiative that could scuttle plans for an airport at El Toro has managed to confuse voters on both sides.... The UCI poll shows that support for the measure is almost evenly split, 48% in favor to 46% against, in otherwise fervently anti-airport South County, where roughly two-thirds of the voters have traditionally opposed an airport. But when poll participants were told in a follow-up question that passage of the initiative could stop the county's plans for an international airport at the closed 4,700-acre Marine base, many switched their positions and the results reverted to the standard split--61% in favor of the measure, 34% against.”
“In the wake of the poll results, both supporters and opponents of the proposed airport said they had a lot of work to do to get their messages across clearly to voters. Voting yes essentially means a no vote on El Toro, while voting no is a way of ensuring that airport planning continues.”
Editor:- Under the rules that govern ballot measures, this situation is unavoidable. The airport planning is going forward. Voters must approve or vote “yes” on any effort to stop it. An initative must be framed in terms such as “Do you vote to stop the airport?” “Do you want Safe and Healthy Communities?”
The website has obtained and is publishing an October 15, 1999 letter from the City Manager of Anaheim to County CEO Jan Mittermeier, indicating that that city's support of El Toro Airport is conditioned on flights being routed away from their city and on other noise control issues.
The El Toro Reuse Planning Authority, (ETRPA) and its Director, Paul Eckles, filed a lawsuit against the County of Orange for failing to comply with the California Public Records Act. The Public Records Act requires that public agencies make their records available for inspection and copying. It is the state's counter part to the federal Freedom of Information Act.
ETRPA had sought, unsuccessfully so far, to obtain studies prepared for the county and related to El Toro airport plans. Requested documents pertain to subjects including noise impacts, air quality models, aviation demand data, airport feasibility, cost estimates, and economic studies. The lawsuit asks the Superior Court to restrain the county from destroying such documents and to force their disclosure. The county has “deliberately, willfully, defiantly refused” to provide access to the requested public documents.
Click here for arguments in favor of the 2/3 vote, as required by the Safe and Healthy Communities Initiative.
The FAA has provided internal documents that reveal substantial concern amongst key officials regarding El Toro plans. The documents, mostly internal memos and e-mail, were released in response to a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request filed by this website and just made public. The documents reveal FAA managers raising pointed concerns about the management of crowded airspace around the base for the June 4-5 flight demonstration - and about possible future operations at El Toro.
Only one, of three FAA divisions that were asked to provide such documents, complied with the FOIA request. Over the past two years, the website has filed numerous requests with federal agencies. The FAA, Department of Navy, and the County of Orange have provided airport opponents with many pages of non-secret material but have failed to release many documents that would shed needed light on the El Toro planning. They have withheld documents either by not responding or by claiming exemptions under the law. Click here for a summary of the internal documents which we have provided to the press.
“Disney officials said this week that an airport at El Toro is not necessary to serve future visitors to Disneyland, comments that angered airport supporters and contradicted leaders of the tourism industry who believe El Toro is essential to the future health of their industry. Disneyland spokesman Ray Gomez said its analysis of future attendance — and the airports and freeways that visitors will use — shows that Disneyland does not need a new Orange County airport.”
“Orange County Board of Supervisors Chairman Charles V. Smith, the leader of the pro-airport board majority, called Disney officials ‘irresponsible’... Smith said Tuesday that he fears that airport foes are gaining ground. The Disney comments are bad public relations, he said, but ‘we're going to go ahead and build an airport regardless of whether Disneyland supports it.’"
Editor:- The Disney Public Affairs office phone is 714-781-4614 for those who would like to leave a positive message of appreciation from residents, complimenting Disney for its helpful statement.
“A top Disney official said this week that Disneyland doesn't need an airport at the closed El Toro Marine base to bring more tourists to the Orange County theme park, stunning airport backers who have counted on the company's support. In the first public statement by a Disney executive about the proposed airport, Walt Disney Attractions President Paul Pressler said Los Angeles International Airport and improvements to the San Diego and Santa Ana freeways are adequate to serve future tourists....His comment shocked El Toro backers.
"‘Disneyland is going to be the biggest destination for tourists coming in to El Toro [airport],’ [Board of Supervisors Chairman Charles] Smith said. ‘Disneyland will get more benefit from El Toro than any other business in Orange County.’... Anaheim Mayor Tom Daly said Orange County's $5.7-billion tourism industry has been ‘loud and clear’ on the need for El Toro. Of 38 million tourists to the county in 1998, about 5.4 million were international visitors.”
Click for the entire article. Editor:- The anouncement highlights the fact that most air travel to and from Orange County is by tourists, not residents or business travellers.
“Airport opponents are gaining ground against an El Toro airport, the head of the county Board of supervisors warned a pro-airport group” at the annual meeting of the Newport Beach- Airport Working Group. “[Chairman Chuck] Smith said the polls show a slight shift against the airport.”
Demonstrating exactly why the Safe and Healthy Communities Initiative is necessary, “County Supervisor Cynthia Coad suggested Tuesday that a new courthouse complex proposed for south county include at least 1,000 jail beds.”
"‘She's shooting from the hip without knowing the background,’ said Supervisor Tom Wilson, who backs a plan to build a $29 million courthouse in Laguna Niguel beside the current courthouse.”
"‘It would be total madness to put a jail in an area surrounded by homes, churches, preschools and elementary schools,’ Laguna Niguel Mayor Mark Goodman said.”
Burbank Airport currently has a ban on eastern takeoffs, requested by the city and airport. The situation is suggestive of the County of Orange’s proposals for El Toro.
