Project '99 Newsletter, November 1997

A Note from Larry Agran Chair of Project ’99

Dear Neighbor,

What a difference a year makes! That’s the theme of a letter you’ll be receiving in a few days. The letter — our year-end request that you renew your support for Project 99 in 1998 — will describe how far we’ve come in just one year.

Last December hundreds of thousands of Orange County citizens were reeling while an arrogant Board of Supervisors dismissed all opposition and rubber-stamped a ridiculous proposal to build an international airport at El Toro. Since then, slowly but surely, the momentum has begun to shift our way — in public opinion polls, in newspaper editorials, even in the courts.

With your generous help and support, Project 99 has grown to 10,000 donors in 1997! And our Project 99 strategy is working. We are systematically exposing the lies and distortions in the County’s El Toro International Airport proposal and we are developing a non-aviation reuse plan that will be superior to the County’s airport proposal economically, environmentally, and in every other way.

But this is no time to become complacent. Yes, Superior Court Judge Judith McConnell recently found the County’s El Toro airport plan “unrealistic” and in conflict with state environmental law. Yes, this further discredits and delays the County.

But we must remember that Measure A — the 1994 Countywide initiative which narrowly authorized a commercial airport at El Toro— is still in effect. Somehow, we must figure out how to repeal Measure A and replace it with a non-aviation reuse plan. That may take years.

But we can do it — I know we can . . . with your help. When you receive your Project 99 renewal letter in the mail, please be generous. Thank you!

Project 99 Non-Aviation Workshop Declared a Major Success Project 99 Report, A Real Choice for a Better Future, Will Follow Soon

In page-one Metro Section stories, the Los Angeles Times and the Orange County Register reported the historic significance of Project 99’s workshop on the non-aviation reuse of the El Toro Marine Corps Base. The workshop — titled “Creating a Real Choice for a Better Future” and held on Sunday, October 19th in Irvine — was followed by Monday morning headlines that captured both the idealism and the hands-on practicality of the gathering:

* “Airport Foes Dare to Dream: Brainstorming Sessions Yield New El Toro Ideas,” began one Register story. A second story was headlined “Alternative Concepts for El Toro Take Flight: Dozens of Non-Aviation Uses Are Proposed.”

* The Times sounded a similar note. “Airport Opponents Brainstorm Other Uses: Among Residents’ Suggestions Are Building a ‘Smithsonian West’, a Veterans Cemetery or a Mini-City at El Toro Base.”

Both the Times and Register reported the remarks of retired educator and civic activist, Vivian Hall. Hall led a workshop “breakout session” on residential and mixed uses. Her group suggested building a model city at El Toro — a city “which has the excitement of New York, the beauty of Big Sur and the safety of Irvine.”

In back-to-back morning and afternoon workshops, 120 citizens from throughout Orange County not only dreamed of a non-aviation future for El Toro; they offered practical, compatible proposals that could all fit together on the huge 7.5-square-mile military base when the Marine Corps leaves, in 1999. Some of the more interesting proposals included:

* A job-rich research and industrial center similar to North Carolina’s “Research Triangle” — all part of a high-tech, globally connected “digital port” at El Toro;

* An automobile design center and test track;

* An education complex such as the multi-disciplinary Clarement Colleges;

* A “railport” that involves a major expansion of the already-successful Irvine-El Toro Train Station and Multi-Modal Transportation Center;

* A 1500-acre park and wildlife preserve — modeled after San Diego’s magnificent Balboa Park — which could include a zoo, an outdoor theater, an arboretum and garden complex, an Orange County Central Library, as well as science and history museums that could evolve into a “Smithsonian West”;

* A motion-picture and television studio that could include related commercial uses and arts and entertainment facilities;

* A variety of sports facilities and arenas, including an Olympic Training Center and a world-class commercial tennis center, like the Arthur Ashe Tennis Complex in New York City;

* A Veterans Cemetery and Memorial Park, as well as a Veterans Hospital and Service Center. Project 99 workshop participants relied on a preliminary draft document — a framework Draft No. 1 — which laid out eight non-aviation land-use categories helpful in building an economically and environmentally balanced reuse plan for El Toro.

Project 99 staff is now sorting through the workshop proposals and recommendations. Draft No. 2 of A Real Choice for a Better Future, now being written, should be ready for circulation by the end of November. It will then be mailed to all workshop participants and other interested citizens for review and comment.

The final version of Project 99’s A Real Choice for a Better Future will be completed by January. It will be published and distributed to Project 99 supporters and the general Orange County public. In addition, the report will be turned over to the El Toro Reuse Planning Authority (ETRPA) — the agency comprised of anti-airport South County and Central County cities — which will produce its own public agency non-aviation reuse plan next Spring.

ETRPA invited Project 99 — and Project 99 accepted — to form a public-private partnership that will generate a non-aviation reuse plan for El Toro that will be clearly superior to the County’s international airport proposal.

Public-Private Partnership Grows

Project 99’s October 19th workshop offered proof of the growing cooperation between public agencies and citizen groups in fighting the County’s proposed El Toro International Airport. The City of Irvine generously provided space and staff for the workshop, including three city planners who spent all day Sunday helping as “facilitators” in breakout sessions. Irvine Mayor Christina Shea and Mayor Pro Tem Dave Christensen attended the workshop, as did Lake Forest Councilman and ETRPA Chairman, Richard Dixon. ETRPA’s new Executive Director, Paul Eckles, was a participant in the workshop, along with his predecessor, Laguna Niguel City Manager Tim Casey.

THE BULLETIN BOARD

CALENDAR of Events:

* June, 1997 - Project 99 published the results of its Non-Aviation Reuse Survey of Supporters.

* September, 1997 - Project 99 prepared Preliminary Draft No. 1 — A Real Choice for a Better Future — for use at the October workshop.

* October 19, 1997 - 120 citizens attended Project 99’s non-aviation workshop in Irvine.

* November, 1997 - Draft No. 2 — A Real Choice for a Better Future — will be circulated for review and comment among interested Project 99 supporters.

* January, 1998 - Project 99 will publish the final version of A Real Choice for a Better Future for general distribution and for submission to the El Toro Reuse Planning Authority (ETRPA).

* April, 1998 - ETRPA will publish its public-agency non-aviation reuse plan as an official alternative to the County’s El Toro International Airport plan.

The El Toro Website:

If you haven’t checked out the El Toro Website recently, just point your internet browser to http://www.eltoroairport.org and you’ll find the latest information concerning the proposed El Toro International Airport. The website, which is managed and edited by Leonard Kranser, includes updates about Project 99 and other groups dedicated to ensuring that the El Toro Marine Corps Base is converted to constructive non-aviation uses.

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.

Project ’99 Newsletter Director of Communications, Karen Byers Director of Media, Alan Ellstrand

Project ’99 • PO Box 252 • Irvine CA 92650 • Phone (714) 559-5423