Mimi Walters and El Toro Marine Corps Air Station

El Toro circa 1946, pre-dated the NIMBY ETRPA Cities!

State Senator Mimi Walters is a candidate for State Treasurer. One of her previous political stints includes serving as THE CHAIR of  ETRPA, the El Toro Reuse "Planning" Authority. ETRPA was anything but a planning authority. It was an obstructionist NIMBY coalition of 10 South Orange County cities opposed to re-use of El Toro for aviation, no matter the size or configuration! Any concerns on ETRPA's part about "noise", "safety" and "efficiency" of the county's airport plan were purely disingenuous. They ALSO opposed an alternative airport layout blessed by the pilots unions that addressed ALL of these aforementioned issues!

El Toro was built in 1943 long before Mimi Walters was born and well before any ETRPA cities ever existed! ETRPA spent about $50 million in taxdollars on endless litigating, propaganda mailers, and non-stop voting on El Toro. Never mind that the voters of Orange County had voted TWICE for El Toro already.  FOUR VOTES were conducted on El Toro until ETRPA finally GOT their way!

A multi-billion dollar taxpayer aviation asset going to waste!

El Toro is the SECOND largest airport to ever get shut down in our nation's history! It sits on 4700 acres and has almost 40,000 feet worth of runway! The only airport bigger than El Toro to close would be Stapleton in Denver as it had about 53,000 feet of runway. But at least Denver opened a replacement airport with even more capacity.

"If you were starting from scratch to build an airport for this part of Southern California, and you could find the real estate, you and your taxpayers would be looking at a minimum of probably $10 billion to replicate anything near what El Toro is today, and your Federal Government is offering to hand it to you for nothing, in essence."
"This is an opportunity that will never come again, rarely occurs even in all the attempts to pass airports on to communities, and never of the significance that approaches the importance of this transaction."
-David Hinson, Retired F.A.A. Chief.   

There are many communities that wished they had an airport buffer zone this big!

One unique thing about El Toro compared to many other airports is that it had a buffer zone free of homes that is bigger than most cities. All a jet had to do is approach from the north and take off to the south with a 30 degree bank and no homes would be flown over all the way to the ocean! However, The Irvine Company wanted the aviation zoning for El Toro nixed so that it could shoehorn in thousands of homes in the former noise buffer zone.  (Click on graphic below.)

Mimi Walters and the ETRPA gang do not care about the quality of life of the South Orange County residents they supposedly represent. They are shills for the Irvine Company and Mission Viejo Company which wanted the Marines and civilian aviation to be silenced forever. Therefore allowing these developers a chance to make the 5th largest county in the country even larger! Concerns about "traffic" and "pollution" only matter when they involves an airport at El Toro.

This is what a 5700 foot runway looks like at the World's 4th scariest airport!

John Wayne has the SHORTEST commercial runway in the nation!  It has been ranked as the FOURTH scariest airport in the world by Smarter Travel! In contrast, El Toro has a pair of 10,000 feet and 8,000 feet runways

"Without preserving some kind of airfield potential for El Toro, Orange County would be left to meet its own and its regional obligations under the narrow growth capacity of John Wayne Airport. It's a facility with a quirky takeoff pattern, a runway problem similar to LAX's and one 5,700-foot runway to serve a county coming up on 3 million people……the airport is really not equipped to carry Orange County's future need alone."

-Los Angeles Times. February 18, 2002

"John Wayne, Orange County's existing airport, is too small to serve county needs, now filled by LAX and Ontario airports. San Diego and Orange counties have equal populations of 3 million, but San Diego's Lindbergh Field, serving 15 million passengers per year, has twice the capacity of John Wayne."
"Los Angeles' proposal to run El Toro as a civilian airport is the best option. The land is available and has served as a military air base. To allow this land to be turned into more houses, cars, and freeways is unacceptable to the region."

-San Diego Union Tribune. June 22, 2003.  

