The Grand Illusion of Irvine's Great Park

The gondola on the bright orange balloon is as empty as dreams that the Great Park offers.

(IRVINE, Calif.) - It was a moderately dreary Sunday at the old El Toro Marine Corps Air Station in Irvine. We've written about the place many times. I was stationed there as a Marine in the 1980's and I've always remained fairly nostalgic about this piece of Marine Corps history that closed in 1999.

There was a slight chill in the air on this day, and a big obnoxious orange bag of hot air floating over El Toro, which if you didn't know, means "The Bull" in Spanish. It made me angry because I know this big ugly balloon is used as a birds' eye viewing platform and selling tool for the park and housing community that Irvine, the Great Parks Corp. and homebuilder Lennar plan to prop up on this wasteland. It made me mad to know that they are getting interest, actually taking people up in it, even on a day like this, even in spite of the numerous stories we've published about the base, don't people Google things anymore, at least before taking their life in their hands, in a balloon?

MCAS El Toro was (technically) featured in the movie Independence Day and even if it was a Hollywood set, the grand feeling of Southern California's most respected military fighter base was conveyed.

El Toro was built during WWII and then heavily contaminated over the years by careless military practices. Nasty chemical degreasers that are highly toxic and deadly are just the beginning. Today it is so toxic that the asphalt will literally adhere to your tires if you park on it on a 75 degree day, as I learned in the summer of 2008.

The base was closed in 1999, the Marines relocated to Miramar in San Diego, "Fighter Town USA" and home until that point, of Top Gun, the Navy's Fighter Weapons School, immortalized in a movie of the same name, which was moved to the middle of Nevada, in the desert no less! It always seemed like a strange place to send the Navy.

Regarding the pollution, I was there, I saw it. My role was tactical aircraft refueler and I recall vividly the JP-5 jet fuel that was regularly spilled and poured onto the ground, where it was absorbed by the soil and the groundwater. There is documented evidence of the damage in Irvine's very own library system, and it is damning.

The politicians and developers and the people on their payrolls, including at least one turncoat who used to absolutely be against developing the base into a place for people, are the only ones for it.

The people of Irvine aren't for it, and they are slowly coming around. Larry Agran, the city's mayor, seems like a man trapped in a giant spinning flush and while still buoyant, the drain looms.

He and others involved are dark and dastardly as they parade behind their nice guy smiles. Marines are dying from diseases they contracted from service at the base, but old Larry and his cadre all want the public to believe the place is perfectly safe, and they lie.

And what about that balloon again? Well our ace Photographer from London, Dexter Phoenix, used the big lens on his very serious camera (We were each shooting with cameras we have drug through multiple wars) and lo and behold, false advertising! It looks like the latest ruse; making people believe that interested parties are gazing down on the lovely contaminant ridden base and envisioning their family's futures there, when the balloon gondola is empty!

The contraption was carrying nothing but the hot air that bleeds down from above. Though that has to cost the taxpayers a few bucks I would think, but then this is Orange County, and it is the ultimate lesson in how a facade can indeed be very thin.

We have several reports coming out on the base in the next few days that include Roger Butow's comments on the false presentation that these groups continue to offer to the public.

Tim King in 2008, covering the Iraq War

Tim King: Salem-News.com Editor and Writer

Tim King has more than twenty years of experience on the west coast as a television news producer, photojournalist, reporter and assignment editor. Tim is Salem-News.com's Executive News Editor. His background includes covering the war in Afghanistan in 2006 and 2007, and reporting from the Iraq war in 2008. Tim is a former U.S. Marine.

Tim holds awards for reporting, photography, writing and editing from The Associated Press the National Coalition of Motorcyclists, the Oregon Confederation of Motorcycle Clubs, Electronic Media Association and The Red Cross In a personal capacity, Tim has written 2,026 articles as of March 2012 for Salem-News.com since the new format designed by Matt Lintz was launched in December, 2005.

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Tim specializes in writing about political and military developments worldwide with an emphasis on Palestine and Sri Lanka, Iraq and Afghanistan, and the U.S. Marines. You can write to Tim at this address: tim@salem-news.com. Visit Tim's Facebook page (facebook.com/TimKing.Reporter)