"The Mouth" Touts Camp Pendleton

"THE MOUTH" IS RIGHT - FINALLY
On Tuesday our old pal, The Mouth From Mesa North - writing with one of his many pen names, M.H. Millard - has a commentary appearing in the Daily Pilot suggesting using a little, teeny piece of Camp Pendleton for a new regional airport. You can read the commentary HERE.

A RARE MOMENT
As most of you know, there are few issues on which M. H. Millard and I agree, but he's got this one right. Heck, even a stopped clock is right twice a day.

LARRY'S BIG ORANGE BALL
We missed the opportunity to create a regional airport at El Toro even though the voters said very clearly three times that was their preference. Only after the south county whiners finally got there way after the fourth election was that most perfect piece of real estate relegated to become even more homes. Years later that land still sits dormant, with only Larry Agran's big orange balloon as a sign of any kind of progress for all that time and money that's been spent.

VIEW OF THE RUNWAYS
Of course, from that balloon, 400 feet above the ground, you can look down at those still-pristine runways that are currently used to store boxed trees and recreational vehicles and fantasize about how great it would be to see commercial jets flying people and cargo around the world from Orange County

EASY...
Millard is correct that it might be fairly simple to carve out a small slice of Camp Pendleton and create the kind of airport so necessary to relieve the load from not only John Wayne Airport, but Lindbergh Field in San Diego, too.

RAIL MAKES IT WORK
Rail lines already connect San Diego with Orange County, so traveling to an airport at Camp Pendleton would be a snap for travelers without placing significant additional burden on already-crowded freeways.

TOO LATE?
The question now is, "Did we wait too long?" The current expansion of John Wayne does not bode well for those of us already subjected to the daily strafing by low-flying jets. Once the caps currently in place are removed in a couple years there will be extreme pressure to build a longer runway to accommodate even larger airplanes, which means that parts of Eastside Costa Mesa and the Dover Shores area of Newport Beach will become unlivable.

REMEMBER PLAYA DEL REY
If you need a reminder, this photo is of Playa del Rey, just west of Los Angeles International Airport. To accommodate the expansion of LAX, between 1965 and 1975 822 homes were vacated and over 2,000 people were relocated.
THE TIME IS NOW!
Now it the time to pick up Millard's gauntlet and begin pressuring our representatives in Washington, D.C. to consider a major regional airport at Camp Pendleton.