Chunk visits ATEP

(Listen to Park Ranger Bob on the Frank Peters Show)
After class today, I shot on over to Redhill Avenue, in Tustin, and, at Warner Ave., I entered the enormous property that once was the Tustin Marine Corps Air Station. The facility and its two famous hangers came into existence in 1942 as the Santa Ana Naval Air Station, home to blimps that patrolled the coastline for Japanese submarines. When the base was turned over to the Marines in 1951, it was named the Marine Corps Air Facility, Santa Ana.

The Marines, the Navy, and the feds no longer have any presence on the property, and they have no claim to it--unless, of course, we fail to be in full-development mode by 2009. We own this 68-acre lot, but we must "use it or lose it." Potentially, if we drop the developmental ball, the lot could revert to the Navy, which would be only too glad to acquire so valuable a piece of property.

These days, the "base" is guarded by rent-a-cops hired by the city, who write down the name and license plate of each visitor. No doubt the info is sent immediately to Karl Rove. Or Karl Karcher. (For a cool map of the entire planned development, see Tustin Legacy Master Plan.)

I said hello to the guard, who gave me directions. I swung my car over to the left and headed for my destination--ATEP, the SOCCCD's third campus. I love old, historic places, and surely this counts. I was happy to soon come across an old chapel that, I've learned, is likely to be restored to its 1942 splendor by a local veterans organization. Surrounded by abandoned apartment buildings that have seen better days--they'll be razed--the chapel still looks impressive from some angles.


I spotted an old exercise area nearby:

It's always a little sad and creepy to see abandoned places and things.

Mostly, the old Marine base property is empty space, although there are signs that much is under construction and more is coming. Eventually, the property will include an impressive park, snaking through its middle.

Provost Kopecky and his two assistants now occupy a nice office space in a building--formerly barracks--owned by the Orange County Rescue Mission. (The OCRM owns six acres adjacent to ATEP.) ATEP uses this space and, in exchange, the rescue mission uses a nearby parking lot on ATEP property.

You should go to ATEP's website. There, you'll find loads of useful information, plus some artist renderings of how the complex may look some day:

Check out the drawing on top--the guy on the sidewalk. Wait a minute! Isn't that Park Ranger Bob!?

I blew up that part of the painting to get a closer look. Here's what I got:

Why, it's KEANU REEVES! Hmmm, for years now, the Reb has been telling me that there's a picture of "Keanu" in Glenn Roquemore's office. That made no sense. And now this. I'm confused.

Anyway, I walked inside the ATEP office and met the people there, including Tere Fluegeman, ATEP's Director of Public Information & Marketing. She was kind enough to take me on a brief tour.

THE TOUR

First, we visited the site of classrooms now under construction. It looks like the foundations are about to be poured. Yesterday, the building parts--they'll be bolted onto the concrete--started arriving. So things are hoppin'.

Next, she took me to an impressive helicopter hanger, which will be an important part of the ATEP complex. The outside wall still sports Marine parking space markings, including one for a certain Sergeant Major with an apparent deformity of the hand.


Tere took me inside, where we encountered a small film crew--the ATEP grounds are often rented for filming.

Somebody told me that, recently, there was an Emeritus film crew on the grounds.

"Emeritus?"

"Yup."

"Old people, making a film?"

"Yeah. They looked pretty young though. Maybe they were wearin' disguises."

Tere explained that there were at least two owls living inside the hanger. She pointed to a spot fifty feet above my head: a nest. Then she pointed to spots on the floor: owl crap stains.

"Owls, eh? What do they eat in here? Mice? It doesn't look like there's too many mice in here! The place is squeaky clean!"

"Dunno. We leave the doors open sometimes. Maybe they fly out."

Tere told me a quick owl crap story, which was pretty good, and then we moved on.

Essentially, that was the end of my tour.

CHUNK SANS TOUR GUIDE:

Well, I’m a standing on a corner
In Winslow, Arizona
And such a fine sight to see
It’s a girl, my lord, in a flatbed Ford
Slowin’ down to take a look at me
Come on, baby, don’t say maybe
I gotta know if your sweet love is
Gonna save me (Take It Easy)

I thanked Tere and then I headed out on my own. When Tere told me that the military have zero presence at the base, I felt relieved, 'cause I was hoping to drive around taking some snaps, and I know what paranoid knuckleheads the military can be. (I recall that time I was checkin' out a missile silo in central Montana....) So off I went to take snaps.

I started to take a picture of an old building, which happened to have a truck in its parking lot. The truck suddenly roared to life and sped toward me. It stopped and then the driver demanded to know what I was doing.

"Takin' a picture."

In response, he said something, I don't know what. He seemed pissed. If he were a bird, his feathers would be all puffed out. In fact, I do believe that he did have feathers and they were in Full Fluff. Testosterone was in the air.

