Friday, October 20, 2006
Lawmakers unite to fight Miramar
airport measure
Defense bill provision may thwart Prop. A
By Jeff
Ristine
The San Diego (CA) Union-Tribune
San Diego's congressional
delegation lined up to oppose a ballot measure for a civilian airport at Miramar
Marine Corps Air Station yesterday, hoping their bipartisan show of strength
will bury it at the polls.
In a news conference across from San Diego International
Airport, the three Republicans and two Democrats denounced Proposition A as an
affront to the Marine Corps and a serious misstep by the San Diego County
Regional Airport Authority.
“Now is the time for the Airport Authority to
become creative,” said Rep. Duncan Hunter, R-Alpine, “to quit having a set of
blinders on that always points toward Miramar and to come up with some better
options.”
Hunter pointed to a defense authorization bill signed by
President Bush on Tuesday that includes provisions prohibiting the secretary of
the Navy from allowing civilian operations at Miramar, Camp Pendleton or North
Island Naval Air Station.
The language, which expands on 1996 legislation
that put Miramar off-limits, means another act of Congress would be required to
carry out the Airport Authority's proposal.
“The ballgame is over,”
Hunter said during the news conference.
His opposition to Miramar was
echoed by Democratic Reps. Bob Filner and Susan Davis of San Diego, and by
Republican Reps. Darrell Issa of Vista and Brian Bilbray of
Carlsbad.
There was far less consensus on an alternative to a Miramar
civilian airport, but to some extent all five spoke to using Lindbergh Field and
its single runway indefinitely.
The event, organized by the No on
Proposition A campaign committee, highlighted the nearly nonexistent political
backing for a measure that needs support from elected officials to be carried
out.
Proposition A supporters said they were disappointed that the
congressional representatives aren't waiting for the outcome of the Nov. 7
vote.
John Chalker, one of the leaders of the Coalition to Preserve the
Economy, which favors Proposition A, said the officials were taking a
politically safe route.
“Dealing with airport siting issues is a no-win
proposition for any elected official,” Chalker said. “You aren't going to make
friends doing it either way.”
Even before yesterday's bipartisan show of
opposition, political support for the Airport Authority's recommendation had
been slender. The Pentagon and local military officials have steadfastly opposed
using Miramar for a civilian airport.
Only three elected officials have
come out in favor of the ballot measure: San Diego Councilman Tony Young and
Vista Mayor Morris Vance, who serve on the Airport Authority board, and Sheriff
Bill Kolender, who appointed one board member.
Others, notably San Diego
Mayor Jerry Sanders, have declined to take a position or have opposed the
measure.
Voters are being asked whether government officials should seek
to obtain a portion of Miramar for a civilian airport, provided it would not
harm military readiness. Much of the campaign since then has revolved around a
dispute about whether that can be done, and whether it is necessary to move from
the 661-acre, single-runway airfield that has served San Diego since
1928.
Local congressional opposition surfaced in the Pentagon's latest
base realignment and closure process, completed last year, which spared the San
Diego region from major cutbacks. At the time, state and federal elected
officials demanded that the airport agency refrain from considering military
installations lest they appear vulnerable to being decommissioned.
The
Airport Authority selected Miramar after looking at civilian sites as far away
as Boulevard and the Imperial County desert. A board majority concluded the
Marine Corps base was the best option to replace Lindbergh Field because of its
central location.
The congressional representatives made several
references yesterday to Miramar's contribution to national defense, a point not
in dispute with the yes-on-A contingent.
“You don't tell our Marines, you
don't tell our brave soldiers that we're taking your base,” said Filner, who
pushed unsuccessfully for an airport in Imperial County linked by a high-speed
magnetic levitation train. “Readiness, training, preparation, support for our
troops revolves around keeping Miramar as a Marine air station.”
Hunter
said the language he inserted into the defense spending bill ought to be enough
to settle the matter.
Issa and Bilbray mentioned keeping Lindbergh as the
main airport but shifting smaller aircraft elsewhere.
“We could have a
50-seat minimum at this airport” for aircraft, said Issa, who pilots his own
small plane, “and with proper funding move the aircraft to other places. That is
doable.”
Issa also criticized the Airport Authority for giving short
shrift to the concept of a link between Lindbergh Field and a proposed civilian
runway at North Island. The authority ruled out a second runway at North Island
primarily because of complications posed by crosswinds.
Bilbray
said he supports a high-speed transportation link to the Los Angeles basin as a
way of eliminating commuter flights between the two metropolitan
areas.
And Davis, whose district includes Point Loma neighborhoods where
residents long for an end to ever-increasing aircraft noise, said, “I think San
Diegans want closure on this issue. . . . I think they'd like to see Lindbergh
improved.”
The Airport Authority is already working on a plan to add 10
gates to Terminal 2, but says it expects operations will have reached capacity
by 2022. Officials say proposals to move cargo and general aviation to other
airfields won't relieve enough pressure to avert a crunch.
“The easy
position to take is, 'Hey it's not a problem today and we don't need to think
about moving,' ” Chalker said. “That's great, except this is not about today.
This is about tomorrow.”
Mark Ballassare, director of research at Public
Policy Institute of California and a specialist on state and local government
relations, said the tiff looks like “a real interesting federal-versus-local
fight.” He noted the pressure on Southern California to expand its
airports.
“The fact that the delegation got together across party lines
took some of the politics out,” Ballassare said.
To watch a video
debate on the airport ballot measure, Proposition A, go to:
http://www.uniontrib.com/more/electionvideo