Open message responses

Responses to the El Toro Info Site
from the two leading candidates for 5th District County Supervisor
Response from Patricia Bates	On June 6th, most South Orange County voters will choose between Pat Bates and Cassie DeYoung to fill the supervisorial seat being vacated by Tom Wilson. Both of them are campaigning, in part, on their records as leaders in the fight against El Toro Airport. It is refreshing to have genuine El Toro fighters on the ballot as opposed to the numerous candidates who have inflated their minuscule records on that front for political advantage. Both Pat and Cassie gave generously of their time, effort and money to the cause. We sent an open letter to both candidates asking the questions set forth immediately below. We thank the candidates for their time and effort in providing these responses.	Response from Cathryn DeYoung
The El Toro Reuse Planning Authority (ETRPA) always held the position that airports should not be located or – in the case of John Wayne Airport (JWA) – expanded near residential neighborhoods that are not equipped to manage the additional burdens. I supported that position and endorsed the settlement agreement at JWA and, as your County Supervisor, will continue to do so. Airport passenger travel has remained stagnant over the past five years. While it is clear our population will continue to increase resulting in an increase in passenger travel, the Southern California Association of Governments (SCAG) demand numbers have consistently over-estimated air passenger travel. The issue of how southern California travelers and tourists are going to get to and from our airports is a secondary issue. The real question is how do we rebuild and expand our aging, heavily congested roadways. People do not have to fly but – in southern California – they do have to drive. Except in the immediate vicinity of airports, our roads and freeways are congested daily because of people driving to work – not going to airports. If we find solutions to our traffic problems stemming from commuter traffic, we will make it easier to travel to and from airports. I believe all feasible transportation alternatives should be on the table for consideration – options that include getting people to and from work, to and from airports as well as other destinations. None of this is achievable by simply focusing on a single supervisorial district. It must be achieved on a regional level or it will not work in the long run. The Orange County Board of Supervisors is in the best position to accomplish this because we can approach the problem from the point of view of our constituents’ interests while also looking at the bigger picture. My 25 years of public service as a community volunteer, Founding Mayor of Laguna Niguel and State Assemblywoman for South County provided me many opportunities to serve our communities on a local and regional level including as Chair of the San Joaquin Hills Transportation Corridor Agency Board of Directors, Vice-Chair of the El Toro Reuse Planning Authority (ETRPA), the California Assembly Transportation Budget Sub-Committee, and the California Assembly Transportation Committee. While serving in the State Legislature and working closely with city & county leaders, I successfully authored legislative measures broadening Orange County's eligibility for vital transportation dollars. My years of experience – and the relationships I forged working with transportation leaders on a local, regional and state level – have provided me with a better understanding of what it will take to make sure South County receives a greater share of transportation dollars for needed traffic improvements. I will cooperate with other governmental agencies to create the interconnectivity and solid planning to ensure our transportation system works efficiently. I will work to make needed improvements to the I-5, 405 and other local freeways so that traffic does not spill onto our city streets. I support: • Widening the 91 Freeway and, if proven feasible, building a tunnel to Riverside – if it can be privately funded and safely constructed. • Completing the 241 Toll Road extension. • Allowing regular traffic to use carpool lanes during heavily congested times. • Adopting a “reversible lane” system on local freeways to ease congestion during heavy commute hours. • Smart planning that considers the impact of growth before it happens. I would also support other creative transportation solutions to improve regional mobility such as direct connection ‘flyaway’ programs and other systems that are proven fiscally responsible and have a level of demand to warrant the expense. I do believe that the private sector has a responsibility to consider and address this issue. Airlines and the travel/tourism industry in particular should be at the table to work collaboratively on solutions – after all, they know their industry and their customers best. It is not necessarily government's job to subsidize the airlines or hotels by “delivering” customers to their doorstep. These industries can and should provide – or at least be in partnership with – government facilitation of this specific kind of commuting issue. A state mandated multi-county regional airport authority could