“Federal Aviation Administration Chief Jane Garvey told a trio of local congressmen Tuesday that the agency's decision about lifting the ban on eastern takeoffs at Burbank Airport will be based on safety and operation needs, not politics.” A congressman who met with Garvey said he “would be surprised” if the ban was continued.
“The lawyer who represents Burbank on airport issues, said the city wants the ban because residents who live in eastern Burbank and Glendale should not have to cope with a new negative impact from jet noise.”
“‘We told them we would look hard at the safety implications of runway use,’ said ... a spokesman for the FAA.” Air line pilots associations repeatedly have said that takeoffs to the west from El Toro (towards Irvine) are safer than those to the east as proposed by Orange County planners.
Airport proponents had hoped to circumvent the Safe and Healthy Communities initiative’s restrictions - on county action to build El Toro airport - by transferring control to a Joint Powers Authority (JPA) such as the Orange County Regional Airport Authority (OCRAA). Airport opponents quickly pointed out that the initiative’s language still applied to the county in whatever form it assumed.
On November 4, County Counsel Laurence Watson provided a legal opinion to Jan Mittermeier that the JPA approach would not work for additional reasons. The county can not transfer responsibility for planning El Toro or operating John Wayne without hard-to-obtain federal approval. “Airport master planning activities, including the master planning public information program, may not be delegated, assigned or transferred... nor may the County expend John Wayne Airport revenues or grant funds for such purpose. Such an assignment or transfer would, in effect, constitute a unilateral delegation of the essential LRA [Local Redevelopment Agency] duties without the approval of the Department of Defense Office of Economic Adjustment (OEA). Such a transfer would also constitute an impermissible delegation of the County’s planning duties as the proprietor of John Wayne Airport.”, he wrote.
One more pro-airport scheme by the Board of Supervisors majority has failed.
A group of pilots and aviation supporters got skyjacked today by politicians. Airline Pilots for a Safer El Toro Airport, ALPSEA, a pro-airport group that has likened the county’s airport plan “to building the Titanic”, invited interested parties to a meeting at the closed airbase today. ALPSEA has been promoting alternative flight paths in and out of El Toro. The invitation read, “Bring your ideas and an open mind”.
However, the meeting was taken over by Tom Coad, Supervisor Cynthia Coad’s husband, who dominated the podium throughout. He began by reading a speech praising “The Coad Plan” and his wife’s “conciliatory” ideas on El Toro. His criteria for “open minded discussion” was closed minded as to the no-airport alternative.
On Tom Coad’s suggestion, the gathered group was cynically named “Concerned Airport Neighbors (CAN)” although there were few airport neighbors in attendance. The handful of anti-airport attendees, who had come to hear the pilots groups ideas, shook their heads and gradually drifted away before the meeting concluded.
“With El Toro Marine Corps Air Station shut and its runways empty, the cities next to the base are encouraging development on land where most building has been restricted for 56 years because of military jet noise. Last week, the Irvine City Council took the first step toward allowing homes, schools and child-care centers in the large Irvine Spectrum business park, which bumps up against the south and west boundaries of the airfield. Lake Forest has three building projects pending on the southeast side of El Toro, and two south Orange County school districts are moving ahead with plans to build elementary schools under proposed flight paths.”
“Last month, Capistrano Unified, Irvine Unified and Saddleback Valley Unified school districts became associate members of the El Toro Reuse Planning Authority, a coalition of eight anti-airport cities... The aim is clear: Invite children, parents, teachers to an area around a now quiet base and they will help to throw monkey wrenches into county plans for a commercial airport at El Toro.”
In circumstances with parallels to the airport quagmire, “the eight members of a citizen's advisory committee [on the light rail project]... were unable to take a stand on the system despite a year of meetings... Committee members last week told Orange County Transportation Authority officials that more time is needed to answer questions about the proposed 27-mile system that would run between Fullerton and Irvine.” The southern terminus would be at the Irvine Transportation Center, adjacent to the El Toro base and proposed airport.
“Their concern is far from isolated. From city council members to business people to transit board members themselves, many county leaders say they still don't have all the facts needed to make a choice, even after the release of thousands of pages of environmental review and several months of public comment” on the $1.5-billion CenterLine project. “Angry residents who live near the suggested path and have vowed to fight the system long before the first track is laid.”
An Anaheim official expressed concern about “how rail might change tourists habits in the town where Disneyland draws more than 13 million visitors each year. ‘What's to prevent people from staying at [John Wayne] airport rather than staying in Anaheim?’ she said. In Santa Ana, the location of some of the most active anti-rail lobbying, city officials have said they continue to have deep concerns about the project... [Garden Grove] Councilman Mark Leyes and other city officials say with the alignment under consideration, ‘It's a system that doesn't go anywhere,’ ... ‘It connects South Coast Plaza to the Pond and Anaheim Stadium. Is it for the tourist? Why are we going to support the tourists that are going to be here anyway?’ He added.
Editor:- The same comment might be made about airport expansion. Tourists are the largest component of Orange County’s aviation “demand”. Why build El Toro for the tourists who will come via LAX anyway?
Manuel Hernadez was one of the contingent of anti-airport volunteers who addressed the Board of supervisors at the November 2 meeting. He presented six graphic depictions of why pilots may choose to depart from El Toro over Irvine, and where the departing planes might fly. He subsequently posted the graphics on our Message Board. They are now a permanent part of our Issues Section on Flight Paths. Click here.
