El Toro, Cont’d
I find it interesting that the City Council of Irvine, as directed by Mayor Larry Agran, has eagerly spent over four million of their constituents’ tax dollars to poll all residents of Orange County as to what imaginative things should be built within their proposed 3,700 acre “Great Park” located at the former MCAS El Toro Air Station.
I find this most interesting because the property is not located in the city of Irvine, nor do they have any authority to dictate or plan its reuse. Meanwhile, Agran has partnered with The Irvine Company to move forward with plans to develop 3,700 acres of “great open space ” just north of El Toro into a sub-city. Only in this case, Larry Agran did not bother to allocate the $4 million to poll the county residents as to the use of this development, which,like El Toro,is not in their city.
Rather than over-develop the city with more high-density homes and businesses as Agran and the Irvine Co. suggest, it would make more sense to build Agran’s “great park” in the 3,700 acres north of El Toro and leave El Toro the airport that it is. Irvine would then benefit from the great park they so desperately think the county needs, and we all would benefit from a new international airport. Irvine International and Irvine International Park, so close, so convenient.
As Larry Agran’s marketing materials so clearly point out, it is in fact possible to have both a great airport and a great park, side by side, as is the case at San Diego’s Balboa Park, which is directly under the flight path and adjacent to the San Diego International Airport-Lindbergh Field and mentioned in Irvine’s latest mailers.
Russell Niewiarowski, Santa Ana Heights
SCAG projects a reasonable 13% gain in Orange County population by 2020, but an incredible 300% growth in Orange County air travel (from 12.5 million at John Wayne and LAX today, to 38 million passengers per year in 2025.) The projected near tripling of the rate at which we all fly (to 12 flights per county resident in 2025, from 4.5 today ) defies reason.
Rationally, Orange County air travel should grow no more than 67% prior to build-out in 2020, to 12.5 million passengers at John Wayne (from 7.5 million today), and to 8.3 million passengers at LAX (from 5 million).
John Wayne airport can easily serve 12.5 million without physical expansion or nighttime flights.
Michael Smith, Mission Viejo
Travels with Franz
Thank you seems inadequate. Franz Wisner’s fun, wonderful travelogues have made my day.
The lights just came back on, so I can get my car out of the electric gate and drive in the traffic that is backed up because the signals have been intermittently out over the past several hours. Now, does this seem like a Third World country or what?
Besides, the political gridlock in California has grown to mythic proportions and both sides of the aisle are proving the old adage that there is no situation, no matter how bad, that it can’t be made worse.
At least where Franz is there is a beauty and dignity that is somewhat frayed here at home. When he comes back, he should become an author. In the meantime, if he needs a busboy to wait tables in the Starbucks on Easter Island, I may be available.
Mark Johnson, Chairman and CEO Chapin Medical Corona
