Airport Debate

As a resident of Newport Beach, I am very concerned regarding the

extension of the flight restrictions at John Wayne Airport. It would be

absolutely asinine to lift these restrictions over the most prestigious

and expensive property in Orange County. Not only should these

restrictions be extended, but they should be even more restrictive.

Additionally, the proposed airport at El Toro should be delayed no

longer. Sometimes our leaders have to be true leaders and have a time

horizon that extends passed the next election.

COSETTE CTVRTLIK

Newport Beach

March base can handle the need for an airport

Newport leaders complain that, with the central park measure on the

March ballot, they will have to tone down their anti-airport rhetoric:

You’ve got this fat target, but we’re stymied by those restrictions.

Fat target? That’s strange -- if it’s such a fat target, how is it

that they’ve failed to hit it these past six months? They’ve had the

field to themselves for those six months, with no ads or mailers from our

side, and they’ve managed to lose ground in the polls.

The latest mailer says JWA cannot possibly be expanded, and none of

the other nearby airports can possibly take up the slack as the limits

are placed on LAX. Somehow, they fail to tell us why March Air Force Base

could not be developed for commercial operations less expensively than El

Toro. Or why JWA, where flight restrictions end in 2005, cannot be

expanded to its inherent 14-million annual passenger capacity.

No mention either of the Federal Aviation Administration conclusion:

that while El Toro could be operated safely, it would destroy arrival

schedules at most other regional airports and require up to hourlong

delays at El Toro (and would still face the problem of airlines and

pilots refusing to use its two primary departure runways.)

MICHAEL SMITH

Mission Viejo