The latest political events are certain to impact the reuse of El Toro in important but unpredictable ways. Congressman Ron Packard (R-Oceanside) has announced that he will not seek reelection after his term expires on January 1, 2001. Packard is a supporter of the Safe and Healthy Communities Initiative and an opponent of the El Toro airport project. He is also opposed to use of Camp Pendleton land for a commercial airport and in favor of using an inland military base for the purpose.
George Argyros is the
principal financial backer of the El Toro Airport proposal. He may use
his political fund raising clout to support Republican candidates who are
like minded. However, California’s Governor and legislative majority
are Democratic and it remains to be seen if the Democratic party will take
Argyros’ pro-airport side.
The Citizens for Safe and Healthy Communities office officially opened tonight with a crowd of volunteers signing up to work on the ballot campaign. The office will operate during normal business hours until evening activities are required. Additional volunteers are invited to come and sign up. Click for directions.
Assemblywoman Pat Bates reminding the audience that winning requires “message, money, and manpower”. Bates chided the Newport Beach-based Airport Working Group for lacking a plausible message about why El Toro is needed. Supervisor Tom Wilson reported on his spurned efforts to get the Newport Beach AWG to cooperate on seeking extended limits for John Wayne Airport. “They just want it closed”, he said.
Supervisor Todd Spitzer spoke about the county’s airport planning process and assured those assembled that, “We are going to win.”
Yesterday, the Board of Supervisors grudgingly moved the Safe and Healthy Communities Initiative towards the March 7, 2000 election. The board voted to require an optional staff study of the initiative, and to receive the study’s report at their November 23 meeting, in sufficient time for placing the measure onto the ballot.
The Board moved 3 competing initiatives along with even less enthusiasm, ordering a study, but setting no date for the report to be completed.
About 20 anti-airport residents attended the meeting. Among those speaking on the measures were Manuel Hernandez, Jim Davy, Bill Kogerman, Leonard Kranser, Hanna Hill, Gail Reavis, Tristan Krogius, John Berry, Gail Brunnell, Linda Jones, Marion Pack, and Paul Willems. Several of these speakers lashed the Board majority for their attitude on the airport and the initiatives. Gail Reavis chided Supervisor Cynthia Coad for saying that the people had already spoken twice on El Toro. She reminded Coad that she, as a woman, would not be allowed to vote - let along sit on the Board of Supervisors - if women’s suffrage had not been brought back to the voters many times. Supervisor Silva left the room during much of the public comment.
Voters in Ranch Santa Margarita voted for cityhood yesterday, and elected a slate of city council candidates who vowed to bring the new city into the anti-airport El Toro Reuse Planning Authority (ETRPA).
Voters in the Santa Ana Unified School District and the Capistrano Unified School District passed school bond issues, demonstrating that well thought out projects can meet the 2/3 vote hurdle incorporated in the Safe and Healthy Communities Initiative. School bonds require a 2/3 vote. 69.8% of the Santa Ana voters, and 72.9% of the Capistrano voters supported the bond measures.
“The money is being used by pro- and anti-airport cities and Orange County for various media consultants, lawyers, public-relations companies and lobbyists in Sacramento and Washington. The county, for instance, expects to pay its lead attorney, Michael Gatzke, $1.5 million for the year ending June 30 and has budgeted lobbying expenses of $290,000 for Hill & Knowlton consulting firm and $120,000 for the Higgins, McGovern & Smith firm. The county also is setting aside $1.3 million this year for advertising and promotion of the airport....Overall, the county and the city of Newport Beach have been the most generous airport boosters, pledging to spend a combined $5.4 million to promote the project this year.”
“A coalition of eight South County cities opposing the airport is spending $1 million this fiscal year for its lawyer, Rich Jacobs, and $600,000 for its main public relations firm, Waters & Faubel. The coalition, El Toro Reuse Planning Authority, has set aside nearly $3.4 million for advertising and promotion....’I don't care what it costs as long as we stop the airport,’ said Irvine Councilman Mike Ward. He and other council members voted last week to add $2.3 million to the city's own previously approved $3 million budget for its all-out airport fight.”
“What is ironic, she said, is that the largess to lobbyists and public relations professionals hasn't managed to budge public opinion on the airport. Annual surveys by UC Irvine over the past three years show that public opinion has been glued at 46% opposed and 42% in favor of the airport.”
OCTOBER
Website Direct, October 30, 1999
“Campaigning Reaches New Heights”
Sunday, from 11 to 5, a plane will circle Ranch Santa Margarita towing a banner promoting cityhood and 5 candidates for the new city council. Candidates Neil Blais, Carol Gamble, Debra Lewis, Gary Thompson, and Jim Thor are running as an anti-airport slate and have promised to bring the new city of Rancho Santa Margarita into the El Toro Reuse Planning Authority (ETRPA). The cityhood election will take place on Tuesday.
In January 1998, a Superior Court Judge found the county’s airport environmental impact report (EIR 563) to be defective and ordered that it be fixed. This week, the county released three volumes of Responses to Comments on the proposed fix. The county is pushing forward with hastily convened meetings next week, of three county commissions and the Board of Supervisors - to approve the documents which they probably will not have time to read.
The old EIR 563, which is being fixed, is for a now obsolete airport plan.. A second EIR currently is being prepared for the latest county plan.
“County supervisors on Wednesday were presented with a proposal to place three measures on the March ballot to compete with an anti-airport initiative already there. Airport opponents reacted angrily. The board chairman expressed interest in the idea. But within the pro-airport camp opinion is divided over the wisdom of the idea.”
“The new legislation is proposed by Los Alamitos City Councilman Ronald Bates, founder and lone member so far of the new Citizens Right-to-Vote Committee.”
