Airport Debate

Assembly bill should not worry Newport officials

The article (“Air travel bill worries Newport officials,” May 23)

should worry opponents of the planned El Toro international airport, not

officials of Newport Beach. Assemblyman George Nakano’s bill would put

some teeth in the Southern California Assn. of Governments traffic plan,

which assigns 30 million annual passengers to El Toro.

When officials from anti-El Toro cities went to the latest SCAG

meeting, hoping to remove El Toro from the plan, they were voted down

resoundingly and met with an angry response.

Clearly the region is against South County, not Orange County or

Newport Beach, whose John Wayne Airport has victims and minorities, too.

DONALD NYRE

Newport Beach

Pilot should take lead in airport education

This is regarding your question about what tactics should be employed

to maintain the restrictions at John Wayne Airport.

I would request the following: Have the Daily Pilot assign a reporter

to this issue who understands that the Pilot is a local paper and should

be an advocate for Newport-Mesa residents on this issue.

Do not publish articles that mislead local residents, but instead

educate residents on how they can assist in the process of maintaining

the flight restrictions.

ROBBY CONN

Newport Beach

Editor’s Note: The Daily Pilot does have a reporter assigned to cover

John Wayne Airport.

Newport ought to inform county of expansion woes

Newport Beach and supporting organizations need to advise the

residents of Orange County how an expanded John Wayne Airport will affect

them.

There is no better way to do this than with maps/charts showing how an

expanded operation will not only increase traffic over the current

traffic pattern, but will also affect other areas of the county that

currently do not have any airport traffic from either approaches or

takeoffs.

Most people who do not currently feel they are affected very well

could be with an expanded operation, and that will definitely get them in

support of stopping any expansion plans. Some of the cities opposed to El

Toro due to possible airport/airplane noise will also be affected by

expanded operations at John Wayne; they just don’t realize it yet. As the

saying goes, a picture is worth a thousand words.

RON DETTHLOFF

Newport Beach

Existing JWA runway already too short

I arrived from the East Coast recently and during the approach for the

Boeing 757, which incidentally is a very large airplane, I listened to

the air controllers. The communication was constant. The controllers were

handling about 10 aircraft at the same time.

The jet I was on was vectored all over the sky so that the traffic

could be handled sequentially. The stream of orders to the aircraft by

the controller was constant and fast. The pilot then made a hard landing

and put on his thrust reversal loud and hard so that he would not overrun

the runway.

Should more aircraft be allowed to use John Wayne, I am sure there

will be an accident not only to the people in the aircraft, but also to

the people on the ground. We all know there is no buffer zone around John

Wayne.

JOHN Di BELLO

Newport Beach

Public relations will fight JWA expansion

An old adage tells of the Bedouin who, acting out of compassion for

the poor beast on a bitterly cold night, allowed his camel to place just

its nose into his tent to ward off the chill.

By morning, the Bedouin found himself shivering in the sand outside

while the camel basked in the warmth of the tent it now fully occupied,

having successfully displaced its unwary benefactor.

John Wayne Airport is truly the “camel’s nose” and must be dealt with

accordingly.

In the years since the voters of Orange County originally gave their

vote of approval to development of the former El Toro Marine base, we

have seen how successful a war of misinformation can be. Those who

convinced the voters in March to vote for the nonexistent “Great Park,”

the emperor’s “new clothing” of the new millennium, stopped at nothing in

their efforts to convince the public that a yes vote was the key to a

brand spanking new park, notwithstanding the complete absence of funding.

There may be no park, but the inability to develop anything but a park

has resulted in what South Countians always wanted -- assurance that the

harbor area bear the brunt of maintaining the county’s transportation

needs while shielding their utopian suburbs from the effects of

overdeveloping and overpopulating the once pristine rolling hills of

South Orange County.

Residents of the harbor area have long fought hard in the courts of

law, only to watch their successful efforts trampled in the court of

public opinion. It’s time to adopt the same pseudo-guerrilla tactics that

the anti-El Toro forces have used and secure the services of the best

public relations and advertising minds money can buy. If we continue to

fail to make our case to the voters, we might as well make room for the

camel.

