Voice of OC (https://voiceofoc.org/tag/santana-editorial-veterans/)
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As we come out of the election season, and go into another month of tight, tense counts at the local registrar of voters office, Veterans Day offers a chance to stop and reflect on our freedoms as well as those who have sacrificed to ensure our way of life. Today, Orange County’s state fairgrounds in Costa Mesa hosts the annual commemoration where people can visit the Hero’s Hall museum as well as the walk of honor featuring plaques that tell the stories of more than three-dozen war heroes from Orange County.
Irvine City staff are asking questions about the future of idle portions of a proposed 125-acre veterans’ cemetery – possibly eyeing vacant parcels for commercial development. Veteran leaders are publicly worrying that an expected Tuesday vote to finalize a controversial land swap for the vets cemetery could be in doubt along with key aspects of the deal to bring a state veterans’ cemetery to Irvine.
This month, Orange County’s state fairgrounds in Costa Mesa formally opened a memorial to agricultural workers – a far cry from where the agency stood nearly a decade ago when fair board members led the charge to privatize what they termed “an underutilized asset.”
There are state and federal designations backing a site on the former El Toro Marine Air Base but no clear path to fund the $77 million construction cost. This Tuesday, Irvine City Councilman Jeff Lalloway and Assemblywoman Sharon Quirk Silva jumpstart a stalled debate, advocating a plan to have the city fund more than half.
As we prepare for Thanksgiving, let’s hope our county supervisors can refocus themselves on leadership, crafting a realistic regional plan for attacking homelessness. All of Orange County — not just Santa Ana — has to step up.
Retired labor leader Nick Berardino reflects on the effort to establish the county’s first veterans’ museum. County homeless czar Susan Price charts out a strategy for combating homelessness. County supervisors get called out for politicking with public resources.
County supervisors seem poised this week to take the long overdue step of setting up a homelessness triage center in downtown Santa Ana. Let’s hope the good will lasts beyond the November election.
Orange County fairgrounds officials get ready to move the Heroes Hall historic building into place for a countywide OC vets museum Monday, while county supervisors consider their own legacy Tuesday turning an old bus terminal into a homeless services center.
After decades of pressing public officials across Orange County, local veterans this month celebrated securing a countywide public veterans museum. Heroes Hall opens this November during the OC Fairgrounds annual Veterans Day event.