RIGONOMICS:

There are times when you read or hear something that just doesn’t sound right. Something about some fact or figure just seems out of whack. They just don’t seem to add up, but there it is for all to read in a credible major newspaper.

I had one of those moments last week when I read an article about the major job creation that was happening at the Great Park in Irvine. The story went on to say that 6,317 new jobs would be created in the Great Park this year.

That’s right, 6,317 jobs this year — 2009.

Total benefit to the economy? How about $23.9 billion over the next 12 years? Now, I do not know about you, but I have not seen a lot of construction around the Great Park, at least none that included 6,317 jobs.

It only took a little research to see that a major newspaper was hoodwinked by the Master of Great Park spin. None other than Irvine Councilman Larry Agran, chairman of the Great Park Corporation.

This is the same Larry Agran who just a couple months ago at a public presentation of the completion of the comprehensive park plan said it was worth the three years and $50 million spent to design the Great Park.

In fact, it actually cost more than $100 million to get to this plan, but Larry is never one to let facts get in the way of a good spin.

He is correct that the actual firms that came up with the design were paid $50 million.

It just so happens the Great Park Corporation also burned through another $50 million during that same planning process. But of course this money was not spent on design.

It was spent on public relations, public education, outreach and such. You have to understand that it takes a lot of public relations to design a park and public relations firms cost a lot of money.

So let’s look at the many ways that Agran and Co. misled the public about this massive $1.6-billion park development.

First off, they call everything the Great Park. Not just the 1,347 acres that someday may be a park, but also the 2,350 acres on which Lennar is developing 9,000-plus homes, condos and apartments, and millions of square feet of commercial, office and retail development — all of which are also called the Great Park.

Ken Smith’s company that won the $50-million master design contract for the Great Park is now called none other than Great Park Design Studio.

By calling everything the Great Park you are able to intertwine different aspects of the project without letting the public know which part you are talking about.

So when grand manipulator Agran talks about the billions of dollars in projects and the thousands of jobs the Great Park will provide, he can confuse everyone about what he is talking about.

Now, do not get me wrong, some people would say that Larry Agran is lying, or at a minimum he has a hard time speaking the truth. The fact is he never lies. He doesn’t have to. To get to his thousands of jobs and billions of dollars he uses confusing and misleading terms like “Great Park-related infrastructure” or “Great Park-associated development.”

He wants you to believe the Great Park is the economic stimulus when it is really the 9,000 homes that will be built (not any time soon). This is like the rooster taking credit for the sun coming up.

Let’s look at the community column Agran wrote for the Daily Pilot last week. In this piece he argues that federal stimulus dollars (a.k.a your tax dollars) should be spent on the Great Park. To back up his claim he trots out a study — a study that was paid for by none other than the Great Park Corporation.

Good manipulators always have a good study to confirm what they want to say. When you dig into the 115-page study it becomes very clear that the actual park is a very small park of the economic activity in the area. In fact, the study says that only 313 of the 6,317 jobs Agran takes credit for are from the actual park, and those are the design and public relations jobs I discussed earlier.

I guess I could sum it up with the disclaimer on the last page of the study. “No warranty or representation is made… that any of the projected values or results contained in this study will actually be achieved.” When you hear something that just doesn’t sound right, go with your gut — especially when the numbers just don’t add up.

JIM RIGHEIMER is a Costa Mesa planning commissioner, a local developer and a GOP activist.