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12/28/05
Val Zavala>> Tonight on Life and Times --
A recall election on a local level. The school board members behind this massive structure may soon be out of a job.
Jennifer Beall>> Why has it become a priority that they are in a beautiful building while our kids are down here in trailers on these campuses?
Val Zavala>> And then, will it be competition or a complement to the regional arts scene? We preview Orange County's new Segerstrom Concert Hall.
These stories and more next on tonight's Life and Times.
Announcer>> Life and Times is made possible through the generous support of the L.K. Whittier Foundation dedicated to improving the quality of life by supporting innovative endeavors in the fields of medicine, health, science and education.
And by a generous grant from Jim and Anne Rothenberg.
With additional support for Life and Times from The Ralph M. Parsons Foundation.
Val Zavala>> Welcome to this special edition of Life and Times. Tonight we look back at our most interesting stories from Orange County including the building of a spectacular music hall and a controversial election, but we begin with a look at Orange County's Great Park.
Finally after years of political battles, Orange County's Great Park is finally taking shape. This is the park that will be built where the now closed El Toro Air Base is and three architectural firms are competing to win this prize commission and they have some pretty interesting ideas. Orange County reporter, Roger Cooper, takes a look.
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Roger Cooper>> For fifty years, it was a fixture in Orange County. The El Toro Marine Corps Air Station, a giant parcel of land carved out of bean fields as the nation prepared for World War II. El Toro, where thousands upon thousands of military personnel trained, lived and went off to war. Where each year, huge crowds of Orange Countians went out to see the big El Toro Air Show.
But it all came to an end July 2, 1999 when El Toro was closed down, part of a nationwide military downsizing, and today it's a ghost base. It's been years now since any jet fighter took off from this massive runway here at El Toro, since this military installation functioned almost as a city unto itself. It's the weeds that now inhabit the runway, growing up through the cracks.
But El Toro is about to evolve into the next stage of its existence. The long bitter battle over whether to turn El Toro into a commercial airport was won by opponents to the airport who managed to take their question to the ballot box. Voters rejected the airport idea. Now El Toro is on its way to becoming what people have dubbed the Great Park. Irvine councilman, Larry Agran, is Chairman of the Orange County Great Park's Board of Directors.
Larry Agran>> This is simply an unprecedented opportunity. Imagine in a major metropolitan county with three million people at this stage in our metropolitan development to be able to create a metropolitan park that is three times the size of Central Park in New York.
Roger Cooper>> An international competition has been underway to pick a designer for the Great Park with seven architectural firms invited to submit their proposals. Recently, the seven finalists got two hours each to present their concepts to the Great Park board. Architect Juan Herreros from Madrid proposed digging out a runway to create a water-filled rowing canal over which the sun would set.
Juan Herreros>> "A memorial of the history of the taking off and landing of the planes going to those difficult missions out of the country and every day the sunset exactly on the other point of the canal, we'll remember this."
Roger Cooper>> But in the end, it was three other firms who made the final cut, including Ken Smith of New York. He envisions constructing a giant canyon running through the park.
Ken Smith>> "It's a big enough feature that, when you're in the canyon, you really feel like you're someplace else, that you're separate from the city. Hence, it would be very feasible for someone to have their lunch in the canyon and really be somewhere completely else, somewhere where it's cool and refreshing and shady."
Roger Cooper>> Smith's proposal would retain part of one runway where fifty vintage war planes would be parked in a memorial to El Toro's veterans.
Dr. Steven Choi>> "Wow, that's a dream park, I think, as far as I'm concerned. Everything that I have dreamed of, you presented."
Roger Cooper>> Also among the final three competitors, the firm of Royston Hanamoto Alley & Abey from Mill Valley, California.
Manuella King>> "So, what did we think when we first went to the site? The site is phenomenal. It's really the one place that you can see in the United States that I can think of that is a bare site to make a new metropolitan park. It's flat. It has the drama and power of those runways and how many times do you ever walk out on a runway? Never, never, and never are you in the middle of the runway. You're always moving fast in an airplane."
Roger Cooper>> And the third design firm in the running is EMBT of Barcelona, Spain.
Karl Unglaub>> "We have very specific [inaudible], but we are also able to use our knowledge which we gain in one place and go to another place, so the first element, as we were saying, is the lake. We can call it the Great Lake."
Roger Cooper>> But even as the selection of a Great Park architect goes forward, not everyone is happy with the way it's being done. Richard Sim, a retired Irvine Company executive, resigned from the Great Park Board in protest. He says the process is going too fast.
Richard Sim>> I don't think people who've never done large-scale developments fully understand the ramifications of rushing before you have a good plan and you've developed all the information that is critical to the project. This is a thousand acre project that has a thousand toxic sites to be remediated over the next one to fifty years.
