philanthropists in the late 1960s and 1970s. In 1979 the Segerstrom family donated a five-acre site for a facility designed to house the Philharmonic Society of Orange County and the Pacific Symphony Orchestra. In 1998 the Segerstrom family donated a second parcel in Costa Mesa for a concert hall, multi-use theater, and education center. Meanwhile, the University of California, Irvine, provided land for the Irvine Barclay Theatre, which was constructed and is operated via a partnership between the City of Irvine and the University of California. SEE FIGURE 70
JUNE 1988 Voters Approve the Irvine Open Space Agreement
In June 1988, Irvine residents voted to approve the Irvine Open Space Agreement, dramatically reshaping the community landscape. The City of Irvine and the Irvine Company, a major property developer, crafted the agreement over years of negotiations. To obtain rights to develop commercial and other projects in dense urban areas, the company gave the City thousands of acres of open land to use as trails, parks, and nature reserves. The initial agreement included 5,000 acres of open land to be transferred in phases. Environmental advocates praised the efforts to permanently protect natural areas like Lomas Ridge and Quail Hill. The Irvine City Council endorsed the transfer, but due to the scope of the agreement, it asked for voter approval. The successful June ballot initiative was a landmark policy for its time. The agreement guaranteed that residents of Irvine would have vast tracts of open, publicly accessible land for their enjoyment and the enjoyment of future generations. SEE FIGURE 71
Figure 70. Segerstrom Concert Hall embodied the arrival of a more cosmopolitan mode of life for Orange County. Image courtesy of National Philanthropy Day Orange County, Flickr.
APRIL 1986 Chernobyl Nuclear Disaster
One of the worst nuclear disasters in world history began on April 26, 1986, with the explosion of a reactor at the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant in northern Ukraine (then part of the Soviet Union). Reactor 4 failed during a routine test. The resulting explosion released hazardous levels of radiation that required the evacuation of the nearby city of Pripyat. Two individuals died in the initial explosion, and another twenty-eight died from acute radiation poisoning in the weeks following. The incident displaced more than a quarter million people in the region. Chernobyl occurred just seven years after the Three Mile Island nuclear reactor accident near Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. Growing public distrust stifled plans to expand nuclear power development. Lessons learned from these and other disasters led to increased personnel training, advances in technology, and rigorous safety protocols. When a tsunami damaged the three core reactors at Fukushima, Japan in 2011, no deaths were directly attributed to the nuclear plant disaster, despite the severity of the incident.
SEPTEMBER 1986 Orange County Performing Arts Center Opens
The cosmopolitan nature of Orange County since World War II is illustrated by the opening of the privately supported Orange County Performing Arts Center in 1986 and the publicly supported Irvine Barclay Theatre in 1990. The decision to build world-class performing arts venues in the county was made by community leaders and
Figure 71. 2018, the City of Irvine celebrated the thirtieth anniversary of the Irvine Open Space with public events, including a 1.8 mile hike. Image courtesy of City of Irvine, Flickr.
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