Voice of OC (https://voiceofoc.org/tag/great-park/)
The Santa Ana City Council is considering filing a lawsuit against the county – and inviting other cities to join – alleging mismanagement of the millions of dollars in federal homelessness money the county gets each year.
A majority of the council has expressed concern over Supervisor Shawn Nelson’s proposal to open a 200-person homeless shelter on county land near the entrance to the Great Park.
Irvine residents Karen Jaffe and Joe Martinez are urging Irvine City Council members to reduce entitlements and consider traffic in the Veterans’ Cemetery decision slated for this Tuesday
During a Friday press conference at the Great Park, Gov. Jerry Brown spoke to reporters after touring two competing sites for a veterans’ cemetery. While supportive of local decision making, Brown remarked about a site near the I-5 Freeway saying he liked the Strawberry fields. A final decision on the location could be reached by June.
Citizens feel a sense of betrayal and a lost opportunity because botanical gardens seem to have disappeared from the Great Park. But the current city council has the chance to rectify that.
One side favors a 125-acre site on the former El Toro Marine Corps Air Station while the other wants to let a developer build it near the intersection of the 5 and 405 freeways.
The city’s high-profile and controversial forensic audit of the Great Park was plagued by poor governance, a lack of auditing standards, and a compromised bidding process, according to a scathing report released by the State Auditor’s office Tuesday.
Irvine ranked eighth out of 100 big cities nationwide for the quality of its parkland, according to a study by The Trust for Public Land. Meanwhile, Anaheim and Santa Ana ranked 65th and 83rd, respectively.
Orange County’s food banks are including more fresh produce among the dried and canned staples on which homeless and low-income families have come to depend.
Inside OC’s Rick Reiff talks to Jeff Lalloway about the Great Park audit, potential lawsuits and the Republican effort to change air quality across Southern California.