"This airport is inadequate for the future of Orange County. It is too short, it is 5,700 feet. And while it is safe, it is not as safe as an 8,000 or a 10,000 foot runway at El Toro. It can't be expanded, it's 450 some acres; you have 2,700 acres for potential acres for potential airport use at El Toro. That's a substantial difference and probably one that can't be replicated under any circumstances."

-David Hinson, Retired F.A.A. Chief.  

Traffic at LAX., much of it from Orange County travelers.

In 1997, Orange County could only handle 4% of its cargo needs. That figure is lower today.

"....it's galling that Orange County residents seem so reluctant to do their fair share to accommodate the rising regional demand for air travel. According to statistics in a Southern California Association of Governments study, Los Angeles County is overburdened when it comes to providing commercial air travel. The SCAG figures show that L.A. County serves 81 percent of the regional demand but only generates 58 percent of that demand."
"By contrast, Orange County serves a measly 7.7 percent of the regional demand. And yet its population generates 20.5 percent of that demand for air travel."
"That voters there seem unwilling to plan for this is an abdication of their responsibilities. All this makes the job of those in the South Bay advocating regional air traffic solutions that much more difficult."

-Daily Breeze  March 09, 2002

"Much of the growth pressure (for LAX), says Los Angeles, comes from Orange County, which now sends some 6 million passengers per year to LAX."
-San Diego Union Tribune. June 22, 2003

ETRPA could care less about the jobs and economic stimulation El Toro would provide!

".....The county's elected auditor/controller, released a report Friday about the impacts of an initiative on the March ballot -- named Measure W by the county Tuesday -- that would rezone the former El Toro Marine Corps base from an airport to a park."
"(Larry Agran is) hoping that a $2.6 billion state park bond, also on the March ballot, could pump grant money into the Great Park plan. Orange County's fair share would be about $200 million."
"Airport proponents said the auditor's report showed that the county would miss out on an economic boon if the park initiative succeeds."
"The report said the greatest economic impact would be the potential loss of $6 billion in airport economic benefits if a public park is built instead."

-Orange County Register. December 06, 2001.

 
During the election campaign, ETRPA claimed that their non-aviation "Millennium Plan" for El Toro would create 112,000 jobs, or about 20,000 more than an airport. But they abandoned that proposal because it turned out it would produce TWICE as much traffic as the airport! 

How many jobs has the Great Pork created to date?
"With more than a $100 million spent in five years and more than 1,000 acres of weeds and cracked concrete to show for that spending, I sent in a public records request for salaries and other compensation for Great Park employees."
"One of the biggest surprises in my records request is the small size of the Great Park staff.
There are 19 full-time employees and five part-time workers.
The average salary between the 19 employees? $103,722."
-David Whiting, Orange County Register. September 07, 2010.

The city of Irvine PLEDGED no taxes would be required for the "Great Park.

"Despite all the denials, there is no way the park promised in the fancy four-color brochures will come about without significant infusions of tax dollars."
"...changing El Toro's land-use designation from airport to park will give park proponents an all-consuming reason to look for new tax revenues anywhere they will find them, in the form of fees, assessments, bond money, federal and state grants (at the expense of park needs in north and central county) and other taxpayer sources."
"...a vote for (measure) W is like writing a blank check to Larry Agran and the park supporters, then trusting they'll spend your money wisely."

-Orange County Register. February 24, 2002

Irvine has TWICE tried to obtain taxdollars for the so called "Great Park" through statewide propositions.

"Proposition 51 is so outrageous and deceptive that even liberal interest groups, politicians and newspapers that typically favor the slow-growth policies advocated by the initiative's sponsor (the Planning and Conservation League) are opposing it. That's because Prop. 51 is the ultimate quid pro quo. Wealthy developers fund it and get projects that benefit their businesses in return. The problem is that taxpayers end up footing the bill."
        "Another dishonesty revealed: Irvine's left-wing Mayor Larry Agran, who is on the PCL board, will secure $100 million  for the Great Park if Prop. 51 passes. The  bond, of course, will  be repaid by taxpayers. Yet, as many observers note, he promised no tax funds would be used for the park."
- OC Register. October 20, 2002
Fortunately Prop 51 lost in EVERY COUNTY!
  
