As Arlington National Cemetery commemorates its 150th anniversary, here in Irvine we learn that the committee created last month by the Irvine City Council to establish an Orange County Veterans Cemetery has not even had its first meeting because some politicians who were added as committee members cannot find the time in their schedules.

In fact, there is profound concern that the unnecessarily large committee formed by the Irvine City Council, based on Council Member Jeffrey Lalloway’s insistence on including numerous politicians, is a sham, set only up for show, not to take action.

At a previous meeting, the Council majority of Mayor Steven Choi and Council Members Christina Shea and Jeffrey Lalloway approved Lalloway’s motion to expand the Veterans Cemetery Committee to include numerous Orange County politicians, including Steven Choi, who had already indicated his opposition to the cemetery.  Now it turns out that the committee has not been able to meet – and will not meet until the end of June at the earliest – because Steven Choi has no time in his schedule.  How is it that Mayor Choi has no time at all to meet on this important committee? And if has no time to meet, why did Lalloway insist that Choi he be on the committee – which is charged with implementing a veterans cemetery that Choi opposed?

Here is what the Orange County Veterans Memorial Park posted on their Facebook page:

“If last night’s Irvine City Council behavior was any indication of things to come, we have a long row to hoe. Interesting to note that Chairman Bill Cook’s comments relative to the obvious foot-dragging process remained unanswered by the Council members sitting on the ad hoc committee. The delays present a frustrating obstacle to the legislative process.  The ad hoc committee appointed by the City Council has yet to meet, and the dates provided by Mayor Choi in late June as to his availability are well past a critical May 23 date to move AB 1453 to the next level. When one or two members of a committee can hijack the meeting schedule, we have a unique situation extant in that a minority of members controls the entire process.  Furthermore, it appears that the rancor that exists between City Council factions is an additional obstacle to progress on this most important issue. “

At the City Council meeting, one of the veterans observed that “the general consensus is that the delay is a deliberate and bad faith effort” to kill the veterans cemetery. The veteran members of the committee offered to meet “weekends, evenings, mornings before breakfast” to move the project forward and prevent the veterans cemetery from being the victim of death by delay.

Another veteran –  from the Disabled American Veterans – stressed the urgency of the veterans’ request for an Orange County veterans’ final resting place, pointing out the hardships for veterans’ family members, particularly for the elderly widows of World War Two veterans, who must make a long trek to veterans cemeteries in Riverside and San Diego counties.

Melissa Fox urging the Irvine City Council to fulfill its promise to create an Orange County Veterans Cemetery without delay.

I also spoke to the Council, stating again that as a resident of Irvine and the daughter of a Korean War combat veteran, I strongly support the veterans cemetery, and that I was concerned, as were others, that when the committee was formed, “the addition of so many players seemed to me a way to hamstring the committee, to actually prevent it from reaching its stated goal, which was to find a suitable location for a veterans cemetery in Irvine. This concern is exacerbated by the rancor I’ve witnessed here this evening at the mere mention of a request for a progress report.  I hope that my fears are not realized and that this isn’t a way to ground the ball and run out the clock.  When I last addressed the Council, I was here with my father, and when the veterans were asked to stand, he could barely stand because he had just had chemotherapy. His passion was to come here and talk to you.  He isn’t physically able to do that for himself, so I am his voice . . . Please don’t ground the ball. Don’t let time run out.”

The veterans’ questions last night, as well as my own, were met with stone cold silence from the Irvine City Council.

I share the veterans’ concern that the unnecessarily large committee formed by the Irvine City Council, based on Jeffrey Lalloway’s insistence on including numerous politicians, including Steven Choi who opposes the veterans cemetery, is a sham, set only up for show, not to take action.

It is important that the committee members and the Irvine City Council know that Orange County veterans are not going to just fade away. Orange County veterans deserve a final resting place close to their families and loved ones.