February 2, 2023

$24 Million Approved for Veterans Cemetery at ARDA; State Senators Urge Immediate Action By Irvine City Council

March 14, 2021, 10:00 pm America/Los_Angeles

Branda Lin 83 Posts

Branda Lin is an Irvine native and a founding member of Irvine Watchdog. Her passion is to promote civic engagement and empower residents on local Irvine issues. She served as an Irvine Community Services Commissioner, Irvine Children Youth Families Advisory Committee member, and a driver for Irvine's Meals On Wheels program.

7 Comments

Irvine Voter
March 15, 2021 at 9:17 am
Horrible headline. The money was approved two years ago and there is no requirement for any action by the City. The proper headline should be “Umberg and Min Try to Leverage Irvine City Council for Agran.” The Mayor has stated clearly that the State Bill lists two sites. The Agran zoning Initiative is irrelevant to a State Cemetery. The State mandated study will be on in under 60 days. So why are Umberg, Min, and Agran desperate to change the rules to try to influence the CalVet report? Because they know that the ARDA site is unbuildable and will never be accepted by the State or financially feasible. Watchdog is clearly showing its bias towards Agran on this issue because there has been ZERO coverage of the true facts of the issue. The last time the State issued a study, the ARDA site was $95 million. In thee recent Voice OC article, Agran said. “Let’s say the (hangar) site is estimated to cost $63 million, and they came in at the golf course site at $43 million. That’s a $20 million difference. Are you kidding me, you’re going to delay this project for five, six, seven years to save $20 million?” Is the Irvine Watchdog seriously supporting the squandering of $20 million dollars under Agran’s mis-stated figures and $45 million in realty? What would Watchdog say if another Councilmember said “$20 million of taxpayer money is irrelevant.”
- deefox
  April 7, 2021 at 3:06 am
  If “Irvine Voter” believes in what he says then he would use his real name. Don’t hide behind an alias, it gives you no credibility. It’s a shame that people use these poor excuses when we are talking about a VETERAN’S MEMORIAL PARK AND CEMETERY. It would be nice if Irvine could get something good done for the 63% of Irvine Residents that voted for this. Farrah Khan and Tammy Kim ran with Larry Agran on this and now they are holding back because money is more important to them then our Veterans! If you can’t stand up for the people you should not be in public office!
ParisM
March 15, 2021 at 12:29 pm
Consider the source, Agran.
- deefox
  April 7, 2021 at 3:12 am
  Speaking of sources…didn’t you work for Christina Shea? She was the one who started this whole “let’s give the land to FivePoint instead of the Veterans” scheme. Sucked you right in too, I see.
Susan Sayre
March 15, 2021 at 1:40 pm
It appears to me that the goal of the Mayor and the City Council majority is to miss out on obtaining funding then claim the Veterans Cemetery is not affordable and thus not have a cemetery. The land then could go to Five Point for development. The inaction on the part of the Mayor and all but one Council member is yet another example of the City Council’s failure to represent the interests of the Irvine residents.
judithG
March 15, 2021 at 1:42 pm
New regime, SAME OLD GAMES!

Nothing will get built on this land except homes.

This funding will disappear, the CalVet study will come out and show the golf course site as cheaper to convert to a cemetery. City council will reverse its previous order and 5 Point gets ARDA land to develop houses.

Forget the will of the residents.

MOVE ON CITY COUNCIL! Are you not as tired as the rest of us in fighting against this? Let’s focus on taking our city into the future. Build it NOW!
Bill Cook
March 15, 2021 at 3:07 pm
As Senator Min writes in 3/12/2021 email to ‘Dear Irvine Resident’:
“… the Irvine City Council could simply decide that it does not want a veterans cemetery at the Great Park, and proceed accordingly …”
Get out of the cemetery business Irvine! Please proceed accordingly. Just step aside. Get out of our way. Decline the honor – again.
Free your OC Vets to move on to a preferred, monumental, inclusive, non-contentious, already designated and in process cemetery site in Anaheim, on peaceful county parkland, donated by The Irvine Company.