Ballot Measure on Irvine Co.’s Village 38 Project Finds a City Divided

On Nov. 5, Irvine will go to the polls to reverse or uphold the (Irvine City) Council’s 4-1 vote in favor of Village 38, a major residential development of the Irvine Co., designated Measure B on the ballot.

Such a referendum was made possible because of the petition circulated by Irvine Tomorrow, which gave me and nearly 7,000 other signers the right to re-evaluate where the City Council and Village 38 were taking us. And in the process to rethink how we had turned paradise into a land beset by pollution, gridlock, stress and significant health risks.

In my judgment, Village 38 will not alleviate these urban evils.

Think about it. Village 38 is not just for people. It is also for cars--about 8,000 of them to be driven, the experts say, 285,143 miles per day during 28,000 daily trips. These machines emit gases which are hazardous to my health and yours, and especially to our children and our seniors.

Many of us are among the more than 13 million Californians who are sensitive to air pollution, and we need to heighten our concern about that. It is human to rely on the experts--the shapers and planners who have moved us from orange groves into houses, condominiums and apartments. However, in doing so, they and the rest of us have blighted paradise. Now we must rely on ourselves.

The experts tell us open space, Measure C on the ballot, is linked to Village 38. I reject that as incorrect. In my judgment, Village 38 is linked to more of the same--more pollution, more gridlock, more stress and more unacceptable health risks.

We have the vote and we have the ballot. We can demand a halt to the process. We can demand a transformation of the process. We can demand a process committed to life not to the erosion of life. It is up to us. Election Day is at hand.

AL NASSER

Irvine