What's this?

[flyingcheesehead]

A bunch of runways being demolished for a &*%$)@#( park?!?

The three-year process to remove the runways at the former
El Toro Marine Base will officially commence this Friday
morning during a small ceremony designed to "break old ground"
so Lennar/LNR can begin to "break new ground" for the Heritage
Fields Master Plan, the development component to the Orange
County Great Park.

Four runways plus taxiways, spanning more than 50,000 feet,
will begin to be removed during the morning ceremony.

http://biz.yahoo.com/bw/060508/20060508006432.html?.v=1

Hey, guys... It'd be CHEAPER to open a new airport!

Anyone from the area care to comment?

 

[mikea]

It didn't have an instant of consideration vs. a couple hundred new upscale homes at Glenview NAS.

 

[ScottM]

It didn't have an instant of consideration vs. a couple hundred new upscale homes at Glenview NAS.

Perhaps a new lake front condo just south of the Planetarium in the Marril Meigs Towers maybe in someone's future??

 

[mikea]

Perhaps a new lake front condo just south of the Planetarium in the Marril Meigs Towers maybe in someone's future??

Nope. Harrah's Chicago Casino.

 

[jesse]

Airports will continue to be demolished.

We will keep losing airports.


Aviation is too damn expensive which means very few people will participate. When the general public thinks of general aviation they think:

1.) dangerous
2.) expensive. it's just rich people flying (fairly true)
3.) noisy

Why did we get all these airports in the first place? Aviation used to be more affordable.

It's NOT easy to make it these days. Pretty much everyone I know still lives with their parents. Their parents are barely making it too. When I was younger my mom made $9 per /hr. She raised all four of us kids and bought a house. She paid something like $25,000 for the house...That same house is worth well over $100,000 now. That same job now? It pays $10/ hr now. Everything has went way up from food to gas to the cable bill. A simple thing like a car breaking down now can be absolutely devistating to families. A good chunk of this country is living paycheck to paycheck without a dollar being saved. Every dollar is going towards basic living costs. Nothing fun. No vacations, no movies, nothing.

Now. I'm not saying that you can't make good money. You can. But it is going to require a lot of dedication and drive. A small portion of the population has that dedication and drive. It's just the way it is.

Either General Aviation will evolve or die. It'll be an interesting 50 years for GA...and this country.

 

[wsuffa]

A bunch of runways being demolished for a &*%$)@#( park?!?


http://biz.yahoo.com/bw/060508/20060508006432.html?.v=1

Hey, guys... It'd be CHEAPER to open a new airport!

Anyone from the area care to comment?

That story's been around for a while. Originally, LA County wanted to convert El Toro into a reliever for LAX. It's close to John Wayne, which has pretty stringent noise abatement.

Ultimately, the NIMBYs forced the county to back off from the plan... leading to development at the site and elimination of another airport.

I suspect we'll see it more and more...

 

[flyingcheesehead]

It's NOT easy to make it these days.

That is largely self-inflicted. Many people think they "need" cable TV.

Think about what we have probably considered "necessities" over the years:

1906:
An axe, a horse, some cows, and some land.

1956:
Electricity, potentially a non-electricity source of heat, a car (and gas for it) or live near public transit or maybe a bike (the kind with pedals), and one TV.

2006:
Electricity, heat, air conditioning, at least one car per driver and maybe more, cable TV (and several TV's to watch it with), broadband internet, etc...

We seem to have lost the ability to be entertained without somebody spoon-feeding it to us. We also seem to have lost the ability to be OK with not having what the next guy has, or with being inconvenienced in the least. No wonder we're, on average, fatter and lazier than ever.

 

[Brian Austin]

We seem to have lost the ability to be entertained without somebody spoon-feeding it to us. We also seem to have lost the ability to be OK with not having what the next guy has, or with being inconvenienced in the least. No wonder we're, on average, fatter and lazier than ever.

Heh...he said, browsing the Internet via his spiffy laptop using high speed broadband.

I had an interesting weekend a few weeks ago. I didn't go out...at all. Highly unusual for me since I usually eat breakfast at the airport, wander to the bookstore for an hour or so, and do a little shopping. I dropped my wife off at the airport for her trip on Saturday morning at 8:00am...and came home. Went for a walk, worked in the shop, played on the Internet a little and read a lot.

I was bored as he**.

I make good money and spend good money. I worked hard for it and will continue to work at it as I earn my BS in technical management while working full time. Those that WANT to make more can with a little motivation and some forethought on life decisions.

 

[flyingcheesehead]

Heh...he said, browsing the Internet via his spiffy laptop using high speed broadband.

LOL! Well actually, I'm traveling down the highway at 65 mph. (Don't worry, I'm not the one driving! ) And I'm browsing via my spiffy laptop through my Bluetooth cell phone.

And that reminds me... Many folks now think a cell phone is a "necessity" as well.

I make good money and spend good money. I worked hard for it and will continue to work at it as I earn my BS in technical management while working full time.

Amen to that. I'm saving some, but I'm enjoying the money I'm making too. Nothing wrong with that! It's people who really can't afford the so-called necessities I listed that need a reality check.

Those that WANT to make more can with a little motivation and some forethought on life decisions.

And some sacrifice.

I really admire Jesse and people like him who can make many sacrifices and work really hard to accomplish a goal like becoming a pilot.

The problem people are the ones who whine about how they can't make ends meet... And they're whining through their new cell phone while driving a big SUV.

 

[SkyHog]

No wonder we're, on average, fatter and lazier than ever.

I think you forgot to add "happier" to the list

Instant gratification is the word du jour now adays.

 

[jshawley]

Reminds me of an anecdote from my older brother, a counsellor for one of the not-for-profit credit counselling services: a young lady, single and pregnant, came in with all the usual problems--max-ed out cards, car payments past due, &c. Get to the cell phone, and how that could be eliminated, thus cutting out well over $50+, and he is promptly informed that she is pregnant, and could deliver at any time!, thus she "needed" the cell phone (of course, she had demonstrated an "attitude" the whole time she was there). His first reply, not exactly textbook, was, "Honey, my mom delivered five kids, and she didn't even know what a regular telephone was [which may have been true in Robert's case, but I am certain that for at least three of us, we had a dial-up wall phone ]!"

At any rate, she was none too happy with his repartee. But Jesse is right: it is harder to make it on one income nowadays. All the same, though--had my older son and then-girlfriend-now wife controlled their "needs" (I am amazed at how many DVDs they "need", including the entire history of Seinfield, dating to the earliest archealogical findings discovered recently in a Coptic church rubble heap in a dig located somewhere in Egypt) early on, they just might have been able to make it without paying over $400 per month on child care (for one!). Plus most of Joy's after expenses net goes to professional wardrobes.

We made it. But only after paying our dues. Married in '77, earning E-4 pay (plus sea pay), and Navy Exchange wages. Got pregnant, quit the NEX, sold the '75 Dart, bought a '64 Impala, paid off the balance on the Dart, and never ever went out to eat or to a movie. Didn't have satellite, cell, Tivo, &c, &c (yeah, I know--weren't invented yet--but we wouldn't have been able to afford them anyway), but when I got out, got a well-paying job, thanks to the training my Uncle gave me. But it was tough.

Bravo-zulu to you, Jessie for sticking to it. Keep the priorities straight, and you'll go far.