conceivably override the will of the people, and therefore is a concept I cannot not support. Improving our transportation system is unquestionably one of the most critical challenges facing Orange County today and one that demands immediate and thoughtful action. Responsible leadership – governed by facts and reason – is what South County residents need to ease traffic congestion and protect our quality of life. If you have further questions regarding my position on these and other pressing county issues, please feel free to contact me at my campaign headquarters at (949) 249-7900 or visit my website at www.BatesForSupervisor.com. As always, I look forward to speaking with you and serving you on the Orange County Board of Supervisors. Warmest regards, Pat Bates State Assemblywoman, 1998–2004 Laguna Niguel Founding Mayor and City Councilmember, 1989–1998	El Toro is done. Now, tell us Pat and Cassie, what will you do next for O.C. travelers? We keep hearing that Orange County aviation demand will grow . . . not as much as the El Toro proponents claimed, but it will grow. That means we either must increase our utilization of John Wayne Airport or find better ways to get to the other airports in the region. If you are elected to the Board of Supervisors, you will inherit O.C. Environmental Impact Report 582. It says JWA can handle 13.9 million annual passengers but the Board capped the airport at 10.3 for now and 10.8 through 2015. You could be on the Board when the next renewal of the agreement with Newport Beach comes up for study. Will you abide the Newport grass roots slogan of “10.8 and lock the gate”? When the John Wayne Airport Capacity Allocation plan comes to the Board for approval each year, will you too vote to reject airline applications to fly more seats out of JWA, so that airport management can maintain a cushion and stay comfortably under the settlement agreement limits? Will you go along with county staff continuing to talk with Newport Beach about land use control around the airport when it is clear that Newport’s purpose for the “sphere issue” talks is to restrict future airport growth? Will you work for a new Airport Environs Land Use Plan for John Wayne that protects the surrounding property from residential and high rise development that could threaten airport growth? After all, the present plan used by the Airport Land Use Commission is over 20 years old and out of date. As a future supervisor, you will have a seat on the Orange County Transportation Authority. What measures will you advocate to help get Orange County residents, tourists and business visitors to LAX, Ontario and other airports when John Wayne cannot serve their needs? What will you do to promote FlyAway (park and ride) connections to LAX? Will your plans for the roads to Riverside County do enough to get us to the airports in the Inland Empire? And by the way, what is your position regarding SCAG's proposals for a regional airport consortium? Good luck. One of you is going to win a very challenging position. Leonard Kranser Editor, El Toro Info Site April 4, 2006 Responses are posted here just as received from the candidates except for minor format changes. The El Toro Info Site and its Editor will not endorse a candidate in this race. The use, in campaign literature, of a photograph of me with one of the candidates, taken at an anti-airport event, should not be construed as an endorsement of that candidate over any other candidate. This website has a long-standing policy regarding political endorsements.	Dear Len, I wish to commend you and all of your web site contributors — who for many years have struggled to control our destiny at El Toro — for the incredible work that has been done involving www.eltoroairport.org. From its infancy, the website has been the local focus for all points of view concerning the reuse of the surplus military property at El Toro. You are personally commended for your unwavering leadership in your role as the website editor. You have been objective, persevering and inspirational in providing a large circulation accurate and timely news. Thank you for your service to our community. Thank you also for the opportunity to provide some rationale to the questions you posed in your recent “Open letter to Pat Bates, Cassie DeYoung and Orange County voters.” I do have a solid history in shaping the issues that have defined South County, including playing a leadership role (along with many others) in our fight against the proposed El Toro airport. Regional transportation issues are critical to the future of Southern California, however, we have to always be mindful that the goal of Los Angeles for many years was to build an airport at El Toro. Only after the successful Measure W effort did they start to come to the realization that they might not win this effort. It is important that we remain diligent in our efforts to protect South Orange County from the whims of Los Angeles. The future of John Wayne airport is one that is largely determined by the passenger usage levels. It is truly impossible to predict what future actions will affect these limits. As a County Supervisor I assure you and your readers that I will provide the requisite leadership to effectively deal with this issue. In