Then, in November 2008, Irvine was hoping to score $25 million worth of bond money from Prop 10. It also lost at the polls. 
 “This measure asks taxpayers to fund $5 billion in bonds -- at a time when the state is in desperate financial straits and may be approaching a dangerous level of indebtedness -- for a scheme disguised as an effort to benefit the environment.”
"The measure generously doles out taxpayer money for a variety of green-sounding initiatives: $200 million for alternative energy demonstration projects at eight California cities (including Irvine)…."
-Los Angeles Times. September 19, 2008.

The infamous Westboro Baptist Church would be proud of ETRPA screwing the troops!

-Jan 31, 2005
ETRPA's Tom O'Malley Harasses American Legion Post For Supporting Housing Effort
"El Toro Reuse Planning Authority's Tom O'Malley called and harassed the Tustin American Legion Post Commander for supporting Ocmil.com's effort to reopen the El Toro housing for our troops. 'Tom, who is a former El Toro Marine with no authority, is the same guy who threatened our Spokesman Ken Lee some time ago with physical violence for trying to reopen the El Toro housing. Because of Tom's threat, a police report was filed (included a threatening email printout sent by Tom O'Malley to Ken Lee) with the Irvine Police who knows all about Tom's conduct,' said Ocmil.com's George Simon. 'Shame on Tom for adopting such an anti-military attitude towards the housing needs of our troops at a time like this,' George added."
 http://web.archive.org/web/20050206180447/ocmil.com/pages/latest_news.html

Mimi Walters was a MEMBER of ETRPA at the time these incidents happened. Therefore, Tom O'Malley would have had her blessing, if not outright orders to harass these military veterans. Walters and ETRPA threw our troops under the bus because they did not want the El Toro land auction slowed down. Never mind that at the time the land was zoned for non-aviation uses only. Low income military families are not welcome in upscale South Orange County. Mimi Walters is the Jane Fonda of the Republican Party!

Larry Agran, Barbara Boxer, and Beth Krom.

"Sen. Barbara Boxer on Tuesday got a first-hand look at the future home of the Great Park, announcing her intention to seek federal assistance in making several parts of the ambitious project a reality.
"  'I'm going to fight to get these appropriations for you, right now, this year,' Boxer said. 'I want to be a part of this adventure.'
'I don't look at this as subsidizing anything,' Boxer said. 'I look at it as an investment.'  "
-Orange County Register. March 29, 2009.

"We never expected much out of this grandiose project and we predicted that its supporters could not make it fly without turning to taxpayers."
"So we're not surprised that the park's chief proponent (Larry Agran) has reduced himself to imploring the federal government to dump massive amounts of tax dollars to stimulate the park's development."
"We didn't christen it the Great Pork for nothing."
 -Orange County Register. March 29, 2009. 

"Agran argues that the original funding plan didn’t bar the use of federal or state funds, but rather noted that the Great Park wouldn’t require federal or state funds. 'We never closed the door on state or federal funds. Why would we?' Agran asked." "Increasingly complex and ambitious design plans have caused the Great Park price-tag to swell, from $353 million in 2003 to an estimated $1.4 billion today."
"Irvine officials have twice traveled to Washington D.C . in recent months to press their case with national leaders and key congressional staffers,...." 
-Orange County Register. July 17, 2009.

"A $475,000 earmark for the Great Park that Sen. Barbara Boxer got included in the spending bill being debated in the Senate this week has incurred the wrath of an Oklahoma senator known for crusading against such member projects. 
(Senator Tom Coburn's office analyis about this earmark.)
"Irvine Councilman Larry Agran, chairman of the Great Park’s board of directors, a Democrat with close ties to Boxer, Agran persuaded the senator to visit the site last year. That’s when she committed to getting federal money to help pay for the hangar." 
" 'This earmark', Boxer said this morning,  'It will put people to work refurbishing this old Air Force base.'  " (It is a Marine base!)
"In her floor statement, Boxer said Orange County was the biggest Republican county in the state, her way of saying she’s willing to help out GOP strongholds as well as the Democrats’ parts of California."
-Orange County Register. March 03, 2009.
(There are A LOT of Orange County residents, most especially Republicans, who DON'T want your "help"!)

