City Begins 10th-Anniversary Celebration

Aliso Viejo residents, business owners and city officials were invited to attend one of the celebrations for the city’s 10th Anniversary—an evening with Mayor Carmen Cave.

The event, which was held at the Aliso Viejo Conference Center on Thursday, drew a crowd of residents and city officials, such as former Mayor Phillip Tsunoda, council members and police officials.

“I cannot believe I’m here 10 years later,” Cave said, thanking the guests and both current and retired city officials.

Entering its 10th year of incorporation this July, Aliso Viejo is home to more than 46,000 residents, multiple business and residential districts—as well as residential amenities, such as 23 parks, an aquatic center, Soka University and wilderness areas.

The city had a rough start, including being under the flight path for the proposed airport at the site of El Toro Marine Corps Air Station.

“We looked at what our options were.  We held community meetings.  We did community-visioning sessions, and we came up with goals,” Cave said.  “It was gratifying to work with people who would come together to work for ideas and then come down to an answer, and the answer was to form our own city.”

Other announcements included a scholarship set up by the Aliso Viejo Community Foundation. The scholarship is intended for high school seniors who live in the city. The foundation will award 10 seniors $1,000, an amount the city wants to increase every year, according to the foundation’s president, Bob Bunyan.