Planning for the future

Deirdre Newman

If the producers of “The O.C.” ever want to get to know the diverse

ethnic flavor of Orange County, they should take a tour with Victor

Becerra, the executive director of UC Irvine’s Community Outreach

Partnership Center.

They would discover a melange of residents from Vietnamese in

Little Saigon in Westminster to Latinos in the Westside of Costa

Mesa.

On Friday, Becerra led graduate students in UC Irvine’s planning,

policy and design department on a bus tour to three cities with

burgeoning ethnic communities. The tour allowed the students to get a

firsthand introduction to the demographic changes taking place in

Orange County.

The goal is to inspire them to participate in community problem

solving while they are at UCI, using the expertise they learn from

their classes. And it was a heady first day of school for the

approximate 50 students who took the tour.

“It’s wonderful,” said Anne Wessells, 30, who is working on a

doctorate in social ecology. “One of the best aspects of doing

graduate work at UCI and in Orange County is that Orange County is so

representative of demographic shifts in the state. If we’re able to

get out in the community, it will make us more adept and effective

planners.”

The students started the day in Santa Ana, where they visited the

Delhi Center, a community center that has been providing social and

health services for the neighborhood since 1969. After a 10-year

campaign to build a new structure, the center was finally able to

move from the Quonset huts it started in to an $8-million,

26,000-square-foot building last year.

The center, which mainly serves Mexican Americans, is fondly

referred to as the “field of dreams” by many residents, Becerra said.

In Westminster, the students toured Little Saigon with City

Council member Andy Quach and learned how the Vietnamese community

has parlayed its entrepreneurial spirit into a growing economic and

political power.

And after lunch, the last stop on the tour was in Costa Mesa,

where they heard about the struggles facing the Westside, including

redevelopment.

Community leaders Bill Turpit, a member of the Costa Mesa

Redevelopment Advisory Committee; Eleanor Egan, a former planning

commissioner; and Alma Marquez, organizer of the Orange County

Congregational Community Organization, shared their experiences of

working collaboratively within the community.

Marquez discussed working with code enforcement to crack down on

substandard housing, which resulted in the department boosting its

officers from four to nine, with some exclusively devoted to the

Westside. Egan touted community efforts that got litter containers

placed on West 19th Street, utilities placed underground and odors

reduced in the industrial area.

Turpit said involving UCI students in the community is important

because they infuse the process with energy.

“These students represent a tremendous resource and bring with

them enthusiasm and creative ideas that we should be taking advantage

of in as many community projects as we can,” Turpit said.