that process, I will consider all relevant data including passenger demand, economics, facility design and capability, environmental impacts, legal issues, and recommendations from County staff and the public, among other key factors. The City of Newport Beach clearly plays a role in any future plan for the airport and they should be at the table in any future discussion regarding proposals to expand John Wayne airport, should that issue arise. County government needs to be inclusive and responsive to local concerns. Orange County faces critical transportation issues. As a past Director of the Orange County Transportation Authority (OCTA), I am very familiar with the transportation issues facing this County. I authored the South County Major Investment Study — which was unanimously approved by the OCTA Board of Directors — to identify traffic improvements that will be needed from the City of Lake Forest to the City of San Clemente. The South County Major Investment Study will become the blueprint for future transportation projects in South Orange County. Without such improvements to the local infrastructure, we can expect continued gridlock on our freeways and arterials. Since each of the members of the Board of Supervisors have a seat on OCTA, I will have the ability to ensure that my sponsored South County Major Investment Study is completed and acted upon — thereby providing a major transportation improvement to South Orange County. I have opposed several bad transportation projects from the proposed airport at El Toro, to the tunnels proposed along Ortega Highway and through the Cleveland National Forest. Our scarce transportation dollars should not be spent on boondoggle projects like that proposed for Ortega Highway and the “Terrible Tunnel”. With respect to Ortega Highway, the Riverside Orange County proposal was to turn Ortega highway into a virtual freeway by adding lanes and tunnels into a principal corridor from the Inland Empire to Orange County. I opposed this plan for a number of reasons. First, the Ortega major corridor proposal would have dumped thousands of extra cars and trucks into South Orange County when the traffic is headed to job sites in North Orange County and Los Angeles County. To route north bound traffic through southern Orange County simply did not make any sense. I supported safety improvements on Ortega Highway but the plan to turn Ortega Highway into a major corridor of traffic from Riverside into Southern Orange County was fatally flawed. Not to mention that OCTA estimated that the cost to build this Ortega highway corridor route with its proposed tunnels was $3 to $4 billion dollars! I lead opposition to this plan and it was ultimately dropped by OCTA and the Riverside County Transportation Authority. I also led the opposition to tunneling through the Cleveland National Forest for some of the same reasons that I opposed the ill-advised Ortega plan. The Tunnel proposal would, according to OCTA estimates, dump 120,000 daily vehicle trips onto the 133 freeway and this traffic would again head northbound along the I-405 or the I-5 where the traffic is headed towards jobs in North Orange County and Los Angeles County. I will not support the imprudent waste of limited federal funding on multi-billion-dollar projects that further exacerbate Orange County’s traffic problems. I am on record supporting needed improvements to the 91 Freeway to alleviate the east-west flow of traffic from Riverside County. These improvements serve not only west bound Riverside commuters but also address the needs of Orange County commuters traveling inland. Orange County needs to address more creative, alternative modes of transportation. Strategically, we need to be planning for the future of Orange County. Our County continues to grow and the increase in population is expected to reach 3.7 million by the year 2020. We need to plan for this increase in traffic and we need to develop a master plan to find ways to reduce traffic congestion and look at alternatives to car travel. One such alternative being explored in Anaheim and at SCAG is that of using high speed trains or Mag Lev trains to transport passengers from airports. That should continue to be explored to determine if these modes of transportation are economically feasible. Finally, any proposal by the Southern California Association of Governments (SCAG) to form a regional airport consortium would have to be looked at very carefully, in light of Los Angeles’ past interest in creating an airport at El Toro. San Diego County’s recent experience with a similar reorganization provides great insight into unintended consequences, when a powerful consortium is not directly responsible to the voters. Orange County’s experiences with SCAG concerning the El Toro debate further suggests that the development of a consortium powerful enough to dictate airport issues throughout the Los Angeles, Orange, San Bernardino and Riverside Counties could indeed be worrisome to the residents of Orange County. I trust that I have provided a thoughtful response to your questions and have provided your readers a measure of my decision-making process. Respectfully, Cathryn DeYoung Mayor, Laguna Niguel Candidate for the 5th District Supervisor

