COMMENTARY ON IRVINE GROWTH : Planners’ Vision Must Be Updated for Challenges of a New Age : Society in 1992 has different problems than those faced in 1960 when planning began for the brave new city.

Irvine police officer accused of sexual harassment.

Gun shots aimed at Irvine High School student thought to be gang-related.

Executive of Irvine’s homeless shelter is accused of embezzling funds.

Wait a minute. Did those headlines say those things happened in Irvine? How could that be?

Isn’t Irvine the city that is known as the “most successful planned new community built in this century?” If so, shouldn’t it be immune from the problems that are plaguing its less well planned neighbors?

Hardly. Problems of drugs, illegal immigration, ethnic diversification, unemployment, traffic and crime are pervasive throughout the Southern California region. Irvine is an integral part of that region and planning alone--no matter how well conceived--cannot insulate it from them.

On the other hand, let’s give some credit where credit is due.

Irvine is rated as the safest large city (over 100,000 population) in Orange County, reporting only 1.3 “person crimes” (i.e. aggregate assault, rape, robbery, homicide) per 1,000 residents.

The next lowest rated city had over three times as many such crimes.

Educationally, the Irvine Unified School District had almost twice as many of its students pass the advanced placement test as the county average and over three times as many as in the state at large.

But as much as those of us who have been involved with the planning and building of Irvine take satisfaction in its score card, my concern now is that the citizens of Irvine will ignore those early warning signs of impending problems because of too much faith in the benefits of its historic plans.

This is 1992 and the society we live in and the problems we face are far different from those we faced in 1960 when we set out to plan the new city that became Irvine.

The vision we had for the future Irvine was created within the context of a county that expected unprecedented residential growth and whose citizens supported that growth through bond measures for public infrastructure and schools.

There was excitement about the prospect of a new university and town emerging on Irvine Co. lands. Public officials were appreciated and supported. We were a growing and prospering county and state. We believed in and were excited about the future.

All that was asked of us was to plan for that growth.

So plan we did, and now, 32 years later, I take pride in what we created.

But now it is 1992 and not 1960. And it is time to take stock of where we are and--within the context of these times--start planning for the next 32 years.

I’m not suggesting that Irvine’s famous village concept is now obsolete. Nor that we need more or fewer parks. Indeed, most of the physical planning that has produced the city is as important today as it was then.

What concerns me now is that the problems of drugs, crime, economy (jobs), classroom size, child care, cultural and ethnic integration, tolerance for all views and lifestyles can become tools to be used by those who choose to divide the community rather than challenges and opportunities to bring this community together.

Why? Because an even more serious disease has crept into our community (and country). A rapidly growing cancer of societal negativity that can cripple any plan for the future, no matter how well conceived.

Its symptoms are political campaigns that focus on tearing down your opponent rather than offering visions, plans and hope for the future. And then, as a result, distrust of those we finally but divisively elect.

No, the plans for Irvine haven’t failed Irvine. In fact, we can rightfully claim that because of them Irvine has less of what ails the rest of the county.

Relatively, Irvine is and most likely will continue to be the most admired city in the region. But the wake-up calls that have recently made the headlines are telling us something.

From my perspective it is telling us that despite all the planning that has gone into Irvine, it is as vulnerable as any other community to the growing problems of our times.

What will it take to face up to this challenge? An updating of Irvine’s vision to fit the 21st Century and its challenges--and then, perhaps, a rekindling of the naive, certainly optimistic and always supportive attitude that the multitude of public and private entities had some 32 years ago when Irvine was being conceived.