Commentary: JWA noise is one thing, but that H.B. air show shattered the quiet in Costa Mesa

The Pilot recently featured the story of Huntington Beach residents who shared their dismay regarding Long Beach Airport commercial overflights and the resultant noise and disruption (“Huntington Beach residents say excessive airplane noise is hurting their quality of life,” Sept. 14).

I totally sympathize with those residents, and I’m sure many in the Costa Mesa and Newport Beach communities do as well.

Today the discussion of the unfairness of aircraft noise over Huntington Beach became perversely ironic. You see, the city fathers in Huntington Beach have once again permitted, promoted and subsidized — with $100,000 in taxpayer dollars — an event that compresses a whole decade’s worth of noise impacts into a four-day window.

Sure, the city wants to promote its hospitality businesses and drive tax revenues, but at what cost? Is it neighborly to drive tax revenues by excessively disrupting neighboring communities for four days every year? What do we get out of it? Nothing but disruption. H.B. promotions say the military jets fly over the ocean, however, that’s patently false.

Here, one mile inland in Costa Mesa, we have had military warplanes screaming directly overhead several dozen times so far this afternoon. I cannot imagine how H.B. could possibly dream up any event that could even begin to be more abusive of neighboring communities.

Last year’s Breitling H.B. Airshow was a very disruptive event for neighbors in Costa Mesa for four days straight. On Thursday we have so far experienced several dozen direct overflights of very loud military aircraft, and if history is any indicator this will continue for three more days.

H.B. residents, we feel your pain with commercial overflights, but as your City Council has demonstrated, that door clearly does not swing both ways. That your city would permit and sponsor an event that is so completely and utterly disruptive to neighbors not only undermines your position, but completely obliterates it.

Until you stand up to stop this madness, which is annually perpetrated by your city, go cry on somebody else’s shoulder.

ERIC BEVER is a former Costa Mesa mayor.