Finally, he said, "Are you taking a picture of me, or are you taking a picture of the building!"

"The building, dude."

He roared off. He was (I think) driving an Irvine Ranch Water District truck.

Later, I was in an entirely different part of the base, taking pictures of the blimp hangers. Suddenly, another IRWD truck swung by and slowed down to look me over. I think the driver was getting my license plate number. I motioned absurdly to my back plates as if to help him to read the numbers better. He sped off.

Ten minutes later, this happened again. I felt as though I was in a scene from Parallax View.

Then I remembered. The Irvine Ranch Water District is powerful. It spends even more money than the SOCCCD! We're talkin' hundreds of millions! I think these bastards think they own the city!

But isn't the base in Tustin? Whatever.

Full circle

Well, IVC’s Vice President of Instruction, Dennis White, is toast after all.

On Wednesday, Dennis requested 15 minutes at the start of Thursday's Academic Senate meeting. He wanted to make an announcement. Obviously, he was going to announce his toasthood.

I’m a senator, and so I went to the meeting (yesterday) as per usual. But I brought my camera. As I entered, I saw Dennis. He looked dapper, as always. He stood off to the side while the usual pre-meeting hustle and bustle murmured. The room was fuller than usual. I spotted a few administrators, including several deans.

I usually sit in front, but, this time, I decided I’d better sit off to the side to take a picture. (It won’t do to flash a camera right into a person’s face.) People kept trailing in. At one point, I counted well over 30 people.

A few minutes after 2:00, Wendy started the meeting. We went through the usual preliminaries, and then we got to “public comments.” Dennis was asked to make his remarks. He got up to speak. He faced a friendly audience.

Dennis jovially explained that this was the last day he’d be wearing a suit. He reminded us of his first day on campu nearly four years agos: he wore a pink shirt and a pretty flower, which probably sent signals that he had not intended. No matter: he decided that, for today, he’d wear that same shirt—to “come full circle.”

He offered many words of praise for his colleagues in the college community. He noted the collegiality that now characterizes governance at IVC—a huge improvement over three years ago.

He’s right about that. And, undoubtedly, Dennis can take some of the credit for it.

He spoke of our college’s great potential. It can be the best community college in the state, he said, with some passion.

He said he wanted to mention a few individuals in particular. He thanked Greg B, the Senate President when Dennis arrived, who made a real effort to help the new VPI get up to speed. He thanked Bill H, who has always given wise advice and who, he said, has become a good friend. He thanked Dotty S, the director of our Honors Program, noting how extraordinarily well he and Dotty worked together.


To my surprise, he thanked yours truly. He referred slyly to the Dissent, which, he said, administrators read, whether or not they will admit to it.

He thanked Kathy S, chair of the Curriculum Committee, for her guidance and leadership.

He seemed to offer a very special “thank you” to Wendy G, our Senate Prez, “the most special person on campus,” and a “super gal.” Those of us who have worked with Wendy in the Senate know that she has worked very hard for the good of the college and that, over the last three years, she has come to trust and rely on Dennis and to regard him as a friend.

Smiling, Dennis recalled the early months of his tenure, when he decided to issue some unusual guidelines (i.e., prohibitions) for instructors regarding discussions of the war in the classroom. The sh*t really hit the fan that time.

When reporters and TV crews were on the IVC lawn looking for people to interview, he spotted Wendy wearing her usual casual teaching duds. Off she went somewhere. An hour or so later (said Dennis), when reporters asked again if anyone had anything to say about the “discussion ban,” why, there was Wendy, in a very telegenic black outfit with white pearls. She just happened to drop by, and, yes, as a matter of fact she did have something to say about that issue!

When he arrived, said Dennis, he promised that he would try to put IVC on an “international scale.” Six weeks later, he did. We laughed.

Dennis also praise Gwen, who is like a sister to him and who became his “sounding board.” He praised the deans, the “finest anywhere.” He praised his staff, whom he called his “foundation.”

He thanked his "gal" and family.

“It’s been a fun run,” he said. It's also been by far the “most challenging” time of his career.

He thanked us again, and left.

When he referred to me, he mentioned the night, four years ago, when he was appointed by the board. He described how I had spoken to him and filled him in on all the “bad things” about the district.

Well, maybe so. Back in 2003, in Dissent, I wrote about that moment in this way:

Who is this “Dennis White” anyway?

Why, he’s our dapper new VP of Instruction. I recall first meeting Dennis, last November, outside Saddleback’s Library 104, on the night of his appointment. He seemed like a nice guy, so I apprised him of the recent history of our district.

When I finished, he paused; he thunk; he assured me that he wouldn’t do anything indecent or illegal.

I said: “I hate to break it to you, but if you’re a decent guy, you’ll be gone within a year.”

Well, I was wrong. —He lasted nearly four years.

(Dennis will remain employed by the district until the end of December. His last day on the job will be a week from today.)