A recently developed anti-Veteran’s Cemetery and Memorial blog has popped up and is urging votes for Mayor Steven Choi and Jeff Lalloway suggesting that if elected these two might lead an effort to overturn the placement of the Veteran’s Memorial at the Great Park. Now even though the Governor has signed the bill, the blog, led by Gang Chen, says defeating council member Larry Agran would “start the first step of moving the cemetery to another location away from urban areas.”
TheLiberalOC reached Gang Chen this morning and told him, that wasn’t going to happen. “We just found out about this cemetery two weeks ago, and no one said anything about it to us (Asian-Americans),” said Chen. “We go to work, we go home and go about our daily lives. Ninty-nine percent of the Asian-Americans in Irvine do not want a home near a cemetery. We were never notified about it.”
We suggested to Chen that the Veteran’s Cemetery and Memorial have been in the news for months and perhaps he needed to pay better attention to the local news. We also told him the final city council vote was 5-0 and shouldn’t he encourage Asia-Americans to vote against Mayor Choi and Jeff Lalloway as well as Council member Larry Agran? “Agran is the one who pushed for this,” said Chen. “We are targeting the most evil one to send a strong message that everyone who voted for this should have consulted us.”
We noted the final design hasn’t been submitted and its unlikely the cemetery would be visible from any of the yards where new homes are being sold. Chen wouldn’t hear of it. “It is a bad location to put a cemetery next to homes and schools.” He then asked for my email address to send me documents. We pointed out there are lots of new developments and existing homes for sale around Irvine.
If Asian Americans have a strong feeling about the location of the Veteran’s Cemetery, why not just buy a home somewhere else in the city? Chen was insistent, the cemetery has to go and he’s giving Choi and Lalloway a free pass on their votes letting them have their cake and eat it too.
We find Mr. Chen to be poorly informed about what goes on in his community.
Choi allegedly offered some commentary on a service called “WeChat” frequented by Irvine’s Asian American community. The text attributed to him (could be anyone) says: Steven Choi: When we needed you, where were you? We had a series of meetings on the agenda, but I couldn’t stop it alone. The boat has left. Governor signed the bill.” Chen was adamant — any candidate supporting the placement of the Veteran’s Cemetery at the Great Park should be ousted. That means basically everyone on the ballot now. From the Blog Post:
Thursday, October 23, 2014
A huge cemetery will be built in Irvine, and most Irvine residents do not even know about it…
Irvine has been known for its nice environment, excellent school district, abundant employment opportunities, and safety. It has become a top city for people to buy homes and raise their family. However, the quality of life can face serious challenge. What is the reason? A huge 125-acre veteran’s cemetery will be built in Irvine, and most of the Irvine residents do not even know about it. Most of those who found out about the news are against the location of the proposed cemetery in the Great Park. They support the veterans to have a cemetery, but they think the Great Park is definitely the wrong location for the cemetery. They think the proposed cemetery is too close to the urban areas, too close to the residential areas and the school, and may have negative environmental impact. Larry Agran is a main proponent for the cemetery. There are two major teams of candidates running for Irvine city council and mayor: Republican: Steven Choi, Jeff Lalloway and Lynn Schott Democrat: Larry Agran, Mary Ann Gaido, and Melissa Fox If you do not like the huge cemetery in Irvine, vote for Republican: Steven Choi, Jeff Lalloway and Lynn Schott, and defeat Larry Agran and his team to send a strong message to him, and start the first step of moving the cemetery to another location away from urban areas. Posted by Gang Chen, AIA, LEED AP BD+C, Author (GreenExamEducation.com) What’s worse, Chen has developed a questionnaire for candidates:
Questionnaire for Irvine Candidates:
We are a group of Irvine residents who are really concerned about the proposed cemetery in the Great Park, which we just found out about it recently. We are not against building a cemetery for the veterans, but we think the Great Park is definitely the wrong location for the cemetery. We feel the communities, especially the Asian communities have not been properly informed about this issue, and it was passed without many of the residents even knowing about it. We have come up with a Questionnaire for Irvine Candidates. Please fill out the Questionnaire, sign and send back, we’ll make a final decision on who we’ll all support together and form a bloc vote and also mobilize the 83,000+ Asian residents PLUS other Irvine residents who are concerned about the cemetery in Irvine to support us: If FivePoint wants to exercise its First Right of Refusal to buy the 125 acres land that city approved for the Veteran Cemetery, will you support FivePoint? Yes No 2. In the future, will you inform and consult the Asian communities on issues that have a huge impact on their life and cultures, such as adding a cemetery to the Great Park? Yes No
- The proposed location of cemetery on the Great park is too close to urban area, residential neighborhood and the proposed High School. Will you support Asian communities’ effort to move the cemetery to another location instead of the Great Park?
