Fairgrounds sale draws community ire

Alicia Robinson

The fair board sent a clear message Thursday that the Orange County

Fairgrounds are not underused, contrary to an assumption made in a

report highlighting inefficiencies in state government.

The California Performance Review, commissioned by Gov. Arnold

Schwarzenegger, cited the state-owned, 150-acre fairgrounds as an

example of “underutilized or surplus property.” Fair board members

voted unanimously to tell state officials the fairgrounds “is an

example of a highly utilized state property ... and should not be

considered surplus property for sale.”

Dozens of residents agreed, giving several hours of comments about

how important the fairgrounds is to Costa Mesa -- both culturally and

economically. A point of contention was that the state report

mentioned the annual three-week Orange County Fair, but none of the

other 100 or so events held at the fairgrounds each year.

“The testimony that has been given today was overwhelming,” fair

board President Patricia Velasquez said. “I believe if the people

that served to put that review together had known of all the other

uses [besides the fair] they would never have classified it as

underutilized.”

Those who spoke addressed both the designation of the fairgrounds

as underused and suggestions by 70th District Assemblyman John

Campbell that fair operations be relocated to the planned Great Park

in Irvine and that the fairgrounds be sold to help the state budget

deficit.

They were unequivocally critical of the sale idea, and many

mentioned what the fairgrounds have meant to children, disabled

people and other members of the community.

“This is not just a piece of property, it is a community,” said

Will Harrison, president of the Orange County Farm Bureau. “If we

lose this asset, our connection to our agrarian roots will be

severed.”

Other residents said moving the fair would make it less accessible

because the Irvine site is served by the clogged Golden State

Freeway, and relocating fairgrounds facilities would not necessarily

bring their 4.3 million annual users to the new site.

The board made its position clear on the fairgrounds’ importance

to the community, but it has no control over whether the fairgrounds

are sold.

Nothing official has been proposed beyond the concept of selling

the property, so the next step will be to explore the ramifications

of any formal proposal that is made, fair General Manager Becky

Bailey-Findley said.

Board members did say they support the idea of streamlining

government, which is the general thrust of the state report, and they

also support the report’s recommendation of reorganizing the state’s

agricultural associations as public corporations. Bailey-Findley said

such a reorganization would cut through some of the bureaucratic

restrictions on the fair as a state agency that make it hard to

compete with businesses in attracting entertainment.

“The most immediate advantages are just efficiency and being able

to respond more quickly to local needs, local trends,” she said.

Also at Thursday’s meeting, board members voted to bring the OC

Crush, a new professional ABA basketball team, to the fairgrounds,

where the team will build a temporary Air Dome structure and play 18

home games in a season that will last from November 2004 to March

2005.

* ALICIA ROBINSON covers business, politics and the environment.

She may be reached at (949) 764-4330 or by e-mail at

alicia.robinson@latimes.com.