Christina Shea>> Well, actually, I probably was one of the critical persons on the Board that felt that same way. I felt that the process moved a little too quickly. I do think that they've done an excellent job. I'm very pleased that we are moving forward with the design process, but I did feel myself that we could have maybe taken a little bit more time to allow them, maybe a six month period rather than three months.
Larry Agran>> People tell me that he who hesitates is lost, hurry up. Then others will say to look before you leap, don't go so fast.
Richard Sim>> Well, I think we have such a unique opportunity to build something really special in Orange County for all the people in Orange County and I just hope we take enough time.
Larry Agran>> We have the land. We have the resources. We have the momentum. Now's the time to design and build the Great Park.
Richard Sim>> I'm just concerned, if we move too fast, we can blow it and, if you blow it, you can blow it big.
Larry Agran>> What do we want to do? Just sit on these resources for five to ten years thinking about it? No, we want to begin the design process.
Richard Sim>> My guess is we're going to end up with, you know, seven pretty pictures.
Roger Cooper>> For now, at least, the architects have been told to dream big without regard to difficulty or cost, and they are.
Ken Smith>> "And at the center where the two runways once met, we propose a series of orange hot air balloons. The hot air balloons, we think, would be a fantastic opportunity for people to go up high enough to see the surrounding countryside."
Manuella King>> "He had this idea about creating these beautiful mist rings that rose up into the sky that you could see from a distance and then they just disappear."
Ken Smith>> "Think about what New York was like before Central Park. I mean, instead of a growing community, it was kind of a mess. There were hogs running in the streets. Central Park was built on the edge of town in a place that nobody really thought was going to be much and now it's the heart of the place. I have no doubt that this will become the heart of Orange County, the heart of the community."
Manuella King>> "So here you have two miles of this beautiful vista that leads to the mountains and you're doing this park not just for you, not just for your kids, not just for your kids' kids, but for generations to come. What a huge monumental, exciting task you have in front of you."
Roger Cooper>> The winning architect will be named in January with groundbreaking expected next year. In the meantime, three firms are hoping they will be the one to win final clearance for takeoff at El Toro. In Orange County, I'm Roger Cooper for Life and Times.
Announcer>> Kcet.org is the place to look for the very latest on Life and Times. You'll find previews of upcoming stories, transcripts and audio of past episodes and links to some of our most interesting features. Just go to kcet.org and click on "Life and Times".
Hena Cuevas>> Two years ago, Californians voted to recall then Governor Gray Davis and elected new Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger. Now a group of parents in southern Orange County is looking to do the same thing, but with a school board, recalling all seven of them. At issue is this thirty year old administration building and what's being built to replace it, a facility some are calling "the Taj Mahal of administration buildings".
When construction began along the 5 Freeway in San Juan Capistrano, many parents like Kevin Murphy wondered what was going in. He heard it would be the new administration building for the Capistrano Unified School District. He just never dreamed it would look like this. What is the reaction when you bring people here and they see this for the first time?
Kevin Murphy>> You know, most people in our area don't even know that that's what this is and, when we tell them, their mouths drop. They're completely shocked, as I was when I realized what they were planning on doing.
Hena Cuevas>> The brand new building will have over a hundred twenty thousand square feet of office space at a cost of thirty-five million dollars. Murphy says that money should have been spent on renovating schools instead.
Kevin Murphy>> Anytime you're willing to spend thirty-five million dollars on a building yourself, by the time we're done in interest payments, it will be close to sixty million dollars. Instead of the kids here in town, I find it ridiculous.
Hena Cuevas>> So he and other parents decided to take a radical step and recall the entire school board, all seven of them.
Kevin Murphy>> We hear so much about budgetary problems and this and that. How could they find thirty-five million dollars to spend on themselves when Governor Schwarzenegger will tell you we have no money, we don't have this? It makes no sense at all.
Hena Cuevas>> In a way, it was Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger who gave them the idea. Murphy says he was inspired by the 2003 recall election that ousted then Governor Gray Davis.
Kevin Murphy>> I'll be honest. Probably five years ago, none of us would have ever thought of this (laughter), but since Arnold was able to do it and was successful and, you know, we've heard those stories, we realized that if we work hard, there would be an ability to pull it off.
Hena Cuevas>> So they took their message to the people.
>> "They're building a thirty-five million dollar administration building."
>> "Oh, my goodness."
>> "You can see it from the top right over there."
>> "Oh, Capistrano?"
Hena Cuevas>> Their goal? To gather more than a hundred forty thousand signatures required for a special election.
>> "So you print, sign, address, you can abbreviate your city, and then just keep lifting. You'll be number four."
Kevin Murphy>> And the reaction we've got on the street has been phenomenal. I'd be willing to say that ninety-five percent of the people have said this is great. In fact, a lot of comments I get is "What took so long?" (laughter).