“Airport opponents accused Bates of trying to confuse voters ...“Supervisor Tom Wilson, who opposes the airport, was... critical of the effort by a newly formed pro-airport group. ‘It's duplicitous, of course, and misleading,’ Wilson said from Washington, D.C. ‘The months of hard work by thousands of grass-roots folks may be short-circuited by having the Board of Supervisors slap something on the ballot.’"
“Support for the measures is not unanimous in the pro-airport camp, however. Bruce Nestande, president of the group that sponsored the first El Toro airport initiative, said that while he welcomes another pro-airport group to the fold, he opposes the proposals because they would take decision-making out of the hands of elected officials.... taking power out of the hands of elected officials — through the Safe and Healthy Communities Initiative ... — is ‘a very destructive governance issue,’ [former Supervisor] Nestande said.”
“[Board Chairman] Smith said the proposals could be placed on the agenda of one of the next two supervisors' meetings.” The Safe and Healthy Communities Initiative is agenda item 54 on the Tuesday morning, November 2 meeting. The public is urged to attend.
Register telephone poll:
Should three measures to counter the new anti-El Toro airport initiative
go on the ballot?
Call before 6:30 PM today, Thursday
714.550.4636, category 7261
to vote NO press 2.
“A group supporting the proposed El Toro airport said ...it will ask Orange County supervisors to place three measures on the March ballot to take the bite out of a pending anti-airport initiative. Airport foes quickly labeled the new committee's move an attempt to confuse voters and puncture the prospects of the Safe and Healthy Communities Initiative.”
“Longtime Los Alamitos Councilman Ronald Bates, who heads the newly formed Citizens Right-to-Vote Committee, said a second county airport is too important to fall victim to a South County ballot initiative... ‘We've already voted twice [on El Toro], and that should have been sufficient.’”
“The committee will ask the supervisors at their meeting Tuesday [November 2] to place the proposed measures on the March ballot, which also will contain the anti-airport Safe and Healthy Communities Initiative.... The Safe and Healthy Communities Initiative qualified for the ballot earlier this month after gathering enough voter signatures. State law authorizes county supervisors to place measures on local ballots”, - without the gathering of signatures on petitions..
“[George] Argyros, who already has spent about $2 million promoting an airport for El Toro, called the prospect of competing measures to the anti-airport initiative ‘terrific.’” However, an anti-airport leader said, ‘If the supervisors really believe in democracy, they'll require this group to collect 192,000 signatures before these measures are allowed on the ballot,’” referring to the number of initiative signatures gathered by volunteers for the Safe and Healthy Communities Initiative.
Click here for the full text and transmittal letter for the three measures.
Last night’s meeting of the El Toro Reuse Planning Authority saw the anti-airport group moving forward on several fronts. The City of San Juan Capistrano, the Capistrano Unified School District, the Saddleback Valley Unified School District, and the Irvine Unified School District all joined the organization as associate members.
It was noted that the Laguna Beach Taxpayers Association, and the Laguna Board of Realtors have recently taken positions of opposition to the airport project.
The ETRPA Board heard a brief report on the presence of 600 underground storage tanks on the former Marine base, and on the presence of radioactive material that needs to be dealt with before the land can be transferred from the federal government.
Several ETRPA board and staff members, and Supervisors Wilson and Spitzer, will be traveling to Washington and plan to discuss the El Toro situation with federal officials.
“Years before either vision [an airport or the non-aviation Millennium Plan] becomes reality, El Toro is making money for many, as campaigns warring over the future of the base rain millions of dollars on the Orange County landscape: consultants, lobbyists, printing companies, lawyers. Those cashing the checks, however, say the added work is just another job and not the backbone of their income.”
"‘I'm certainly not going to retire off of the money I make off of this one," said Tom Wall, a county consultant and executive director of the pro-airport Orange County Airport Alliance — gigs that mean $96,000 annually to him. Wall sells health-care products on the Internet, a job that he says earns him more than the airport work. ‘If I wasn't doing it on the airport, I would be doing it elsewhere and making a lot more money.’"
“For some consultants, the contracts are larger. The Board of Supervisors has allocated $1.5 million this year for Michael Gatzke's Carlsbad law firm to represent the county in El Toro-related legal matters. Yes, the county is certainly a good client, he says, and the income is significant. But if he wasn't representing Orange County, he would be representing some other agency on aviation matters.”
“Companies handling public relations for both sides also are well-paid. Waters & Faubel, a Newport Beach firm hired by the anti-airport cities to run their public-relations campaign, is getting $600,000 this year.”
“Dave Ellis is a believer in the pro-airport effort and gets paid to trumpet the cause. His firm, Ellis/Hart Associates, which does political consulting and government affairs, is paid by the Airport Working Group to promote the commercial-airport proposal.”
“The picture of an El Toro airport that seemed so clear when voters gave it a slender stamp of approval five years ago now is muddied from miscues and mistakes that have angered airport supporters and severely delayed plans. ... [Since 1994], airport plans have taken so many detours that even supporters aren't sure which road will lead to opening Southern California's second-largest airfield. Public perception remains mired in an unshakable shroud of skepticism.”
“Ask people today about the fate of the 4,700-acre Marine base, and the answer is dripping with doubt... No better symbol exists for the community's fractured psyche over El Toro than the perpetual 3-2 votes that the county Board of Supervisors has taken to inch along efforts toward airport construction.”
