heighdie heighdie ho
With a carousel and a ding dong bell
heighdie heighdie ho"
-Holiday by Bonie M.
Great Park then Great Park now
The Orange County Register has a news report by Kimberly Pierceall describing the latest Irvine City Council meeting, which was dominated by the Great Park and guns. The big news is that visitors will now have to pay for carousel rides and the hot air balloon. It was also contentious.
http://www.ocregister.com/news/council-499491-irvine-city.html
"Be upset at the people that wasted 220 million-plus dollars," he said, referring to the council that led Irvine before November's election, which included Larry Agran and Beth Krom."
As my readers know, the so-called Great Park isn't a park at all. It consists of the abandoned El Toro Marine base, an orange hot air, balloon, a carousel, (no ding-dong bell) and a huge parking lot to accommodate the dozen or so people who visit each day.
Other than that, imagine the scene of the book and movie, "Holes" a forlorn place out in the middle of nowhere where a dry lake bed was the site of a juvenile reform camp where the boys had to dig a large hole every day. (The bad guys running the camp were trying to find a buried treasure.)
That is the Great Park after $220 million has been spent for who-knows-what.
Much like "Holes", the Great Park is primarily the big treasure hunt of Irvine's "man to see" Larry Agran, who is one of two city council members with blisters on their hands-the other being Agran's gofer, Beth Krom.
Speaking of gophers and holes, here is a picture of the groundbreaking featuring Agran (second from left) and Krom (second from right). Not surprisingly, the Great Park is great if you are a gopher. That also means holes, too, right?
"Uhhhh...............yeaaaaaah."
Fortunately, Agran and Krom are a minority on the 5-member city council, the majority of which are demanding some financial accountability in this boondoggle.
As for the other issue, gun control in Irvine, I thought Irvine was supposed to be "America's Safest City". Maybe it was until Christoper Dornen came smoking into town and killed his first two victims. If you are wondering why Dorner didn't try to take refuge in the Great Park, that's easy. The cops would have spotted him instantly from the hot air balloon.
"I see him. He's hiding in a gopher hole!"
"Agran, who proposed the original motion, whittled down seven recommendations to two – hiring more school resource officers with Measure BB funds and encouraging Mayor Steven Choi to join Mayors Against Illegal Guns."
As to opposed to what, Larry-Mayors FOR Illegal Guns? How about Citizens for a Perfect World?
Anyway, you are now up-to-date on the "Great Park".
6 comments:
$220 dollars down the gopher hole!
Squid
Thats 220 million dollars
Gary,
We need a much bigger gopher hole!
Squid
Speaking of "Holes," perhaps Orange County could develop a program to have delinquent juveniles perform community service planting trees, filling in gopher holes, cultivating rose and tulip gardens, building playgrounds, and other things that Gary Fouse has pointed out need to happen if this wasteland of a former marine base is to become a Great Park.
Siarlys,
You are not a resident of the "O.C." Thus, you do not know the efforts of the school district and other organizations which provide service to the community (ex nihilo). As part of their matriculation at the high schools, the students must provide community service. In addition, the youthful individuals in the local jails are required to perform community service, many of them cleaning up freeway landscape and graffiti.
So, who is blow smoke out of the hole at this point Siarlys?
Squid
Squid, are we having an argument? What did you say that contradicts anything I said? Somehow, I fail to see the slightest contradiction.
And actually, I have spent some time in Orange County, although its been a while. I've never met Larry Agran, but I'm only two degrees of separation away. I know some fine agitators who deemed him a reliable supporter.
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