Sharon Quirk-Silva’s AB 1453, which would have the state commission a new veterans cemetery in Orange County, could be one of two things: (1) a symbolic but ultimately ineffectual statement of support that got nothing done, or (2) the means to actually get a cemetery built.
For it to be the latter, some donor had to stand up and say that they were willing to give the state the land, so that it could then apply for federal funding through the Department of Veterans Affairs. (It could also be sold to the state — but the state has not been particularly interested in that.)
Such a donor could be private — but that wasn’t likely. Finding a public donor would also be hard. The only public donor with appropriate land that was obviously available and possibly willing was the City of Irvine, which had a 125-acre parcel of the Great Park left over, one that was not owned by Lennar or Five Point. So on Tuesday night, Irvine voted on whether they were willing to seriously consider giving the state the land.
This wasn’t going to be a commitment, which the state would really like. And it wasn’t specifying the Great Park site; if another Irvine site became available, that would be just fine, so far as this resolution went. But it would probably be enough of a gesture to get AB 1453 past its initial hurdles — at which point it would tend to pick up steam. So, in a sense, this was a make or break vote for really actually getting a veteran’s cemetery in Irvine — potentially the last best chance to do so for a long time.
Drumroll, please!
Proponents of the veterans cemetery won. The critical vote was 3-2, with Jeff Lalloway joining Larry Agran and Beth Krom in rejecting a substitute amendment by Christine Shea with the support of Mayor Steven Choi. That amendment would have delayed the decision process long enough that AB 1453 would not be able to be approved by the deadlines imposed by the legislative calendar. (Once the killer amendment was rejected, Choi joined Lalloway in voting for the final bill — but however many people he thinks that will fool, this blog will make sure that it fools fewer than that.)
Christine Shea looks unhappy and Stephen Choi seems to think he successfully pulled a fast one, but it was a majority of Larry Agran, Beth Krom, and Jeff Lalloway who kept alive the dream of actually building an Orange County Veterans Cemetery in this decade.
Orange Juice Blog will have a more extensive story on this development sometime tomorrow. But that’s the big news; in the meantime, see this preview story from Monday for more details about the deal generally. (And there are plenty of more details about this vote — it was quite a meeting!)
*Heck: People 1 – Developers – 0! How did that happen? You mean that Walt Ehlers and thousands of others great Americans that served their country…..might actually be given a suitable Orange County Veterans Cemetary? Shocking!
It was a tremendous amount of hard work — in the case of people like Bill Cook and Richard Ramirez, work going back years.
As I noted in my speech there, this is mostly a situation where the stars were aligned. (That’s a way of saying that the opportunity arising was largely a matter of luck — but taking advantage of it was not!) Here’s how things came together:
1. Assemblywoman Sharon Quirk-Silva was unexpectedly made Chair of the Assembly committee on Veterans Affairs, and she wanted to make something of that opportunity.
2. She was made aware (I think I was the first to do so in any detail, but I’m not sure about that) of the work on this issue of a committee of veterans in the circle of Los Amigos, who had done a lot of the initial spadework on the project.
3. Irvine’s agreement with Five Point both left the Great Park Master Plan in disarray — meaning that new initiatives became possible — and created a strong motivation to recoup some of what the Great Park could be. (With all due respect to golf courses and sports complexes, this is going to be the only truly great thing about the Great Park as it now stands — although this may also be the fulcrum for leveraging future improvements.)
4. Sharon was put in touch with Agran on the day she was appointed (I know that I did that, as all three of us happened to be at the same place at the same time) and they were able to have the first of several productive conversations about the possibilities.
5. Sharon’s office took control of things brilliantly, bringing in the career staff aide for Veterans Affairs as well as other state actors who could manage such a proposal. She also got the Governor to issue provisional support for the project — let me emphasize, she got the Governor to agree to support something big and specifically for the benefit of Orange County, which is a rare thing! — which helped get people to take notice.
6. Agran came up with a wise and effective political approach on his end. I don’t know whether he spoke to Lalloway about it directly, but they are two wickedly smart guys and when they’re on the same side they can accomplish a great deal. We also had good contacts from the Orange County Cemetery District, on whose Board Cynthia Ward sits, to give us some useful expertise about background issues. (I think that I can speak for the group in saying that they also impressed us, and others, as being competent and willing to manage the operations of the cemetery, should the State wish them to do so, without the customary OC tradition of lots of middlemen taking a cut. OCVMP had a very good interchange with their Executive Director — and they seem efficient, experienced, and professional.
7. The Veterans group, Orange County Veterans Memorial Park committee (OCVMP), is a group a big-hearted guys whose experience is more with veterans’ affairs than with navigating political processes, so I was able to keep Sharon’s office aware of what was going on and to bring in informational speakers as need be. It would be an understatement to say that this largely Republican group had their reservations about Agran — but I think that he finally impressed them that he was sincere and out for the right reasons. The role of Sharon’s staff and the legislative aide in keeping things on track and making sure that I and others understood the process was masterful. OCVMP also had a “devil’s advocate” (whom I won’t embarrass by naming) who “kept us honest,” noting the objections that were likely to come up and helping us assess their legitimacy. So we were very, very well prepared for last night.
8. OCVMP did an excellent job of turning people out. The DPOC had several good speakers there — and (while again I don’t mean to detract from Lalloway’s own actions) Melissa Fox’s open letters and speech to the Council made it clear that going against the veterans would really hurt him. (This is politics; that sort of thing matters. And, again, Lalloway is a very smart guy — and while he has had warm relations with Five Point, he doesn’t seem “owned” by them.) We’ve also enjoyed support from the California Republican Party, which I think (thanks to the initiative of Brian Chuchua, who had also brought me into OCVMP) will endorse at its upcoming convention.
9. Lalloway was pretty quiet for most of the debate, but both Agran and Krom had their facts down cold. When Shea started quoting from a contract that did not apply to this land because Five Point doesn’t own it, they had all of the answers — and the crowd showed its appreciation loudly. (Shea got roughed up a bit with negative responses from the crowd, which I thought was unfortunate and which I did my best to try to tamp down. But, frankly, she did not know her stuff. Whoever prepped her prepped her to be misleading — and that’s sad and inconsiderate towards her.)
10. Inside the meeting hall and outside, the public response to this proposal has been overwhelmingly positive. We won last night because the cause was just — but having a just cause isn’t always enough. We worked like hell and everything came together. The stars were aligned. Now we just have to keep them aligned! My hope is the Five Point will realize that making a little less money on its houses, if that even happens, is more than outweighed by the advantages to their reputation if they don’t stand in the way.
It was glorious, Ron. You shoulda been there! But maybe you’ll still get to enjoy the video.
*Just proud of you guys that you: “GOT ‘ER DONE! Magical work on the piano….eh?
Sounds like good news.
Hopefully it doesn’t campaign fodder in a tight reelection race.
I was very proud to be there to support the veterans. Glad to hear Lalloway, Krom, and Agran putting politics aside for the betterment of the community.
Very surprised how Shea controlled Choi on the dais. Seeing her head shake back and forth at Choi to control what he agrees or disagrees with was pure enjoyment.
You spoke well, Katherine! I was really surprised by Shea. I guess we can say that she’s not a politician type — because a politician type would have known better than to speak as she did. Is the video out yet? It does come out, right?
*When you get cash from the big developers in the county…..lots of odd ball
conduct can occur. But heck, we don’t know that…..we just think that.