What’s Ahead?

* DENNIS AIGNER

Professor of management and economics at UC Irvine.

“I think Orange County will fulfill the promise of being an integral part of the Tech Coast. We will be a tech hub, especially South County. You will see a strengthening of industry clusters in medical devices, information and biotechnology, with more tie-ins with UCI and other universities in the area. About one-third of Orange County residents will be involved in this kind of activity, the so-called New Economy.

“Financially, the high-tech workers will be doing well. They’ll be the ones able to afford the crazy housing prices we see today that are likely to even increase tomorrow. If you’re ambitious and well-educated, you can do well here.

“In the future, I do see a widening of the income gap and the ability to afford housing between the high-tech workers and low-tech and service-sector employees. The one-third are going to be in great shape, but the rest are going to struggle.”

* SARAH CATZ

Orange County Transportation Authority board member

“I think in the future we may not see as dramatic changes in transportation as we saw in the last century. I don’t think we are looking at Jetsons technology as much as technology that will continue to improve our safety--devices that warn there is a car in your blind spot or that you are drifting out of a traffic lane, things already being worked on by companies like DaimlerChrysler. Navigation systems that mean you never really get lost.

“In Orange County, I think we are really working on just about every part of our transportation system. Transportation is so key. When you think about how you can travel thousands of miles in just one day, it’s just incredible. Our transportation system--from trains to airplanes to cars--and what it has done this century is very similar to what the Internet is doing for the next century.”

* THOMAS B. MATHEWS

Director of planning and development for Orange County.

“I think we’ve got an excellent prototype for the remainder of [undeveloped] Orange County, and that is the Central Coastal Natural Communities Conservation Plan, passed in 1996. You provide for homes and businesses and employment, and you provide open space not only for the people but also for the critters.

“We’re looking forward to the same kind of venture with the remainder of Orange County, the unplanned and unbuilt lands that remain. About 70,000-80,000 acres remain. Some of it’s going to be built, and some of it’s going to be parks and open space, and some of it’s going to be pure habitat. The challenge and opportunity for the new millennium is going to be managing that solution in the same spirit that we’ve done in the last four years of the 20th century.

* DEAN COREY

Executive director of the Philharmonic Society of Orange County.

“Technology will really affect things. We already see that with the Internet, which will become even more of a tremendous tool for people to sort our their lives and their informational needs.

“With people able to experience music at home better than ever before, when they opt for a live performance, they will want something they can’t get at home, that can’t be replicated on a television screen or a computer monitor screen, like Cirque du Soleil.

“Places and venues will start to change too. You’ll see concerts we’ll present next year in different venues than we have been in before, which people don’t think of as traditional concert venues.

“Arts institutions will have to change too. They will have to work much more closely together. We’re all doing separate marketing, we all have our own schedules, and there is not a lot of coordination, which makes it confusing in the marketplace. We will have to be much more coordinated.”

* TONY TAVARES

President of Anaheim Sports, the division of Disney that runs the Anaheim Angels and the Mighty Ducks of Anaheim.

“The real challenge in the next millennium is whether sports remains the way we know it or whether it ceases to exist. With the current economics in baseball, unless we do something with the players’ union, some markets will cease to exist, as far as being in major league baseball. The [Pittsburgh] Penguins [hockey team] going through bankruptcy is a pretty good illustration of what will happen if we don’t get our economic act together.

“The scary thing is, we’ve been going through economic growth for 12 to 14 years. If we have a major contraction in the economy, what happens to all the luxury suite buyers and the club seat buyers and the advertisers and the sponsors?

“Ticket prices can’t be pushed much farther. We’re still finding corporate buyers. But regular fans can afford professional sports less and less. If we distance ourselves from the average fan, it’s going to have a profound impact. If I can’t bring my kids to the game, does that mean I lose interest in the sport? If they don’t care because they can’t afford to come, it’s going to be a real tragedy.”

* LINDA JEMISON

Owner of Linda’s Doll Hut, a nightclub in the warehouse district of Anaheim that has given many young bands their first opportunities to build an audience.

“I see a lot of Orange County bands educating themselves more about the music industry and hopefully going in with their eyes more wide open and not thinking that because you’ve signed a record contract you’ve got it made.

“I think you’ll see more and more bands sign to [smaller] independent labels and that independents will eventually outweigh the majors. They’re treating the bands more fairly, getting the bands better deals.

“The Doll Hut will be here at least another 10 years. Remember those cartoons about skyscrapers being built around Bugs Bunny’s hole? That’s what we’ll be.”

* CARL NEUSS

Managing director of Institutional Housing Partners Inc., an Irvine-based firm that manages a multimillion-dollar portfolio of housing and land investments statewide.

“The key question facing Orange County is: How will it accommodate housing and infrastructure demands that result from economic growth? Orange County will continue to be one of the most appealing U.S. metropolitan areas for new job creation. But land and housing supply constraints already have caused the region to have one of the lowest housing-affordability rates in the nation.

“With high housing costs, Orange County will only be suitable for new employers offering relatively high-paying jobs. The result will be a continuing migration of Orange County toward being an enclave for the affluent, with less room for lower- and middle-income families. Many children will not have the home their parents had as the region becomes denser and more expensive.

