Kiss the "Great Park" Goodbye

[Lhalo]

They should have built an airport.

http://www.latimes.com/local/la-me-great-park-20131112,0,2233688.story#axzz2kSnXWWZN

[St1ck]

Still have never been there. 

[Angel Oracle]

$#@#*U^%$* developers

 

Is there TRULY a need for sooo many new homes?    I thought people were leaving the state?

All I see now on Irvine Blvd. is housing development after housing development going up!

[2002_halos_II]

Didn't read the LINK b/c I already know about the addition of more housing in the Great Park area.  Greedy Irvine.

[Sully151]

First Bruxie in RSM closes and now the Great Park won't be so great.

When will it end, Lord, When will it end?

Edited November 13, 2013 by Sully151

[Adam]

Golf course? Hell Yes!!!

[Lhalo]

First Bruxie in RSM closes and now the Great Park won't be so great.

When will it end, Lord, When will it end?

My favorite Greek restaurant is being replaced with a Bruxie in Costa Mesa. I don't know whether to be happy or sad.

[St1ck]

My favorite Greek restaurant is being replaced with a Bruxie in Costa Mesa. I don't know whether to be happy or sad.

Sad, because Bruxie sucks, and Greek food is awesome.

[Taylor]

Bruxie in RSM closed? That shocks me, as it was crowded every single time I went.

[Sully151]

Legal battle with the landlord over a sewage drain that stinks up the joint.

[St1ck]

I wonder what the next failed restaurant will be in that spot.

[TeemuTrout]

What the hell was in the original plans for the Great Park anyways?

[eaterfan]

I don't care. Just glad there isn't an airport.

[2002_halos_II]

What the hell was in the original plans for the Great Park anyways?

They spent oodles on designs for something similar to Central Park then auctioned off the  land to home builders.

[Sully151]

Vote was postponed.

[Tank]

How long until Obama bypasses congress and just declares it a national park all on his own?

[The Ghost of Bob Starr]

Everything is awesome. Return of cheaper golf course right in between where Adam and I live and 28 soccer fields. Seems like a win win.

[Eric]

$200 Million to turn it into a park, they've gone through most of it and only a fraction has actually been done? Pardon my French, but are you ****ing kidding me!?! $200 Million to break up concrete and lay some sod, and that's only a fraction? Someone is seriously screwing the City of Irvine (not that I'm opposed to that) and they're gonna probably walk with most of it (barely a fraction in lawyers fees to protect the rest).

 

Wow, just.... wow.

Edited November 15, 2013 by Eric

[Tank]

$200 Million to turn it into a park, they've gone through most of it and only a fraction has actually been done? Pardon my French, but are you ****ing kidding me!?! $200 Million to break up concrete and lay some sod, and that's only a fraction? Someone is seriously screwing the City of Irvine (not that I'm opposed to that) and they're gonna probably walk with most of it (barely a fraction in lawyers fees to protect the rest).

 

Wow, just.... wow.

Probably orchestrated by the same guys who are running the obamacare website.

[mtangelsfan]

That was my area when I lived out there.  That is some seriously contaminated ground.  Wasn't the entire idea that it had to be an airport or a park because it couldn't have just housing on it? 

 

Or was that just all a lie as well?  I'm honestly beginning to wonder if anything an official government office says is true.

[Stradling]

My guess mt is that you can build houses on it if you are willing to invest enough money to fix the contamination issue.  Maybe the cost is so extreme or was so extreme years ago that they didn't think anyone would be willing to fork over the dough to make it happen. 

[Spencer]

I don't care what the contamination problem is or was.

For $200 million, you could fix all of it and have enough money left over to build the greatest park of all time.

As a corollary:

The former NASA facility, where Downey Studios was, you know the place where they built and tested gnarly rockets and aerospace stuff for 50 years, and contaminated the hell out of soil and groundwater?

That place took 10 years and less than 10% of that $200M price tag to clean up.

Some people should probably go to jail for El Toro mismanagement.

[mtangelsfan]

Oh, there is no doubt.  They spent millions just on getting bids.  They wasted so much money it was a joke. 

[Lifetime]

I don't care what the contamination problem is or was.

For $200 million, you could fix all of it and have enough money left over to build the greatest park of all time.

As a corollary:

The former NASA facility, where Downey Studios was, you know the place where they built and tested gnarly rockets and aerospace stuff for 50 years, and contaminated the hell out of soil and groundwater?

That place took 10 years and less than 10% of that $200M price tag to clean up.

Some people should probably go to jail for El Toro mismanagement.

a couple of things here, the Downey studios etc site is a much smaller site so a cost comparative doesn't work. Not to mention the costs of remediation are much higher now than they were then. Secondly, there are still contamination concerns on that property and questions regarding the effectiveness of the remediation. There have been additional cleanup efforts since the initial remediation. http://articles.latimes.com/2009/aug/02/business/fi-ct-downey2

El Toro Air Base was 4,682 acres.

[Lifetime]

Oh, there is no doubt.  They spent millions just on getting bids.  They wasted so much money it was a joke.

they spent millions just on getting bids?