Voice of OC (https://voiceofoc.org/tag/melissa-fox/)
Irvine Mayor Christina Shea told residents at a private townhall meeting July 18 that the golf course site was a diversion so the state doesn’t force the veterans cemetery at the original site. But she said, on Wednesday, she was talking about diverting the residents’ anger over the original site.
The Irvine City Council picked a planned golf course within the Great Park as the future home of the state-run veterans cemetery, but a state bill looking to name another site conflicts with Irvine’s decision.
The official location of the proposed Southern California Veterans Cemetery in Irvine remains unclear after the California Senate Veterans Affairs Committee moves legislation naming one site, while Irvine is looking at another one.
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.
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 residents now will have 12 days to study regular agendas for the City Council, Planning Commission and other city bodies after the Council voted Tuesday to strengthen its transparency ordinance.
Melissa Fox, Irvine City Council member, writes that divisive issues such as SB 54 the “Sanctuary State” bill should be avoided at Irvine City Council as they are outside the jurisdiction and Constitutional authority of the council.
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.