Month: September 2022

When Mayor Farrah Khan, her appointed Vice Mayor Anthony Kuo and Councilman Mike Carroll established the Orange County Power Authority (OCPA) using millions of Irvine taxpayer dollars, they promised residents that we would be receiving greener energy at a lower monthly rate than what is provided by Southern California Edison (SCE).

We now know those were all flat-out lies. In fact, the City’s own electricity use was transferred over to OCPA this past April, and the City is now spending $100,000 per month more for electricity — paid for with Irvine taxpayer dollars!

On Tuesday (September 27th), Mayor Khan and Vice Mayor Kuo are set to push through several huge development projects at the Great Park. Khan and Kuo want the Council to approve these projects, which will cost Irvine taxpayers hundreds of millions of dollars, even though there has been zero input from the City’s Planning Commission, Transportation Commission, or Finance Commission.

Khan and Kuo’s so-called Framework Plan for the Great Park includes hundreds of millions of dollars in new projects: a 15,000-seat outdoor amphitheater run by Live Nation; a water polo facility; and a huge botanical garden that will replace the voter-approved Veterans Memorial Park. (The City has been warned of a potential lawsuit for willfully ignoring Irvine voters — and Irvine’s own City law — by refusing to build the Veterans Memorial Park.)

When the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) probe of corruption in Anaheim burst into the news in May, the term “Anaheim Cabal” — a secretive, backroom group of business and government leaders — entered the political lexicon.

A timeline outlines what has been uncovered by Irvine Community News & Views and other news organizations. The timeline includes gaps and raises more questions than it answers, but an array of facts show that something has been going on in Irvine for years that requires further investigation.

In June, the City of Irvine initiated an audit of the scandal-ridden Orange County Power Authority (OCPA).

We also know that the FBI is currently investigating the OCPA.