Ground it, Los Angeles

If the City of Los Angeles has its way, jumbo jets will one day be

circling to land at the old El Toro Marine base.

The City of Angels (or shall we say angles) is dead-set on forcing

Orange County to “share the pain” of airport transportation in the

Southern California region.

The city’s own international airport has been a very sore spot for

residents of the area, who have watched helplessly as the

ever-growing airport swallows their neighborhoods and wreaks havoc on

their peace of mind.

And it’s only going to get worse, as the jumbo-jumbo jets --

longer than a football field -- begin to appear in the skies.

To that end, the City Council voted recently to use “any and all

means” to ramrod an airport into Orange County, whose residents have

the gall to use Los Angeles International Airport.

The city’s Airport Board is mulling over a lawsuit, presumably to

attack the current plans for homes and a Great Park at the site,

which was saved from the fate of becoming a regional airport only

through much public turmoil.

Los Angeles would like to add the closed Marine base to its list

of out-of-city airport properties, including ones at Ontario and in

Palmdale, perhaps seizing it by eminent domain.

Doesn’t L.A. get it?

The problem is, while everybody loves to fly in airplanes, nobody

-- even in L.A. -- wants to live near an airport.

One can imagine the result if Los Angeles prevailed in its quest

to get the land -- mothers with babies, little old ladies, lying down

on the tarmac, refusing to let the jumbo jets land.

Give it up, L.A.

This one ain’t going to fly.