All of these comments listed below made the print edition of either the Irvine World News or Register letters section. ALL of them are negative on the park. NOT one positive comment in defense of the invisible park.
As one will clearly see, the public has soured on the Great Pork. They see they have been had by the Agranistas. The only supporters left are those who are cashing in on Agran's gravy train, or those who are envious of Newport Beach and want to see our beautiful city condemned at any cost to expand the acreage of John Wayne.
Everyone else out there realizes that by re-opening the airport it would create thousands of jobs, create demand for the excessive housing stock, and be close and convenient for air travel. If a vote were held today, the airport would prevail hands down just like it did the first two times people voted for it. No amount of spending for Irvine propaganda will change that. You can't put lipstick on the Great Pig.
Irvine World News
September 17th, 2009.
VIEWS OF THE ORANGE BALLOON
The Great Park’s orange balloon ride has soared to a new milestone, with more than 100,000 riders hopping on the park’s signature feature.
The balloon ride hit the 100,000 mark in August, a little more than two years after it first took flight above the former El Toro airbase. The milestone comes as park leaders prepare for a more than $500,000 plan to replace the balloon, which has begun to fade and show its age.
The tethered helium balloon ride began as a $1.9 million gift from Lennar Corp., owner of the land surrounding the Great Park. The balloon consists of a gondola suspended below a 72-foot, 210,000 cubic foot balloon, filled with 5,500 cubic meters of helium. The gondola carries up to 30 people at a time, taking them 400 feet up.
Readers said:
MARC960 WROTE
Having the perfect color balloon is worth $500,000? With that half million you could put two people to work for 5 years at a decent wage. How about charging a $1 a ride from now on? That amount isn’t going to scare folks away. I just know deep inside the taxpayers of Orange County are ending up with the tab for this and all of the Great Pork.
JMAHONEY WROTE
Driving by this the other day we noticed that the balloon color is fading from being constantly in the sun all these months. My wife asked a good question: Does this constant exposure degrade the material of the balloon in any way? I’m sure that’s been considered (I hope), but does anyone know the answer?
ERIK1 23 WROTE
Money pit!
OCEANWANDERLUST WROTE
So far, the balloon ride has cost the city and Lennar $19 per person’s free ride? (not counting facilities and employees.) My wife and I took one of the quick flights when it first opened and I think the city could have spent our $38 much better elsewhere.
CHELSEAFC WROTE
Ha. Irvine taxpayers have to pay out $500,000 every six months to keep it Orange! It just keeps getting better!
BIGGIE WROTE
Makes you wonder about the integrity of the balloon also.
MADDIEGIRL WROTE
What a waste of money! And you all were outraged about the police protesting cuts to the department.
CARMADOGMA WROTE
Would have been much nicer to hear the first 100,000th passenger arriving at El Toro International Airport with wads of cash to dole out at Disney, Knotts and our beach communities.
VERNONDELIGHTS WROTE
Imagine how the view from the balloon will look once Irvine has to build the 35,000 "affordable" housing units as mandated per SCAG. What a great view that will be of the projects.
Orange County Register Letters
September 25, 2009
Great Park disaster
It's ironic to read the Register's lead story, "The cost of secrecy" [Sept. 23]and O.C. Supervisor Pat Bates' column "Get ready for the next disaster" in the same issue.
Although Bates' piece deals with natural disasters, the Great Park will probably be the county's next fiscal disaster.
I can't imagine denying members of a corporate board of directors the opportunity of seeing resumes of potential CEOs of that corporation. This is probably the tip of a Great Park governance iceberg.
Ivan Marks
Huntington Beach
10 comments:
That's a great collections of comments panning the Great Park. Carma Dogma reports on the cash that users of El Toro International Airport will bring to town. Vernon Delights warns about the shanty town aimed at Irvine if it doesn't make the call to LAWA and open the airport. Larry wants to build an ampitheater at El Toro so he he can make speeches to his brainwashed idiots. I thought he already had one at city hall. Turn on the lights, Vernon. Nobody is in the noise zone of El Toro International Airport and nobody likes the Great Park.
Nice fluf, Donald. Oh, and I always like the way you are the first to comment on your own story. But what the hell, no one else will.
The news about the Great Park is bad. it's hard to keep up with it. In the letters to the Editor of the Register, 9-30-09, we get:
"Not-so-great park"
It seems that every time I pick up the Register I read something about what Great Park leaders are planning, ["Great Park board OKs plans for amenities," Local, Sept. 29].
I find this incredible when they have hardly done anything towards building a Great Park.
We're still waiting. It's inevitable that park leaders will continue to spend hundreds of millions more, doing whatever Larry Agran dictates, to appease his friends.
Mr. Agran, when will you finally provide the federally certified Soils Test Report, something you've known is required by federal law before any construction can begin?
Dan A. Nitzen
Tustin
Nitzen hits the nail on the head. El Toro is polluted (and so is a large part of Irvine.) They can't turn a spade of soil at El Toro until they get that Soils Test Report. The airport is there and Irvine can start the flights tomorrow. Does anybody believe the Soils Test Report will be forthcoming? Turn on the lights, Vernon. No park. No houses. No construction. LAWA can clean up the mess and start the flights.
No airport torture in Irvine Donald, no torture allowed. That's reserved exclusively for NIMBY Beach.
858, anti-El Toro International Airport NIMBYs don't care at all about the great park, as long as their airport remains closed and they can harm other people. They say it over and over. That's why they must be defeated and the airport opened right away. Turn on the lights, Vernon. Thanks for those noiseless jumbo jet cross runways. Thumbs down on the Great Park. Hooray for El Toro International Airport.
Yes Donald, those beloved crossed runways are quiet, and they will stay that way! You on the other hand, get to keep the jets as we won't let you foist an airport in the middle of an urban area.
The jokes on your Donnie, and we're all laughing at you.
I liked Carma Dogma's comment about all the cash international travelers will bring to this region. Our unique crossed runways allow jumbo jets to take off in the direction they want to go. The site of El Toro International Airport is unique as it allowed the unique crossed runways to be built. Turn on the lights, Vernon. Carma Dogma has it all figured out.
215, Soil Test Report? Yes, Larry Agran has indeed soiled the Great Park. We will not see it within our lifetimes.
858,No airport torture in Irvine?
Many of their residents live very close to John Wayne. Therefore, they are tortured.
728, yes 60% of Irvine is closer to John Wayne Airport than to El Toro International Airport. With the new gps navigation JWA will all be takng off over Irvine. Turn on the lights at El Toro, Vernon. It's the only way to save Irvine. El Toro International Airport is the only way to fly.
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