Irvine renews anti-airport media campaign

Eric C Sanitate

The Irvine City Council has ensured that it won’t be unarmed during its

battle over the future of the El Toro Marine Corps Air Station in the

coming year.

At Tuesday’s meeting, the council voted unanimously to extend its

contract with a consulting firm that has aided the city in its effort to

prevent commercial aircraft from ever touching down at the former

military base.

The city will pay the Newport Beach-based firm of Forde & Mollrich

$450,000 to manage Irvine’s campaign to sway public support toward the

city’s plan to annex the area and build a mammoth park.

The fee will be paid through Irvine’s $4.5-million El Toro war chest, set

aside in the 2000-01 budget to battle the county’s plan to build an

international airport at the former base.

Forde & Mollrich helped the city use mass media to sway votes for the

anti-airport Measure F on the March ballot and undermine the county’s

efforts to build support for the airport. Irvine contracted the firm to

produce a slew of mass-mail literature, newsletters and cable television

commercials.

Councilman Larry Agran was particularly encouraged by the county’s

overwhelming response to a series of mailers the city issued prior to the

March election. The literature prompted responses from more than 100,000

households, just more than 10% of the county’s voters.

“When ordinary citizens take five, 10 or 15 minutes to respond to a

pretty sophisticated mailer, that says to me that we are absolutely on

the right track,” Agran said.

The city now wants the consultants to develop an interactive El Toro Web

site and reach out to Orange County’s ethnic and business communities.

Councilman Dave Christensen said the council would also like to get in

touch with community groups that are interested in learning more about

the city’s plans.

“I think it would be a great opportunity to talk to our constituency,

talk to the public and update them on some of the things we’re doing out

there,” he said.

City officials said the contract extension will ensure the consultants’

services until the state’s Local Agency Formation Commission, which

regulates changes in municipal boundaries, decides on the city’s bid for

control of El Toro sometime in the coming year.

The city’s plan is to annex the land and build a sprawling metropolitan

park similar to New York City’s Central Park or Golden Gate Park in San

Francisco.

The Millennium Plan, or “Great Park Plan,” would transform the base into

a 757-acre open area surrounded by three urban villages, a cultural

district, a sports and entertainment complex, a business and technology

center and a wildlife preserve.

“It will give people from La Habra to San Clemente an escape from the

noise, traffic and congestion that plague our daily lives,” Mayor

Christina L. Shea said. “The great park will enhance our quality of life;

an airport will degrade it. That’s the bottom line.”