Voice of OC (https://voiceofoc.org/tag/veterans-cemetery/)
Gov. Gavin Newsom signed Assemblywoman Sharon Quirk-Silva’s bill allowing a cemetery to be built on one of two sites in Irvine, which could ultimately be decided by Irvine voters if a citywide ballot initiative is successful.
Assemblywoman Sharon Quirk-Silva announced Tuesday she will amend her legislation to include a proposed golf course that could be the home Orange County’s first veterans cemetery after a five-month battle between state Legislators and Irvine City Councilmembers.
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.
Irvine City Council members could end a two-year battle over where to locate Orange County’s first veterans cemetery if they decide on a site Tuesday.
Orange County’s first veterans cemetery got $20 million in state funding when Gov. Gavin Newsom signed the budget, but the cemetery has yet to find a site in Irvine after battles between the city and the state legislature.
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.
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.
State lawmakers back the original site for a veterans’ cemetery just after Irvine planning commissioners vote for another option at a nearby site originally proposed as a golf course.
Nick Berardino – president of Valor, the Veterans Alliance of Orange County and President of Heroes Hall Foundation – talks about the challenges facing what he calls America’s most disrespected minority, veterans, as well as the quest for a veterans cemetery in OC.