STEVE SMITH -- What’s up

Newport Beach has painted itself into a corner. Friends are dropping

like flies, and in less than five years, because of the City Council’s

years of arrogance, stubbornness and bungled political maneuvering,

support for flight caps at John Wayne Airport will have disintegrated.

That the caps will be lifted moved a lot closer to reality because the

county Board of Supervisors refused to approve a request to extend the

flight restrictions beyond their current expiration in 2005.

It should be noted that the board actually voted to revisit the matter

Dec. 5, but I expect that at that time the supervisors will vote 3-2 to

sit on their hands and not press for continued restrictions.

Voting against the request were Supervisors Todd Spitzer and James

Silva. Voting in favor were Charles Smith and Tom Wilson, with Cynthia

Coad abstaining because she had not had enough time to review the issue.

Not had enough time? What in the world has she been doing for the last

few years that she does not already know her answer on this critical

issue?

Imagine for a few moments that for several years, you are a

Newport-Mesa resident who has supported an airport at El Toro solely

because you wanted to maintain or even reduce the number of flights out

of John Wayne.

All the talk about developers making a lot of money in El Toro was of

not interest to you; perhaps you didn’t even believe any of it. Besides,

people you trusted were giving you good reasons -- noble reasons -- for

an El Toro airport.

They told you that for the greater good of the county, we need to have

more big, smoky, stinky jets flying in and out of our territory.

You believed them when they said the airport was a necessary part of

the infrastructure we’ll need because everyone and their brother is

scheduled to move here to the promised land in the next 20 years.

Your motivation was reducing noise and pollution in your backyard

(nothing wrong with that, by the way), fueled by your desire to prepare

for the county’s bright future.

Three of the people with whom you were in lock step were supervisors

Coad, Smith and Silva. They were fighting hard for an El Toro airport, in

part, to help maintain the John Wayne caps. They were fighting hard for

you.

On the other side, the bad guys were Spitzer and Wilson and the entire

El Toro Reuse Planning Authority, which wants to replace the El Toro

runways with bike paths.

But now, all bets are off. The 3-2 pro-airport majority, which had

Spitzer and Wilson on the fighting end of a losing battle, is now skewed

against you.

Instead of rewarding those who fought so long and hard with them to

limit the traffic at John Wayne, residents were denied Tuesday and my

guess is that they will be formally sold out come Dec. 5.

In February, the El Toro Reuse Planning authority passed a resolution

endorsing the continuation of flight limitations at John Wayne past 2005.

I was there when it passed unanimously.

That single action, combined with Tuesday’s board vote, means that the

planning authority -- the sworn enemy of almost anyone in Newport Beach

-- has done more to try to extend the flight caps than the pro-airport

majority on the Board of Supervisors -- the politicians who were supposed

to be fighting on your behalf.

What really amazes me is the failure of so many in Newport Beach to

see the handwriting on the wall.

With each passing week, as evidence mounts that an El Toro airport

will never happen, they still cling stubbornly to their pro-airport

position, selling out their constituents, friends and neighbors and

living in a sad state of denial.

According to news reports, Spitzer sought a compromise at Tuesday’s

board meeting with Newport Beach on the issue of flight caps.

Spitzer, who represents the side that is winning and the side that did

not need to compromise, asked Newport Beach Mayor John Noyes if the city

would support dropping language that advocates an El Toro airport in

favor of the board’s endorsement of flight caps.

Noyes, in what can only be described as a really bad move, replied,

“No.”

The residents of Newport Beach deserve to know who is now really in

their corner and who mismanaged the whole flight cap issue.

The Newport Beach City Council has again failed in its strategy to

protect its constituents from more flights over their homes.

Even Smith tried, at long last, to vote some sense into the process,

but it was too little, too late.

As usual, arrogance and denial prevailed.

* STEVE SMITH is a Costa Mesa resident and freelance writer. Readers

can leave a message for him on the Daily Pilot hotline at (949) 642-6086.