Responses to the El Toro Info Site
from the two leading candidates for 5th District County Supervisor

Response from Patricia Bates

On June 6th, most South Orange County voters will choose between Pat Bates and Cassie DeYoung to fill the supervisorial seat being vacated by Tom Wilson. Both of them are campaigning, in part, on their records as leaders in the fight against El Toro Airport.

It is refreshing to have genuine El Toro fighters on the ballot as opposed to the numerous candidates who have inflated their minuscule records on that front for political advantage. Both Pat and Cassie gave generously of their time, effort and money to the cause.

We sent an open letter to both candidates asking the questions set forth immediately below.

We thank the candidates for their time and effort in providing these responses.

Response from Cathryn DeYoung

The El Toro Reuse Planning Authority (ETRPA) always held the position that airports should not be located or – in the case of John Wayne Airport (JWA) – expanded near residential neighborhoods that are not equipped to manage the additional burdens. I supported that position and endorsed the settlement agreement at JWA and, as your County Supervisor, will continue to do so.

Airport passenger travel has remained stagnant over the past five years. While it is clear our population will continue to increase resulting in an increase in passenger travel, the Southern California Association of Governments (SCAG) demand numbers have consistently over-estimated air passenger travel.

The issue of how southern California travelers and tourists are going to get to and from our airports is a secondary issue. The real question is how do we rebuild and expand our aging, heavily congested roadways.

People do not have to fly but – in southern California – they do have to drive. Except in the immediate vicinity of airports, our roads and freeways are congested daily because of people driving to work – not going to airports. If we find solutions to our traffic problems stemming from commuter traffic, we will make it easier to travel to and from airports.

I believe all feasible transportation alternatives should be on the table for consideration – options that include getting people to and from work, to and from airports as well as other destinations.

None of this is achievable by simply focusing on a single supervisorial district. It must be achieved on a regional level or it will not work in the long run. The Orange County Board of Supervisors is in the best position to accomplish this because we can approach the problem from the point of view of our constituents’ interests while also looking at the bigger picture.

My 25 years of public service as a community volunteer, Founding Mayor of Laguna Niguel and State Assemblywoman for South County provided me many opportunities to serve our communities on a local and regional level including as Chair of the San Joaquin Hills Transportation Corridor Agency Board of Directors, Vice-Chair of the El Toro Reuse Planning Authority (ETRPA), the California Assembly Transportation Budget Sub-Committee, and the California Assembly Transportation Committee.

While serving in the State Legislature and working closely with city & county leaders, I successfully authored legislative measures broadening Orange County's eligibility for vital transportation dollars.

My years of experience – and the relationships I forged working with transportation leaders on a local, regional and state level – have provided me with a better understanding of what it will take to make sure South County receives a greater share of transportation dollars for needed traffic improvements.

I will cooperate with other governmental agencies to create the interconnectivity and solid planning to ensure our transportation system works efficiently. I will work to make needed improvements to the I-5, 405 and other local freeways so that traffic does not spill onto our city streets.

I support:
•    Widening the 91 Freeway and, if proven feasible, building a tunnel to Riverside – if it can be privately funded and safely constructed.
•    Completing the 241 Toll Road extension.
•    Allowing regular traffic to use carpool lanes during heavily congested times.
•    Adopting a “reversible lane” system on local freeways to ease congestion during heavy commute hours.
•    Smart planning that considers the impact of growth before it happens.

I would also support other creative transportation solutions to improve regional mobility such as direct connection ‘flyaway’ programs and other systems that are proven fiscally responsible and have a level of demand to warrant the expense.

I do believe that the private sector has a responsibility to consider and address this issue. Airlines and the travel/tourism industry in particular should be at the table to work collaboratively on solutions – after all, they know their industry and their customers best. It is not necessarily government's job to subsidize the airlines or hotels by “delivering” customers to their doorstep. These industries can and should provide – or at least be in partnership with – government facilitation of this specific kind of commuting issue.

A state mandated multi-county regional airport authority could conceivably override the will of the people, and therefore is a concept I cannot not support.

