[Ed. Note: This is a press release from Five Point on Friday’s dedication ceremony, to which I’ll be adding some analysis in comments. For those confused by other commenters, this was a dedication ceremony — think “Gettysburg Address” — rather than a groundbreaking. My personal conflicts stated — I’ve been involved to various extents from the beginning of this project with OCVMP, and I’ve said some nasty things over the years about FivePoint and most of the bold named politicos in both major parties below. Still, as the father of a sailor on deployment, I really find myself quite touched by this moment, on behalf of future families of servicemembers who will pass by the site honoring them at the El Toro “Y.” That kindness and respect to them remains, to me, the main logic behind the land swap leading to a more visible cemetery. GAD]
SITE OF ORANGE COUNTY’S FIRST VETERANS’ CEMETERY DEDICATED IN CEREMONY HONORING LOCAL SERVICEMEMBERS
Orange County Veterans Memorial Park Foundation Joins City of Irvine and FivePoint to Mark Significant Milestone in Dream to Honor Local Veterans
IRVINE, Calif., Oct. 27, 2017 — As a squadron of World War II-era aircraft thundered overhead, local, state and federal officials joined veterans’ groups today to dedicate Orange County’s first veterans’ cemetery on the former Marine Corps Air Station El Toro site.
The Orange County Veterans Memorial Park Foundation, the City of Irvine and FivePoint’s partnership (Heritage Fields El Toro, LLC) hosted the flag-raising ceremony for the Southern California Veteran’s Cemetery on 125 acres near the Orange County Great Park. The event – attended by nearly 300 invited guests – marks a significant milestone in efforts to create a memorial park that honors the courage and sacrifice of Orange County veterans and their families. Construction of the state-run veterans’ cemetery could begin as early as October 2018.
“We’re honored to be part of this long-overdue dedication to the local men and women who served their country with valor and honor,” said Emile Haddad, FivePoint Chairman and CEO. “Thanks to the vision and persistence of the Orange County Veterans Memorial Park Foundation, our service members and their families soon will have a thoughtfully-planned local memorial site that forever conveys the community’s deepest gratitude.”
The dream of establishing Orange County’s only veterans’ cemetery moved closer to reality in September when the Irvine City Council approved a land-exchange proposal put forth by the Orange County Veterans Memorial Park Foundation and the FivePoint partnership. Orange County veterans have long wanted a veterans’ cemetery in Orange County; currently, the closest veterans’ cemeteries are in Riverside and San Diego counties. The city’s agreement to exchange parcels accelerates the construction timeline and is estimated by local and state officials to ultimately save taxpayers more than $50 million for the cemetery’s first phase.
“This is a milestone for all Orange County residents and especially our veterans and their families, who have championed for this cemetery for years,” said Irvine Mayor Don Wagner, who served as master of ceremonies during the event held on the former MCAS site now used for strawberry fields on which the memorial park will be built. “The City of Irvine is grateful for their service and is committed to housing a memorial park that will honor their service and sacrifices.”
During the dedication ceremony, organizers raised the U.S. flag alongside the California state flag and flags representing the five branches of the United States Armed Forces. As a bagpiper played the hymns of the five service branches—Army, Navy, Air Force, Coast Guard and Marine Corps—veterans stood and cheered. A 21-gun salute by a local American Legion color guard troop capped a series of moving speeches honoring America’s servicemen and servicewomen, including an estimated 132,000 veterans who live in Orange County.
“These flags will wave in perpetuity to Orange County’s heroes,” said Orange County Veterans
Memorial Foundation President Bill Cook, who spoke at the dedication. “The veterans of Orange
County chose to protect the nation and our freedoms – with some making the ultimate sacrifice for our country. With this Southern California Veterans Memorial Park, we can thank them by offering a final resting place right here in their own community and providing a daily reminder to all of us of the price of freedom.”
Also during the ceremony, Irvine Councilmembers Melissa Fox and Christina Shea; Orange County Supervisors Michele Steel and Todd Spitzer; Assemblywoman Sharon Quirk-Silva and Assemblyman Steven Choi; State Senator Janet Nguyen; U.S. Representatives Lou Correa and Dana Rohrabacher all expressed their gratitude to Orange County service members and the hope that families will consider the new cemetery a worthy tribute.
