It's Stuck in an El Toro Quagmire A once-sure thing has become bogged down by planning details, lease setbacks and tenacious opposition. Since then, however, airport plans have taken so many detours that even supporters aren't sure which road will lead to opening Southern California's second-largest airfield.
Public perception remains mired in an unshakable shroud of skepticism.
The dissonance over El Toro planning has spread throughout Southern California, where federal, state and regional officials are trying to figure out how the area can absorb an expected doubling of airline passengers by 2020. The problem is that instead of approaching it as a public works project, they approached it as a public relations project. In a shift in focus last month, Orange County businessman George L. Argyros, the largest private donor to the pro-airport cause, retained former U.S. trade representative Mickey Kantor in Washington to lobby the federal government. County officials today have no idea when cargo flights will begin. In addition, a plan to rent the officer's club for banquets and weddings unraveled after the Navy refused to permit the sale of alcohol.