"(Irvine) City leaders in January directed city staffers to seek around $6 million in federal funds for several Great Park projects,.." 
-Orange County Register. April 22, 2010.

Boxer has put in a request for another Great Pork earmark for FY2011.

Between $100-200 million has been spent and only 27 ACRES have been built! Most of the money is spent on public relations and planning, but very little towards the actual park itself.  In fact, the Orange County Grand Jury even issued a damning report on how poorly mismanaged the park truly is. YOUR Taxdollars at work!

Summary on Mimi Walters and ETRPA:

-Multi-Billion Dollar Aviation Asset Wasted. 

 - Former home free buffer zone will be shoehorned in with lots of urban sprawl.

-Orange County is left with a minimally safe inadequate airport.

-Lindbergh Field in San Diego is at full capacity. El Toro would have provided some relief.

-Travelers and cargo from Orange County clog freeways to use outlying airports.

-Turned down a chance to create over 92,000 jobs!

-"Great Park"  has only created 19 jobs.

-Turned down a chance to have $6 billion a year in economic activity 

-ETRPA threatened troops with violence because they wanted housing and commissary access.

 -"Great Park" broke promise on requiring NO taxes.

-"Great Park" is way over budget and not on time.

This site is NOT affiliated with any political candidate or party.

Barbara Boxer and Hamilton Air Force Base

Hamilton in 1948, predated the Novato NIMBYs.

Hamilton Air Force Base was built in 1932, 8 years BEFORE Barbara Boxer was even born!  Boxer's long 34 year political career began in 1976 as a Marin County Supervisor. As you will learn, she has been wasting our tax dollars from day one.

"For two years Barbara Boxer was the lone voice on the Marin Board of Supervisors...against a proposal to acquire Hamilton Air Force Base for use as an airport..."

-San Francisco Bay Guardian, July 4, 1979.

On May 15, 1979 supervisors Barbara Boxer, Gail Wilhelm, and Denis Rice voted to withdraw the county's application to the federal government for an airport. 

"Hamilton Left Hanging on a Cliff"
"....the 3-2 vote to with draw the county's application to buy the base from Uncle Sam for the sum of $1 has opened Pandora's Box wide."

"....regional transportation studies have stressed the need for an alternate air terminal north of the Golden Gate to relieve growth pressure on the three international airports clustered around the South Bay."
-Marin Independent Journal, May 18, 1979.

Hamilton in 1973, the year before closure with very few neighbors!

".....there is a regional impact to all this. If you don't have a North Bay Airport somewhere, there'll have to be bay fill later on elsewhere to get more runway capacity." 
-Michael Wilmar, acting executive director, Bay Conservation Development Commission. --San Francisco Bay Guardian, July 4, 1979.

During the Depression, Marin County residents begged the government to build Hamilton so that jobs would be created. A few decades later, there were myopic people like Boxer who did not care about the economic potential of Hamilton. While she bashes her opponent for job outsourcing, one must ask,  How many jobs did Boxer PREVENT from being created at Hamilton? Every job created at Hamilton would have meant one less person clogging the Golden Gate Bridge to go to work.

The area surrounding Hamilton compared to a typical airport in the Bay Area, has an incredibly large area free of homes. Besides, water to the east, there is very little development east of Highway 101. The area surrounding Hamilton has a much lower density than that of the airports in Oakland, San Jose, and San Francisco.

Quotes from Barbara Boxer:

"We have a very hard fight ahead because there are a lot of forces that want to see in this county and throughout the country that want to see that place become a regional airport for a whole lot of reasons."

-San Francisco Bay Guardian, July 4, 1979. 

"The intent and thrust of the Federal Airport Act is to open up to the public former federal airports. After all, the airport was paid for by federal taxpayers."  

"....under the airport act, the county can get Hamilton Air Force Base for one dollar, the reality is that it puts the county at economic risk."
-Marin Independent Journal, October 13, 1977.

