ONTARIO, Calif. - October 18, 2012 -- The four-county coalition of 125 governments, public officials, and business and civic organizations supporting local control for Ontario International Airport (ONT) announced its Facebook Page today surpassed 10,000 "likes" as momentum builds for the airport's transfer of control. Tens of thousands more supporters are engaged in the effort via YouTube, Twitter and the SetONTarioFree.com official site.
 
The Facebook milestone comes less than one year after the site was launched to complement the campaign's mail webpage at SetONTarioFree.com where supporters can electronically sign a petition to show their support for transfer of ONT. The majority of the support has come from residents of Los Angeles, Orange, Riverside and San Bernardino counties.
 
"We are grateful for the overwhelming support the Set ONTario Free Movement has received from residents throughout Southern California who realize the importance of returning ONT to local control," said Ontario City Manager Chris Hughes.
 
Hughes reiterated reasons for supporting local control for ONT:

• Allows Los Angeles World Airports to focus its energy and time on modernizing LAX for the benefit of the region's economy as a whole.
• Promotes airport regionalization while reducing traffic congestion and harmful auto emissions.
• Gives travelers more choices of flights and airports.
• Ensures all of Southern California - including L.A. - will have sufficient, sensibly priced airport capacity.

The Set ONTario Free Campaign also reported the following statistics for its other Web-based services and resources as of 8 a.m. PDT today:

• SetONTarioFree.com Unique User Visits - 127,905
• SetONTarioFree.com Pageviews - 221,179
• YouTube Channel Viewings - 81,855
• Twitter/FreeONTario Followers - 617
• Google Video Impressions - 919,929
• Google Video Views - 75,428