Irvine, CA -- On April 25, the Irvine City Council, acting as the Great Park Board of Directors, adopted the motion of Great Park Vice Chair and Irvine Councilmember Melissa Fox to approve construction of a new Wild Rivers Water Park on 30 acres at the Great Park in Irvine.

The old Wild Rivers Water Park closed in 2011 after 25 years in Irvine. 

"We have missed having a water park in Irvine," Coucilmember Fox said. 

"Wild Rivers has been an icon in the city of Irvine," Fox added.

"I was a kid sliding down the water slides at the old Wild Rivers, and I was a young mom taking my son there on hot summer days. We know that Wild Rivers provides fun and safe water parks, and they've always had a great relationship with the residents and the City of Irvine. We look forward to having them back in Irvine very soon."

The city plans to lease its Great Park land to Wild Rivers, which would build and run the water park. Wild Rivers is proposing a 30-acre water park with waterslides, an uphill water coaster, water play structures for children, a wave pool, a lazy river and Wild Rivers' popular Congo River Rapids.

Irvine, CA -- On Saturday, April 22, Councilmember  Melissa Fox spoke to  more than 1,200 members of the Junior State of America at their convention at the Irvine Mariott.

Junior State of America is a non-partisan youth organization whose purpose  is to help high school students acquire leadership skills and the knowledge necessary to be effective debaters and civic participants. Since its inception in 1934, ore than 500,000 student members have participated in the JSA.

Fox gave a brief summary of her personal journey to public service, beginning with her participation in fighting for women's reproductive freedom while in college and her participation in a student-run legal clinic while in law school.

"The last presidential election," Fox stated, "showed that there is a strong belief that too many people, especially young people, have been left out of the political process. Your generation now has the responsibility to increase its engagement in politics and make the world a better place."

In response to a question about the influence of new media on the political process, Fox stated that "it's great that there are now so many ways that people can connect and share information. But it also means that people have to use their critical thinking in sorting out what's true and what's false. Education and critical thinking are more important than ever."

Irvine, CA -- On April 17, Irvine City Councilmember Melissa Fox was elected Vice Chair of the Irvine Community Land Trust.

The Irvine Community Land Trust (ICLT) is an independent nonprofit organization created to oversee affordable housing and preserve it for future generations.

Under the ICLT Homeownership model, the ICLT owns the underlying land and sells the houses to individual homeowners at affordable prices. ICLT also leases land to affordable rental housing developers and restricts the rents they charge through a ground lease. Currently the ICLT is leasing many units for affordable rental housing and is working with its current partners to develop many rental units.

The vision of the Irvine Community Land Trust is that by the year 2025, the ICLT will have created approximately 5,000 units of permanently affordable housing in the City of Irvine, contributing more than 50 percent of the City's 2025 goal of 9,700 affordable units. In addition, the ICLT will conduct a monitoring program and provide stewardship for these units, insuring high-quality construction, design, sustainability, maintenance and permanent affordability. 

"I am honored by my colleagues confidence in me," Fox said, following her election as Vice Chair by the ICLT Board of Directors. "From this position, I intend to work hard to increase the availability of high-quality affordable housing in Irvine."

When my husband was a child, his father, a World War II U.S. Navy veteran, told him the story of the Four Chaplains of the USAT Dorchester as an example of American heroism and American values.

It is a story worth sharing again for this Memorial Day:

On the night of February 3, 1943, United States Army Transport ship Dorchester was en route from Newfoundland to England via Greenland, when it was hit by torpedoes from a German submarine.

The Dorchester listed sharply to starboard, then began to sink almost immediately into the icy water. The torpedoes knocked out the Dorchester's electrical system, leaving the ship dark. The ship was overcrowded and there were insufficient lifeboats or lifejackets for the 904 men on board.

As the Dorchester sank, the ship's four chaplains aided the wounded, sought to calm the men and organize an orderly evacuation of the ship, helped get the men into lifeboats and then gave up their own lifejackets when the supply ran out. They helped as many men as they could into lifeboats, then linked arms in prayer as the ocean water overcame the deck and the ship sank.

A survivor later explained:

"As I swam away from the ship, I looked back. The flares had lighted everything. The bow came up high and she slid under. The last thing I saw, the four chaplains were up there praying for the safety of the men. They had done everything they could. I did not see them again. They themselves did not have a chance without their life jackets."

As the ship went down, survivors in nearby lifeboats could see the four chaplains - their arms linked and braced against the slanting deck. Their voices could also be heard offering prayers.

Survivors said could hear different languages mixed in the prayers of the chaplains, including Jewish prayers in Hebrew and Catholic prayers in Latin.

Twenty-seven minutes after the torpedoes hit, the Dorchester was gone.

The four chaplains were:

Lt. George L. Fox, age 42, Methodist.

Lt. Alexander D. Goode, age 32, Jewish.

Lt. Clark V. Poling, age 32, Reformed Church in America.

Lt. John P. Washington, age 34, Roman Catholic.

For the Four Chaplains sacrifice, on December 19, 1944 they were posthumously awarded the Purple Heart and the Distinguished Service Cross. Later, due to the under-fire requirement to receive the Medal of Honor, Congress decided to authorize a special medal that carried the same weight. It was called the Chaplain's Medal for Heroism. These four men are the only chaplains ever to receive this award.

On this Memorial Day, I will be thinking about the four chaplains, arms linked and praying together on the deck of the USAT Dorchester in 1943.

And I will be thinking, with gratitude, of all of the men and women of our Armed Forces who have made the ultimate sacrifice for the rights and freedoms that we hold to be essential, including the right to be free from discrimination based on one's race, faith, gender or sexual orientation.

According to the Four Chaplains Memorial Foundation, the lesson of the sacrifice made by the four chaplains is "unity without uniformity" and "selfless service to humanity without regard to race, creed, ethnicity, or religious beliefs."

The Reverend Daniel Poling, father of Chaplain Clark V. Poling, said that the lesson of the Four Chaplains is that "as men can die heroically as brothers so should they live together in mutual faith and goodwill."

My father-in-law said it more simply: "We are all Americans."

Irvine, CA -- Irvine City Councilmember Melissa Fox joined with Irvine Mayor Donald Wagner and Community Services Commissioner Lauren Johnson Norris at the Merage Jewish Community Center in Irvine to present a proclamation declaring the week of April 23-30 to be  "Days of Remembrance" of the Holocaust.

Councilmember Fox was the author of the proclamation, which was on behalf of the Mayor and the entire Irvine City Council.

On April 14, 2017, the Council unanimously voted in favor of Councilmember Melissa Fox's motion for an official proclamation recognizing April 23-30, 2017, as "Days of Remembrance" in memory of the victims of the Holocaust, and in honor of the survivors, rescuers and liberators, and urging all to "remain vigilant against hatred, persecution, and tyranny."

"I want to thank the Mayor and my City Council colleagues for their unanimous support for this proclamation," Councilmember Fox stated. "The memory of the Holocaust should serve as a reminder throughout the ages of the need to treat all people with respect and dignity, and to ensure that hatred, bigotry, and tyranny have no place in America or any civilized community."

You can read the full text of the proclamation here .

The City of Irvine's Summer Internship Program will bring volunteer students together to work with City Councilmembers. Intern duties will include carrying out research and analysis projects on a wide range of topics. 

This program gives candidates the opportunity to observe the efforts of a city government to resolve some of its most pressing issues. Interns will be exposed to important issues, improvement initiatives and new approaches and directions. Interns may attend administrative and community committees, City Council and management policy meetings. 

More information regarding the program will be announced in May 2017 on the City of Irvine's Career Opportunities webpage  here.