The Laguna Beach City Council is clueless again!

First, the city of Laguna Beach was snookered by the city of Irvine into wasting millions of tax dollars into opposing El Toro. Irvine lied to them and tricked them into thinking that jets from El Toro would go over their city, which they would not.

However, once John Wayne flights increased, there were howls of protest out of Laguna Beach about this. What poetic justice that was! You see folks, flights from John Wayne actually do go over Laguna Beach! Imagine that! Today, Irvine has a worthless great pork that provides very little economic stimulus, unlike an airport would, and is of no benefit to the clueless denizens of Laguna Beach.

Now Laguna Beach is clueless again, and wants to go against the will of California voters and overturn proposition 8, which bans gay marriage. It is well known that Laguna Beach is full of liberals and those who practice alternative lifestyles. I really don't care, so long as they keep it to themselves and away from Newport Beach. Heck they can open more gay bars for all I care. But they should not go around trying to redefine marriage, which is a centuries long tradition between a man and a woman. The majority of the state does not share Laguna Beach's "values".

Nyre is on Fire! Keep them letters coming!

Ladies and Gentlemen, I am finally back from a long vacation where I traveled on my yacht. I did not have regular access to the internet. Thus, this blog was not maintained regularly. But judging by the participation on here by our audience, El Toro is alive and well in the hearts and minds of everybody. If it was really dead as the NIMBYs so wrongly claim, they would not be on here incessantly spreading more lies and class warfare. Economic necessity along with the failure of the great pork dictates that the re-opening of El Toro International Airport is only a matter of time. Resistance is futile.

Anyhow, here is a great letter that appeared in the Daily Pilot by the great Donald Nyre reminding Daily Pilot readers of the need for El Toro. As a traveling businessman, I do not feel that John Wayne should die on the vine entirely, and should remain open for private aircraft, while the flying public makes use of the much larger El Toro facilities. 10,000 foot runways and a 4700 acre base are better suited for such purposes.

As one whose time is valuable, I prefer to fly privately and not be forced to share the runways and airspace with the masses. I also would not be willing to share Newport Harbor with commercial passenger ships. It is nice to have my own boat space to come and go as I please. One day John Wayne Airport will also be that way.



Here’s an idea: Let JWA die on the vine

Local activists’ eloquent pleas for a regional solution to air traffic demand wisely point out that John Wayne Airport already is the second largest provider of service in the Los Angeles area behind LAX, (“Better transportation solution to airport woes,” Jan. 21.)

They point out that 30% of users are vacationers, and if better surface transportation were available, people could land at some airport out in the sticks and ride the train to their destinations.

Ontario Airport ranks high on the list of airports out in the sticks that does not attract customers, because it does not have a train connecting the airport to tourist destinations of Anaheim and Newport Beach. As long as there is LAX or JWA, passengers will continue to use them, with, or without, a train.

Los Angeles opened Ontario as a reliever airport when LAX is fogged in.

It was not intended to be a destination airport. Similarly, I have been denied landing at San Diego’s Lindbergh Field and had to land at Ontario. Of course we all hated it because we wanted to land in San Diego.

By contrast to airports out in the sticks, Los Angeles has its eye on the closed El Toro International Airport, which is in an area with a proven track record for attracting passengers. I believe a regional solution to our air transportation problem is to open El Toro International Airport, let Los Angeles run it, and let dinky John Wayne Airport die on the vine.

DONALD NYRE

Newport Beach