Irvine City News
  • Home
  • SPECIAL REPORT
  • PUBLISHER'S NOTE
  • FEATURE
  • BUSINESS
  • CITY
    • AROUND TOWN
  • COMMUNITY
  • OPINION
  • LIFE
    • EDUCATION
    • SPORTS
    • ENTERTAINMENT
    • RECREATION
    • DINING
    • TOP 10
  • About
    • PICK UP A PRINT COPY
    • COMMENT POLICY
    • Contact
    • ADVERTISE

Proposed tent village in Irvine

3/20/2018

3 Comments

 

Proposed "tent village" in Irvine

Irvine City Council calls emergency session to review County's plan to construct homeless encampment in Irvine
By Irvine City News staff
Story updated 3.21.18 at 8:18 a.m. / Last night the city of Irvine released the following statement: 
The Irvine City Council unanimously voted tonight to direct its legal counsel to immediately commence litigation against the county for its many violations of law and to take all available steps to stop a proposal by the Board of Supervisors to create a homeless shelter near the Orange County Great Park

Dozens of vocal and angry Irvine residents filled the Irvine Civic Center Tuesday night for an emergency city council meeting to discuss a highly controversial plan by the Orange County Board of Supervisors to create a temporary homeless camp for at least 200 individuals, less than 100 yards from athletic fields and playgrounds at the Great Park. 
 
The council listened to nearly two hours of impassioned testimony about the potential impact of the  county's decision less than 24 hours earlier to spend, in part, $70.5 million on a homeless camp on county land along Marine Way and similar facilities in Laguna Niguel and Huntington Beach. The supervisors' strategy to construct the new encampments is the latest twist to the spreading county social crisis. 

The Irvine site is on 100 acres between Marine Way and a major rail line, and only a mile or two from newly built homes, schools and other amenities.

Public safety and health concerns were mentioned by opponents to the homeless camp that would become home to an undetermined number of tent structures that Supervisor Todd Spitzer said would have small generators and some sort of plumbing for bathing. Many told the council they had just learned earlier in the day about the county's new plan and decided at the last minute to appear and urge the council to take whatever measures necessary to stop the county from moving forward.
 
While most expressed empathy for those living on the street, they told similar stories of moving to Irvine, sometimes at great expense and hardship, to live in America's safest city. Locating a homeless camp so close to their homes and families would change all of that overnight, they said. 
 
Only one speaker challenged the council and those who spoke against the homeless camp. He encouraged the audience to be more compassionate and prodded city leaders to do their "fair share" to help those struggling to find shelter and services.
 
Mayor Don Wagner responded a short time later by saying "this city has shown great heart," before proudly naming nearly 10 longstanding Irvine-based nonprofits that are serving the disadvantaged with meals, clothing, training, housing and health services. He even pointed out the city's commitment to spend almost $30 million in state redevelopment money on future affordable housing in the city.
 
"This city cares big time," Wagner said. "Any suggestion that it doesn't is just wrong."
 
Wagner labeled the county's plan as "nothing more than what we have seen in the (Santa Ana) Civic Center and the (Santa Ana) River bed. How does this solve the problem? It doesn't. It simply redistributes the problem elsewhere."
 
Supervisor Spitzer, who spent several years in law enforcement, opened the special hearing by pointing out a motivation of Supervisor Shawn Nelson, charging that his colleague is attempting to "leverage" the city into approving the county's plan for a major mixed use development plan on the 100 acres where the homeless camp would be located. Irvine has filed a lawsuit to block the plan and Spitzer contends Nelson is now firing back by threatening to build the homeless camp on the site.
 
"This is reckless, irresponsible and disrespectful," said Spitzer. "It's just wrong." 
 
After hearing from concerned residents, the council went into closed session with its attorney to discuss options.
 
Tuesday night's emergency council session, and a similar meeting in Laguna Niguel, was in response to action Monday in which the county identified three cities as sites for the temporary housing.
 
Irvine, Huntington Beach and Laguna Niguel have been identified as sites where the shelters could be located. As happened in Irvine, opposition from city leaders in Laguna Niguel and Huntington Beach has been swift, with councils in both cities also holding special meetings to discuss options.
 
According to Spitzer, county funds totaling $185 million earmarked for mental health services were discovered Monday and determined to be unspent funds from 2016-2017. The supervisors determined Monday in their meeting that they would allocate $70.5 million for temporary homeless shelters in the county.
 
"I'm embarrassed because I've been led to believe until today that we were doing everything in our power to money on the streets," Spitzer said. "Now we find out today, and it was confirmed, that we have $185 million from 2016-17 that we didn't spend. Every one of these board members had the same information I had, that up until today we didn't know those dollars were available."

If the county had spent those available funds, "we wouldn't be here today, so now we're saying we're going to put up tents," Spitzer said.

