El Toro, Cont’d
Thank you for sharing the lighter side of El Toro with your “Toro! Toro! Toro!” spoof of June 11. It’s great to be able to laugh in light of all the heavy artillery, crossfire and bombs strafing Orange County. I can hardly wait to see your next production, “There’s Something About Larry.”
Russell Niewiarowski,
Santa Ana Heights
U.S. Rep. Dana Rohrabacher recently attacked airport opponents as an “unholy allegiance between NIMBY Republicans and environmental extremist Democrats.” He failed to understand that for ordinary citizens the protection of their family’s quality of life transcends political persuasion, as demonstrated by a 67.3% super majority in favor of Measure F.
Perhaps the time has come for Rohrabacher and his allies to ponder whether their dogmatic pursuit of a single transportation issue will have lasting repercussions for the Republican Party in Orange County.
Paul Willems
Laguna Niguel
What shall we do with El Toro, build a “Balboa Park” or an “LAX South?”
Would the residents of Orange, Mission Viejo, Fullerton and Laguna Woods prefer to have nearby access to a large open parkland, with museums, university campuses, recreational areas and a 1,000-acre nature preserve? Or would they prefer a massive airport with 800 landings and takeoffs day and night, spewing 50 tons of carcinogenic chemical wastes into the air, creating thunderous noise over thousands of homes, businesses and playgrounds, and causing huge traffic jams on roadways from Yorba Linda to Santa Ana to San Clemente?
Michael Smith
Mission Viejo
Bring back the Marines! Restore El Toro to the Marine base it was. It should never have been closed in the first place. God forbid we should ever get into a major conflict, or have a few minor conflicts in various locations. I’m afraid we wouldn’t be properly equipped!
John S. Evans
Huntington Beach
The Arts 2001
The Year of the Arts 2001 is a yearlong campaign celebrating the importance and impact of the arts in the state’s economy, education and civic life.
California has long prided itself on being a citadel where creativity is valued and nurtured. New York may be the financial capital of the country and Washington the seat of power, but California enjoys a global cachet as the place to be if you want to make an idea happen. It is no accident that the entertainment and high-tech industries have their genesis here.
Gov. Gray Davis understands this. His recent 83% budget increase in arts funding to the California Arts Council reflects his commitment to maintaining California’s creative capital by moving us closer to New York, Michigan and other states that have dramatically increased their support for the arts over the past decade. First Lady Sharon Davis’ chairing of the California Creativity Forum echoes this appreciation.
The arts are an economic engine in their own right. A study conducted in 1994 showed that the nonprofit arts in California generated $2.2 billion in direct economic impact, accounted for over 115,000 jobs and added more than $77 million to local and state tax coffers. Those numbers are projected to be much higher today.
And the arts are directly related to three of the state’s major economic engines: entertainment, high-tech and tourism industries. The entertainment sector generates $13.5 billion and employs 164,000 high-wage workers. Tourism generates more than $60 billion in sales and supports jobs for nearly 700,000 Californians.
Research links arts education directly to economics. It is the arts which impart those skills all students need to find good paying jobs in any industry,the ability to engage in creative problem-solving, to think “out of the box,” to be a team player, to take risks, to set high standards of excellence. Moreover, the arts increase individual self-esteem. And it is the absence of self-esteem for so many students today that causes them to see school as irrelevant to their lives.
Perhaps most importantly, the arts enrich our lives.
It is critical that we join the Governor, First Lady, the Legislature, local officials, civic leaders, business and industry and educators in the growing bipartisan support for the value and positive impact of the arts and creativity. We must realize the arts are not an elective, but are central to California’s future.
Alan Ziter
(Ziter is director of the San Diego Performing Arts League and volunteer chair of the California Arts Advocates.)
