Veterans and residents will get a chance to honor the nearly 60,000 soldiers killed in the Vietnam War as a replica memorial wall – 75% of the size of the one in Washington D.C. – comes to the City of Orange next week.
The memorial, called The Wall That Heals, is slated to stay open 24 hours beginning Oct. 2 and closing Oct. 5 at 2 p.m. so veterans and their families will get private moments to honor the fallen.
Local volunteers with a German Shepard rescue are struggling to maintain the high influx of rescues as they say a rocky economy is hampering their adoption efforts.
The relationship between Disneyland Resort interests and elected officials in Anaheim is seemingly changing as city council members lean on the tourism district to help fund workforce housing and first-time homebuyers programs.
City council members are also slated to consider instituting a gate tax on entertainment venues like Disneyland and the Honda Center – a big shift from just a few years ago when proposals like that were immediately shot down.
Not far away from the Happiest Place on Earth at the Hall of Administration in Santa Ana, Orange County Supervisors continue struggling to find a permanent CEO to run the county government and the $10 billion budget along with it.
The drawn out search for an executive prompted Voice of OC editor in chief and publisher Norberto Santana Jr. to ask if it’s time for voters to elect a CEO, creating a position that’s accountable to voters and not five politicians.
Across the street from the Hall of Administration, Santa Ana City Council members are facing questions over why city staff returned a nearly $7 million state grant for child care – with some elected officials saying the dais should’ve made that decision.
In Westminster, city council members condemned a local advocacy group – VietRISE – for allegedly revising the history of Vietnam, including the August 1945 Revolution and Ho Chi Minh.
VietRISE leaders say it’s a targeted political attack by elected officials who are critical of their work within Little Saigon and the broader community – work largely centered around immigrant rights and rent control.
Meanwhile, cities across the county continue cracking down on smoking in public, with Garden Grove moving to ban smoking in parks and Cypress rolling out a ban on smoking tobacco and vapes in public places.
Beyond smoking, Garden Grove and Stanton are looking to hire unarmed private security guards to patrol parks and other public places to help deter camping, drug use and various low-level crimes.
There’s questions whether the Orange County Power Authority could be bouncing back after Irvine City Council members cancelled the city’s planned withdrawal from the green energy agency – a move that could’ve jeopardized the authority’s future.
The fountain at the heart of the iconic Orange Circle keeps getting wrecked by cars, prompting questions from city council members on how to best protect one of the oldest locations in the county.
Spencer Custodio is the civic editor. You can reach him at scustodio@voiceofoc.org. Follow him on Twitter @SpencerCustodio.