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Source of Pride, Source of Rage » FROM PAGE 11
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Feb mo n ruary th x x–x 17-2 x ,320 , 2017 14
JOHN GILHOOLEY
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| ocweekly.com |
SONNE: KEEPING TABS ON CITY HALL
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FEBRUARY 17TH
AT THE VILLAGE AT ORANGE.
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demolition and renewed site preparation.” Last year, the City Council approved plans to build the Aloft and Stanford hotels to join the Source Hilton Hotel on Beach, but without bed-tax giveaways that have been standard incentives in rival Anaheim. Stanford, a boutique chain owned by the same Seoul-based company behind the H-Mart farther north on Beach, is the latest Korean business to arrive in Buena Park. Koreans comprise around 10,000 of Buena Park’s residents, large enough to host an annual Arirang multicultural festival at City Hall, with parking provided by the Source’s 1,700-stall lot. “I look at the Source as a signature development that will be a hub of the Korean-American community of North OC,” says Buena Park resident and prominent community member Dr. Jinha Park. “Korean-Americans are very business-orientated, and a development like the Source will enhance the quality of life for all the citizens of Buena Park.” It’s a view shared by Lopez. When asked if an OC Koreatown is forming in the city, he responds, “I don’t know that the Koreans are looking to separate themselves. I think they want to be a part of the fabric of Buena Park.” “As a result of the Source going up, you see Porto’s, the Butterfly Palladium, the Aloft and Stanford hotel coming,” says Wanamaker. “It’s a ripple effect for development.” And it’s a concept that’s looking to expand in future years. “What you’ll probably end up seeing down the road, if it’s extremely successful, as we think it’s going
to be,” Lopez says, “is the Source expanding all the way to Stanton Avenue and north all the way to where City Hall is.” The only problem is the dozens of homes in the way.
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outh of Knott’s, half a dozen Buena Park residents gather in Susan Sonne’s living room to discuss how to hold City Hall accountable. “We all found each other during the [2016 general] election,” Sonne says. The progressive challenged Fred Smith on the November ballot, finishing a distant second in the 3rd District, which lies just outside the Source. On whether big money influenced the outcome, she remarks, “I raised $7,000, and Smith raised over $60,000, so you tell me.” Before deciding on a late run for council, the Source came up in casual conversations Sonne had with neighbors. She joined Nextdoor Buena Park, an online communuty on which people posted comments asking when the center would open and chiding it for being “really ugly.” The activist started attending council meetings. “I remember being at a meeting when Vaughn said, ‘I want to light up Beach Boulevard from the 5 freeway to Crescent Avenue,’” Sonne says. “The image I got in my mind was of a little Las Vegas, although I think it’s more correct to say a little Anaheim.” Sonne’s new group, Buena Park United, didn’t form specifically in response to the Source, but it’s hard to ignore the big player in town. While members come from all districts in Buena Park, none yet is from the Melrose-Brenner neighborhood next to the Source that the city and M+D want gone. The developer planned to buy out all homes around its project before starting construction, but it was only suc-
BRENNER HOMES VS. HILTON HOTEL
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JOHN GILHOOLEY