Democrats Seek Rallying Cry in Irvine Tuesday

There’s a lot of email flying around abut this Tuesday’s Irvine City Council meeting and the major changes the Republican majority is trying to make.

Here’s the best email we received:

Stop the power grab by the new Irvine Council majority and speak up for progress and countywide participation for the Orange County Great Park! Attend the Irvine City Council meeting Tuesday, January 8th. Get there by 5:30. City Hall is at the corner of Alton and Harvard in Irvine.

Irvine has long been Orange County’s best example of a well run city with a progressive vision and forward thinking leadership. That all changed with the last election. The new City Council majority is stridently partisan (republican) and determined to undo all the progress made under Larry Agran, Beth Krom and Sukhee Kang.

Next Tuesday, January 8th, the new City Council majority (Steven Choi, Christina Shea and Jeff Lalloway) plan to eliminate public members from the Great Park Corporation Board and give sole control of decisions affecting the park to the City Council.

Since they now control the Council, that means they can do whatever they want — sell off land, increase private development, limit public access or shut down the project entirely.

This is an affront to the whole County, particularly those who voted for Measure W because they were promised a “Great Metropolitan Park” not an “Irvine Park.”

Larry Agran and Beth Krom have been true public advocates. The new City Council majority are backed by the worst political forces in the County. Come to the Irvine City Council meeting on Tuesday and tell the City Council we don’t support changing the composition of the Great Park Board (the 4 independent directors are Walkie Ray from Newport Beach, Miguel Pulido from Santa Ana, Michael Pinto from Laguna Beach and Bill Kogerman from Laguna Hills.)

It’s item 3.2 on the Agenda: http://www.irvinequickrecords.com/sirepub/pubmtgframe.aspx?meetid=4448&doctype=Agenda

Also, if you haven’t been to the Great Park, go there this Sunday for the Farmer’s Market and Antiques Market (10-2), visit the gallery at the Palm Court Arts Complex and the Farm and Food Lab, ride the balloon and carousel…and see the next 30 acres now under construction. For more info, go to http://www.ocgp.org/

We can no longer sit on the sidelines. Larry and Beth have dedicated themselves to making the Great Park a park for everyone. Your presence and your voices can make a difference.

A hat tip to Pat Rodgers for bringing up the old Grand Jury reports on the Great Park.  The 2005-2006 report was hyped repeatedly by Choi and Christina Shea for the introduction of the report about how “power corrupts and absolutely power corrupts absolutely.”  Shoe’s on the other foot.  One of the recommendations in that report was this:

Great Park governance: : The Irvine City Council should revisit and reconsider decisions that have split the City Council and that exclude county-wide participation in the control of the decision making process for development of the Great Park. As an example, the Irvine City Council should consider a resolution to amend the Great Park Corporation bylaws to require two Orange County supervisors, two members of the Irvine City Council and three elected at-large members from Orange County. (See Findings 6.1 and 6.2.)

This isn’t the tune Choi is singing now (though the thought of Choi singing would bring cries of “who’s strangling a cat?”).

The way the bylines read, the new council majority could pass a rule stating only members of the City Council who are Republicans can serve on the Great Park Board.  Or, they could replace the four current at-large members with people like Jerry Amante, Curt Pringle, Jon Fleischman or Deborah Pauly.