Marlene Draper>> The building is simply a good financial move. It is something that we need to do for the long term of this school district.
Hena Cuevas>> Marlene Draper is the President of the school board and has served on it for seventeen years. Why wasn't that money used to improve the schools?
Marlene Draper>> If you look at the figure of thirty-five million, yes, it's expensive. Homes are expensive. Land is expensive. But as compared to forty-eight million we just spent this summer and seven hundred and twenty-four million over fifteen years, I think it really shows that our district and our board of trustees truly put students first.
Hena Cuevas>> Part of the problem, says Draper, is district operations are spread out and they needed to find a place where everybody would fit in.
Marlene Draper>> It was a very good business decision. It brought all of our employees from the five locations into one center. We needed to consolidate and we feel it is a very, very good long-term decision for the school district.
Hena Cuevas>> The school board owns the building, but they also lease a couple of buildings along this very busy office park and that is one of the reasons why they're arguing for the construction of a new facility. Employees have to be moving from one building to the other and there is concern because this is a very busy road.
The main building is thirty years old and there isn't enough parking. Also, the needs of the growing school district have overwhelmed the central kitchen and warehouse. They would be expanded into the old office space. And Draper points out that, by owning the building, the district will save half a million dollars a year in rent for the outside places they've been forced to use.
Marlene Draper>> It is very similar to your home. Do you want to pay rent payments forever? Do you want to take that big risk and get a mortgage and purchase a home? We felt that owning the building was far more important and more prudent than leasing.
Jennifer Beall>> Why has it become a priority that they are in a beautiful building while our kids are down here in trailers on these campuses?
Hena Cuevas>> Recall supporter, Jennifer Beall, says if her children can attend school in an old portable, why can't the administrators?
Jennifer Beall>> You can see here that they haven't painted or maintained. There's trash all underneath here. Why do we have this fence hanging here? This is dangerous for our children. It's rusty on the edge.
Marlene Draper>> Old portables do not determine what happens in the classroom. The students are learning an amazing amount. Teachers are teaching. The quality of the education does not matter whether they're taught in a portable or within a main building.
Hena Cuevas>> On their website, CUSDrecall.com, the group sites example after example of dilapidated portables all around the district. Some of the portables that they have on the website show them being in some really bad conditions like bad bathrooms, the water fountains. What's the situation with the portables?
Marlene Draper>> The recall shows pictures of portables that were actually removed this summer. We have had an ongoing plan within our school district to remove our older portables and we have been very successful in doing that.
Hena Cuevas>> As an example, Draper sites the removal of eight of the twelve portables at this elementary school. In 2003, the district bought this adjacent building and placed additional classrooms in there.
Marlene Draper>> The area here now during student off-time we'll come in and repave so the students can be able to utilize the area.
Hena Cuevas>> Doesn't it seem a little suspicious that there is a threat of a recall and then, all of a sudden, the portables are gone?
Marlene Draper>> Well, I could tell you that the plan was in place well over two years ago. Anyone within the recall can claim anything they want, but the truth is, we have a plan to get rid of old portables and this is a perfect example of that plan.
Hena Cuevas>> Recently, one of the high schools did get new two-story portables, but it's the new building that has everybody up in arms. The recall website even has a comparison of administration buildings from other districts, describing them as modest and sensible. It also has an artist's rendering of what the Capistrano one will look like. What does it say when your district is going to have the nicest administration building basically in the entire state?
Marlene Draper>> Well, first, it's not done. It's a concrete tilt-up building. The interior furnishings are going to be brought from our offices here. This table and our chairs will be brought. I cannot, by any means, believe that this is going to be the most lavish building at all in the state of California.
>> "Hi, have you signed our petition to recall the school board?"
Kevin Murphy>> After this, we'll turn in the signatures. Beginning in November, the registrar will certify them in thirty days and this board actually gets to pick the recall date, which will be kind of funny. I want to go to that meeting and see it.
Hena Cuevas>> Draper is aware of the irony of having to pick their own recall date, which will most likely be in March or April. Still, she's downplaying all the hoopla.
Marlene Draper>> We must remember that it's a concrete tilt-up building and very, very basic construction, moving the current furniture over and is not by any means an extravagant building.
Hena Cuevas>> I'm Hena Cuevas for Life and Times.
Announcer>> To send a comment or a question to our program, you can reach us by mail at this address:
Life and Times
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Val Zavala>> It's Orange County's answer to the Walt Disney Concert Hall, the Segerstrom Hall. When it's finished, it will offer superb acoustics for classical music, but what will it mean to Orange County overall? As our Orange County reporter, Roger Cooper, tells us, it signals a cultural coming of age.
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Roger Cooper>> When the Pacific Symphony prepared to perform on this evening in 2003, there were clear signs that something unusual was afoot.
