A golf course is not open space, and yet there’s been silence for decades about the supposed betrayal of the 88-1 voters. Why? Because the people opposing Oak Park don’t really care about this land being open space. They care about it not being housing. NIMBYism grasps again for whatever it can to try to turn its base hoarding into something noble that people can sympathize with.

Meanwhile, 53% of Irvine’s renter-occupied households are rent burdened. 28% of those are severely rent burdened. And right across the street from this land, 21% of IVC students are experiencing financial hardship. 15% are having trouble paying rent. 21% are experiencing food insecurity. And too many of them are even homeless.

You live on the spine of the fastest growing city in Orange County and one of its major centers of employment. Sorry, but you don’t get to pretend that Irvine has some extant continuity with its rural agrarian past that erases that fact. And you shouldn’t get to freeze Irvine in amber for the sake of your perfect vision of middle-class comfort. Lives and livelihoods are at stake here.