Voice of OC (https://voiceofoc.org/tag/christina-shea/)
The State Legislature is eyeing the original site near the heart of the old Marine Corps Air Station El Toro in Irvine, while city leaders, concerned about funding, also are eyeing a golf course site.
Harvey Liss, who is Editor of Irvine Community News & Views, writes that it is time for the Irvine City Council to finally fulfill the will of the people and move forward with the Southern California Veterans Cemetery at the original 125-acre ARDA site in the Great Park.
Irvine Mayor Christina Shea wants Gov. Gavin Newsom to visit her city to review competing properties to establish a veterans cemetery. Shea is opposed to the current site advocated by State Assemblywoman Sharon Quirk Silva in her recent legislation on the issue and instead argues a nearby golf course site should house the proposed veterans’ cemetery site.
Irvine voters will have to wait until at least late April before they know how a vacancy on the City Council will be filled after council members, while moving parts of an appointment process forward, rejected the appointment mechanics recommended by staff.
Irvine will grapple with a City Council vacancy when Mayor Pro Tem Christina Shea succeeds former Mayor Don Wagner, who resigned Tuesday after winning a special election to become a County supervisor.
If a City Council member or city employee lobbies on behalf of a city contractor, the contract can be voided with cause and the city will get reimbursed.
The location of Orange County’s first veterans cemetery remains unclear after the Irvine City Council directed staff to identify a site in or around the Great Park and put the project through the planning process. Councilman Jeff Lalloway brought a motion Tuesday night to reinstate original cemetery site near the heart of the former El Toro Marine Corps Air Station, adjacent to the Great Park. But, before it could go to a vote, Mayor Don Wagner introduced a substitute motion that directs different commissions and city staff to start studying the original site and explore other city-owned land. “Give me a site,” Wagner told Voice of OC after the meeting. “You tell me where it can be … is it a golf course (that’s slated to be built in the Great Park)?
The Irvine City Council has directed city staff to develop an ad campaign, encouraging residents to buy from Irvine stores to help offset the ongoing drop in sales taxes caused by online shopping.
Irvine City Councilman Jeff Lalloway said Monday he will ask the City Council to approve Orange County’s first veterans cemetery in its original site near the center of the Marine Corps Air Station El Toro after voters overwhelmingly rejected a land swap that would have moved it to strawberry fields near the 5 and 405 freeways.
Voters June 5 could give Orange County its first veterans cemetery but in the political infighting leading up to the election, some veterans fear people have lost sight of who the cemetery is about—veterans.