“Both sides have spent more than $6 million altogether since 1994 in feverish, but so far futile, efforts to sway public opinion. Polls over the past three years show no change in views: The most recent poll found that 46% of the residents questioned said they opposed an airport at El Toro, while 42% said they favored it, and the rest remain undecided.”
“Airport Working Group, which supports development of an international airport at the closed El Toro Marine Corps Air Station and opposes expansion of John Wayne Airport, sent... a mailer to 101,000 homes from Anaheim Hills to Newport Beach.”
“The cover shows a silhouette of a couple beneath the headline, ‘What Kind of Family Supports El Toro Airport?’ Inside, the answer unfolds: ‘Families Like Yours That Don't Want John Wayne Airport to Expand!’ It includes photographs of four families from Tustin, Orange and Anaheim Hills, with statements on why they want El Toro to become an international airport.”
“The mailer argues that if El Toro is not built, John Wayne Airport might triple in size... But the mailer contains a mischaracterization. On the back cover is a reproduction of an Oct. 6 article from the Los Angeles Times that includes the headline: ‘South County Official Touts Expanded John Wayne Airport.’"
“On Oct. 16, the Times published a correction stating that the headline in question ‘incorrectly reflected’ the testimony of Assemblywoman Patricia Bates, R-Laguna Niguel. Airport Working Group officials, asked about the use of the inaccurate headline, said they mailed their brochure two days before the Times published its correction.”
Editor:- By this admission, the AWG sent their mailing on October 14. However, Bates issued a press release, on October 8 correcting the misquote. The Newport Beach based group ignored it and went ahead anyway, spreading the misinformation.
The Registrar of Voters received 192,000 signatures on petitions for the Safe and Healthy Communities Initiative on August 31. The Registrar took the maximum legally allowed 30 working days, until October 14, to certify that they were sufficient to qualify the initiative for the March 7, 2000 ballot. Then the ball was passed, slowly, to the Board of Supervisors for the next step in the administrative process.
The county is required, by state law, to place the initiative on the March 7, 2000 ballot now that it has been certified by the Registrar. Pro-airport forces are acting desperately to stall the likely passage of the initiative.
Therefore, lawyers for the initiative campaign have cautioned Board Chairman Charles Smith about further delay. In an October 21 letter, attorney James C. Harrison notes that the California Elections Code required the Board to receive the certification at its “next regular meeting” which would have been October 19, but the Board “refused to place the matter on its agenda”.
The next normal date for a Board of Supervisors meeting would be October 26. However, Chairman Smith decided to participate in a political fund raiser on his behalf, organized for that evening by George Argyros, and to cancel the Board meeting for “lack of a quorum”. Two other supervisors will be away.
The Safe and Healthy Communities Initiative will now go to the Board on November 2 at which time the 3 member majority is expected to ask for a 30 day study. Harrison’s letter asks the Board to start counting the 30 days from the missed October 19 meeting.
“While some have suggested the county Board of Supervisors is considering joining the Orange County Regional Airport Authority in an attempt to circumvent an antiairport initiative... The [Safe and Healthy Communities] initiative explicitly states that it requires voter approval regardless of what entity is developing or proposing such a project.”
“The initiative reads that any such ‘act by the County of Orange ... in whatever capacity ... [including] the formation of any other governmental or quasi-governmental entity’ is subject to the two-thirds voter approval.... [and] the initiative does not allow the board to make legislative changes that may help it bypass the initiative before the measure is voted upon in March.”
“Barbara Foster, spokeswoman for the airport authority, said no decisions have been made as to whether the board and her group will join forces... ‘Nor is anyone sure that this what we want to do -- we're just fact-finding.’Don Hughes, assistant to Supervisor Jim Silva, said the board will make a final decision on joining the authority after it, too, does some fact-finding and ‘all pertinent questions are answered.’"
“While Smith and Silva have asserted that their reasons for suggesting the board join the authority are to strengthen the board's communications network with pro-airport cities and residents, [Leonard] Kranser said he sees the move as a last-ditch effort to find a loophole around the initiative. ‘I think the board knows the initiative is going to pass,’ he said. ‘I can think of no other reason the board would want to give away authority over El Toro or John Wayne unless it is a desperate attempt to circumvent the initiative.’"
"SwissGlobalCargo commences scheduled service at Southern California Logistics Airport (SCLA) on Monday October 25... with a 747-200 freighter importing approximately 100 tons of electronic and computer equipment as well as wearing apparel from Hong Kong and South China into the U.S. SwissGlobalCargo ['one of the largest cargo carriers in the world'] intends to increase the number of operations at SCLA to accommodate the growing demand for air express heavy cargo." A U.S. customs clearance facility for imports and exports has been established at the former George Air Force Base in Victorville. "SCLA's lower costs and faster product-through-put time allows cargo carriers to better service clients than airports that cater to passengers."
Editor:- Proponents of an El Toro airport hope to create one of the world's largest cargo operations at the Orange County base. SCLA's location, community acceptance, long runway, and uncrowded skies makes it superior to El Toro for handling cargo, including that which is trucked to and from LA, San Diego, and Orange counties.
“The Board of Supervisors' pro-airport majority took a first step Tuesday toward formally aligning the county with the 15 cities in the Orange County Regional Airport Authority. Project No. 1 after the county joins OCRAA: using up to $400,000 in taxpayer money to fund an educational campaign through the group on the merits of a commercial airport at the former El Toro Marine Corps Air Station.”
“The board directed that the county's role in the regional airport authority be clarified before final action is taken. The board is expected to return to the matter Nov. 2.”
