Petition to Relocate the Proposed State Veterans
Cemetery from
the OC Great Park and Irvine
To:
Veronica
Dolleschel
| Senior Management Analyst
&
Michelle Grettenberg
City
of Irvine | City Manager’s Office
1
Civic Center Plaza
Irvine,
CA 92606-5207
Phone: 949.724.6424
E-mail:
VDolleschel@ci.irvine.ca.us; mgrettenberg@ci.irvine.ca.us
Dear
Veronica & Michelle,
I
am writing to you to petition for the relocation of the proposed State Veterans
Cemetery from the OC Great Park and Irvine.
With all due
respects to veterans, we do support any and all necessary and suitable
veteran cemetery sites. However, we question the compatibility, feasibility,
and its underlying politic motivations on such oddly located cemetery site that
is in the center of a highly populated city, neighboring to residential area,
and adjacent to a future high school.
Irvine is a highly
populated and diverse city with about 40% of the population as Asians, and this
cemetery site is located very close to the urban center. Most of the residents
lived next to the cemetery are Asians. In Asian culture, the location of the
cemetery is very important. It is a taboo to place cemetery next to homes or
close to urban area. Even the emperor's tomb is built far away from urban
areas.
Veterans fight for
us, die for us, we absolutely respect them, but I am pretty sure they fight so
that we can have freedom to voice our opinions, so that we can live happily on
this land of free, and the home of the brave. I am sure once they really
understand Asian cultures and know it is a taboo to put cemetery to homes or
close to urban areas, they will work with us to find a better location for
everyone.
There was little
or no notices regarding this proposed cemetery in Asian languages from all
levels of government agencies. As a result, most of the Asians residents
(including me) did not know about this cemetery until October, 2014. We feel shocked about the proposed cemetery and
blindsided. We feel our culture and views have not been respected and our voices
have not been heard.
In the past 100 years, the development of the
East Coast of the United States was largely supported by the European
immigrants. In the next 100 years, the development of the west Coast of the
United States will be supported by the Asian immigrants. Irvine need to take
advantage of the trend of Asian immigrants to boost its development into a
great city. Irvine has been very successful in competing with other great
cities like San Marino, Cerritos, Diamond Bar, in attracting people and
investment from other states and other countries. Adding a cemetery in the
Great Park will scare away the Asian investment and immigrants and make the
portion of the Great Park into a ghost town, will make Irvine lose its
competitive edge with other cities, and can be a turning point to start the
decline of the city of Irvine.
I urge you to do
the right thing, and relocate the proposed State Veterans Cemetery from the OC Great
Park and Irvine, and search for a suitable alternative site for the State Veterans
Cemetery in the Orange County. We love to help you in this search too since we
do want our veterans to have a good cemetery site.
Many Irvine
residents are not happy about the proposed location of the State Veterans
Cemetery in the OC Great Park, here is one example:
“This is a
horrible idea. The veteran’s cemetery will make me want to move away from this
area as it will drive down home values and increase blight. It's near a family
area and was never proposed to the residents during any prior discussions or
meetings about the great park. This was railroaded by politicians who have no
vested interest in our neighborhood or community.
---Eric Carter, Irvine, CA”
Sincerely,
Signature
Name (Please Print):
Address:
Veterans Cemetery from the OC Great Park is at a wrong location, and is right
Next to Residential
Area and a
Future High School!!! Please help us to relocate the cemetery to a
suitable location!
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