The Airport Spotlight Shifts to Supervisor Silva

One has to wonder whether our Board of Supervisors is corrupt or just incompetent. For years, three members of the board have thrown money at El Toro airport, despite poll after poll showing the residents of this county do not want another airport. Why, other than some sort of payoff, would our “representatives� refuse to represent us on this issue? Supervisor Chuck Smith publicly accused Supervisor Jim Silva of corruption by stating “He’s got a deal going for something� after Silva voted to--gasp--allow the citizens of the county to decide the issue. The next day, after being taken to the woodshed by almighty Newport Beach, Silva relinquished his rediscovered desire to allow democracy to occur. It’s embarrassing that a world-class place like Orange County is governed by such buffoons.

Kevin Cook

Ladera Ranch

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Re “Wishy Washy Silva Still Deserves His Dunce Cap,� Sept. 21:

Dana Parsons’ column about Silva’s “quick-change act� should come as no surprise. Money is the mother’s milk of politics. The pro-airport supervisors have long sold out to the powerful special interests trying to ram a huge, dangerous airport down our throats. They are the personal puppets of the super-rich in Newport Beach.

Just the Facts? The truth is, El Toro airport has nothing to do with satisfying regional demand, cargo, creating jobs, sharing the burden, etc. Rather, El Toro is a “once in a lifetime opportunity� ... for Newport Beach to finally be rid of John Wayne Airport, nothing more--a fact the overwhelming majority of Orange County voters now know.

Supervisors Silva, Smith and Coad, the people of Orange County are on to you. Enjoy your political power trip while you still can. Long after your term limits have expired or you’ve been voted out of office, the El Toro airport and you will be but a distant bad memory. While the rest of us will still be here--rejoicing in the Orange County Central Park & Nature Preserve.

Christine Prince

Laguna Hills

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I thoroughly enjoyed the column in which Dana Parsons took humorous measure of Silva’s missing mettle. But all kidding aside, you have to admire a man who can muster up a modicum of courage, vote his conscience, and then hold fast to his convictions in the face of swirling controversy for almost two days!

Sherri M. Butterfield

Mission Viejo

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For a brief moment, it appeared that Silva was going to do what he was elected to do: Respect the wishes of the voter majority. It now appears that something changed his mind and he no longer favors letting the voters decide if an airport should be built at El Toro. His recent about-face is a royal slap in the face to his would-be supporters. Fortunately, Orange County voters will have the opportunity to address his actions in March.

Mike Baron

Aliso Viejo

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Only a politician, feeling immune from the consequences of reality, would continue to support another airport in the face of the air travel industry’s current woes.

Flights are cut in half, layoffs by the airlines as high as 20% of their work force, reduced purchases from Boeing and subsequent layoffs there, cancellations of numerous conventions, refusal of many pilots and flight attendants to even come to work--and that’s just what has happened in the first week.

Future prospects for a healthy air travel industry are pretty dim. Time is money; businessmen won’t wait three hours at the gate for a two-hour flight. Short-haul flights will decline dramatically. Vacation air travel will be heavily curtailed. (Hawaii will be a basket case by Christmas.) International air travel will continue but at a severely reduced rate.

The entire country has been traumatized. It will be years before air travel returns to normal. We need another airport like we need another politician.

Don Hull

Costa Mesa

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El Toro International Airport, or “Great Park�?

The solution is to bring back the Marines and reactivate this air base along with numerous others closed here in California and throughout the nation.

Shirley A. Taylor

Anaheim Hills