Great Park Balloon Launch for Saturday

I got a peek of the Big Orange balloon this afternoon and it looks spectacular. I reminds me of the first time I saw the Goodyear Blimp parked off the 405. I welcome the sight of the balloon as it means we are another step closer to a park and not an international airport.

My daughter cannot wait for the Great Park to open. Her second grade class saw a presentation about the park and everytime we pass by the old base on Irvine Blvd, this soon-to-be-third-grader start spouting off facts on the Great Park. I’m caught up in her anticipation.

For those detractors on the cost of the balloon as wasteful spending, let me remind you of the vast sums of our county tax dollars spent fighting opponents of the airport.

Here’s a link to check: www.eltoroairport.org/issues/cost.html.

Frank Mickadeit’s column today has a .. well, we’ll call it a joke, comment about Larry Agran blowing up the balloon himself. Nice visual Frank (kinda like the nosewax job you and Probolsky enjoy getting). As much as I hate to throw Frank’s words back at him, this from his column from November 15, 2005:

The largest single area of expenditure was the $55 million county taxpayers spent for the planning and the legal fight with airport opponents. South-county cities and grass-roots opponents spent around $50 million, depending on how you calculate Irvine’s contribution. Then there are federal costs, private-industry promotion, the pro-airport cities’ expenditures and more.

To put it in perspective, the wasted money would have paid for perhaps 50 percent more Great Park amenities than we’re going to get with the $400 million now on hand.

I wonder if Christina Shea will have a copy of the Grand Jury report (the one that encourages the county to want to take control of the Great Park from the city) with her for opening ceremonies.