THESE AREN’T GOOD DAYS FOR THE PRO-EL TORO AIRPORT FORCES. THE anti-airport Measure F looks increasingly like a winner at the polls next month, possibly a big winner, thanks to a rising tide of no-growth sentiment and an effective, barely-answered anti-airport campaign.
And now The Irvine Company has weighed in on the county’s draft environmental report, ripping it big-time. The company is maintaining its neutrality on the main question of whether there should be an El Toro airport. But it has now gone on record as saying the project should not proceed until a number of specific questions regarding the operations and layout of an El Toro airport are answered.
And, as an ardent airport backer, I’m glad the Irvine Co. has.
The concerns raised by the Irvine Co. are virtually identical to ones that this paper has raised about the proposed airport. This paper has called on the county and other airport backers to explicitly address these concerns, but with little response to date.
Here is what the Irvine Co. wants: Specific, binding noise controls (including a night curfew); a ban on takeoffs to the west and landings from the west over Irvine; and an FAA stipulation to the county’s proposed flight operations. The Irvine Co. has also called for an Eastern Corridor interchange at Trabuco Road to help traffic flow around an airport, which sounds sensible, too.
There is a growing disconnect between reality and perception regarding El Toro. The reality is that the airport plan has won every legal and procedural battle (with judges, the military, planning agencies and heretofore with voters). But the perception is that the airport plan has been losing, thanks in large measure to an effective spin machine on the anti-airport side and a lack of same on the pro-airport side.
My fear is that at some point the perception will become reality. And that point will move closer if (when) Measure F passes. Yes, the pro-airport forces already have their game plan worked out to handle that new problem,they’ve set up a mechanism for a joint-powers authority that could be used to circumvent Measure F, and they’ll certainly challenge the legality of Measure F in court.
And, of course, they can always wage a campaign later to repeal Measure F. (While Measure F would require a two-thirds vote to allow an airport, the measure’s repeal would of course require only a simple majority, so it is unlikely there will ever actually be a two-thirds test on the airport, just possibly a long string of simple-majority votes at the ballot box.)
But undermining the will of the people,I’m characterizing things the way the anti-airport PR machine will if a winning Measure F were to be rendered moot,would likely erode public support for the airport even further.
A constructive step toward winning back the public, regaining the high ground and saving a project that would enhance Orange County’s quality of life and solidify its economic future, would be for the county and other airport backers to get serious about addressing the issues that the Irvine Co. has put on the table.
