Project '99 Newsletter, October 1998

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

Dear Neighbor,

Sometimes an idea is just so dumb, it pretty much dies of its own illogic. It looks like that’s what’s happening with the County’s “Green and Lean” plan for El Toro.

For years, County officials have been promoting El Toro International Airport as a jobs-and-income generator. County officials claimed the airport itself would generate thousands of jobs. But the beehive of development around the airport — commercial, industrial, and manufacturing enterprises, as well as entertainment and residential development — would become the economic engine for Orange County in the 21st century.

That, at least, was what County officials promised. They wrapped their promise in a package called the “Airport Community Plan.” And somehow the County managed to spend $4 million on consultants to explore the plan. But compared with the South County non-aviation Millennium Plan — which featured colleges and libraries and arts and entertainment facilities around a large central park and habitat reserve — the County’s “Airport Community” was a loser, according to public opinion polls.

So, after months of secret meetings, the County released its new “Green and Lean” plan for El Toro — a completely goofy idea to scrap virtually all development adjacent to the airport and to instead put thousands of acres of recreational open space around a busy El Toro International Airport. The problem, of course, is that nobody with an ounce of sense will go golfing, hiking, horseback riding or picnicking on “open space” next to roaring cargo and passenger jets. An additional problem with the “Green and Lean” plan is that the once-vaunted idea of turning El Toro into a 21st century jobs-and-income bonanza is now gone.

With this latest flip-flop on El Toro, is it any wonder why the credibility of County government is near zero?

The November 3rd Election
There’s No Vote on the Airport, But There May Be Important Changes

Flash back to November 8, 1994. That evening, following a bitter countywide campaign, Orange County voters narrowly adopted Measure A — an initiative to require that the Marine Corps Base at El Toro be converted to an international airport. The 51% to 49% vote for Measure A also vested planning authority for the airport in the five-member County Board of Supervisors.

Less than two years later, in March of 1996, Orange County voters rejected Measure S, a citizens’ initiative to repeal Measure A. Accordingly, the Measure A requirement to build a massive international airport at El Toro remains the law of the County — and nothing on the November 3rd election ballot will change that fact.

Nevertheless, the November 3rd election may produce results that change County government and hasten the defeat of the airport.

Remember, because of Measure A, the Orange County Board of Supervisors is currently recognized by the Department of Defense as the exclusive Local Reuse Authority (LRA) for the 4700-acre Marine Corps Base at El Toro. This means that the Orange County Supervisors are responsible for selecting a reuse plan to be submitted to Department of Defense officials in Washington, D.C.

The Board currently includes three supervisors who support the commercial aviation reuse option at El Toro — Charles Smith (first district), Jim Silva (second district), William Steiner (fourth district) and two supervisors who generally oppose the airport — Todd Spitzer (third district) and Tom Wilson (fifth district).

In 1998, three supervisorial seats were up for election. The elections are conducted on a non-partisan basis.

In June, 1998, primary elections were held in the second, fourth and fifth districts. In the fifth district — a South County coastal district — Supervisor Tom Wilson received a majority of the votes and therefore won a four-year term without need for a runoff.

In the second and fourth districts, no candidate received a majority, so the top two candidates face each other on the November 3rd ballot.

In the fourth district — a North County seat — incumbent William Steiner decided to retire from office. His replacement will be either Cynthia Coad or Lou Lopez. Since both of these candidates have voiced their support for converting El Toro to a commercial airport, the outcome of the fourth district supervisorial race is expected to have little influence on the El Toro controversy.

But the second district supervisorial race is a very different matter. In fact, the outcome could hold the key to a dramatic change in County airport politics. The second district is a North County district, stretching from Cypress to Costa Mesa, but anchored in the district’s largest city, Huntington Beach. This fall, pro-airport incumbent Supervisor Jim Silva is facing a challenge from Dave Sullivan, a member of the Huntington Beach City Council and an opponent of an airport at El Toro. Most political observers agree that if Sullivan managed to defeat Silva, anti-airport forces would gain a 3-to-2 majority on the Board of Supervisors for the first time.

What would a new majority mean for the future of El Toro? In the short term, the Board of Supervisors could effectively stop all current planning for El Toro International Airport. It’s been suggested that the best first step for a new Board majority would be to call for a “time out” — imposing a one-year moratorium on any airport planning and on any further County spending in support of a commercial airport at El Toro.

In addition, the supervisors could hold extensive hearings to identify one or more “fatal flaws” in the airport plan, such as inadequate infrastructure or insurmountable health and safety hazards. But even identifying a “fatal flaw” wouldn’t necessarily kill the airport. The only surefire way to do that is by a countywide vote of the people to repeal Measure A and replace it with a non-aviation plan — presumably the South County’s non-aviation Millennium Plan.

An anti-airport Board majority could facilitate another countywide vote on the airport by simply placing the Millennium Plan on the countywide ballot — in a special election in 1999 or in a regular election in the year 2000. If a third anti-airport supervisor is not elected this fall, it’s possbile that a number of citizen groups are prepared to collect as many as 200,000 signatures of Orange County voters by early 1999 — enough signatures to qualify the initiative for a special election in late-summer of 1999.

Ridiculing The Ridiculous

Sometimes when an idea is simply ridiculous, the best antidote is ridicule — and laughter. Here’s a sample of what Orange County residents wrote about the County’s latest “Green and Lean” plan in letters to the editor published in the Times.

“The supervisors have so little respect for our intelligence in South County that they think by calling the dead zones around El Toro ‘green belts’ and ‘riding trails’ we will all sigh in relief.” - Ronald O. Davies, Laguna Hills

“Just what I want to do: try to putt with a 747 landing overhead or romping through sylvan glades poisoned with pollution.” - Charles Hastings, Lake Forest

“There’s nothing like the deafening roar of jumbo jet engines or the sweet scent of aviation fuel to help one relieve the stresses of urbanization.” - Paul Rich, Costa Mesa

A Railport Not an Airport
High-Speed Rail Luncheon To Be Held

A representative of Transrapid International, a firm specializing in maglev transportation (a high-speed mass transit technology) will make a presentation to the South Orange County Chambers of Commerce and the Orange County Business Coalition this October 29th.

Reservations are $20 per person and can be made by calling the South Orange County Chambers of Commerce, (949) 830-1100. Checks, Visa and MasterCard are accepted.

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.