Public Commentary on Baloondoggle

The City of Irvine must really think the people of Orange County are unsophisticated rubes. Simply put up a pretty orange balloon to distract the ignorant masses from all the sprawl and traffic that is being created. Judging by the letters and blog comments, very few people are impressed by Irvine's big orange dog and pony show!

Irvine World News
July 19, 2007

TALK ABOUT IT: THE GREAT PARK BALLOON

TO “name change - July 16” if you were to become a little more involved in the Great Park project, you would know that there is a lot in plan for the former marine base in relation to the veterans. maybe the community should start getting more involved with the project that WAS VOTED IT and stop complaining. get over the airport, it isn’t going to happen people.
– gpballooner

i hope a few council people go for a ride in the big orange balloon and it floats into outerspace. that property should have been an airport, we the people of orange county voted for it.
– flowerperson

Well done Irvine. We lose Wild Rivers and soon Verizon Amphitheater. In return we gain a retarted balloon tourist trap that looks over gridlock to the south and the Frank R. Bowerman Landfill to the north. The balloons max is 500 feet because anything over 501 feet Agran can see it from his house.
– Haywood Jablowme (This name somehow got past the censors!)

I hope once the park is done, city council changes the name. The Great Park is such a mundane name. Did the city have a vote among the kindergarten classes on the name. El Toro airbase has a lot of history behind it and this park should commemorate that history. I know this city council has no regard to our countries history, if it doesn’t generate money, but they need to pay their respects to the men and women who have served and for the many that have sacrificed their lives for the freedoms we enjoy compared to other countries. The small memorial to the military that is planned, does not do justice. For instance, Commemorative Park with a plaque to indicate how the park obtained its name for future generations. Honor, not greed and money should be behind any public place that is paid by the citizens.
– Name Change

We get look at a pretty orange thing in the sky while stuck in traffic to catch a flight out of LAX or Ontario.
– Whoopee

I had a chance to get a ride on the Balloon this past weekend. It was one of most amazing experiences I ever had. I looked out over concrete and imagined what it will look like in five years to ten years with green grass and trees and children playing. I hope all of Southern California will take a breath of fresh air for what it is and look as forward to the Great Park as I am.
– Supporter

The lack of any controls on housing is going to be the wrath of god falling upon South County in the form of traffic. Wall to wall homes with Sepulveda pass like traffic.
– No limits on growth?

How about an airport to ease all that air traffic you So. County residents create Oh wait you self entitlement NIMBYs voted it out. Well enjoy all that added traffic soon to come! Congrats!
– Orange Mexican

It’s amazing the residents of south OC can be bribed by something as silly as a free balloon. I’m not a quote Newport resident, I live in Orange. but this thing and the ridiculous park should not be there. instead of having one lone area of open space in one OC city, Irvine, building everything else up around it, how about more open space and less greed all around.
– brijai

Who would I call to ask about sponsorship opportunities on the side of the balloon?
– Major Corporation

Do you enjoy driving from LA to Pomona? Do you enjoy driving through the San Fernado Valley? That is what South County is going to be very soon. Nightmare. At least in the heavily built Bay area they try and protect ridge lines so from a distance you can’t see the density of population. Here that is the first thing to go. It is going to take the money to live in gated places like Shady Canyon to get what was free even fifteen years ago for South Orange County. Last I checked there was a 250000 mandatory fee to live there whether you wanted to use the golf course or not. Even they have to use the freeways to get around. I guess if you did everything by helicopter? I find the Balloon thing to be sarcastic. I’m sure the developers were laughing when it was suggested. It suggests a freedom to a county that is no longer wild open and free. Sarcastic I think.
– Balloon is hostile really

It was never a good location for an airport and it was silly for Newporters to keep pushing for that. Now, they should get real and push for a real airport on the northern part of Camp Pendleton. That base is huge. An airport twice the size of LAX would hardly be noticed there and the planes could take off and land over the ocean.
– Frank


Letter published July 12, 2007 in Irvine World News:

BOYCOTT THE BIG ORANGE EYESORE

Regarding the orange helium balloon ride, I can’t believe this isn’t going to be a visual intrusion onto the public. So now the entire public is forced to view a big ugly orange helium balloon while trying to enjoy our hikes in Laguna Coast Wilderness, Aliso Woods Wilderness Park (West Ridge Trail) or the upper roads of Cleveland National Forest (Harding, Silverado, Main Divide, etc.). No escape from the Big Orange Eyesore.
What an imposition! Wherever we are, while trying to enjoy what little natural landscape and vistas remaining, we will not be forced to have a big ugly ball on our horizon!
Do you really think this ride will be profitable? I can understand this attraction to be temporary, to entice people to come to the park, and to raise some money, but do you really think people are going to pay to go up in this? Isn’t there a better use for this money that (they) are spending on this ride/attraction?
I will encourage a boycott to the public, against patronizing this ride. Is there really anyone who will pay to go up in this big orange ball?
Susan Eisenhut
Laguna Niguel

Orange County Register
July 17, 2007

Irvine's 'balloondoggle'

The city of Irvine has now blighted the Orange County skyline with its own balloondoggle: the balloon ride to nowhere ["Hundreds go up in Great Park's Orange Balloon," Local, July 15]. It should be repainted yellow so it more closely resembles the variety of citrus that it really is.

– Sam La Sala of San Clemente