In the upcoming Nov. 3 election, voters living in the neighborhoods surrounding UC Irvine, University Hills, and the Jamboree and MacArthur corridors will have the opportunity to elect their very own Disrict 6 City Council representative.
Irvine Sustainability Commissioner Scotty Hong, a public policy expert educated at Harvard and Cornell, is running for the new City Council seat. Hong has served as chief policy advisor to the Mayor’s office on several high-profile initiatives — including Irvine’s new Urban Forest Master Plan, the expansion of the City’s free, non-polluting shuttle bus service (Irvine CONNECT), and the rapid expansion of Irvine’s solar installation programs.
Hong’s opponent in the race is at-large Councilmember Kathleen Treseder, who has made the defense of the scandal-ridden Orange County Power Authority (OCPA) — Irvine’s electricity provider — her top campaign priority. Despite three failed audits and soaring monthly rates for electricity generated primarily from fossil fuels, Treseder remains the agency’s biggest cheerleader, boasting that she will always support OCPA “no matter what.”
Treseder helped to establish OCPA, which is now charging Irvine electricity customers the highest monthly rates in Orange County while relying heavily on fossil-fuel-generated electricity.
Treseder, who serves as Irvine’s paid representative on the OCPA board, has continued to mislead the City’s electricity customers by falsely claiming that OCPA charges lower monthly rates and provides more renewable energy than Southern California Edison (SCE).
It doesn’t take a climate scientist to understand that Irvine cannot meet the City’s stated climate action goals if we continue down the same failed path with OCPA.
While Kathleen Treseder continues to cling to OCPA, Scotty Hong wants to get us out of the scandal-ridden OCPA, which would immediately reduce monthly electricity rates, and lower our reliance on fossil fuels. Hong wants the City to invest in verifiable, real-world solutions to the climate crisis. That includes planting tens of thousands of trees throughout the City to reduce Irvine’s carbon footprint, manage stormwater runoff, enhance biodiversity, mitigate the urban heat-island effect, cool our neighborhoods, and improve air quality. Hong also wants to encourage residents to leave their cars at home by dramatically expanding the City’s free shuttle bus system. And he wants to make it easier (and cheaper) for Irvine households to take advantage of the City’s rooftop-solar and battery-storage programs.
- Hong vs. Treseder: Skyrocketing Electricity Bills Top Concern in City Council Election - September 27, 2026
- Endorsements: Larry Agran for Mayor & Scotty Hong for City Council - September 25, 2026
- Publisher’s Perspective: Councilmember Treseder’s Attacks on Local Democracy - August 8, 2026
