Safe and Healthy Communities

December 30, 1999

Contact: Leonard Kranser, CSHC Communications Director 949-499-5567 or Jeff Metzger, CSHC Chairman 949-454-1196

THIRD STRIKE FOR OPPONENTS OF MEASURE F

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."

Measure F, the Safe and Healthy Communities Initiative gives voters a choice on the building of new or expanded airports, large jails in residential areas, or hazardous landfills. It will protect residents near John Wayne from airport expansion, as well as those who live under the flight paths of El Toro. A Yes on Measure F will reform the planning process in Orange County by mandating that the environmental impacts, costs, and alternatives to these major harmful projects must be made public and then submitted to the voters for approval. For a copy, call 949-768-4583 or log on to www.safe-and-healthy.org.