Black should have been right on 103...

Black should have been right on 103

School board member Dana Black belongs on the Daily Pilot list of

influential people.

Black was one of the original “Gang of Five” -- a group of parents

that uncovered the embezzlement of millions of dollars from the

Newport-Mesa Unified School District not many years ago. She serves

ably on the school board. Our school district is fiscally sound, and

test scores at most schools in the district are going up. She helped

draft Measure A, the school bond measure, and spent untold hours to

get it placed on the ballot and passed. Capital improvements are

currently underway.

Black also researched a grant for joint-use libraries. She put

together a team of incredible volunteers that was able to raise the

$1 million needed to trigger the grant money. Mariners Elementary

School and the city of Newport Beach are now in partnership for a

wonderful new library.

Black has dedicated her life to the education, health and safety

of children. Her life has been a testament to the adage “one person

can make a difference.” You certainly make a big difference -- Thank

you, Dana Black.

ANN WATT

Newport Beach

A stealthy meeting on Marinapark

There was an unhealthy moment at the last Newport Beach City

Council meeting.

Local resident Dolores Otting went to the podium and attempted to

inform the public of a hearing scheduled for the next night regarding

the proposed Marinapark hotel. The mayor quickly stopped her.

It was unsettling.

Why was this city official so seemingly afraid that the

public-at-large would be aware of this hearing? As it turns out, only

residents within 300 feet of the proposed project were notified. A

110-room hotel is far too important to the residents of Newport Beach

to be kept hush-hush.

Personally, I would like to thank Otting for letting us know. The

next day, we phoned City Hall and asked when the meeting would start.

They claimed they had never heard about it, yet at 7 p.m. it did

indeed begin.

What is going on, and why are the city fathers trying to keep us

out of the loop?

PAUL S. PEDERSEN

Newport Beach

El Toro is not a help for anything

Former County El Toro Airport program manager Gary Simon surfaced

to give one more plug for his former project (“El Toro should carry

on its civil service,” Thursday). Simon suggests that the former

Marine base could have been useful during the current fire emergency.

Fire crews have plenty of runway capacity, including three former

military bases. The 13,000-foot runway at March in Riverside is

handling the fire support aircraft, and San Bernardino (formerly

Norton Air Force Base) is the staging site for the flying water

tankers. Even the Southern California Logistic Airport (formerly

George Air Force Base) is providing support.

The key to these three airports is that they are fully rated for

instrument approaches down to almost zero visibility. El Toro could

never meet that requirement due to mountainous terrain in the flight

paths.

El Toro was a bad location for a passenger airport and not a very

good one for firefighting. The Southern California Assn. of

Governments has devised a regional aviation plan that leaves John

Wayne Airport capped, eliminates El Toro and relies on the runways

that exist in the less congested Inland Empire.

LEONARD KRANSER

Dana Point