Paved Paradise to Put Up a Parking Lot...

Well, I wouldn't necessarily call the back nine over at the Newport Beach Golf Course Paradise, but I couldn't help but think of Joni Mitchell's song when reading the Bible's article about the potential expansion of John Wayne Airport, if only the parking lot. By itself, it's an interesting article about the County's subtle desire to expand the airport, but along with this little Len Kranser blog entry from last week on OCBlog.net, it reminds me as to a very large issue which is looming over the future of Newport Beach. And even when I read Len's little explanation by itself, I didn't think much about it again, since we've been dealing with the City Hall v. Park issues and the Sober Living Homes, but together, these two reads scare me. Years ago, I was a partner in an Orange County firm and at the Partner meetings, after all the "work" stuff was discussed, one of the Senior Partners would take the meeting into conspiracy theories about Government, religion, the Free Masons, etc. but it was one of his particularly interesting rants that he started to talk about the John Wayne Airport's future which I remember still today. He talked about how certain big business people in Costa Mesa WANTED John Wayne Airport to expand because it would make Costa Mesa and it's South Coast Plaza area into the Westwood/Beverly Hills of Orange County, with the opulent stores, wonderful restaurants, and great cultural performance centers. He then talked about the golf course (the part that the County of Orange owns), how that was the key to the expansion of the Airport and that the wheels were already in motion to do that, but he never gave us any details about it. Just like he never really gave us clear explanations of his other rants. He just said that he knew about it. But he has proved to be correct on too many other things when it came to Costa Mesa for me to have completely discounted it, and now that this golf course might get Airport usage, I get nervous. I don't know if I'm reaching, but these little steps that the County are doing could set up an interesting showdown when the Airport Settlement Agreement comes close to its expiration date. And while this John Wayne Airport expansion issue has taken a back seat for Newport Beach public awareness, please don't forget about it and please get involved with AirFair and with the Airport Working Group.

ADDITIONAL LINK - It appears as though Newport Beach isn't the only city with Airport Expansion problems...