“The bottom line is: We’re moving toward the Silicon Valley model. The only major difference separating Orange County from the Silicon Valley is that Orange County can tap into the Inland Empire’s reserve of land and affordable housing.”

* SUSAN JORDAN

Board member, League for Coastal Protection.

“Dealing with the issue of polluted runoff from existing and new development is one of most pressing issues Orange County has. They don’t have the problem under control. Already we’ve seen the devastating impacts that polluting the beaches and the ocean can have on a local economy. The [state’s water quality] regional board needs to deal with its mandate of enforcing rules and regulations regarding water quality.

“We also always have to look at ensuring that the public still has access to the coastline. In Orange County, that’s always a challenge because development there has been somewhat unrestrained.”

* DAVID GIBBONS

Senior pastor, Newsong Community Church in Irvine.

“I’m worried that the church is becoming more irrelevant. I think the test of a great church is how it addresses the issues of the weak, those who are ethnically different from us and the poor and the outcast.

“We also need to be a place for the arts. There is so much talk of a techno-apocalyptic vision for the future. To me, the sage of the future is the artist and the philosopher. The church needs to embrace the arts once again--there needs to be a second renaissance catalyzed by the church.

“The church of the future needs to be diverse. The church needs to become a mosaic. If ethnic reconciliation can’t happen, the church is going to be looked upon as irrelevant. There is already a cynicism about church, but that jadedness becomes more pronounced when everyone looks alike.

“We need to be a church of conversationalists. We have to know how to talk to each other and deal with conflict resolution.

“The church needs to be a place for mystics. A mystic is one who experiences profound truth but one who also deals with obscurities. While systems of theology are important, we also have to conclude that there are some things we can’t answer.

“Most importantly, the church needs to become a place of laughter. It needs to be a place where you can have a good time. The most spiritual people aren’t the ones who are somber, but those who can enjoy life and laugh at themselves.”

* TOM DANLEY

Athletic director, Anaheim Union High School District.

“Twenty-five years from now, the way club teams are expanding, it would be questionable [that we would still have high school sports]. But I have to believe that in most cases the spirit of kids wanting to play as they always have for their own schools will be the prevailing factor that will determine whether they will play for a club or for their school.

“I have to think the schools will win out. Once they get involved with their school, they’ll want to be a part of it. They’ll feel good about that. You can ask your graduates who they had as teachers and often, 30 years later, they’ll have a hard time remembering. But often if you ask them who they had as coaches, they’ll be able to tell you almost to the person.”

* AL MIJARES

Superintendent of the Santa Ana Unified School District.

“I anticipate that technology is changing--and will continue to change--education, just the speed of education, for one thing. You’re no longer bound by time limits in getting information; you can get it immediately. . . . Technology is going to fill the knowledge gap that we’ve struggled with in its absence.

“The disparity between rich and poor students and schools always has been and will continue to be a concern. Poverty breeds certain elements that challenge the education of people in a very significant way. When you talk about access to computers, access to phone lines, those are very tangible barriers posed by poverty. We know, and the research tells us, that kids who have access to computers are doing better; they’re actually accruing more knowledge than kids who do not. Kids who are poor and aren’t using the computer by age 3 are suffering educationally. Whether they can make up that gap remains to be seen. I’m hopeful that society recognizes these disparities and is willing to make investments in programs that show results.”

* TONY LAM

Westminster city councilman.

“I think Asians will become a stronger political force in the future. The younger generation is becoming educated and making more money, and assimilating more and more. I think they will be empowered in a lot of ways, by voting and . . . making themselves heard in positive ways. The [2000] census will give the community confidence because it will make [it] more aware of their [numbers] and of how empowered [it] can be.”

“During the last 25 years, you have seen a lot of division in the Asian community, but as Asians assimilate . . . and as the community matures, you will see more of a consensus when the community wants to focus its attention on an issue.”

“I think in the next century, we will see a shift to a more Pacific Rim world. Of course, the U.S. economy is very strong, but when [Asia] recovers from [its] financial crisis, that will mean a lot for economic developments for Asians here.”

* NAOMI NARI NAM

Irvine figure skater, 14, who won the silver medal at the 1999 U.S. National Championships.

“Some day I think women will do quadruple jumps, but I’m not thinking about that yet.”

* CYNTHIA COAD

Orange County supervisor.

“I foresee a resurgence in the older, more mature communities. To accommodate growth, I think we should consider maintenance roads along flood control channels used as bike or walking trails, advanced technologies to solve transportation problems, advanced dual land uses, flood control basins as active sports fields and improved governance of unincorporated county islands through annexation, only if residents want to be annexed.

“I would be remiss if I failed to mention the El Toro airport as the economic engine for the future. History has taught us that if we bypass the transportation of the era, the economy of the area will fail.”

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Contributors to this report were Times staff writers Karen Alexander, Marc Ballon, Mike Boehm, Matt Ebnet, Kate Folmar, Elaine Gale, Megan Garvey, Paul McLeod, Seema Mehta, Chris Pasles, Diane Pucin, Bill Shaikin and Daryl Strickland.