Progress at the Great Park in Irvine, largest city park development in U.S.
The City of Irvine and the Great Park Board invited neighbors for a first look at the progress being made at the Great Park through immersive partner exhibits and a presentation from Great Park leadership. Great Park Board chairman Mike Carroll at the 2025 'State of the Great Park' event.
'You are the reason that Irvine leads the nation in building a city and community that we can all be proud of,' said Great Park Board chairman and Irvine City Councilmember, Mike Carroll, in an address to the crowd. 'Twenty years ago, this place was on track to be a massive international airport and 20 years ago community leaders fought back to preserve this place as a park for all of us to enjoy.'
The lawn of Great Park Live resembled a carnival — a rainy one — with games, mini golf, bounce houses and food from Chick-fil-A, Wetzel's Pretzels and more. The program began with a performance by the Pacific Symphony, which makes the temporary live music venue its summer home, followed by remarks from Irvine Mayor and Great Park Board director Larry Agran and Great Park Board vice chairman and Irvine City Councilmember William Go.
The ambitious public park in Irvine has been in various stages of development since Orange County voters passed Measure W, authorizing the former air station's use as a park, nature preserve and multi-use development in 2002. The park rivals New York's Central Park in size at nearly 1,347 acres and with a budget of over $1.2 billion, it is currently the largest municipal park under development in the United States.
Detailed plans for several attractions coming to the park were revealed Tuesday at the event. The 2025 'State of the Great Park' event included a performance by the Pacific Symphony.
The 'Heart of the Park' will feature a grand promenade with tree-top walks, a rotunda and a picnic garden. Museum pads will soon be ready for construction, building what will become 'Cultural Terrace' where guests will find Pretend City, Orange County Music and Dance and the Flying Leatherneck Aviation Museum. A trail system with new bridges and shade structures that will connect the different areas of the park called Bosque is also planned.
The Great Park's retired military base past will be honored with Veterans Memorial Park and Garden, which will include the Great Park Central Library in addition to a botanical garden. The El Toro air traffic control tower will live on as an interactive museum, where residents can experience what it's like in a real air traffic control tower.
Carroll also detailed the aerial transport system planned for the park known as 'Whoosh.'
'We believe aerial transportation will ease traffic and provide accessibility for people of all ages and all mobility levels,' said Carroll. 'So everybody can enjoy the Great Park from end to end.'
The fully electric-powered, autonomous 'Whoosh' system will have elevated vehicles that travel on a fixed cableway and can accommodate up to 10,000 passengers per hour. A simulation of 'Whoosh' set up in the park for the event allowed families to imagine what it might look like riding the aerial transport system over the Great Park in the future. The 2025 'State of the Great Park' event included a simulation of the Whoosh aerial transport system coming to the Great Park in Irvine.
'The Great Park is a living reflection of Irvine's past and a bold investment in its future,' said Irvine Mayor Larry Agran. 'With every new addition, we're honoring our history, engaging our community and building something truly extraordinary.'
The 'State of the Great Park' event follows the groundbreaking of The Canopy at Great Park, a dining and retail center by local development company Almquist that will also welcome the first SoCal T&T Supermarket.
Carroll said the ongoing development of the Great Park continues the vision started back in 2002.
'We're not just building a park, we're building a legacy,' said Carroll.
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Travie McCoy (2007-2008) Travie McCoy of Gym Class Heroes were together from 2007 to late 2008., and most notably, she appeared in his band's music video for 'Cupid's Chokehold.' Not only that, but they decided to pull a fake marriage prank on their family. She told PopEater via People: 'We took all the pictures with the minister, with the fake cake, in the fake chapel and got a fake marriage certificate. We went and bought a wedding dress and a suit at a thrift store, and scanned the pictures and the certificate to my family members, my manager at the time [and] totally freaked the s— out of them.' McCoy posted on his blog confirming their split on New Year's, per Billboard. Not only did Perry end the relationship, but McCoy claimed to Yahoo UK that she ended it over email. 'It started off with 'I love you so much I hate to do this,'' he said about the email, noting his drug addiction at the time may have heavily contributed to the split. 'It destroyed me.' It's heavily believed that Perry's song 'Circle The Drain,' is about their romance, with lyrics like 'Can't be your savior, I don't have the power/ I'm not gonna stay and watch you circle the drain.' Johnny Lewis (2005-2006) Actor Johnny Lewis, known for his roles in Sons of Anarchy and The Runaways, was Perry's boyfriend from 2005 to 2006. Not much is known about their romance, but we do know they broke up so Perry could focus on her career. It's heavily speculated that her hit song, 'The One That Got Away,' is at least partially inspired by him. However, in 2012, at the age of 28, police were called on him after it was said he violently attacked two people at the property next door. He ended up killing his 81-year-old landlady, her cat, and then fell off the roof to his death, per AP News. Matthew Thiessen Matthew Thiessen of Reliant K and Perry dated from 2003 to 2005, also working as songwriting collaborators. 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However, as W Magazine, has said, they've just been close pals throughout it all, nothing more! Solve the daily Crossword
