Author: Roger Bloom

 
On a 3-2 vote on a motion by Councilmember Larry Agran, the City Council declared the long-running and controversial negotiation with Live Nation terminated. Agran was joined by Councilmembers Kathleen Treseder and Tammy Kim in voting for the motion while Mayor Farrah Khan and Councilmember Mike Carroll voted against it.

The successful motion directed City staff to return to the Council with a “process and timeline” for reviewing and approving an amphitheater of 8,000-10,000 seats, with a house sound system under City control.

When it arrived at the Ranch, the car pulled up to an odd two-story wooden building from which a 3-foot-wide metal pipe extended as far as the eye could see into the darkness.

The car door opened and Albert Einstein stepped out into the dim lamplight from the scientific station, to be greeted by another giant of 20th century physics, Dr. Albert Michelson. (Michelson Drive in Irvine is named after Dr. Albert Michelson.)

This year, the team repeated as a division champion in the elementary division at the 2023 VEX-IQ world robotics competition in Dallas.

To win, the pair had to design, build and code a robot to complete a set of specific tasks in 60 seconds. The course this year involved collecting plastic discs from different containers around the game board and and then disgorging the discs into a target area of the board.

Ezra and Kenneth, who both attend Turtle Rock Elementary School, spent a year developing and honing their robot, as they competed first at the county level, then state and national, and finally at the world championship.

The moment was a culmination for Councilmember Larry Agran and many of the 250 people who gathered on the site for the groundbreaking ceremony. Present were veterans of not only our nation’s military, but also of the political battles and initiative campaigns that first overturned a County plan to put an international airport at the former base and then successfully locked-in the Veterans Memorial Park & Gardens as part of the Great Park.