Consider Further Reuses for El Toro Land--and Its Planning Authority

Re “Pentagon Wants End to El Toro Logjam,” (Jan. 12):

As the article states, because of the continuing deadlock on reuse plans for the El Toro base “the Defense Department could draft a reuse plan of its own.” The close decision on the airport referendum resulted in a more aggravated dissension. This must be the time to send the Board of Supervisors (and Irvine and Lake Forest) back to the drawing board to doodle out a reuse plan for all citizens, from San Clemente to La Habra--a New York-style Central Park for Orange County.

Surely generations of users, everyone who seeks some escape from our overdeveloped communities, would bless us forever for this decision. Today we have this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. This would be a treasure for generations to come.

JULIAN GREMBLA

Laguna Niguel

* What are the supervisors doing to the taxpayers?

Isn’t it an indictment of our current Board of Supervisors that they get religion only when they are caught with their hands in the taxpayer cookie jar? (John) Moorlach told them repeatedly, in the first part of 1994, that they were approving the gambling of our tax resources. Now they canonize him. Such hypocrisy!

Well, guess what? They rushed headlong into attempting to disassemble the El Toro Reuse Planning Authority in order to put the air cargo international airport albatross around the taxpayers’ necks. They told the public that the narrowly successful initiative required them to do this. But they did not tell the public their own attorney had advised them they did not need to do this, long before the North versus South vote.

On July 22, County Counsel Terry C. Andrus put out an advisory memorandum that contained the following question and answer:

Q.: “If the initiative passes, is there any legal role for ETRPA?”

A.: “Yes. ETRPA was created for the purpose of submitting a reuse plan to the Department of Defense. If ETRPA wishes to recommend that the initiative be followed, it could make such a recommendation to the Department of Navy. If it desires a different use, it may make such a recommendation and, if it is able to persuade the Department of Navy to preclude an airport use, it may lawfully repeal those provisions of the initiative.”

If that is good advice, ETRPA should never be dismantled. And the supervisors should be exposed about their contempt for the taxpayers.

THOMAS M. WHALING

Irvine