In April, park leaders allocated $61 million for a 500-acre development plan that would include a long-awaited sports park but would only begin creating a framework on most of those acres. After that, park officials will need more money.
Smith is savvy enough to know his biggest challenge is persuading the public that his project is worth building. But the missteps in management and appearance of excess have left many wary.
For The Record
Los Angeles Times Friday, October 02, 2009 Home Edition Main News Part A Page 4 National Desk 1 inches; 47 words Type of Material: Correction
Great Park: An article in Thursday's Section A on Orange County Great Park designer Ken Smith included the statement, "To the northeast is the urban sprawl of the county's older cities. To the southwest are the newer master-planned ones." The correct directions are northwest and southeast, respectively.
Now, Smith hopes to persuade park leaders to build in bits and pieces, enough so people visit and demand more.
He tells a story about a consultant who was having trouble building a park along the Hudson River in New York City. "It was just kind of a wreck of a space. Not very big. The city and the state could never really come up with the money to turn it into a park."
Then, the head of the park-building agency put in temporary jogging, skating and bike trails. "He said . . . once he had a constituency, the park would get built. And he was right."
Similarly, Smith pushed for the helium balloon even as the bulk of the base remained unusable. For critics, the balloon is a symbol of hyperbolic promise gone unmet. For supporters, it is the vision of possibility.
When Smith descends from the orange balloon on this summer day, the crowd visiting the park is sparse. The sun is bright. Smith's eyes are obscured by his black sunglasses -- it's impossible to know what he sees. A couple sit on a wooden bench he carefully designed, a family sits at nearby picnic tables and a small group waits in line for the balloon. It is faded almost to white in parts by the sun.
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