Year: 2025

Former Irvine City Councilmember Tammy Kim has been accused of lying about being a resident of Irvine’s Council District 5 in order to run in the April 15th special election to fill that district’s Council seat. The Orange County Superior Court is now being asked to keep her name off the ballot.

On January 29th, Kim was served with a subpoena to appear in front of a judge on Monday, February 3rd at 8:30am. Ironically, it has been reported the process server found Kim at the District 3 condo that she owns but says she doesn’t live at.

Just two months after Irvine voters rejected her bid for Mayor, Tammy Kim is back on the campaign trail, running for the District 5 City Council seat vacated by Larry Agran when he was elected Mayor.

On December 23rd, when Kim took out nomination papers to run for the District 5 Council seat, she apparently used the District 5 address of an acquaintance, but never actually lived at that address. If Kim filed to run for Council without actually living in District 5, she could face charges for violating California election laws.

Larry Agran has arguably had more to do with Irvine becoming a world-class city than any other person not named Donald Bren (the longtime chairman and sole owner of The Irvine Company).

In just the past two years, Agran was able to get: construction underway for a number of new resident-requested amenities at the Great Park; the replacement of a dangerous asphalt plant with a new 700-acre nature preserve; and the downsizing of a proposed outdoor amphitheater at the Great Park from a massive Hollywood Bowl-sized venue to a more appropriate Greek Theater-sized amphitheater.

Irvine City Councilmember Melinda Liu was elected in November to be the first representative of Irvine’s new District 1. She is also the first Taiwan-born woman on the Council.

She has been an active volunteer and leader in the community, serving as president of the Irvine Chinese School Parent Teacher Organization, a board member of the Northwood High School Athletic Booster Club, and a volunteer mediator at the Orange County Superior Court.

In December 2024, William Go joined the City Council as its first member to represent Irvine’s new District 2, encompassing the part of the City northeast of the 5 Freeway — from Jeffrey Road southward to the City limits that includes the Great Park.

Go was the first in his family to graduate college, getting a BS in computer engineering and then an MBA, both from UCI. He began his career as a software engineer but moved into business and grew a real estate and hospitality portfolio that includes more than 30 properties nationwide.