Airport debate hasn't been held

By: JIM TRAGESER - Staff Writer | Wednesday, August 10, 2005 9:23 PM PDT ∞

If we ever decide to substitute letter-writing campaigns for the voting booth, decide that volume and vehemence have more value than majority rule, then I suppose Lindbergh Field will move directly to Marine Corps Air Station Miramar.

For obstinacy in the face of reality, the "move the airport to Miramar" crowd can't be beat.

But the idea that the United States should abandon the last frontline fighter base in its Southwest corner to provide a free airport site for a foresight-challenged community seems a bit of a reach. At best.

I particularly love the argument from the kick-the-Marines-out movement that "the Pentagon doesn't own Miramar, the people do."

Yes, that's true ---- the people do own Miramar. But not just the people of San Diego County. It's the people of the United States who own Miramar.

And whether they're willing to seriously denigrate the military security of this nation to satisfy the whims of San Diego's business barons and other pro-growthers is the real question here, not whether the Marines have veto power over moving the civilian airport to Miramar.

Besides, as was mentioned in this very space a week ago, this region has yet to hold the very necessary debate on whether we need a new airport.

The local business community sees a new airport as likely to provide a new burst of economic growth to this area, and has thus jumped ahead a half-dozen steps in the process to conclude that Lindbergh Field is inadequate and must be replaced.

But that was a conclusion arrived at without full community participation ---- without the kind of serious, sober discussion needed for such a huge decision. Worse, it was a decision based on only one segment of relevant facts considered ---- economic impact.

However, moving the airport away from the San Diego harbor has all kinds of other repercussions ---- repercussions that local residents may find just as, if not more, compelling than the economic impacts. Traffic. Environmental. Growth.

If a new, larger airport with greater capacity would really allow San Diego County to grow that much faster, the residents have a right to take that into consideration, too.

The professional planners at the San Diego Association of Governments assure us that millions of new residents are moving here in future decades, and that there's nothing we can do about it.

Perhaps.

Truth is, that's the institutional mind-set of urban planning programs at most universities: Growth is both good and inevitable.

The people just may have other ideas about that.

And about the wisdom of moving Lindbergh Field as well.

Contact staff writer Jim Trageser at (760) 740-5424 or jtrageser@nctimes.com.