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To: Senator [Insert his/her first and last name here]
California Legislature
Re: A request to oppose Senate Bill No. 43 "Veterans cemetery: County of Orange"
Dear Senator [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 Senate Bill No. 43 "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 locations "in
the City of Irvine" or "in the City of Anaheim, in accordance with the
city's enacted laws and ordinances, as determined by the department."
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, SB 43 would de facto
designate Gypsum Canyon as one of the possible sites for the Cemetery
even though that Bill does not mention "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 many
supporters of the Senate Bill No. 43 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 Senate Bill No. 43 "Veterans cemetery: County of Orange".
Best regards,
[Your first and last name,
your address,
your phone number (optional), here]