On May 12, 2020, in the midst of the COVID19 pandemic, the Irvine City Council passed a law from an initiative from Build The Veterans Cemetery which made the ARDA site the only legal site for the facility. And since then, developers have been able to stall this project by offering a site originally planned for a Golf Course creating a needless delay but one that benefits Five Points.
Last month, the State Senate Veterans Affairs Committee voted 7-0 to approve Senator Tom Umberg’s Senate Bill 43, which amended existing State law as follows:
SECTION 1. Section 1411 is added to the Military and Veterans Code, to read:
1411. The department shall work with local government entities in the County of Orange to develop the state-owned and state-operated Southern California Veterans Cemetery consistent with the enacted laws and ordinances of the City of Irvine.
This measure is also supported by Irvine’s State Senator Dave Min (who penned an op-ed with Senator Umberg on moving the Cemetery forward earlier this year in the OC Register).
That text change to Umberg’s Senate 43 bill is important it references Irvine City Council’s adopted vote on a petition initiative rezoning ARDA site exclusively for the State Veterans Cemetery. But the Golf Course proposal popped up and the State is spending $700,000 for CalVet (the California Department of Veterans Affairs) to study the new site as an alternative location for the cemetery.
The city council 4 of Mayor Farrah Khan, Vice Mayor Tammy Kim, and council members Mike Carroll, and Anthony Kuo are ignoring the vote three of them made a year ago. Council member Larry Agran can’t get a second from any council member to make this a topic of discussion during a city council meeting. If the city council 4 goes for the Golf Course site, they are breaking a law passed a year ago and the lawsuits are just waiting to be filed.
There was concern over wasted taxpayer dollars to avoid a special election when Carroll was appointed but its apparently OK to blow though $700K when we simply don’t have to do so.
The CalVet report will be released at the end of May.
At some point, the Council is going to have to explain to residents why there is so much resistance to ARDA.
There’s speculation Agran can’t get a second to agendize a topic for discussion because the council might concede a point to him. It takes three votes to pass or fail any matter of city business. The council majority appears to believe 1 vote is greater than 4.
I’d be remiss not to mention that ARDA would have been well under construction by now with significant funding secured for demolition had then Councilmember and twice-failed Assembly candidate Melissa Fox not voted to consider the infamous FivePoint land swap. She led the effort against Agran’s Measure B and voters handed her a Karma sandwich, while while her husband was blocking Democrats critical of her on social media feeds. After losing bigtime, she joined with Agran to push ARDA because licking your thumb and holding it to the wind is a great way to make decisions on public policy.
Lots of blame to go around about why we’re not burying vets in Irvine. It’s time to fix that.
I have lived in Irvine since 1987. I am beyond frustrated with all the antics to keep the Veteran’s cemetery from becoming a reality. I am also unhappy with the funds spent by Cal Vets on site selection after the ARDA site was approved.
I am also unhappy with the lack of progress on the homeless situation in the OC.
I have an idea to help with both issues. Give BOTH proposed sites to Cal Vets. One for cemetery, one for services and housing for veterans as so many are disabled and homeless. I created a petition on Change.org linked below to ask City Council to do just that. Read and share.
http://chng.it/8HRkX89V
when the county tried to use county land for a tent city for the homeless, various Facebook groups popped up to “Keep Irvine Irvine.” Kuo actually promoted “Kept the homeless out of Irvine” on his campaign signs. I love your idea.