Improving our transportation system is unquestionably one of the most critical challenges facing Orange County today and one that demands immediate and thoughtful action. Responsible leadership – governed by facts and reason – is what South County residents need to ease traffic congestion and protect our quality of life.

If you have further questions regarding my position on these and other pressing county issues, please feel free to contact me at my campaign headquarters at (949) 249-7900 or visit my website at www.BatesForSupervisor.com.

As always, I look forward to speaking with you and serving you on the Orange County Board of Supervisors.

Warmest regards,

Pat Bates
State Assemblywoman, 1998–2004
Laguna Niguel Founding Mayor and City Councilmember, 1989–1998

El Toro is done. Now, tell us Pat and Cassie, what will you do next for O.C. travelers?

We keep hearing that Orange County aviation demand will grow . . . not as much as the El Toro proponents claimed, but it will grow. That means we either must increase our utilization of John Wayne Airport or find better ways to get to the other airports in the region.

If you are elected to the Board of Supervisors, you will inherit O.C. Environmental Impact Report 582. It says JWA can handle 13.9 million annual passengers but the Board capped the airport at 10.3 for now and 10.8 through 2015. You could be on the Board when the next renewal of the agreement with Newport Beach comes up for study. Will you abide the Newport grass roots slogan of “10.8 and lock the gate”?

When the John Wayne Airport Capacity Allocation plan comes to the Board for approval each year, will you too vote to reject airline applications to fly more seats out of JWA, so that airport management can maintain a cushion and stay comfortably under the settlement agreement limits?

Will you go along with county staff continuing to talk with Newport Beach about land use control around the airport when it is clear that Newport’s purpose for the “sphere issue” talks is to restrict future airport growth?

Will you work for a new Airport Environs Land Use Plan for John Wayne that protects the surrounding property from residential and high rise development that could threaten airport growth? After all, the present plan used by the Airport Land Use Commission is over 20 years old and out of date.

As a future supervisor, you will have a seat on the Orange County Transportation Authority. What measures will you advocate to help get Orange County residents, tourists and business visitors to LAX, Ontario and other airports when John Wayne cannot serve their needs? What will you do to promote FlyAway (park and ride) connections to LAX? Will your plans for the roads to Riverside County do enough to get us to the airports in the Inland Empire?

And by the way, what is your position regarding SCAG's proposals for a regional airport consortium?

Good luck. One of you is going to win a very challenging position.

Leonard Kranser
Editor, El Toro Info Site
April 4, 2006

Responses are posted here just as received from the candidates except for minor format changes.

The El Toro Info Site and its Editor will not endorse a candidate in this race.

The use, in campaign literature, of a photograph of me with one of the candidates, taken at an anti-airport event, should not be construed as an endorsement of that candidate over any other candidate.

This website has a long-standing policy regarding political endorsements.

Dear Len,

I wish to commend you and all of your web site contributors — who for many years have struggled to control our destiny at El Toro — for the incredible work that has been done involving www.eltoroairport.org. From its infancy, the website has been the local focus for all points of view concerning the reuse of the surplus military property at El Toro. You are personally commended for your unwavering leadership in your role as the website editor. You have been objective, persevering and inspirational in providing a large circulation accurate and timely news. Thank you for your service to our community.

Thank you also for the opportunity to provide some rationale to the questions you posed in your recent “Open letter to Pat Bates, Cassie DeYoung and Orange County voters.”
I do have a solid history in shaping the issues that have defined South County, including playing a leadership role (along with many others) in our fight against the proposed El Toro airport.
Regional transportation issues are critical to the future of Southern California, however, we have to always be mindful that the goal of Los Angeles for many years was to build an airport at El Toro. Only after the successful Measure W effort did they start to come to the realization that they might not win this effort. It is important that we remain diligent in our efforts to protect South Orange County from the whims of Los Angeles.

The future of John Wayne airport is one that is largely determined by the passenger usage levels. It is truly impossible to predict what future actions will affect these limits. As a County Supervisor I assure you and your readers that I will provide the requisite leadership to effectively deal with this issue. In that process, I will consider all relevant data including passenger demand, economics, facility design and capability, environmental impacts, legal issues, and recommendations from County staff and the public, among other key factors.
The City of Newport Beach clearly plays a role in any future plan for the airport and they should be at the table in any future discussion regarding proposals to expand John Wayne airport, should that issue arise. County government needs to be inclusive and responsive to local concerns.