Supervisor Todd Spitzer, who opposed the move, linked the Boards action to “OCRAA’s vote last week to consider forming a joint-powers authority to circumvent an initiative on the March ballot meant to kill an El Toro airport. Spitzer said the majority was ‘trying to move the planning process to a third party,’ reflecting its ‘frustration’ over county efforts.”
Editor:- The Safe and Healthy Communities initiative anticipates that the county might try to transfer responsibility for El Toro to another agency, such as a joint powers authority, and applies the requirement for voter approval of the project to any “Act by the County of Orange... in whatever capacity...[including] the formation of any other governmental or quasi-governmental entity, the formation of any non-profit entity, and any other legislative action.”
The initiative also prevents the Board from attempting to bypass these voter safeguards through changes made between the filing of the initiative on March 16 of this year and its passage on March 7, 2000. It states that “The provisions of this Initiative shall prevail over any conflicting provisions of any legislation by the Orange County Board of Supervisors that was enacted between the date the Notice of Intention to propose this Initiative was submitted to the Orange County Clerk and the date this Initiative is adopted by the People.”
“The Los Angeles Board of Airport Commissioners approved a plan Tuesday to revamp the idle Palmdale Regional Airport.... restoring passenger service and expanding cargo facilities at the desert airport, drawing Palmdale into a regional strategy for handling the booming demand for air travel.... with the goal of attracting 7.3 million passengers annually.” A $700,000 study will consider ways to link Palmdale with LAX and Van Nuys airports.
Editor:- This would cause Palmdale to handle approximately as many passengers as John Wayne currently serves, plus substantially more cargo. The result would be to relieve pressure on LAX and reduce the claimed need for a second Orange County airport.
The 3 member majority on the Board of Supervisors is floundering over joining forces with the pro-El Toro Orange County Regional Airport Authority (OCRAA). What one observer called “a half-baked plan” appears to have had two goals: One is to try to circumvent the Safe and Healthy Communities Initiative by using a Joint Powers Authority (JPA) to build an El Toro airport. The second is to “launder” $400,000 of public funds into improper anti-initiative use.
The framers of the Safe and Healthy Communities Initiative anticipated such tactics and worded the measure to apply to a JPA just as well as to the county itself. Attorneys for the anti-airport groups are confident that the JPA scheme will fail. It also is riddled with legal problems related to the federal base closure rules, responsibility for environmental cleanup, and a myriad of other rules and regulations.
Board of Supervisors Chairman Charles Smith failed to show up at the latest OCRAA meeting, where he was expected to address the joint powers subject.
Agenda item 52 for the October 19 Supervisors' meeting was changed from, “The County of Orange grants $400,000 from the El Toro Master Development Program budget... to OCRAA”, to read, “ Direct staff to identify appropriate sources(s) of funds for a contribution to OCRAA... and report back to the Board for approval.” It passed 3-2.
Small wonder that the UCI Annual Opinion poll found that only 30 percent of those polled approve of the way the county is handling El Toro. In Supervisor Tom Wilson's words, "Every chance they have they shoot themselves in the foot - and Todd Spitzer and I are not doing any first aide."
On October 6, 1999 the Times published an inflammatory, 5 column-wide headline “South County Official Touts Expanded John Wayne Airport” The extensive article was continued on a following page with the headline “Expanding John Wayne May be Necessary, Panel Told”. Assemblywoman Pat Bates was attributed with “suggesting that the facility could be tripled in size, negating the need to build an airport at El Toro.”
The Times story touched off a firestorm, with several pro-El Toro Airport groups and leaders slamming south county for wanting to expand the airport in Newport Beach’s back yard while opposing an El Toro airport. David Ellis, an aggressive political consultant for the pro-El Toro Airport groups, was reported by the Times to have added his spin that expansion of JWA “would require bulldozing an area between Tustin and Balboa Peninsula.”
Bates issued a quick denial, saying that she had been misquoted. Ten days after the damage was done, on October 16, the Times printed an easily overlooked one-column inch statement “For the Record” “A headline in The Times on Oct. 6 incorrectly reflected the testimony of Assemblywoman Patricia Bates (R-Laguna Niguel)... even though she believes John Wayne Airport could serve up to 18 million passengers a year, she does not advocate any increase at the airport.”
Nevertheless, on October 17, the Times published two Letters to the Editor that quoted the offending headline. There’s a saying that, “Once he’s out, you can’t put the genie back in the bottle.”
In an opinion piece that will be quoted often by pro-El Toro forces, the Times says, “More Americans are flying but few want new or busier airports.” The Times notes that “a new El Toro airport is being planned, but is opposed by 75% of neighbors.” The piece concludes that“, other airports such as those in Orange County, Burbank, Long Beach, Riverside and San Bernadino will have to step up and bear some of the burden that LAX has shouldered for so long.”
Editor:- Missing from the debate are some important facts on the region's population growth that were developed by the Southern California Association of Governments. By the year 2020, Los Angeles County will add 2,430.900 residents, Riverside County will add 1,128,200 residents, and San Bernadino will add 1,057,600 residents. Orange County, which is almost built out in terms of available land, will grow by only 385,000 residents. That’s a 13 percent increase in Orange County population. It’s a growth figure that readily can be accommodated by John Wayne airport without physical expansion. Planes in and out of JWA currently fly with 40 percent of their seats vacant, due in part to archaic passenger limits that expire in 2005.
“Much has changed in Orange County since the last time voters went to the polls with El Toro on their minds.”
“The economy is stronger and just about anyone who wants a job has one. The population has grown, especially in south Orange County, the center of opposition to an El Toro airport. Residents have learned more about the El Toro proposal, from its size to the kind of noise they might expect.”
