Support the "Build the Great Park Veterans Cemetery" Initiative by (former Irvine Mayor)
"Five years ago, in 2014, I was proud to lead our Irvine City Council in winning approval of a beautiful Veterans Memorial Park & Cemetery project, to be built on the 125-acre ARDA hanger and runway site of the former El Toro Marine Corps Air Station in the Great Park on Cadence Blvd, near our new high school on Irvine Blvd.
The Veterans Cemetery had broad community support. But between 2014 and 2017 nothing happened, only production of a 333-page detailed plan for construction of the Memorial Park and Cemetery which is just a little bit different in many details from our new video.
But, in mid-2017, just 10 days from the start of construction you will recall, then-mayor Don Wagner and Irvine?s current Mayor Christina Shea teamed up along with Councilmember Melissa Fox and big developer FivePoint to derail the planned Veterans Cemetery project and instead, replace it with massive office, industrial and apartment projects on the site. The so-called Strawberry Field, clean, funded, legislated, located by the 5 freeway and away from neighborhoods and schools was just their diversion to execute their land-swap fraud scheme. We voters defeated Strawberry Field with Measure B, however Strawberry Field still remains state law today! We must rectify that to keep FivePoint from that site.
Thank goodness, last year the voters of Irvine resoundingly rejected Mayor Shea?s very bad idea. Now, with your help, we are not only putting the Veterans Cemetery project back on track ? we can possibly begin clearing the land and get the project under construction as soon as this fall.
Here?s how. We are close to winning final passage and having the governor sign AB 368 this summer, which provides for the State to build at an initial cost of $91 Million, operate and maintain ? at no cost to the City of Irvine ? the Southern California Veterans Cemetery on the ARDA site. But, that still leaves us with one remaining hurdle ? we must get the Mayor and City Council to agree to transfer the 125-acre ARDA site to the State.
If the Mayor and City Council don?t do their job, then we as Irvine citizens and responsible voters have to be prepared to get the job done ourselves. We must keep FivePoint from that site by launching another citizen initiative requiring the City Council to transfer of the property to the State. If the Mayor and City Council don?t do their job, then we as Irvine citizens and voters have to be prepared to get the job done ourselves, by launching our own citizen initiative requiring the City Council to transfer of the property to the State.
We?ve come too far to quit now. Will you help? We need to raise $75,000 to sustain our all-volunteer effort supported by hundreds of Irvine residents donating ? $5, $50, $100 ? whatever you can afford ? to the Irvine citizens' committee, appropriately named Build the Great Park Veterans Cemetery. "
Another Victory for the ?Build the Great Park Veterans Cemetery? Campaign
Posted by ICNV Staff | June 2, 2019
In an historic victory for veterans last year, Ed Pope?s all-volunteer Build the Great Park Veterans Cemetery (Build) committee saved the veterans cemetery and was able to stop multi-billion-dollar developer FivePoint?s Strawberry Field land-swap swindle with ballot referendum (Measure B) that would have allowed FivePoint to build nearly a million square feet of office, industrial, and apartment projects on the ?ARDA? site in the Great Park. This site had previously been designated for a state Veterans Memorial Park & Cemetery on the former El Toro Marine Corps Air Station back in 2014. This year, the Build committee joined forces with a group of Orange County state legislators to introduce and support a bill (AB 368) that would provide for the State to build, operate and maintain ? at no cost to the City of Irvine ? the Southern California Veterans Cemetery at the ARDA site near neighborhoods and schools. In a rare show of bipartisanship, last week the Build committee secured unanimous approval of AB 368 in the State Assembly! The bill needs $91 Million in funding and now moves on to the State Senate for action this summer. However, in order for construction to begin after AB 368 passes, the City must transfer the ARDA site to the State. Irvine Mayor Christina Shea seems intent on blocking that transfer so that she can hand the site over to FivePoint for more massive development. That?s why the Build committee is now preparing to launch an initiative campaign that will direct the City to transfer the ARDA site to the State so that construction can begin as early as this year. Irvine Community News & Views is proud to be a financial supporter of the initiative campaign, but the Build committee will need a lot of small donors who are able to contribute $25, $50, or $100 to ensure the campaign has the resources necessary to obtain the 20,000 signatures required to qualify the initiative for the ballot.
