Local veteran leaders and county officials are calling on Gov. Gavin Newsom and other state leaders to get the ball rolling on building Orange County’s first veterans cemetery serving the roughly 84,000 vets that live in the county.
About one-third of those veterans are older than 75, with local vet leader Nick Berardino – a USMC Vietnam War combat veteran and former county employee union leader – saying about 1,000 Vietnam vets die off each year in OC.
Meanwhile, Fullerton officials shied away from creating an immigrant aid fund amid revamped ICE raids with some council members raising concerns about rocky city coffers, pointing to an expected $9.3 million deficit next year.
In a related issue, Garden Grove City Council members narrowly approved creating an immigrant resource hub on the city’s website in an effort to connect impacted residents to legal services and direct aid from nonprofits and community groups.
Developers in Anaheim Hills will be paying more in sewer fees for new developments after council members increased the charges by 36% not long after city officials backed away from a proposed 3% gate tax on Disneyland as the city stares down a potential budget deficit by the end of the decade.
Fountain Valley could become the latest OC city to adopt a governing charter as council members there decided to put the question before voters next November, with some officials saying the switch will give the city more local control on things like housing developments.
Elected officials in nearby Costa Mesa could soon require retailers to have staff work self-checkout lines – pitting retail unions supporting the move against industry groups who oppose the proposal, while also raising questions over how involved the government should be in private enterprise.
People going to next year’s Fourth of July celebration in Irvine’s Great Park could see less traffic jams as council members doubled the budget for the United States’ 250th birthday next year following this year’s traffic nightmare.
Spencer Custodio is the civic editor. You can reach him at scustodio@voiceofoc.org. Follow him on Twitter @SpencerCustodio.