Jeffrey Metzger, one of the Safe and Healthy Communities Initiative organizers, “said the public has learned a lot... it is clear that the airport is not a ‘turnkey’ project - an easy conversion from military to commercial airfield.”
Click here for an op-ed piece by architect Charles H. Rivkin about using March AFB to satisfy future airport demand.
The Registrar of Voters, today, certified the Safe and Healthy Communities Initiative as having collected sufficient valid signatures to qualify for the ballot. The Registrar was able to reach this number by examining slightly more than half of the petitions turned in to her office on August 31:- the so-called "pink forms". A "first pass" through the petitions, selecting only those that were clearly valid, yielded enough so that a "second pass" or examination of additional petitions was unnecessary. 5,000 volunteers had turned in over 192,000 signatures in the largest petition drive in county history.
Charles Smith, the Chairman of the Board of Supervisors, declined to agendize the Initiative for the Board's next scheduled meeting on October 19, nor to deal with it the following week when Cynthia Coad will be away, but will stall action until the Board meeting of November 2. The Board will then probably ask for an optional 30 day economic study. However, state law requires that the initiative be put on the March 7, 2000 ballot - regardless of the Board's foot dragging.
“The Orange County Regional Airport Authority — which consists of 15 north- and central-county cities — unanimously agreed Wednesday to form a subcommittee to study whether a joint-powers authority could circumvent a proposed measure aimed at killing El Toro airport.” Additionally, the Board of Supervisors, have agendized for their Tuesday, October 19 meeting, a discussion of joining the OCRAA group and providing $400,000 of funding.
“The measure, the Safe and Healthy Communities initiative, would require two-thirds voter approval for a new airport, airport expansion, toxic landfill or large jail near homes. The county registrar of voters is expected to announce today that the measure has qualified for the March ballot.”
"‘If forming a joint-powers authority is what it takes to (get an El Toro airport), let's do it,’ said Newport Beach Councilman Gary Adams, who sits on the airport authority.”
“El Toro airport opponents said they are not concerned about a joint-powers authority taking over El Toro. If the initiative is successful, whoever is handling El Toro — the county or a joint-powers authority — still would have to put an El Toro airport proposal on a future ballot and win support from two-thirds of the voters.” Click here to read the wording of the initiative.
Registrar of Voters, Rosalyn Lever said, regarding the petitions submitted for the Safe and Healthy Communities Initiative, “‘It’s clearly going to make it.’ Lever says she plans to announce the final certification Thursday and send the initiative to the Board of Supervisors for placement on the ballot.” Volunteers turned in over 192,000 signatures on August 31, 1999, making this the biggest petition drive in county history. 71,206 valid signatures were required.
“Airport opponents hope to use the measure’s passage to force a third vote on the county’s proposal to build an international airport on the [El Toro] base which closed in July.”
Editor:- The Registrar will have taken the maximum legally allowed time for the signature certification and the Board of Supervisors are expected to add their own delay. They are preparing to conduct an optional economic impact study of the initiative - which will take an additional 30 days. However, at the end of that process, state law mandates that the initiative be placed on the March 7, 2000 ballot.
SAN DIEGO -- “William Smith knows a thing or two about living with airport jet noise -- like phone conversations drowned out and sitcom punch lines missed.” He’s worried because his home is in a subdivision that “straddles the official noise impact boundary for Brown Field, an airport owned by the city of San Diego in Otay Mesa....[and] developers want to convert the airport into an air cargo and industrial center.”
“Since December 1996, the Brown Field developer has been working with the city on plans to redevelop the 886-acre property. The developer... proposes a $1 billion, state-of-the-art facility. Plans call for extending the airport's main runway eastward, giving it a total length of 11,500 feet. That would enable fully loaded Boeing 747 cargo jets to take off for nonstop flights to world export centers.”
“The city requires developers to disclose to potential home buyers that an airport is in the vicinity. Buyers are also warned that the homes will be flown over by commercial or private aircraft of all types, that the aircraft will produce noise and vibration at any hour of the day or night and that Brown Field could expand to include an international air cargo facility. In letters and in testimony to city officials, some ... residents say they were never informed of the air cargo proposal.”
"A group of pilots headed by "Villa Park Councilman Robert E. McGowan, a retired United Airlines pilot," came with a proposal "for planes to arrive from the north and depart heading south, flying away from homes and over the open hills of Laguna Coast Wilderness Park and Crystal Cove State Park." The plan also calls for "removal of the East-west runways at the former base, eliminating the controversial County Plan to send departing jets over homes in southeastern Orange County." This plan will be presented on "Wednesday at a meeting of the 15-city, pro-airport Orange County Regional Airport Authority."
Editorial comment: The proposal calls for planes to use a glide slope
larger than three degrees and for a sharp right-turn soon after takeoff.
None is favored by experienced pilots who prefer a gradual descent upon
landing and to fly straight 2-3 miles before any turns. The plan
does not address the increased traffic, especially truck traffic for cargo,
nor does it address the carriers concerns of limiting operations.
Assembly member Patricia Bates today shot back at Newport Beach leaders
who are falsely claiming that she supports expansion of John Wayne.
For the complete news release, click
here.
"The Capistrano and Saddleback Valley Unified school
boards voted this week to" join ETRPA
as associated members. "Irvine Unified..will probably vote on joining at
its Oct. 19 meeting." School boards have expressed interest in joining
the fight against the proposed airport after learning that aircraft
noise affect students' ability to learn. ETRPA's board has
recently voted to let non-cities groups, like school boards and homeowners
associations, to join as affiliated and associated members at reduced fees.