About FivePoint
[NO, SORRY; WE’RE NOT DOING THAT!]
Contact:
Steve Churm, Chief Communications Officer, FivePoint
I realize that there are still efforts from opponents of the Bake Parkway / Strawberry Fields site — at the other end of the runway from the toxic-waste-dump adjacent ARDA site that was initially approved — who are trying to block the groundbreaking and construction of the Veteran’s cemetery there. I think that it’s damned unfortunate and probably likely at most to delay rather than block the construction, especially given that Governor Jerry Brown would very much like it to happen on his watch. A fuller discussion of that can wait for another day; what I’ll point out now is limited, simple, and straightforward:
To the extent that legal maneuvering can force a public vote, thus delaying construction, it is a strategy that could have been employed by opponents of EITHER site. If one’s main motive is to get it done surely and get it done fast, it is absolutely loony to imagine that FivePoint would not only have had more resources to force the issue before voters, but that it would have had a better argument and better chance of prevailing, both in court and among voters. Even as OCVMP celebrated our early victories in this fight, its members were never blind to the notion that Five Point would and could try to fight back because for it the stakes were simply that high. It was looking at potential losses from broken contracts and the like in staggering amounts if things went too far south.
Giving up the Bake Parkway site in trade was a significant sacrifice for Five Point — FOR THIS PURPOSE it is a better site, as is admittedly not the case for luxury housing, because the cemetery goes from a place where it is hidden from all but those who would seek it out and reviled by many of its neighbors to one where it will be publicly available to and venerated by pretty much everyone.
For the City to have turned down such a swap would have put it in a much shakier position in court, increasing the odds that FivePoint could have shut down the ENTIRE project and walked away with both lots and losing only its legal bills. And veterans knew that.
While a dishonest campaign has been spread against the Bake Parkway site, it is simply not something that proponents of a cemetery need to fear as much. The Larry Agran faction is driven primarily by (understandable and I would have said justified before getting a taste of what they’re willing to pull) SPITE at FivePoint for ruining their plans — and they don’t want FivePoint to benefit AT ALL from a swap. That’s a lousy motive to get through court and a worse one to get through to the voters. Were this to go to a referendum, not only would the Agran faction lose such a vote because they have been losing EVERYTHING for the past few years — their only arguable victory was the election of Melissa Fox, who had kept a discreet distance from them, and look how THAT turned out for them — but because in this case and for this cause Asian voters would have FLOODED to the polls to ensure that this swap would be approved. At to that the deficiencies of the astroturf Ed Pope movement and its arguments, and all a referendum would do is to slow things down — not to stop them.
If what you care about is policy, that’s pretty pointless. But if what you care about is REVENGE, then even a temporary and inconveniencing delay is beneficial in the same way as getting to flip off a cop who is about to arrest you is beneficial. It shows that one still had to be reckoned with, even at the cusp of inevitable defeat.
I’ve not been among those who have hated Agran for years; I credit him (along with Sharon Quirk Silva and Bill Cook) as one of the trio that really made this whole deal possible. But I hope that even his detractors can join me in not wanting to see his political legacy collapse into a heap of ashes like this. Not just for everyone’s sake, but for his OWN, I want him to stop. If he wants revenge on Five Point, he needs to find another way that doesn’t make him look like a villain. When his side gets less than 30% in a referendum — once all of the slanted questions are cleared out by forces that can outspend him massively — he’s going to look like an idiot and a knave. Some people may look forward to that; I just want the cemetery built as now on track, and not revenge against him personally.
Let’s hope that cooler heads — primarily his, if he can manage it — prevail. He doesn’t deserve to go out of public life as a joke and an enemy of the veterans and their families whom, for some critical years, he so well served.
What did daddy say: “A good leader knows how to step on some toes without messin up the shine!” Looks like the fix is in, has been in and will be in. Dr. D., is undoubtedly right….that it is time to declare victory and get on board….to be sure the design committee had some intelligent life forms on board. Veterans, can’t live with them, can’t live without them…eh? Oh well, the primary question still remains: Will the family of Walt Ehlers eventually move his remains to the new OC Cemetery from Riverside? That will be the eventual tail of the tape!