ByFather Dennis Kriz, Rev. Kent Doss and Maura Mikulec |
County Homeless Liaison Officers killed Kurt Andras Reinhold, an unhoused Black man, while jaywalking in San Clemente– a shocking tragedy that shows how over-policing only increases the risk of violence. The Board of Supervisors must invest in affordable housing instead.
As a longtime Orange County resident and business owner at John Wayne Airport (SNA), I welcome the attention our County is giving to general aviation at the airport. Since I started my business, West Coast Charters, we have been employing local residents and providing flight services to small, medium and large businesses throughout Orange County. SNA currently has two full-service Fixed Base Operations (FBOs) that house general aviation companies such as mine. FBOs act like landlords at the airport for general aviation businesses like mine. Instead of having aviation maintenance companies, flight schools, charter companies, aviation insurance agents, and other businesses scattered across the airfield, general aviation businesses operate under one-roof, a Fixed Base Operation. While the FBO structures at SNA are still functional, they are long overdue to be upgraded. Many of the existing structures date back to the 1960’s. But since the airport is owned by the County, any new construction and upgrades must be approved by the Board of Supervisors. To determine which FBO companies would be given permission to build, operate and manage the updated FBOs, the Board of Supervisors developed and released a Request for Proposals (RFP) on September 12, 2019. As part of the Board’s approval process, each of the proposals submitted was scored by an independent review panel of aviation experts chosen by the County. The scoring included: experience, background of financing and developing FBO’s, financial strength, quality of development, management experience and other important factors that will ensure the airport maintains its world-class reputation.
The continuous disinvestment in parks and open space in Central and North Orange County by the City of Garden Grove, the City of Santa Ana councilmembers and the OC Board of Supervisors is not accidental. It relies on council members’ complicity in this system where developers and corporations rule.
Rev. Dr. Sarah Halverson-Cano attended a press conference outside of the Orange County Board of Supervisor’s office to speak out against the lifting of the mask mandate. The press conference was overtaken by anti-maskers who disrupted the speakers, spread hate and threatened to spread the corona virus.
This joint letter, co-signed by more than twenty Orange County elected officials, respectfully requests that the Orange County Board of Supervisors work in partnership with communities by expanding COVID-19 testing, follow Governor Newsom’s guidelines, and release federal CARES Act funding to cities as the funds were intended.