Posted on Jun 8, 2015
Would you thumbs down a military cemetery in your back yard?
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Dongping Huang, speaking at a recent Irvine City Council meeting, said she lives about two minutes from the Great Park and was shocked when she found out a cemetery was being proposed "in my backyard, next to my son's future school."
http://www.stripes.com/news/veterans/cultural-taboo-property-value-worries-hit-veterans-cemetery-1.351195
IRVINE, Calif. — Residents concerned about cultural taboos and property values are opposing a move to convert a former air base into the Southern California Veterans Cemetery.
Asian residents say a state cemetery on the 125-acre Great Park site that was formerly the El Toro air base would violate a cultural taboo of living near the dead, the Orange County Register reported. Residents are also worried property values will be damaged.
Orange County Veterans Memorial Park Foundation chair Bill Cook, a Vietnam War-era veteran who served at El Toro and has lead the fight for its conversion to a cemetery since the air base closed in 1999, said the site is "where thousands of American teenagers last stood alive on American soil."
But in feng shui - the ancient Chinese practice of spatial arrangement to promote health, harmony and prosperity - a cemetery near homes or schools is a constant reminder of mortality and death. Portola High School would be within sight of the cemetery. Nearly 40 percent of the residents in Irvine identify as Asian, though many don't necessarily follow the same cultural practices.
Dongping Huang, speaking at a recent Irvine City Council meeting, said she lives about two minutes from the Great Park and was shocked when she found out a cemetery was being proposed "in my backyard, next to my son's future school."
"We respect the veterans. ... They fight for our freedom," she said. They should rest in a "quiet, beautiful area," not amid soccer fields, Huang said. If the cemetery is built, she said later, she would probably move.
About 130,000 veterans live in Orange County, and nearly 1.9 million live in California. The state formally identified the site for a cemetery last year, but state Department of Veterans Affairs officials said the project still needs millions of dollars and they won't apply for federal funding until July 2016 at the earliest. If they get funding, it could still be years before a cemetery is developed.
Orange County Supervisor Todd Spitzer said he has a 288-acre parcel in his district near Anaheim Hills that might also work, but he still supports the Great Park location for a veterans' cemetery.
"Any county cemetery proposal that I consider for the public or veterans will be an independent project and not in competition in any way with the effort at Great Park," Spitzer said.
http://www.stripes.com/news/veterans/cultural-taboo-property-value-worries-hit-veterans-cemetery-1.351195
IRVINE, Calif. — Residents concerned about cultural taboos and property values are opposing a move to convert a former air base into the Southern California Veterans Cemetery.
Asian residents say a state cemetery on the 125-acre Great Park site that was formerly the El Toro air base would violate a cultural taboo of living near the dead, the Orange County Register reported. Residents are also worried property values will be damaged.
Orange County Veterans Memorial Park Foundation chair Bill Cook, a Vietnam War-era veteran who served at El Toro and has lead the fight for its conversion to a cemetery since the air base closed in 1999, said the site is "where thousands of American teenagers last stood alive on American soil."
But in feng shui - the ancient Chinese practice of spatial arrangement to promote health, harmony and prosperity - a cemetery near homes or schools is a constant reminder of mortality and death. Portola High School would be within sight of the cemetery. Nearly 40 percent of the residents in Irvine identify as Asian, though many don't necessarily follow the same cultural practices.
Dongping Huang, speaking at a recent Irvine City Council meeting, said she lives about two minutes from the Great Park and was shocked when she found out a cemetery was being proposed "in my backyard, next to my son's future school."
"We respect the veterans. ... They fight for our freedom," she said. They should rest in a "quiet, beautiful area," not amid soccer fields, Huang said. If the cemetery is built, she said later, she would probably move.
About 130,000 veterans live in Orange County, and nearly 1.9 million live in California. The state formally identified the site for a cemetery last year, but state Department of Veterans Affairs officials said the project still needs millions of dollars and they won't apply for federal funding until July 2016 at the earliest. If they get funding, it could still be years before a cemetery is developed.
Orange County Supervisor Todd Spitzer said he has a 288-acre parcel in his district near Anaheim Hills that might also work, but he still supports the Great Park location for a veterans' cemetery.
"Any county cemetery proposal that I consider for the public or veterans will be an independent project and not in competition in any way with the effort at Great Park," Spitzer said.
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I'd love one! I actually have a historic cemetery in my back yard (about 750 square feet) now with graves tracing back to the early 1800s. I did a rudimentary search and couldn't trace any of the names to any military records.
There are some nice things about having a cemetery in your back yard. The "neighbors" are quiet. The city mows the lawn and it's a great place to go sit and reflect.
Every so often we'll get knocks on the door of people tracing roots asking to visit the cemetery, which we never say no to. I live in Coventry, RI on Thompson Drive. The Read and Thompson families - which you see graves for in our cemetery and others in town - were the muck-e-mucks of the day who owned a lot of farm land that comprises the modern day town of Coventry. We have several adults some children and a still born child among the 20 or so grave stones. I'm pretty sure there are some unmarked graves or graves where the stones were destroyed based on the landscape.
There are some nice things about having a cemetery in your back yard. The "neighbors" are quiet. The city mows the lawn and it's a great place to go sit and reflect.
Every so often we'll get knocks on the door of people tracing roots asking to visit the cemetery, which we never say no to. I live in Coventry, RI on Thompson Drive. The Read and Thompson families - which you see graves for in our cemetery and others in town - were the muck-e-mucks of the day who owned a lot of farm land that comprises the modern day town of Coventry. We have several adults some children and a still born child among the 20 or so grave stones. I'm pretty sure there are some unmarked graves or graves where the stones were destroyed based on the landscape.
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Not only would I NOT thumbs down it, I would volunteer for the grounds keeping/maintenance team.
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I would not, I would actually welcome it in my neighborhood, BUT I am not a follower of Feng Shui.
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SPC Jan Allbright, M.Sc., R.S.
That's interesting, since the population of the area if pretty heavy oriental in general and Vietnamese in particular, there should have been a Feng Shui jockey on the design team.
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MSG Brad Sand
SPC Jan Allbright, M.Sc., R.S.
Should have, could have, and would have but people think of these things as an after thought. Additionally, some people hear something and jump to conclusions that do not match reality. To me, there are advantages for our youth to be reminded about sacrifice and mortality...but I have to say again that I am not a follower of Feng Shui and do not know their beliefs. Maybe it is time to broaden my knowledge?
Should have, could have, and would have but people think of these things as an after thought. Additionally, some people hear something and jump to conclusions that do not match reality. To me, there are advantages for our youth to be reminded about sacrifice and mortality...but I have to say again that I am not a follower of Feng Shui and do not know their beliefs. Maybe it is time to broaden my knowledge?
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SPC Jan Allbright, M.Sc., R.S.
Another thing bubbled up in the brain. Vietnamese had a HUGE dread of the dead. There was even a special airship in Vietnam that flew around and broadcast spook sounds.
http://www.pcf45.com/sealords/cuadai/wanderingsoul.html
http://www.pcf45.com/sealords/cuadai/wanderingsoul.html
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