[Comments highlighted yellow need to be removed from your letter before sending it.]

[Text highlighted green needs to be replaced with the required information, as indicated by that text.]

[Copy and paste this letter (or its parts) as you see it fit.]

[If you intend to email this letter then it needs to be a plain text file and not an .html or .doc or similar document.]

To: Assemblymember [Insert his/her first and last name here]
California Legislature

Re: A request to oppose Assembly Bill No. 1595 "Veterans cemetery: County of Orange"

Dear Assemblymember [Insert his/her last name here],

I am AGAINST the Veterans' Cemetery at Gypsum Canyon, Anaheim, AND SO IS THE VAST MAJORITY OF THE RESIDENTS of Anaheim Hills and East Yorba Linda who live in proximity of Gypsum Canyon.

Please, oppose the Assembly Bill No. 1595 "Veterans cemetery: County of Orange" that would amend Section 1410 of the Military and Veterans Code by removing from it the "site of the former Marine Corps Air Station El Toro, on 125 acres known as the Amended and Restated Development Agreement Site in the Orange County Great Park in the City of Irvine" (the ARDA site) for the Veterans' Cemetery as one of its designated locations, and replacing it with non-specific location "in the County of Orange."

Because the Council of the City of Anaheim has already voted that (California Legislature permitting) the site of the future Veterans' Cemetery is going to be located at Gypsum Canyon, Anaheim, and there is a widespread campaign to designate Gypsum Canyon an official site for the Cemetery, AB 1595 would facilitate selection of Gypsum Canyon as one of the possible sites for the Cemetery even though that Bill does not mention "Anaheim" or "Gypsum Canyon" by name.

The ARDA site in Irvine is very appropriate for the Veterans' Cemetery, and in every aspect it is better than the Gypsum Canyon site that the proponents and supporters of the Assembly Bill No. 1595 are advocating.

Unlike the ARDA site, the Gypsum Canyon site of the cemetery is located on a slope of the prominent hill in Anaheim Hills at Gypsum Canyon facing well-populated residential areas of Easternmost parts of Anaheim Hills and Yorba Linda, which will likely have a serious negative impact on the perceived quality and enjoyment of life of residents in the adjacent to it areas. It will turn what was intended as an open space and prime recreation and nature appreciation area onto a large cemetery. It will have a seriously detrimental impact on the environment. It will likely lead to unmanageable traffic congestion on already congested 91 Fwy and in nearby areas that have already been plagued by gigantic traffic jams. As a result of the extra congestion caused by presumably frequent funeral motorcades, the main East-West artery between Orange and Riverside Counties will be blocked for additional hours; this will have a serious negative impact on est. 250,000 commuters, daily.

Also, there is this fiction of "overwhelming support" among people of Orange County for Gypsum Canyon site of the Veterans' Cemetery. This fiction has been perpetuated by a small group of activists and lobbyists who swayed local elected officials to "unanimously" support the Gypsum Canyon site without any meaningful consultation with their constituencies and affected residents. Unlike Gypsum Canyon site, the state-approved ARDA site has been voted for by the majority of Irvine's residents, and the reason why the construction of the Cemetery has not begun there was an opposition of three (3) members of Irvine's City Council. Now, the very same group that, ostensibly, was unable to convince those three council members have convinced well over hundred council members of cities across the Orange County to support the Gypsum Canyon location. This fact suggests that the actual main objective of the said group was to block on-going, well-conceived plans for the Veterans' Cemetery at the ARDA site in Irvine and not necessarily to build such Cemetery in Orange County. The video of part of Irvine City Council meeting October 26, 2021, posted at: http://gypsum91.com/video.mp4 clearly confirms that suggestion.

So, please, oppose Assembly Bill No. 1595 "Veterans cemetery: County of Orange".

Best regards,

[Your first and last name,
your address,
your phone number (optional), here]