Preserving the County’s Open Space

I read with interest the letter to the editor (Feb. 17) from Jon Brand of the Laguna Greenbelt. I was pretty surprised by Jon’s harsh tone and his apparent attempt to paint me as an opponent of open space preservation in this county. Jon knows better, especially since he was so pleased with having arranged for the presentation of the Greenbelt Open Space Award to me last Jan. 27.

I can’t be sure he wrote it himself, but I wouldn’t be surprised. It read:

“Presented to Supervisor Tom Riley for his longtime support of open space acquisition in Orange County. As supervisor of the Fifth District, Tom has played a pivotal role in acquiring for the greenbelt the 3,400-acre Aliso Viejo and 2,600 acre Irvine Coast dedications. Because of his leadership on the Board of Supervisors, future generations will be able to enjoy a 15,000-acre open space greenbelt in south coastal Orange County.”

I remember Jon asking me to contact state officials to arrange a very expensive purchase of the 1,600 acres of land that the National Park Service had been considering purchasing. I did call state officials, but there was no interest in the proposal.

I should point out that the Irvine Co. had been willing to sell the land for a price well beyond $30 million, so it was not surprising to me that the state, which at that time was in a very difficult financial condition, did not express an interest in acquisition, especially when the state’s Department of Parks and Recreation did already own the entire sandy beach, the coastal terrace and Moro Canyon.

Jon doesn’t mention that he promised to deliver the Laguna Greenbelt’s support of the San Joaquin Hills Transportation Corridor if I could arrange this park purchase. He indicated that the corridor had been part of the national park bill and that if the parkland could be purchased, he thought the Laguna Greenbelt would be obligated to support the corridor project.

I still consider myself to be the spokesman for open space preservation at the Board of Supervisors, and I plan to continue my efforts to secure important parcels of land for our regional park and open space system, which I might add, is the largest local system in California.

THOMAS F. RILEY

Chairman,

Orange County

Board of Supervisors