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Author: Roger Bloom

Construction of the Veterans Memorial Park & Gardens to Begin

With demolition and site clean-up scheduled to begin in the next few weeks, the Veterans Memorial Park & Gardens will soon become a reality.

This marks a hard-won victory for Irvine Councilmember Larry Agran, veterans and their families, and the wider Irvine community that has endured a decade-long fight that has had more ups and downs than the Great Park Balloon.

Back in 2014, he won unanimous Council support for a State-funded Veterans Memorial Park to be built on the so-called “ARDA” site at the northern edge of the Great Park.

Soon after that vote, the project was turned into a political football when mega-developer FivePoint decided they wanted the valuable City-owned ARDA site for their own lucrative office, industrial, and residential development projects.

Nine years after the unanimous Council vote, the project is now back on track. Agran has praised the current City Council and planning staff for “heeding both the expressed will of Irvine voters and the moral imperative to properly honor the service and sacrifice of those who were posted at the former El Toro Marine Corps Air Station, and indeed all of our veterans and their families.”

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City Council Again Questions Contract for Electric Charging Stations in the Great Park

In December 2021, Casco Construction was awarded a contract to install, maintain and operate vehicle charging stations at the Great Park, despite the fact that two other firms had been recommended by City staff following a formal bid process.

Councilmembers Mike Carroll and Tammy Kim urged the Council to award the contract to Casco because the company promised that the City would receive $2 million annually in revenue — much more than promised by any other bidder. And, Kim said that Casco’s proposed equipment supplier, Noodoe, would boost Irvine manufacturing jobs. (Then-Councilmember Anthony Kuo provided the third vote.)

More than a year after the contract with Casco was pushed through, City Manager Oliver Chi says the $2 million revenue promised by Casco has now been revised down to just 10% of that amount — if there is any revenue at all. And Irvine has actually lost jobs. The same month that Councilmember Kim was promising a boon in local jobs, Taiwan-based Noodoe was closing up shop in Irvine and moving its U.S. operations to Houston, laying off Irvine employees. It turns out that the chargers were never going to be manufactured here in Irvine, or even the U.S., but in Taiwan.
 

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