Orange County faces critical transportation issues. As a past Director of the Orange County Transportation Authority (OCTA), I am very familiar with the transportation issues facing this County. I authored the South County Major Investment Study — which was unanimously approved by the OCTA Board of Directors — to identify traffic improvements that will be needed from the City of Lake Forest to the City of San Clemente.

The South County Major Investment Study will become the blueprint for future transportation projects in South Orange County. Without such improvements to the local infrastructure, we can expect continued gridlock on our freeways and arterials. Since each of the members of the Board of Supervisors have a seat on OCTA, I will have the ability to ensure that my sponsored South County Major Investment Study is completed and acted upon — thereby providing a major transportation improvement to South Orange County.

I have opposed several bad transportation projects from the proposed airport at El Toro, to the tunnels proposed along Ortega Highway and through the Cleveland National Forest. Our scarce transportation dollars should not be spent on boondoggle projects like that proposed for Ortega Highway and the “Terrible Tunnel”.

With respect to Ortega Highway, the Riverside Orange County proposal was to turn Ortega highway into a virtual freeway by adding lanes and tunnels into a principal corridor from the Inland Empire to Orange County. I opposed this plan for a number of reasons.

First, the Ortega major corridor proposal would have dumped thousands of extra cars and trucks into South Orange County when the traffic is headed to job sites in North Orange County and Los Angeles County. To route north bound traffic through southern Orange County simply did not make any sense. I supported safety improvements on Ortega Highway but the plan to turn Ortega Highway into a major corridor of traffic from Riverside into Southern Orange County was fatally flawed.

Not to mention that OCTA estimated that the cost to build this Ortega highway corridor route with its proposed tunnels was $3 to $4 billion dollars! I lead opposition to this plan and it was ultimately dropped by OCTA and the Riverside County Transportation Authority.

I also led the opposition to tunneling through the Cleveland National Forest for some of the same reasons that I opposed the ill-advised Ortega plan. The Tunnel proposal would, according to OCTA estimates, dump 120,000 daily vehicle trips onto the 133 freeway and this traffic would again head northbound along the I-405 or the I-5 where the traffic is headed towards jobs in North Orange County and Los Angeles County. I will not support the imprudent waste of limited federal funding on multi-billion-dollar projects that further exacerbate Orange County’s traffic problems.
I am on record supporting needed improvements to the 91 Freeway to alleviate the east-west flow of traffic from Riverside County. These improvements serve not only west bound Riverside commuters but also address the needs of Orange County commuters traveling inland.

Orange County needs to address more creative, alternative modes of transportation. Strategically, we need to be planning for the future of Orange County. Our County continues to grow and the increase in population is expected to reach 3.7 million by the year 2020. We need to plan for this increase in traffic and we need to develop a master plan to find ways to reduce traffic congestion and look at alternatives to car travel. One such alternative being explored in Anaheim and at SCAG is that of using high speed trains or Mag Lev trains to transport passengers from airports. That should continue to be explored to determine if these modes of transportation are economically feasible.

Finally, any proposal by the Southern California Association of Governments (SCAG) to form a regional airport consortium would have to be looked at very carefully, in light of Los Angeles’ past interest in creating an airport at El Toro. San Diego County’s recent experience with a similar reorganization provides great insight into unintended consequences, when a powerful consortium is not directly responsible to the voters. Orange County’s experiences with SCAG concerning the El Toro debate further suggests that the development of a consortium powerful enough to dictate airport issues throughout the Los Angeles, Orange, San Bernardino and Riverside Counties could indeed be worrisome to the residents of Orange County.

I trust that I have provided a thoughtful response to your questions and have provided your readers a measure of my decision-making process.
Respectfully,

Cathryn DeYoung
Mayor, Laguna Niguel
Candidate for the 5th District Supervisor