Predictions: PEERING THROUGH A MARTINI GLASS INTO 2002:
Rick Reiff
Dick Riordan loses the governor’s race, but he raises so much money in Orange County that he decides, what the heck, he’ll buy the Angels.
Having already reduced a $2 billion Fullerton-to-Irvine light rail system down to a $1 billion loop linking just Irvine, Costa Mesa and Santa Ana, transportation officials pare back the Center Line project one more time. The new plan envisions a $500 million trolley shuttle from UCI to Tia Juana’s Long Bar & Restaurante.
The Irvine Company decides to let Dennis Rodman open a nightclub at the Spectrum, and then hell freezes over.
Declaring himself Master Developer of Orange County, Irvine Mayor and reformed social engineer Larry Agran urges construction of homes and offices around the former El Toro Marine base, welcomes companies and builders fleeing Newport Beach’s “greenlight” restrictions, and calls for expansion of the “John Wayne Airport economic engine.”
Scott Blum repositions Enfrastructure as a trendy fitness club.
Passage of the “Great Park” initiative drives airport supporters underground. They steal the Leisure World globe, vowing to place it at the entrance of a future El Toro International.
“Orange County,” the movie. Hollywood picks up where the bankruptcy left off.
, Rick Reiff
