Parks Orange County

A group of teen-agers and a well-known local artist are using a Lemon Park block wall as the canvas for a mural to deter graffiti vandals. The wall had long been a popular "tagging" spot in Fullerton until last month, when the group began converting it into a mural titled "Children of the World," city officials said. "This painting is the heart of Fullerton and people will respect it," 16-year-old Daniel Rodriguez said as he painted an ocean on the wall Wednesday afternoon.

Ten years after Orange County residents voted to turn a shuttered military base into one of America's most ambitious municipal parks, most of the land remains fenced off, looking very much like the airfield the Marines left behind. The city of Irvine has spent at least $203 million on the project, but only 200 acres of the promised 1,347-acre Orange County Great Park has been built, and half of that is leased out for commercial farming. Most of the money has paid for plans, designs, administrative costs and consultants, with less than a fifth of it going toward actual park construction, according to a Times analysis of the spending.

Twelve years after it was dedicated as a park site by the County Board of Supervisors, Dana Woods Park, home to several California redwoods, will officially become public property Sept. 1. The board of directors of the Capistrano Bay Park and Recreation District voted unanimously last week to accept the four-acre park into its jurisdiction, finally taking it out of the legal limbo where it has languished.

The Irvine City Council on Tuesday could become the latest in Orange County to consider a citywide ordinance banning sex offenders from public parks. The proposal follows the Orange County Board of Supervisors' approval of an ordinance in April prohibiting registered offenders from visiting county parks. Since then, Costa Mesa, Huntington Beach, Laguna Beach and other cities have considered similar laws. In May, Westminster made it a misdemeanor for offenders to visit its parks.

O'Neill Regional Park in Orange County, closed since Dec. 26 after several cougars were sighted, reopened to the public Friday morning with 30 campsites still off-limits. Richard Dyer, supervising park ranger, said about 1,800 acres of the parks 2,200 acres remain closed. Although cougars injured two children at Ronald W. Caspers Wilderness Park about five miles to the southeast, no one had been attacked at O'Neill.

An unusually high number of mountain lion sightings in the city--including one this week--has forced the indefinite closure of the 150-acre trail area at the William R. Mason Regional Park for the first time in decades, officials said Friday. "To be on the safe side, we decided to shut it down," said Jerry F. Lahart, the supervising park ranger. Officials began posting new red and white warning signs around the park on Friday.

When it comes to hiding liquor in parks and other public places, the county's park rangers and police officers know that folks can be pretty inventive. Just ask Ranger Parker Hancock. Over the past two decades that Hancock, 48, has been a park ranger, he's seen people hide booze in coffee cups, soda pop cans, and any other convenient containers that can camouflage a cold brew on a hot summer day. But often, people don't even bother to disguise their alcoholic beverages.

The City Council voted 4 to 1 this week to immediately remove the 110-foot concrete slide from Gilman Park after the city's risk manager said it poses dangers that could lead to costly lawsuits. About 50 residents came to Tuesday's council meeting and more than 20 spoke for three hours about the slide and Gilman Park. Many pleaded with the council to save the custom-built slide, which was installed at the park in 1979.

Pines Park virtually resonates romance. The little four-acre site on bluffs overlooking Capistrano Beach commands a spectacular ocean view. Stately pines shade lush, jade-green grass. It's a perfect place for weddings--in fact hundreds of couples have gone there in recent years to say their vows. But neighbors and the Capistrano Bay Park and Recreation District think there can be too much of a good thing.

Jack Wallin was a young man when he built the park. Back then, people thought he was either nuts or the greatest threat, this side of a strawberry blight, to the city of Garden Grove. He was neither. Today, he is 66 and retired and has grandkids who don't quite believe his claims to have built the dragon slide, the Viking ship and the other equipment in their favorite park. He did. Wallin, who was Garden Grove parks superintendent at the time, and his crews gave shape to the creatures that V.E.

They call Villa Park "The Hidden Jewel. " Bound on all sides by the city of Orange, this 2.1-square-mile city is something of a well-kept Orange County secret, residents say: affluent, welcoming, conservative, and quiet. In recent weeks, it's also been the center of heated controversy after video of a protest at an Islamic charity event captured a city councilwoman's angry words. Speaking outside a community center in nearby Yorba Linda during the February event, Councilwoman Deborah Pauly pointed at the center and said, "What's going on over there right now ?

Thirteen restored cottages overlooking the ocean at Crystal Cove State Park will be ready for overnight accommodations in June. But in a flurry of first-day ticket sales Wednesday, they were booked through October. The race for reservations at the seaside park just north of Laguna Beach began at 8 a.m., online and by telephone. By 8:46 a.m., there were 16,000 people competing for an overnight stay.

Over the objections of environmentalists and state officials, directors of Orange County's toll road agency on Thursday approved construction of a six-lane highway through San Onofre State Beach -- a popular coastal park that President Nixon helped set aside in 1970 as a haven from urbanization.

The Great Park initiative won't come before Orange County voters for another two months, but the state has already set aside a $200,000 grant to help Irvine with planning it. The money would come from the state's Natural Resources Infrastructure Fund. But the city would have to return the money if the initiative, listed as Measure W on the ballot, failed March 5, said Steven Capps, a spokesman for the state Department of Parks and Recreation, which would issue the grant.

When Huntington Beach opened its fancy dog park--complete with doggy drinking fountains and a striking tile entryway--it was an instant hit with dog lovers. But residents who live nearby say they are being driven to distraction by the canine invasion--especially the loud barking of dozens of dogs that play there during peak hours. The city tried to ease tensions by limiting both park hours and the number of dogs an owner could bring at any one time.

A by-the-numbers look at the so-called Great Park initiative shows it would not create any new taxes or tax increases, the Orange County auditor said Friday. But maintaining such a park at the former El Toro Marine base would cost the county $19 million over the next 18 years if it is approved by voters in March.

More than 130 people attended a kickoff meeting this week for those interested in joining a Citizen's Advisory Committee for the planned 114-acre regional park in Upper Newport Bay. Keith Coolidge, a spokesman for the County Environmental Management Agency, said this is the first time the county has formed a citizen's advisory committee for a county park. "We want the public's input as to what they want and don't want," said Bob Fisher, director of harbors, beaches and parks for Orange County.

The Cypress City Council tonight will open secret entries and choose a name for a new park--which, according to the rules, must include both a person's name and that of a Mediterranean tree. The contest sponsored by the city drew seven entries. To qualify, the entries must both honor a person and reflect the Mediterranean architecture of the area, such as Smith Palm Park. Other parks in Orange County have been named through contests.

Hundreds of people turned out Sunday in Laguna Niguel to rally behind a March ballot initiative that aims to create a massive urban park instead of an international airport at the former El Toro Marine Corps Air Station. "We are opposed to the airport. We want something better--something that reflects the will of the people," said Irvine Mayor Larry Agran during an afternoon speech to anti-airport forces at Crown Valley Community Park.

Hundreds of people turned out Sunday in Laguna Niguel to rally behind a pending March ballot initiative that aims to create a massive urban park instead of an international airport at the former El Toro Marine Corps Air Station. "We are opposed to the airport. We want something better--something that reflects the will of the people," said Irvine Mayor Larry Agran during an afternoon speech to anti-airport forces at Crown Valley Community Park.