Yes No
- Will you postpone the building of the cemetery in the Great Park to allow Asian residents and other Irvine residents who are concerned about the cemetery to do more research for alternate location for the cemetery?
Yes No Signature Date Print Your Name Here Posted by Gang Chen, AIA, LEED AP BD+C, Author (GreenExamEducation.com) A better solution is to put the National Veteran’s Cemetery at another location I found out about the cemetery issue lately. Based on my research, it seems like Sharon Silva’s proposal was to get 100 acres of land for the cemetery, and it does NOT specifically calls for the land in Irvine. Larry Agran is a major proponent for the cemetery, and proposed to give away 125 acres of the Great park land for free for the cemetery. Steven Choi did bring up Asian residents’ concerns about Feng Shui regarding the cemetery. Unfortunately, most Asian residents (39.2% of the Irvine population, over 80,000 in number did not even know about the cemetery and few or none of the Asians were at the city council meetings to voice our concerns. Steven Choi and Jeff Lallaway intended to delay the votes but were more or less forced into vote yes by the constant pressure of the 30 veterans who were constantly at many of the city council meeting. Instead of giving away the 125 acres of land for the cemetery for free, a better solution may be to sell the land to FivePoint or another developer. Based on the current market price, it will sell for at least 4 million dollars per acre, 125×4=500 million dollars. Then, the city of Irvine, can donate part or all of 500 million dollars to the VA (Veteran Administration), and VA can use the money to buy a much larger piece of land at another location and still have some money left over to actually build the cemetery. Posted by Gang Chen, AIA, LEED AP BD+C, Author (GreenExamEducation.com)
Sunday, October 19, 2014
If you oppose the cemetery in the Great Park…
If you oppose the cemetery in the Great Park, please write to the candidates in for Irvine and voice your opinions. The following is a sample letter: “I oppose to adding a cemetery to the Great Park. It is too close to the residential areas and the proposed high school, and show no respect to the residents’ culture. I urge you to help to STOP the cemetery project in the Grate Park, and place it at another more appropriate location. Otherwise, I’ll have all my friends and relatives in Irvine vote against you in ALL your future elections! Your name Addresss, e-mail and phone number” Send the above letter (or modify and write your own letter) with your names and address and send the letter to the candidates. Here are the contact info: Larry Agran: http://www.larryagran.com/ Steven Choi: http://stevenchoi.org/ Steven Choi for Mayor 2014 4199 Campus Drive, Suite H Irvine, CA 92612 Phone: (949) 331-2294 Email: info@stevenchoi.org Please send your letter to Larry Agran and Steven Choi, and also forward this message to as many of your friends and relatives as possible. Posted by Gang Chen, AIA, LEED AP BD+C, Author (GreenExamEducation.com)
Mr. Chen seems to be ill advised about what is going on at the Great Park? This in turn might lead a reasonable and prudent man to conclude that Mr. Chen had been getting his facts or lack thereof from the Irvine Community News and Views. Why would I say that, you might ask? Well Mr. Chen seems to be spinning the facts, publishing incorrect information on his blog and grasping at straws. At the same time, the Community News and Views continues to do the same with each issue which arrives in my mailbox. Perhaps Mr. Chen and Frank Lunding should get together for lunch and swap their incorrect views. The good news is, one week from today, it will be H2O under the bridge and the election ismost likely to take King Larry out of the play once and for all. Until then, keep spinning the truth Dan, you might snag one or two additional voters?