Quality of Life in the Flight Path

* The Times would have us believe the only support for an El Toro airport comes from Newport residents and a few odd business types. That position seems similar to many of the South County letter writers. They all seem to believe there are many other uses possible for El Toro.

The Times failed to suggest any, but past letter writers have: another Disneyland, or Anaheim Stadium, or UCI. I believe these, and the many other pie-in-the-sky ideas, speak for themselves.

We live under the John Wayne flight path. Living here isn’t all bad. We don’t fly often but love the five-minute drive when we do. And just this morning we watched a B-17 and B-24 from WWII fly overhead. There are many sights and sounds residents near airports experience that you might not think about. Yes, there is noise, but also excitement, activity and unpredictability every day.

If an international airport is feasible at El Toro, the residents may as well get used to the idea, as we have. As the El Toro air base has proved, the idea may be a lot worse than the actual airport itself. Some people, even in South County, might actually enjoy it.

MICHAEL STEINER

Costa Mesa

* Thank you for exposing the fixed opinions regarding the best use of El Toro MCAS.

I must differ with your analysis that both sides refuse to budge regarding the best use of the base. (“The Air Show as a Symbol,” O.C. Perspective, May 7). The pro-airport advocates have consistently refused to entertain any other alternatives. Powerful developers and theme park operators who have not been elected by anyone continue to shape public policy regarding the reuse of the base.

Conversely, South County citizens have organized to offer alternatives, alternatives that may be superior to an international airport at El Toro. All ideas, continue to be quashed by the county. South County cities, TRP and Project 99 have asked that the alternatives and the issue of an airport be fairly assessed. They are continually rebuffed.

Until the Board of Supervisors acknowledges that the issue has not been objectively studied, the schism between the North and South will prevail, and the best use of the base will remain in limbo.

ANN BRUGGEMAN

Dana Point

* I don’t care what you say, I say that the ironies of life can be funny. That is, of course, when they’re not infuriating.

That the Orange County Airport was named after John Wayne is funny. Yes it is--remember he hated the airport and did his best to stop its growth. So now it’s named after him? Funny!

And on the infuriating side, wasn’t it only yesterday that the great Tom Riley assured all his trusting flock of voting locals in the early 1960s that there would never be a jet taking off from the Orange County airport?

Orange County has grown through the years, just as the number of jets roaring overhead has grown. And to keep growing, the county needs access to more of those jets and the business they bring. That’s county, remember, not just Newport Beach. People have forgotten that when LAX expanded, homes in its path were condemned and residents were forced to leave. Is Orange County prepared to condemn places like Balboa Island, which is already suffering from the filth and noise of those endless jets taking off overhead?

Doesn’t the county realize that to finish off areas like Newport Beach will also be a short way to finish off lots and lots of tourists? Why can’t expansion be spread over other Orange County areas who reap benefit from those tourist dollars?

And there it is. El Toro! Let the county grow, but El Toro is the only way to go.

BUNTY JUSTIN

Balboa Island

* Thank you for your May 7 editorial pointing out that most of the support for an airport at El Toro comes from Newport Beach. The city of Newport Beach has made it perfectly clear, despite its protestations to the contrary, that its goal is to get John Wayne airport shut down and plans to spend $500,000 in city funds in 1997-98 to try to push the airport ills of noise and pollution onto their 500,000 South County neighbors.

Newport Beach is well aware that the city’s settlement agreement with the county on restrictions (hours, number of flights, etc.) at John Wayne expires in 2005 and due to congressional action cannot be extended.

If John Wayne Airport is not closed down by 2005, it can be utilized to its full capacity of 15 MAP. At the present growth rate in the county’s demand for air travel, our needs would be satisfied by John Wayne Airport well into the 21st century. The county, at this point, is saying the proposed El Toro airport would be developed to accommodate a capacity of 25 MAP (million air passengers). That represents an additional 40% capacity over the current John Wayne Airport, an increase we will probably not need for at least another 30 to 40 years, or longer.

For the 40% increase, we will pay at least $1.6 billion in airport development costs and probably a lot more, considering how government projects generally escalate in costs. Beyond the costs of developing the airport, there will be many costs incurred to develop the surrounding infrastructure.

Your observation that there is only soft support in the North County for the proposed 24-hour-a-day international airport hits the nail on the head. Why would Cypress residents have much concern about El Toro when they are closer to three other airports: LAX, Long Beach and John Wayne?

Why should the entire county suffer the costs of this financial debacle, when it will only benefit the residents of Newport Beach?

EILEEN DICKERSON

Irvine

* A true gift from the gods. Orange County has searched for an airport location for 25 years, and now we have been handed the billion-dollar solution for free. Further debate on the subject will only waste time and money.

The people of the county have voted twice in favor of the airport at El Toro. It is my hope that officials responsible to the people of the County of Orange will do their duty and implement the commercial use of El Toro Airport without delay.

DON DeVRIES

President, deVries International

Irvine

* The newspaper ads proclaim that, “Parking at John Wayne Airport Just Got Simpler.” This translates to “You will now pay $11, instead of $7 a day, for parking in Lots A2 and B2 in front of the terminal.” If that is “simpler,” you may prefer the old complexity.

We have grown accustomed to doublespeak from county airport managers when it comes to selling their agenda. They are promoting an international airport at El Toro, which they claim will draw 38 million passengers a year from as far away as San Diego, Ventura and Los Angeles. Their environmental report for the project claims that a big new airport, with all those cars and planes, will not impact Orange County traffic and air pollution, which sounds as plausible as saying that paying $11 for parking has no more impact than paying $7.

Furthermore, the county has decided to build a new multimillion-dollar parking structure, to complement John Wayne’s nearly new terminal. It sounds like a good idea, except that the supervisors voted, that “all commercial aviation operations at John Wayne airport . . . be moved to the MCAS El Toro site.”

If, after all that money gets spent, and John Wayne is shut down to commercial flights, who stands to benefit from that bit of simplification?

For a history of John Wayne Airport, the legal battles by neighbors to limit its use, and why it may be shut down, visit the El Toro Airport web site on the Internet at https://www.eltoroairport.org. You will find excerpts from airport reports, court documents, supervisors’ minutes and the John Wayne revenue bond disclosures, with no doublespeak.

LEONARD KRANSER

Dana Point