Project 99 Newsletter, March 2000

A Plan of Action to Protect and Improve Our Community
An Note From larry Agran, Chair of Project 99

Dear Neighbor,

Victory! After months and even years of dedicated effort, our hard work has paid off.

Project 99 was founded on the belief that public education — the provision of solid information to Orange County citizens — would enable us to defeat the County’s proposed El Toro Airport and open the way to The Great Park and other non-aviation uses of the now-closed El Toro Marine Corps Base.

With the sweeping triumph of Measure F — 67% to 33% — we’re close to accomplishing the first part of our mission: El Toro Airport — and the top-down, Supervisor-driven process that produced it — have been resoundingly rejected. Of course, we must still beat back the lawsuit that pro-airport forces have already launched in an effort to overturn Measure F.

But now is not the time to only play defense. It’s time to move forward with the second part of our mission: We must work with the City of Irvine and others on the Millennium Plan and development of a 2500-acre Great Park at El Toro — a park twice as large and every bit as beautiful as San Diego’s Balboa Park.

At Project 99, we’re forging new alliances to promote The Great Park. With your help, we will again build countywide majority support — and victory — this time for a Great Park which will benefit everyone in Orange County.

Measure F — Yes! Victory and Beyond

It was an historic day. March 7, 2000 will likely be remembered as the birthday of Orange County’s Great Park.

That was the day when Orange County voters succeeded in defeating the County’s ill-advised El Toro airport plan. The Safe and Healthy Communities Initiative — Measure F — which requires a two-thirds popular vote for ratification of new or expanded airports, toxic waste dumps or large jails in residential areas, was approved by a whopping 67% of the voters. Yes on F won with a spectacular margin of more than 200,000 votes. Project 99 supporters helped pioneer the path to victory.

In the Summer of 1998, with contributions from across Orange County, Project 99 launched a Go North public education campaign — exposing the serious flaws in the County’s airport plan. With Measure F’s decisive victory, it’s now apparent that North County voters were paying attention. In Tustin, Measure F won 68% of the vote. Fountain Valley supported Measure F with 60%; in Orange, 61% voted “yes” on Measure F; in Huntington Beach 59%; in Villa Park 56%. In fact, Yes on F prevailed in all but two Orange County cities — Newport Beach and Costa Mesa.

Five years ago, when Project 99 began its public education work, a primary goal was to “expose the madness” — to reveal and publicize the truth about the County’s plan for an international airport at El Toro. After considerable research, we published In Defense of Our Community: The Case Against El Toro International Airport. In it were listed 1,568 detailed questions and comments about the County’s El Toro Community Reuse Plan and Draft Environmental Impact Report.

Immediately following this pub-lication, Project 99 moved on to “create a choice” — to propose better ideas and an alternative reuse plan for the 4700-acre El Toro base. A citizens’ task force was formed to study and make recom-mendations for a non-aviation reuse plan for El Toro. The resulting proposal, A Real Choice for a Better Future, reflected both the visionary ideals and the practical wisdom of nearly 2000 Orange County citizens.

One important element of A Real Choice for a Better Future was a listing and discussion of possible land uses for the El Toro site. Among the most popular was a “large central park.” This Great Park — that would serve as a world-famous landmark at the heart of Orange County — was later included as an element of the El Toro Reuse Planning Authority’s Millennium Plan.

The park concept was also embraced by the City of Irvine, which is now moving forward with aggressive plans for its implementation. In their efforts to annex the land at the former Marine base, Irvine officials have included a 2500-acre Orange County Great Park — with large recreation and habitat areas — as a central feature. As an added victory bonus on Election Day, the City of Irvine expects to receive substantial funding for its plans because of the passage of Proposition 12, a record $2.1 billion state park bond measure.

Project 99 has noted that The Great Park could include: a wildlife reserve; museums and cultural attractions; a central library; an arboretum and public gardens; a Boy Scout/Girl Scout regional headquarters; a Native American cultural museum; Olympic training facilities; an equestrian center; a Smithsonian West; public golf courses; a planetarium and science exploratorium; recreational trails; picnic areas . . . and many more exciting features. With a site this large, anything is possible. Everything is possible! The passage of Measure F opened the door to the Great Park plans. Project 99 will continue to be at the forefront of developing plans for The Great Park and will work closely with the City of Irvine and other organizations to see that these plans become a reality.

At Project 99, our goal has been to achieve the earliest and most productive reuse of El Toro in a manner that will promote economic development and protect the environment for the benefit of all Orange County residents. Because of your support, on March 7th we took a giant step closer to realizing this goal.

Congratulations to All, Thanks for Your Support It takes teamwork to win. That’s the reason behind the Safe and Healthy Communities Initiative’s resounding victory. It took a team of thousands of activists from throughout Orange County with a shared goal to bring us into a new era in the fight against an airport at El Toro. Congratulations to all! Thanks for your support.

The participation and cooperation of the key organizations, combined with the grassroots efforts by citizens who gathered 192,000 signatures to qualify Measure F for the ballot, produced a stunning victory for anti-airport supporters. The super-majority 67% passage of Measure F is further evidence of the growing commitment by Orange County citizens to defeat a commercial airport and to promote a non-aviation future at El Toro.

* Project 99’s activists worked since 1996 to involve and educate the public about the airport. 

From the beginning, Project 99 created a steady flow of accurate and reliable information that people could count on. Project 99’s research and public education efforts were the foundation for the Millennium Plan. And our more than 10,000 supporters continue to be the base for grassroots activism against the airport and for a Great Park at El Toro.

* Over the last year, the El Toro Reuse Planning Authority (ETRPA) created a series of public education mailers that were distributed countywide to nearly 500,000 households. These mailers exposed the flaws in the airport plan— the traffic, noise and air pollution an airport would bring; the lack of demand for an airport; and the County’s failed airport planning process. They also contrasted the County’s airport plan against the environmentally and economically superior non-aviation Millennium Plan.

* Recently, the City of Irvine, through a series of mailers and surveys, introduced and expanded on the Millennium Plan’s Great Park concept.

* Throughout the Measure F campaign, the following organizations worked overtime to promote the Safe and Healthy Communities Initiative: Taxpayers for Responsible Planning (TRP); Citizens for Safe and Healthy Communities; Clear the Air / No Jets; the El Toro airport web site; the Millennium Plan web site; and, Yes on F - The Safe and Healthy Communities Fund. Again, congratulations to everyone on this great election victory. Working together, we are securing a Safe and Healthy future for all of Orange County.

Carol Simon Director, Project 99

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.