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opinion:
our view
Airport all wrong
for OC
Just as it seems that
Americans are beginning to change their ways of living in a
post-terrorist attack world, it's nice to see how some things
will never change.
Case in point is
this morning's final vote on the fate of the proposed El Toro
International Airport in Orange County.
The airport proposal
is a simple case of greed and politics getting in the way
of sound, reasonable common sense, one of our most recent
great American pastimes.
Not only is the
need for another Southern California airport completely non-existent,
but according to Federal Aviation Administration reports,
the increase of air traffic could be dangerous by causing
a virtual log jam that could postpone flights in and out of
other local airports like Long Beach, John Wayne, Los Angeles
and Ontario.
Also, the fact
that Orange County travelers only account for less than 10
percent of all passengers who are flying in and out of LAX
makes the El Toro airport a very poor idea.
For those who may
not have been following the goings on of the local government,
the proposed El Toro Airport would make use of the recently
closed El Toro Marine Corps Base and be equipped to eventually
accommodate 28.8 million passengers annually. The plan has
been one of the most hotly contested in recent local political
history. Battle lines have been drawn and accusations made
in attempts to discredit the opposing sides' ideas.
Even after votes
have proven that the airport idea is unwanted by local residents,
the plan has gone on, eventually culminating in this final
vote to take place today. Since it is still owned federally,
the federal government would then decide if they would give
the land to the county at no cost.
Seemingly those
who are pushing for the airport have taken little into consideration
regarding the safety and logistics of building another airport
in Southern California, especially one so close to nearby
John Wayne Airport and other local airports like Long Beach.
Still, for some
reason pro-airport supporters still feel like this is a good
idea.
What is amazing
is that this is still even being considered in the wake of
the actions of Sept. 11. Painfully obvious to those with any
sort of common sense is the fact that this airport is a bad
idea for many reasons already, reasons that are now unnecessary
to even mention since Americans aren't traveling a whole lot
lately.
Hey, add this to
the long list of government's great ideas; let's build an
airport that there is no demand for, is dangerous and unnecessary
and let's let taxpayers pay for it for years to come.
We hope that people
somehow come to their senses this morning and vote to strike
down the El Toro Airport once and for all. Even more to the
point, we hope that if this plan is finally defeated that
this sends a message to big business and government that citizens
should have a say in what is good for us and what is not.
To this point it seems as if both of these entities are working
in their own best interests instead of ours.
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