Irvine, Indians Travel an Old Path

Talk about your planned communities.

American Indians had it figured out long before Irvine did. Comfortable homes, self-sufficiency and lots of open space. Then came all that stuff in the 19th century that we don’t like to talk about, and Indians were relegated to near-invisible status.

But now they’re back, wielding real political clout as their casino-driven financial base broadens.

And still they have trouble nailing down these agreements with the government.

These days in Orange County, some local American Indian leaders are miffed because they say a “gentleman’s agreement” with the city of Irvine that they would get nearly 600 acres for a cultural center on the abandoned El Toro Marine Base site is now off the books.

You can’t really say Irvine backed out, because there never was a formal deal on the table. But local American Indian leaders had been encouraged for years to push for the project and, along the way, were enlisted by Irvine to help lobby for a non-airport use for El Toro.

When the Navy announced last year that it would auction off a large chunk of the base to private developers -- well, suddenly there wasn’t nearly as much land left for Irvine to play with. And guess which group -- after being told for several years what a great idea a Native American Indian Cultural Center would be -- was told it could count on not 580 acres, but 20?

Let’s just say you’d think any American Indian organization would be leery of any agreement with any branch of government.

Two officials of the cultural center were still grappling with that when we talked Tuesday. They chose their words carefully -- not blasting Irvine officials but making it clear they feel they’ve been taken to the cleaners in exchange for supporting Irvine’s Great Park plans.

“We certainly wouldn’t have been sticking around since 1994 [in planning for a center] if we did not intend to be here at El Toro,” says Jane Uyeno-Gentry, president of the cultural center.

She envisions it as a project that would provide jobs, lure tourists and serve as a “long-overdue tribute” to American Indian heritage. Nor was the idea a pipe dream. Over the years, it has been endorsed by local congressional leaders, former Board of Supervisors Chairwoman Cynthia P. Coad and officials from various Orange County cities. As recently as in a letter last year, Coad reiterated her support of it as “an important asset for the county, state and nation.”

Uyeno-Gentry concedes there was no formal agreement but says Irvine officials could and should have told cultural center officials about possible pitfalls. Irvine officials have said the Navy’s decision to auction off large chunks of the site changed everything, and official Dan Jung declined to elaborate when I spoke to him Tuesday.

Uyeno-Gentry still has hopes of building a Native American center.

Perhaps her organization can negotiate with developers who’ll be required to donate some of the land they buy at auction. And Irvine still has 1,300 acres to map out.

But gone, she says, is any hope of a 580-acre site that she hoped would be a national beacon of American Indian heritage.

Uyeno-Gentry didn’t say it, but I will: American Indians have traveled this path before.

She was more politic, saying the organization “never would have gone as far as we had” in supporting Irvine’s annexation of the base had it known the cultural center’s status was so tenuous.

So, sadder and wiser when it comes to dealing with the bureaucracy?

“We didn’t want to be used as a pawn,” Uyeno-Gentry says, leaving it to others to decide if they were.

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Dana Parsons’ column appears Wednesdays, Fridays and Sundays. He can be reached at (714) 966-7821, at dana.parsons@latimes.com or at The Times’ Orange County edition, 1375 Sunflower Ave., Costa Mesa, CA 92626.