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Roger Cooper>> The Orange County Performing Arts Center was about to break ground on a major two hundred million dollar expansion, including a world-class concert hall and music theater. True to form, the groundbreaking was choreographed.
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Roger Cooper>> Now this construction dance is just about half complete. Next door to the Orange County Performing Arts Center, the new concert hall and music theater are rapidly taking shape, two hundred million dollars worth of space for the performing arts. But in these days of tight budgets, where do you get money like that for the arts? The performing arts in Orange County owe a great debt to this: an internationally known shopping center, a little place called South Coast Plaza.
South Coast Plaza was built on bean fields built by Henry Segerstrom and his family who also donated some prime bean field real estate eighteen years ago as the site for the Performing Arts Center and South Coast Repertory Theatre. How good a facility is that concert hall going to be?
Henry T. Segerstrom>> It's going to be the best (laughter). It's going to be the best. I say that, on the day it opens, it will be the finest concert hall in the world.
Roger Cooper>> Now Henry Segerstrom has kick-started the drive for the new concert hall with a cornerstone gift of forty million dollars, the largest single charitable cash gift in the history of Orange County. Why did you give that gift?
Henry T. Segerstrom>> Well, I felt that it was an opportunity of a lifetime. I just thought, "Henry, you can do it now and forever enjoy it or you can just say no, I don't think I want to do it. Let somebody else do it." I'm so glad that I did.
Roger Cooper>> There's a virtual tour showing what it will be like.
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Roger Cooper>> The very first notes to be heard in the new hall will be conducted by Maestro Carl St. Clair who suited up in safety gear to take us inside.
Carl St. Clair>> I've been in here several times, but my favorite place was when I actually got to stand right over there which is right where the podium is going to be. As we look out, this is going to be the stage and we're in some of the great seats. Where we're standing is where the seats are going to be, but right there where that little cutout is is where the conductor is going to stand. When I stood there and I looked up and had my arms in the air and thinking about a full orchestra there and the chorus sitting above and the entire house filled with classical music lovers and people that are just, you know, wanting to come into this new building, I thought, "Wow".
Roger Cooper>> There's another major component to this expansion made possible by another major gift. Broadcom co-founder, Henry Samueli and his wife Susan, new owners of the Ducks hockey team, gave ten million dollars to build Samueli Theatre, a more intimate venue for smaller ensembles. The west coast will soon have two world-class concert halls. The new Renee and Henry Segerstrom Concert Hall sits just about forty miles away from Walt Disney Concert Hall in Los Angeles, but Segerstrom says they won't be in competition.
Henry T. Segerstrom>> I am so pleased with that and I have informed my friends in Los Angeles that I think, now that we have four great halls in Southern California, it's time for us to start marketing our joint assets world-wide in cultural tourism much as New York does. Mayor Bloomberg of New York said that cultural tourism was the second largest industry in New York after finance and Southern California can reap the benefits of this as well as share our facilities with the world.
Roger Cooper>> Orange County's Pacific Symphony currently performs in this hall, which will continue as the venue for special events, ballet and touring Broadway shows.
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Paul Folino>> In the next week or two, they start laying sixty thousand square feet of glass on the front façade of this building.
Roger Cooper>> In his day job, Paul Folino is CEO of Emulex Corporation, but he's also CEO of the Performing Arts Center board.
Paul Folino>> In one location, they can see Broadway, they can see ballet, they can see the greatest opera in the world, they can see jazz, they can see pop. Once again, the whole goal here was to create one-stop-shopping where you can get the greatest, finest performers in the world in one location and I think it's not only good for Orange County, but it's good for all of Southern California. It's going to have a tremendous impact on how people view this part of the country.
Roger Cooper>> Fine arts makes you a better person?
Henry T. Segerstrom>> I think so because I think you appreciate the accomplishments of generations of talented human beings and the marvelous contributions that the geniuses of the past give to us today.
Roger Cooper>> What do you think of the music in here right now?
Carl St. Clair>> Oh, it's music to my ears. Every time I hear a clanking or a hammer or a drill or see these sparkling lights over here, that's just one notch closer to opening night.
Roger Cooper>> There's lots of work still to be done, but the day is coming in September 2006 when the expanded Orange County Performing Arts Center can take its bow. In Orange County, I'm Roger Cooper for Life and Times.
[Film Clip]
Val Zavala>> And that's our program. I'm Val Zavala. For everyone at Life and Times, thanks for watching. We'll see you next time.
Announcer>> Life and Times was made possible through the generous support of the L.K. Whittier Foundation dedicated to improving the quality of life by supporting innovative endeavors in the fields of medicine, health, science and education.
And by a generous grant from Jim and Anne Rothenberg.
With additional support for Life and Times by The Ralph M. Parsons Foundation.
Sponsored in part by:
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