Voice of OC (https://voiceofoc.org/tag/don-wagner/)
The city of Irvine has a national reputation as a safe, well-planned and well-run city, but problems are brewing. A no-growth movement is gaining steam, the city’s fire protection is up for grabs and residents have protested against a homeless facility. Are things coming unhinged in this model city? Mayor Donald Wagner gives his views.
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.
U.S. District Judge David O. Carter two months ago called on south county cities to identify and develop additional shelter beds, and gave them until Wednesday to identify locations.
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.
It’s time for the county and cities to stop the infighting that’s plagued recent efforts to build housing and shelters and instead form a regional body to address homelessness, according to an Orange County Grand Jury report released Thursday.
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.
The announcement came as county and city officials said the county is working on a proposal for adding shelters at three yet-to-be-named locations.
The move sends the issue back to south county mayors to recommend another site or sites for a homeless shelter.
Supervisors Todd Spitzer and Shawn Nelson said they are opposed to a proposal by south Orange County mayors to put a new homeless shelter on county-owned property in rural Silverado Canyon.