Mailbag:

When John Wayne Airport was designed, it was an act of faith that airplanes would take off into prevailing winds over the ocean. What they failed to accept, or did not wish to admit, was that there was a city between their county airport and the ocean. So the torture of residents began.

Over the years, airport apologists focused on Upper Newport Bay, where nobody lives, as a pathway for the airplanes to the sea, but try as they might, pilots could not follow the corkscrew shape of that bay, and they smeared over houses along the way. By the time they got to Balboa Island, their tracks covered the whole of the island, but apologists wrote this off as collateral damage, and besides, the 65 dB CNEL contour was at Anniversary Lane by the airport miles away.

The clamor to stay over the bay was heard by airport management, airlines and the Federal Aviation Administration, which prepared a precision departure procedure, using new technology, to force the airplanes to fly over the exact same path down the bay to the sea.

The FAA plans to adopt this procedure, DUUKE1, without hearings or public comment, and those who live along the bay are worried. They need to know if they will get more noise or less noise with the new procedure. This should be modeled and reported. They really need to know if flying down the bay means less noise, or was it just a straw man argument to foist an airport into the middle of an urban area?

DONALD NYRE

Newport Beach

Don’t listen to lies about Medicare

It is so difficult to hear the lies being told about Medicare. Medicare, which, in my experience, does an excellent job of providing health care, will not be cut by the plans presently before Congress. In fact, it will eliminate costs derived from the Medicare Advantage program that helps insurance companies. It will cut down on costs by rewarding doctors for the care they provide instead of how many procedures they do. If nothing is done, continually rising costs will remain the norm, and then we can truly worry about our children’s future. I encourage all seniors to study the real effects of the pending legislation.

JUDY MADER

Newport Beach

Here’s a solution to Millard’s troubles

In the spirit of brotherly love, we would like to help Martin Millard with his problem (“Gadfly goads council to ‘thin out slums,’” Political Landscape, Thursday). Millard seems to be less concerned with the needs of the disadvantaged than with his own embarrassment about living in a city where there are people who need help.

Because he is apparently out of his element among the common folk, perhaps a better solution would be for Millard to move to Beverly Hills rather than for Costa Mesa to try to “thin out” its low-income population. (Note that his proposal is to get rid of them, not to improve their situation.) We would be happy to put the first dollar in his moving fund.

Thank you to all those “from Corona del Mar” and elsewhere who selflessly give of their time and resources to help those less-fortunate members of our community.

PERRY AND PAM VALANTINE

Costa Mesa