Wisdom of Officials in Newport Questioned

Re: “Air War’s Next Likely Target: John Wayne,” May 13:

El Segundo Mayor Mike Gordon and the Air Transportation Assn.’s desire to terminate flight restrictions at John Wayne Airport should make every resident of Newport Beach question the leadership of their city officials. After all, it was the Newport Beach City Council, along with the Airport Working Group based out of Newport Beach, that overturned Measure F in the courts, acting under the badly mistaken belief that an airport at El Toro could be forced on a disapproving electorate. I know because I was the official proponent of Measure F.

Now that El Toro is but a memory, those in Newport Beach would have been protected against an expansion at John Wayne by Measure F, as it is a virtual certainty that two-thirds of Orange County voters would never have approved the expansion. The lesson here: Be careful what you wish for.

Jeffrey C. Metzger

Laguna Hills