Grass-roots group seeks to ground JWA growth

Alicia Robinson

A grass-roots group aiming to block any future expansion at John

Wayne Airport is drumming up support from local officials, but what

they’ll do with that support is still up in the air.

The Costa Mesa City Council on Tuesday approved a resolution

supporting AirFair, a group with an Irvine mailing address and

members including former Newport Beach City Councilwomen Evelyn Hart

and Jean Watt. AirFair’s message is simple: no more expansion of

flights, passengers or facilities at John Wayne Airport.

The airport operates under a settlement agreement that caps the

annual number of passengers at 10.3 million through 2011 and 10.8

million until 2015.

AirFair has support from a number of homeowners’ associations and

is now approaching cities in the airport corridor, but there are no

plans to approach higher authorities or propose a solution to Orange

County’s transportation crunch, AirFair spokeswoman Melinda Seely

said.

“Somebody soon is going to start talking about expanding John

Wayne Airport, and what we anticipate doing is standing up and

saying, ‘Wait a minute, we have all these people who are supporting

what we’re saying, and we’re saying no,’” she said.

As passenger levels continue to swell, the City of Newport Beach

is in negotiations with Orange County to get more control over the

airport’s future. The end of the current agreement seems far away,

but as the population of South County grows, so will the pressure to

add capacity at John Wayne Airport, City Manager Homer Bludau said.

“People aren’t going to want to be driving to [Los Angeles

International Airport] and are going to want John Wayne to serve even

more people, so that is a serious concern to the City Council,” he

said.

Local girl comes home

A Newport Beach native has taken over as head of Rep. Chris Cox’s

district office, the congressman announced Friday. Sarah Petry, a

Corona del Mar High School graduate, will replace Steve DiGerlando as

chief of staff in Cox’s Newport Beach office.

DiGerlando has worked for Cox since 1991, but is moving out of

state. After starting in Cox’s Washington, D.C., office in 2002,

Petry came back to California last year.

As a native of Orange County, Petry “understands the issues facing

this community,” Cox said in a statement. “Because she worked in my

Washington, D.C., office for several years, she also understands the

legislative process and how it affects my constituents.”

Cox race adds some Green to the mix

Another cook is trying to get a spoon in the pot in the

anticipated race to replace Rep. Chris Cox. Green Party member Bea

Tiritilli of Santa Ana has declared her candidacy for the 48th

District Congressional seat.

An environmental activist and high school teacher, Tiritilli, 41,

planned to run for the seat in 2006, but jumped in when she heard the

seat would be open. Her opposition to the Iraq war and anger at the

actions of Congress spurred her to become a legislator herself, she

said.

“I feel like sitting on the sidelines and being a passive

constituent just isn’t working for me anymore,” Tiritilli said.

She’d like to see Americans decrease their dependence on oil and

use alternative energies such as solar power. Personally, she’s

switching to a vegetable oil-powered car.

“Running as a Green, I realize my chances are extremely slim,” she

said. “But if nothing else, I can be a greater part of the political

dialogue this way.”

For information on Bea Tiritilli’s candidacy for the 48th

Congressional District seat, visit https://www.beatiritilli.us.

Democrats will go

the high-tech route

In the latest Democratic attempt to copy Republican electoral

success, local Democrats will gather today at Costa Mesa’s Holiday

Inn Express to improve their organization using technology. Costa

Mesa is the second stop on the “Blue Rising Tour,” a nationwide

effort by the San Diego-based 2nd Century Project.

Participants will learn about using software to create databases

of volunteers and fundraising efforts, recruit party members and

accept contributions online, and even restructure Democratic groups

to be more organized, said Marc Baranov, a spokesman for the 2nd

Century Project.

The project was born after the November 2004 elections as a way to

rebuild the Democratic Party from the grass-roots level, he said.

“It’s not necessarily a response to the election results, but

during the election, it became obvious that Democrats were not

organized at the local level, and I think it’s something that’s been

a problem for quite a while now,” Baranov said.

“The Republican Party has done a lot of these things already to

organize their base and the Democratic Party is a little behind in

that effort.”

Local groups, including the Newport Bay Area Democratic Club and

South Orange County Democrats, will attend the training session,

which will be held at 6:30 tonight at the Holiday Inn Express, 2070

Newport Blvd., Costa Mesa.

Pencil pushers to

get their reward

Costa Mesa residents who want to air their views at City Council

meetings may want to bring their pencils to meetings from now on.

Hoping to keep meetings from running into the wee hours, the Costa

Mesa City Council on Tuesday inaugurated a new procedure for public

comments: Those who fill out a speaker card get first priority at the

podium.

Most cities provide speaker cards, which generally ask for a

speaker’s name and address, but they don’t require people to fill the

cards out to talk during the public comment period. The Costa Mesa

council now has two colors of speaker cards, one for agenda items and

another for general public comments, and people who fill out cards

may speak. After all who fill out a card get a turn, then comment

will be opened to other speakers.

“Some of it is intended to kind of speed the flow of speakers,”

City Manager Allan Roeder said. “Everyone, both members of the public

and council members, have made it clear that going to 1:30 or 2 in

the morning was a practice to be avoided.”