"Rep. Barbara Boxer has moved to block a federal grant for a study of Hamilton Air Force Base...."

"  'We have a 200 billion dollar deficit and to spend $175,000 to a study is frivolous'.... Boxer said today from her office in Washington."

 "Dennis McQuaid, Novato Councilman, called Boxer's move 'ridiculous', and said the study is needed to develop information so that people can be better informed for the election."

"She is choosing to support her political friends who are anti-aviation rather than support the majority of the council."

-Marin Independent Journal, May 02, 1984.
Barbara Boxer only cares about economic risk and deficits to the government when she personally opposes a project. 

Her concern for Marin County's financial health is disingenuous since a private firm was willing to assume the risks for Hamilton.  
"The Taubman Company of Michigan had offered to develop the base for and pick up airport losses, but the county turned them down."
"Federal consultants found merit in the county airport plans, saying development 'appears financially feasible on the basis of available information' "
-Marin Independent Journal, November 4, 1979. 

-Boxer's reaction that the GSA would sell the property at Hamilton and flood 3000 feet of the existing runway.
"A spectacular day for Marin County, Little Marin County stood up with the best of them...I'm just ecstatic."

Little Marin County has created a BIG PROBLEM for the rest of the Bay Area thanks to Boxer.
"Walter Abernathy, executive director of the Port of Oakland, said: 'The decision is unfortunate from the standpoint of aviation safety and air safety in the Bay Area.' "
 -Marin Independent Journal. June 26, 1980.

"Global warming is the greatest environmental threat faced by mankind." 
-August 14, 2007 press release
So lets force North Bay travelers to drive extra miles to outlying airports in San Francisco and Oakland! Great Idea! 
What an environmentalist she is! 

Barbara Boxer on the proposal to convert El Toro into a civilian airport: 
"Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.) ….asked the Defense Department to delay sending a $1-million grant to (Orange) county to study the future use of the El Toro Marine Corps Air Station.
"In this difficult time of fiscal restraints, we should wait until after the election and not risk wasting taxpayer funds."
-Los Angeles Times. November 17, 1995.
That rare concern for the taxpayer from her surfaces once again. Orange County had already voted FOR the airport in November 1994. Despite her wishes to the contrary, they voted for El Toro AGAIN in March 1996!

"I believe that the county should fully and fairly explore non-aviation alternatives for El Toro.  I have urged the Navy to consider the El Toro Reuse Planning Authority's (ETRPA) mixed-use plan as an alternative option to the airport.
I hope you will be happy to know that I have written to Navy Secretary John Dalton to express these and other concerns."  
-October 21, 1998 email.
Boxer believes airports should not be in areas full of open space like Hamilton and El Toro. Instead, it is better to expand airports in dense inner cities like LAX and Oakland. What an advocate for environmental justice she is!

Finally, an airport that Boxer actually supports.
“Building a new air traffic control tower at the Palm Springs International Airport is a critical project that will create 150 new jobs, generating much-needed economic activity in the Coachella Valley. When completed, the new tower will allow for better management of congestion and will help ensure the safety of airline passengers.” 
-March 31, 2010 press release.
Where was concern about creating jobs and generating economic activity for Marin County when she lived there? What about addressing congestion and safety for Bay Area airports? Now this new found foresight to improve Palm Springs Airport would have absolutely nothing to do with the fact that Boxer now resides in nearby Rancho Mirage, and must use the airport to fly to Washington D.C.  Impossible!

Millions of dollars worth of taxpayer financed aviation facilities that would be turned into suburban sprawl and a swamp.

Hands down, general aviation re-use generates the most sales tax!

Marin County forfeited the opportunity to have control of the property for ONE DOLLAR and utilize it in the most economically beneficial way that would maximize employment and the local sales tax base. Eventually the General Services Administration SOLD the property to a developer. Today Hamilton is crammed with high density housing, and the $220 million plus taxpayer Boxer Swamp.
 

Loma Prieta Earthquake Damage.

Marin County Coastal Post. October 30, 1989.

