On Thursday, July 1, Third District Supervisor Don Wagner held a press conference in Anaheim Hills, at the proposed 280-acre site many local veterans hope a veterans cemetery will be built.

In his opening remarks, Wagner said the support for the Gypsum Canyon site, near Anaheim Hills, has existed long before the Irvine City Council was unable to reach a vote to present a site to the California Department of Veterans Affairs, during an hours-long discussion at the June 22 City Council meeting.

“Those folks in the front row put this site, and this project, into the county’s legislative plan to try to get the money to get the cemetery here, well before the plug was finally pulled here in Irvine,” Wagner said. “We are on the cusp of getting it done, finally.”

Irvine Vice Mayor Tammy Kim was able to attend Thursday’s press conference, and told Irvine Weekly after seeing the support for the Gypsum Canyon site in person Thursday, she had even more confidence in the Irvine City Council’s decision to not select a site to present to CalVet.

The vice mayor cited an almost certain lengthy litigation process on the horizon, had the council gone with either the Golf Course or ARDA site.

Kim, who was joined by Irvine Council member Mike Carroll, added that she took the opportunity to show support for the next chapter of this project in its transition to the Gypsum Canyon site.

“I feel even more convinced now that we made the right decision by not selecting a site in Irvine,” Kim said. “We cut the cord and allowed it to fly free and let the veterans have what they want.”

Vietnam veteran Nick Berardino, who is president of the Veterans Alliance of Orange County (VALOR), echoed Kim’s statement, in a passionate speech to the crowd, emphasizing that he viewed the fight in Irvine as a blessing, now that the project can finally move toward the Anaheim site.

“In Irvine, our struggle was a blessing, because it was going through that fight, it was going through that hell of repeated ballot initiates and other kind of initiates. We have been virtually been kicked off all three sites, by one group or another,” he said. “So it’s become obvious that a regional effort is what’s going to be required to get this done.”

Advertising disclosure: We may receive compensation for some of the links in our stories. Thank you for supporting Irvine Weekly and our advertisers.