LAT Editorial on Great Park

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Tyler Durden said:
Since the developer's plan involves a recoupment of their investment ($40M) from great park residents via a special tax, why not just build the park with a tax like that anyway, and tell the developer to go pound sand.


Its not like they couldn't auction that city owned extra land off in smaller parcels to other developers to make the money to build the park themselves.  Why give the best deal to the only bidder?
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I don't like what Irvine did with the Great Park...certainly hated the stupid balloon so I can't defend it.  I am just saying that the LAT opinion is missing a piece of the puzzle.
 
Tyler Durden said:
Irvinecommuter said:
Tyler Durden said:
Since the developer's plan involves a recoupment of their investment ($40M) from great park residents via a special tax, why not just build the park with a tax like that anyway, and tell the developer to go pound sand.


Its not like they couldn't auction that city owned extra land off in smaller parcels to other developers to make the money to build the park themselves.  Why give the best deal to the only bidder?
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I don't like what Irvine did with the Great Park...certainly hated the stupid balloon so I can't defend it.  I am just saying that the LAT opinion is missing a piece of the puzzle.
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Agree there, but they shouldn't just accept the first offer to cover up for their idiotic use of the $200M they were originally given.


Just like the FCC auctions off airwave spectrum, the city should auction off smaller parcels to get the amount needed to fund the park OR create a competition to get a better deal out of five points.


When the county threatened to get involved, their whole reasoning was that this was a shared resource for all of Orange County.  I'm not sure that Five Points' proposal really is in line with that thinking vs. an attempt to provide marginal facilities in exchange for them to create 50% more revenue than their original project called for.
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Based upon  my recollection of the events, it seemed Irvine basically freaked out after losing the lawsuit.  Clearly it's always a good idea to have no backup plan and then make a deal immediately while you are in a state of panic. 

It's funny when I hear about how people want to bring the government down to the local level...local governments are the worst.
 
Tyler Durden said:
They are all terrible, considering you have folks with little to no experience in budgeting and planning making decisions with millions or billions of dollars.


Privatize it and then pay a lease for the use of the park.  That way if the park needs renovations or maintenance, it is on the property owner and not on the public to maintain.


Because we all see how well maintained public spaces are... maintenance is usually the first item cut in a budget shortfall.
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Their eyes and imagination got massive at all the land and the money..basically they bit off so much more they can chew.  They were going to make Irvine into NYC and the Great Park into Central Park.  The concept was ridiculous to begin with. 
 
What ever happened to property rights?  The land belongs to 5P, they should be able to build whatever they want on it.  Building the park for the city is a gift.
 
5P (aka Lennar aka Heritage Fields) owns the land.  They paid $650 million for it.

http://phx.corporate-ir.net/phoenix.zhtml?c=65842&p=irol-newsArticle_Print&ID=750656&highlight=
 
5P is trying to change the entitlements.  But aren't they already entitled to what they own?  That's a rhetorical question.  You don't really own what you own if the government can tell you what you can or cannot build.
 
test said:
5P is trying to change the entitlements.  But aren't they already entitled to what they own?  That's a rhetorical question.  You don't really own what you own if the government can tell you what you can or cannot build.
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Of course there is...it's called zoning.  5P bought the land zoned a certain way and they have to get approval from Irvine to zone it differently.  It's not different than you having to approval from your HOA before you can do your yard.
 
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