The State Assembly members of the Select Committee on Long-term Planning for Commercial and general Aviation Airport Capacity, under the chairmanship of Assemblyman Scott Wildman, held a hearing about the feasibility of an airport at El Toro. He was joined by Orange county representatives Lou Correa and Patricia Bates, Los Angeles Assemblyman George Nakano, and San Diego Assemblywoman Charlene Zettel. A SCAG representative described the growth in population, jobs, and cargo demand as suggested by political entities. While describing cargo as the main challenge for Orange County, he admitted that the roads infrastructure are an important issue that has not been looked at, that high-speed trains leading to outline airports might be an answer, and that a cargo hub can be established in a distant airport. Representatives from the county presented the process to convert the base into a commercial airport and raised some eyebrows when the manager of the Master Development Program could not correctly identify the runways, and when the Chairman of the Board of Supervisors used a 19th Century economy driven by sea, river and rail transport to promote a 21st Century Internet-driven economy. Representatives from ETRPA expressed their concerns with the process where surrounding communities were not part of the planning, about safety of the proposed takeoffs, and questioned the projected demand. Legislative hearings normally do not allow for public comments, however this committee did listen to 16 citizens, all but five expressed their opposition to an airport in the middle of a densely populated area. Of particular interest were comments by councilman Rosen from Garden Grove who indicated that his city, which has experienced economic growth thanks to Disneyland and to Anaheim Convention Center, needs to attract more tourists and therefore needs an airport at El Toro. A different testimony was provided by Nativo Lopez, a member of the Santa Ana school board who expressed his dismay that the most important issue to his community -- affordable housings -- has not been addressed by either side, and that an airport at El Toro would exacerbate the situation. Concluding remarks included Correa’s comments about needing to balance the positives and negatives associated with a growing county, and Bates’ comments that the proponents emphasized cargo needs, not international travel which is what the voters had in mind when they approved Measure A. Chairman Wildman indicated that the committee will issue its report in 6-8 weeks. To contact the committee members click here.
Editorial comment: Some claims were not adequately challenged.
How many of the reported 12 MAP from Orange County who use LAX are by tourists
who would use Los Angeles as their starting and/or ending point of visiting
California? What data were used to claim that high-tech industry
generated a higher rate of airport travel when other airports are at close
proximity, in contrast to what local high-tech executives claim?
For related infomation click
here.
"The continuing battle over noise at Burbank Airport offers a glimpse
at what the future might hold for El Toro, and suggests that efforts to
ban night flights in Orange County will face strong aviation industry opposition."
"In August, Burbank airport and city officials unveiled a compromise airport-expansion
proposal that included restrictions on night flights" and cap on the number
of passengers. "Almost immediately, elements of the plan were questioned
by the Federal Aviation Administration and attacked by the aviation industry
— a pattern that likely would be repeated in Orange County if El Toro airport
advocates push as promised for similar limits." In a letter,
an FAA official reminded Burbank of the 1990
Capacity Act, that "essentially ended local controls such as curfews
unless an airport goes through a complicated and costly process referred
to as a Part 161 study." So far, no airport has successfully challenged
this act. While county officials are counting on Congressman Cox to change
the law, "a similar tactic was tried in Burbank this year by Rep. James
E. Rogan, R-Pasadena, to exempt the Burbank Airport from FAA oversight
of noise restrictions. The bill was sent to the House Transportation and
Infrastructure Committees where it remains unconsidered." In addition
to the FAA, three trade associations, including the Air
Transport Association that represents 28 major commercial and cargo airlines,
"urged the FAA to require that its policies be followed at Burbank and
any other airport, including John Wayne Airport and the proposed El Toro
airport."
"For the third consecutive year, a poll released Monday shows, opinion
on the proposed airfield is too close to call." The UCI's
Orange County Annual Survey found that "42 percent favor converting
the closed El Toro Marine Corps Air Station into an international airport,
while 46 percent oppose the plan. The rest, 12 percent, are undecided."
The proposed airport at El Toro lacks support even in North County, where
48% favored it while 37% opposed. "The poll also determined that 47 percent
of residents want John Wayne Airport as the county's only commercial airfield,
while 10 percent say El Toro should handle all of the flights; and 36 percent
say both airports are needed. Those numbers are nearly identical to past
findings, too." According to the Los Angeles Times Orange County edition,
"residents also renewed their dissatisfaction with the handling of the
issue by county officials, a sentiment strong in both pro-airport North
County and anti-airport South County." Both sides, according to reports,
interpret the UCI study as a need to intensify their outreach program to
the citizens of the county, that "there hasn't been enough spent on outreach
by either side to budge existing opinion ot ot convince the bulk of undecided
residents, who come mostly from North County." According to UCI's press
release, complete results of the 1999 survey will be released in November.
Los Angeles Mayor Riordan and FAA Administrator Jane Garvey "announced
Friday that the ongoing expansion of Los Angeles International and Ontario
International airports will be extended to Palmdale Regional Airport, which
will have its passenger service restored and cargo handling facilities
increased within a decade." Palmdale
should be able to "serve as may as 7 million passengers a year by 2020."
While acknowledging that it is not clear yet whether commercial airlines
will want to offer cargo and passenger service at Palmdale, city officials
said that "they faced similar obstacles when they expanded Ontario as well,"
and that they "plan to continue to expand Ontario's annual capacity to
15-20 million passengers in the future."
Click here for previous news stories