If Barbara Boxer had her way, the runways would have been flooded before 1989, and Marin County would not have been able to assist victims of the Loma Prieta Earthquake. What will Marin County ever do should the big one hit there and they need to have relief supplies flown in?

All Marin County has left today is Gnoss Airport with a small 3300 foot runway. Ironically, there is a good chance the runway will be extended by another 1100 feet to make it a grand total of 4400 feet overall. This will likely require federal assistance from the FAA, where Boxer will hold a press conference touting how much she is "helping" the local aviation community.

Novato NIMBY Nabobs Not Nice to Navy.

"Hamilton Interests Navy for Housing."
...."Rep. Barbara Boxer, D-Greenbrae said she is worried that if the Berg-Revoir (development) plan collapses, the federal government will use the site for (Navy) housing. Such a development would be subject to few, if any local planning rules."
-Marin Independent Journal. December 07, 1988.  

Isn't Barbara Boxer supposed to be an advocate for working class people and low-income minorities? Not if they are military personnel who need access to affordable housing in the Bay Area.  If Boxer had her way, Little Novato in Little Marin County would trump the needs of the Navy. Eventually the Navy was able to acquire some housing at Hamilton, despite Boxer's "patriotism". 

Besides denying North Bay pilots a safe state of the art facility, and attempting to deny housing for the troops,  Barbara Boxer has also grossly inconvenienced North Bay air travelers. They represent an area consisting of Marin, Napa, Solano, and Sonoma Counties for a combined population of 1.3 million people; roughly equal to the city of San Diego. North Bay passengers must pay bridge tolls and use outlying airports in San Francisco or Oakland, which are both 38 miles south of Hamilton. Forget using B.A.R.T. as it does not connect with the North Bay.

In addition, the residents of Alameda, Contra Costa, San Francisco, and San Mateo, Counties are inconvenienced as well due to these same North Bay travelers and job-seekers being forced to add to the local traffic congestion. Those are the impacts of not keeping the airfield at Hamilton.
 
For someone like Barbara Boxer who has sounded the alarm about "global warming", it would have been in her best interest to reduce the carbon footprint of Marin County and the rest of the Bay Area.



"Traffic Congestion would be worsened by any use of Hamilton, but the worst traffic would be caused by residential development, the study found"
"Air quality would suffer primarily as a result of vehicle use, again most seriously in the scenario for residential development."
-Marin Independent Journal, February 12, 1980.
Today there are several thousand residential units at Hamilton.  As long as it was anything but an airport, Boxer does not care.

- Marin United Taxpayers Newsletter

$205 Million Boxer Request for Hamilton Airfield Wetlands Restoration Approved  
Federal funding for project included in water resources bill 
April 14, 2005 
"Washington, DC – U.S. Senator Barbara Boxer (D-CA) today announced that Senate legislation reauthorizing the Water Resources Development Act (WRDA) includes funding for the Hamilton Airfield Ecosystem Restoration Project.""Under Boxer’s proposal, approved today as part of WRDA, the project is authorized for a total of $205,226,000, including a federal contribution of $153,840,000 and non-federal (local and state) contributions of $51,386,000. The funding will be used to reconstruct 6.8 miles of levee and restore 1,470 acres of native vegetation."

-Barbara Boxer Press Release

2009 "Stimulus" Funds spent on Boxer Swamp: $14,250,000

Boxer Swamp is a continuous drain on your taxdollars! An earmark for more pork for FY 2011.

Besides wasting an aviation asset, Boxer also continues to spend additional tax dollars into turning the runways at Hamilton into a swamp. According to the Army Corps of Engineers, the overall costs to date for Boxer Swamp are over $220 million covering 988 acres! This averages out to over $230,000 per acre! How many jobs has her Boondoggle on the Bay created?

Also, The Bay Conservation Development Commission has stated that the elimination of airport options in the North Bay could lead to increased pressure to fill the bay at Oakland International Airport. How MUCH will that cost and how MUCH environmental disruption will that cause?

Boxer Swamp in progress. Your taxdollars at work!

Boxer built the swamp. The voters are going to drain it!

This blog  is not affiliated with any political party or campaign.