The transients, who were recently relocated from the Santa Ana Riverbed to local motels for one month–paid for by vouchers–will soon have to find new shelter. If there are not enough beds in local shelters, the tents erected in Irvine, Huntington Beach and Laguna Niguel will be made available.

Irvine, which has a capacity for some 200 tents will be accessed first, with overflow directed to Huntington Beach and then Laguna Niguel.
 
 
 

3 Comments
GIA
3/22/2018 05:27:35 am

The people of Irvine should fight this tooth and nail. Even if the county budget for mental health services went unused, planning to use property adjacent to residential areas in cities like Irvine is akin to putting a neon sign for the criminal element to slag their way into neighboring and commercial areas. I use to live in Irvine and with each politically "correct" step, its problems grow. Budgets for mental health should be designed to meet first people who have mental and emotional stability issues, gaining them access to decent mental health options. This DOES NOT DO THAT. Anyone who believes that the homeless are a gentle population of less fortunates' have another thing coming. Yes, there are people who are jobless and homeless through no fault of their own, and some have mental health issues that go unmanaged, but more often than not the homeless end up this way because they don't follow rules of society, and end up addicted to drugs and alcohol (through their own choice) or refuse to live by societal norms which include working. Some are not addicted to substances or alcohol but are addicted to the conditions of lifestyle choices and dystunctional relationships and environments which includes the likelihood of theft and violence. Behavioral problems are seen within these populations and their subsistence upon county resources is a plague to which just grows larger and larger. If we want to "help" the homeless and those who say they want to work, instead of giving them 30 day vouchers in hotels and then putting them into areas like Laguna Niguel, Irvine and Huntington Beach, why not offer them dozens of miles of Southern Calif. desert located between OC, Riverside, SanBernardino and SD counties and put them to work 'building the wall' for a decent wage at the border? Allocate a limited amount of low cost build outs of which they help to install in those same areas, or pay other counties to take them that have land resources far from developed populations. The only way chronic homeless is solved is for there to be work to housing agreements that make accountable the people receiving the resources to begin with. Build into it some options for job training and sober help programs. There will be some who will benefit from it, but put a 2 year limit; if you can't do it within that time frame, someone else moves up on the list. BTW, often a homeless population is already a fluid one; they've come from other areas, other states even, so making this an "OC" problem is patently unfair. I now live in another state, whose downtown has a homeless/drug addiction problems, but it stays mostly in that city area and trust me, tourists and business owners alike are sick of it yet the liberal city local and state politicians don't give any solutions and the criminal element and violence is rising. Every free thing has been handed to this population, yet nothing changes. And now, places like Irvine - supposedly one of the safest cities in American are looking down the barrel of its own future demise.

Reply
Mari
3/26/2018 03:05:17 pm

Thank you!! Completely ridiculous to now make this not just an "OC" problem but the more affluent areas. EXPENSIVE cities that we work hard to live in. Nothing is handed to us like it is to them. Sure, let's just build them a tent city since they don't want to A. get the help they need B. conform to basic society rules C. stop doing drugs and committing crimes. Sorry for the lack of sympathy when they lack zero respect for their fellow working citizens.
KEEP OUR COMMUNITY SAFE & CLEAN FOR THE CHILDREN WHICH ARE OUR FUTURE! The Great Park is supposed to be a wonderful development for families!!! There's plenty of open desert in CA, if you want Counties & Cities to help these people then get them a bus ride to one of these desert areas where others are living the bum lifestyle. We all see the random shacks and houses driving to Vegas, send them there I doubt their neighbor will have an issue with the like minded.

Reply
Shaun K
3/22/2018 04:20:28 pm

I agree completely, I have lived in Irvine for over 30 years. I own a business located near the Santa Ana riverbed and while the camp was here I saw firsthand the negative impact left by this criminal population. Now I fear for the city I call my home. These people are criminals and drug addicts who refuse to get jobs. They don't deserve any sympathy.

Reply

Your comment will be posted after it is approved.


Leave a Reply.

    Archives

    February 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    October 2017
    September 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    March 2017
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016

Irvine City News

Mailing Address
5319 University Dr.
Suite 440
Irvine, CA 92612

Contacts

Jacob Levy, Editor and Publisher / editor@irvinecitynews.com
Advertising / ads@irvinecitynews.com  /  949.296.8338
Terms of Use
© COPYRIGHT 2016. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
  • Home
  • SPECIAL REPORT
  • PUBLISHER'S NOTE
  • FEATURE
  • BUSINESS
  • CITY
    • AROUND TOWN
  • COMMUNITY
  • OPINION
  • LIFE
    • EDUCATION
    • SPORTS
    • ENTERTAINMENT
    • RECREATION
    • DINING
    • TOP 10
  • About
    • PICK UP A PRINT COPY
    • COMMENT POLICY
    • Contact
    • ADVERTISE