Project '99 Newsletter, February 1999

A Plan of Action to Protect and Improve Our Community
A Note from Larry Agran Chair of Project 99

Dear Neighbor,

1999-2000 — Months ago we began describing this time as “the decisive period ahead.” And that’s just what the next 21 months will be.

Our December 1998 newsletter reported that “citizens will be organizing a countywide initiative in 1999 for a showdown vote in 2000.” And that’s what’s going to happen. In fact, it now appears that there will be two initiatives and two countywide votes in 2000. The first will be on March 7, 2000 — in conjunction with the statewide presidential primary. Orange County voters will be asked to vote “yes” or “no” on the “Safe and Healthy Communities Initiative” — a measure that would effectively defeat El Toro International Airport and stop the County from forcing airports and other “noxious” uses on local communities.

The second initiative — likely to be on the November 2000 general election ballot — will be the long-awaited vote to finish the job by replacing the County’s El Toro International Airport plan with the non-aviation Millennium Plan.

The 1999-2000 period will be “decisive” because people will at last be deciding. That’s democracy . . . and that’s good. Our newsletter this month is devoted almost entirely to these important developments. We hope you’ll read this newsletter with special care — and that you’ll use the tear-off reply form to send for your own draft copy of the Safe and Healthy Communities measure.

Initiatives Likely for March 2000 and November 2000 Two-Step Initiative Vote Taking Shape

January 1999 marked a major turning point in the long struggle to return to the ballot box in order to defeat El Toro International Airport and then replace it with the non-aviation Millennium Plan.

However, just as the good news about the specific ballot-box strategy was unfolding, the Los Angeles Times weighed in with one of the worst examples of reporting and headline-writing in the annals of Orange County journalism. On January 22nd, a front-page Times article screamed out the headline: “Anti-Airport Initiative Comes to Crashing Halt — South County coalition, lacking consensus on strategy, abandons vow to force special election this year.”

Simply put, the Times had the story wrong — completely wrong. An accurate story would have had a very different headline: “Anti-Airport Initiative Strategy Ready for Takeoff — Two-step ballot vote taking shape.” That, in fact, is what emerged in full public view just three days after the Times story appeared. On Monday evening, January 25th, the El Toro Reuse Planning Authority (ETRPA) — the official seven-city South County agency — unveiled a two-step initiative strategy. This involves a countywide vote in March 2000 to defeat the County’s El Toro Airport plan, followed by a November 2000 ballot measure to replace the airport with ETRPA’s non-aviation Millennium Plan. Contrary to the Times report that the anti-airport coalition was “lacking consensus,” the ETRPA Board members voted 10 to 0 to move ahead with preparation of the “Safe and Healthy Communities” initiative.

Step One — Defeating the Airport. ETRPA Executive Director Paul Eckles described the initiative instrument that will effectively block the El Toro Airport. Known as the “Safe and Healthy Communities” measure, once adopted by the voters in March of 2000, it will require the approval of a super-majority of County voters — typically 60% or even a two-thirds majority of voters — before the County Board of Supervisors can spend tax money to actually build or expand a major “noxious” project. Specific noxious projects which affect nearby residen-tial neighborhoods include the construction or expansion of commercial airports, major jails and hazardous waste dumps.

“Make no mistake about it,” said Lake Forest Councilman Richard Dixon, former ETRPA Chairman, “this measure is intended to kill the airport.” Dixon added, “We don’t just want to kill the airport but to make sure that the [County’s] planning fiasco doesn’t take place again.” Dixon emphasized that the Safe and Healthy Communities initiative will, if passed, establish a greatly improved planning process in Orange County while at the same time reverse the El Toro Airport public policy disaster.

Voters all over the County are opposed to the idea of an unwanted project being foisted on their community. That’s why the Safe and Healthy Communities initiative will appeal to citizens throughout Orange County — to residents of Fullerton, who remember their experience with hazardous waste and the McColl Dump; to Santa Ana residents who want to protect their community against an unwarranted jail expansion; to Seal Beach residents fearful of the County’s locating an airport at the Los Alamitos Naval Air Station; and to residents of Newport Beach who fear the unlimited expansion of John Wayne Airport.

The Safe and Healthy Communities initiative doesn’t completely prohibit future jails, waste dumps, and airport projects in Orange County. But it requires the County to build a genuine consensus about the need for a particular “noxious” project and the proper location for such a project. This is precisely what the County failed to do — and, apparently, can never do — in the case of the proposed El Toro Airport.

Step Two — Replacing the Airport with the Millennium Plan. According to ETRPA sources, the two-step strategy will work like this: Once the Safe and Healthy Communities Initiative is adopted in March of 2000, as a practical matter El Toro Airport will be defeated — it could never gain more than 60 percent support in a countywide vote. The legal and political stage will then be set for a November 2000 countywide vote on a second initiative — this one to officially replace the County’s airport plan with the economically and environmentally superior Millennium Plan, which provides for the non-aviation reuse of El Toro.

The Millennium Plan was developed by ETRPA in partnership with Project 99, other citizen groups, and thousands of Orange County residents. It provides for a vast 1500-acre metropolitan park and habitat preserve at El Toro, surrounded by museums, colleges, libraries, sports facilities, an arts and entertainment center, and a major extension of the Irvine Spectrum’s high-tech research and industrial development. Experts estimate that the Millennium Plan, once implemented, will contribute a remarkable $12.9 billion annually to the Orange County economy and generate 112,000 high-quality jobs by the year 2020.

Commenting on the two-step strategy unveiled by ETRPA, Carol Simon, Project 99’s Administrator, noted, “From the beginning, Project 99 has had a twofold mission. Our research and education has always focused not only on defeating the proposed El Toro International Airport, but replacing it with the non-aviation Millennium Plan.” Simon added, “ETRPA’s two-step strategy — revisiting the ballot in March and November of 2000 — makes all the sense in the world. We look forward to the battles ahead and to finally giving the voters of Orange County a real choice for a better future.”

Join Project 99 and other citizen groups at the Great American Write-In Saturday, March 13 9:30 am to 12:30 pm

The University Club on the UCI Campus Meet leaders of more than 40 local national advocacy groups. Learn about 1999’s burning issues. Write to decision makers.

Project ’99 is a special project of the Tides Center, a duly registered public charity. Donations to Project ’99/Tides Center are tax-deductible to the extent permitted by law.