What the Times left out of the Great Park story

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Posted by Janine Kahn in Naranja News

July 13, 2007 5:36 PM

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Today, the Los Angeles Times ran an exposé on the sky-high costs going into Irvine's Great Park. The bulk of the story was written by now-retired Times reporter Roy Rivenburg — one he completed before he took the buyout in May. The paper decided to hold it in time for today's launch of the $5 million helium balloon (which staffer Derek Olson and myself boarded earlier today, vertigo and all.)

But the Times neglected to print some interesting facts about the roadblocks the city of Irvine threw in the way of Rivenburg's reporting. This afternoon, he shared the following with the Weekly:

The Times filed a public-records-act request with Irvine on Feb. 28 to get details on 17 items in the Great Park budget. The city replied on April 3, but wasn't generous with the information. Rivenburg cites the following cases:

• In answer to his request for information on a $200,000 "special event," Irvine sent a — dun, dun, dunn — blank page.

• When the paper asked for a breakdown of expenses on a $75,000 focus-group session, Irvine sent nada. Rivenburg got the same enthusiastic response when he pressed for details on $80,000 for "video production," $500,000 for relocating motor homes stored on park property and $250,000 for two mail surveys of OC residents.

• A request for details on $270,000 spent by the park on newsletters was met with an unexplained invoice for $46,000.

On May 10, the Times repeated its January public-records request on 11 of the 17 budget items, many seeking details on a no-bid public-relations contract awarded to Forde & Mollrich. The OC grand jury and several park board members have criticized the city of Irvine over Great Park spending in general and the multimillion-dollar no-bid PR and legal services contracts in particular.

"On June 18, Irvine answered the second public-records request, but that was after I left, so I don't know whether it was any more enlightening than the first response," Rivenburg writes in an e-mail.

Comments (2)

Len Kranser says:
July 15, 2007 08:35

The $200,000 for special events got this mention in the El Toro Info Site news, June 1, 2006 (www.eltoroairport.org)

El Toro celebrations: Timing is everything

When the El Toro property transferred to Lennar last July, the sale sank any remaining efforts to salvage the airport option. The ETRPA team and the volunteers who worked together to achieve the anti-airport victory were ready to celebrate.

There was talk of Irvine or Lennar throwing a big runway party last summer to rejoice over the successful end of the long battle and to recognize those who toiled to achieve it. However, it didn't happen.

Eventually, ETRPA stepped forward to organize the anti-airport victory party and pass out chips of runway concrete. It was the happy celebration many had worked and waited for. Unfortunately, it had to be held off-base at a hotel with limited space and not everyone could attend.

It was followed by an informal party, open to all, to mark the anniversary of the passage of Measure W. The ten cities that comprised ETRPA and provided most of the anti-airport money, and the grass roots activists who provided most of the manpower, had their final day together in the sun.

Finally, an El Toro "runway party" was held in April when the Great Park Conservancy threw a $250 per person "Jewel of Orange County" fundraiser.

Last month, the long-awaited symbolic start of runway demolition took place, organized not as a public victory celebration but as a media and invitees-only photo-op for Lennar and Irvine officials.

All of which leads us to the Great Park Corp draft budget proposed to the Irvine City Council for the fiscal year ending June 30, 2007 and the $200,000 for "2 large scale events" tucked into the $1.1 million earmarked for "communications".

Plans are being discussed for a large public event in "late summer or early fall" 2006, heralding the coming of the Great Park. While major construction and the opening of the first stage of the Great Park is a scheduled for future years, there may be a rush to open an attention-grabbing element of the park to be shown off this fall.

By then, the airport fight will be an old story. It is likely to be a time to spotlight Irvine leaders and their plans, prior to the November city elections.

Irvine-Dude says:
July 15, 2007 10:39

Spending $1 million on "communications" and $200,000 for a party sounds like a waste of public money. Spend it on the park!

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