RICHARD G. HESTON

Newport Beach

Costa Mesa already suffers JWA side effects

This is a rebuttal to a May 2 letter by Martin A. Brower of Corona Del

Mar (Airport Debate).

In his letter, he suggests opening an small airport at the Orange

County Fairgrounds for helicopters and small corporate jets. His

justification is, “Costa Mesa residents fly out of John Wayne, and they

should be willing to take some of the burden off Newport Beach.”

Does he happen to know that the Eastside of Costa Mesa is affected

just as much as Newport Beach by the current flights at John Wayne

Airport?

I suggest he look at a map someday. Or he might try opening his ears a

bit more the next time he visits our city, as he pays one of our “working

class” citizens to change the oil in his Mercedes.

GEOFF WILLIAMS

Costa Mesa

Rail project will not benefit area

Reader Rex Ricks (Airport Debate, “Airport Solution Could Be in Costa

Mesa,” May 2) expresses some concerns over the proposed Centerline

project, possible detrimental affects on John Wayne Airport and fairness

in access.

First, Ricks should be aware the $17 parking fees he abhors are due

to the loss of the $50 million or so the county drained from John Wayne’s

cash reserves over the last few years to fund the planning and promotion

of an airport at El Toro. Since Measure W passed, the means should be in

place to restore the lower parking fees. No thanks required.

Second, if the specter of a Centerline rail system from Irvine to John

Wayne is the only standing between Ricks and a good night’s sleep, I

should inform him there is already organized opposition to this proposal.

Many Irvine residents recognize this as an expensive project with very

little payoff (much like a certain rejected airport plan). With that

knowledge imparted, I wish him very sweet dreams.

WILLIAM DETOY

Irvine

Former Marine base can only be airport

I think it is utterly absurd that anything other than air transport

use is planned for El Toro. As to the public vote on the issue, remember

it took several initiatives before the anti-airport faction got their

way. I guess it was a matter of having enough financing to keep bringing

it up until you get the answer you want. Is that the democratic way?

On three separate votes, El Toro was to be converted to commercial

airport use. If one would take the time to drive around the former base

with its huge buffer zone, I don’t know how anyone could conceive of

anything but airport use. This should be obvious in light of Orange

County’s projected air transport needs.

EDWARD SCHEID

Corona Del Mar

Newport residents need to back El Toro airport

I am absolutely astounded by letters in the Daily Pilot from Newport

Beach residents that are against an airport at El Toro. The last election

proved they are a small minority, yet I find it hard to understand why

anyone in our city is willing to destroy it.

Could they be naive enough to believe John Wayne Airport will be able

to keep its current limits and restrictions? Perhaps they are counting on

the county finding another location, or that people in Orange County will

drive well over an hour on crowded freeways to some other county’s

airport instead of 15 minutes to JWA. Don’t count on it, because people

will end up doing what is easiest for them.

Maybe they think the Settlement Agreement will be honored? If so, they

must be unaware of the legal and political power that can and will be

waged to significantly expand JWA by the airlines and federal government

as the need for air transportation in the region increases.

When Newport Beach is no longer the “jewel” of Orange County, but the

“joke” instead, when our quality of life is ruined along with our

property values, maybe they will finally wake up to the above tragic

truths. Of course by then, it won’t really matter because it will be far

too late.

CLAUDIA DOWNS

Newport Beach

JWA security needs to tighten up a bit

Recently, I took my aunt to John Wayne Airport. She needed the

assistance of a wheelchair so US Airways got us a skycap and gave me a

pass to go to the gate with her. We went right to the front of the

security line where my purse, car phone and her purse went through the

scanner. I took her to the plane and made sure she was on and then left.

The next day, I was going through my purse looking for something and

in one of the side pockets I found my missing 3 1/2-inch pocket knife. I

had assumed that I had lost it a month before or I would have never gone

through security with it.

Why wasn’t it found at security? Why stand in that long line if the

person in front of you can get through with a pocket knife and the old

lady with the knitting needles has those taken away?

I am writing this because I was so upset that my knife made it through

and that anybody could get away with something like that. I am glad it

wasn’t found though because then the airport would have shut down and

Aunt Lillian would have missed her plane.

SUE DEMILLE

Irvine