Author: Franklin J. Lunding

Irvine’s largest industrial polluter — the All American Asphalt plant — was shut down. Construction began for our long-promised Veterans Memorial Park. And, the City Council placed a measure on the March 5th ballot that, if approved by Irvine voters, will expand the Council from its current five members to seven members and transition Irvine to the more democratic system of “District Elections” so that every part of town will have a representative on the City Council.

Over the past eight years, our community newspaper has become a trusted source of information for residents across the City.

Thousands of Irvine residents read our twice-weekly email messages and nearly 60,000 follow us on Facebook.

Our goal for 2024 is to continue to inform our readers regarding policies coming out of City Hall while also spotlighting events and human interest stories from within our wonderful Irvine community.

OCPA promised to deliver greener electricity at lower monthly rates, and to be fully transparent with the public. But, even before OCPA had officially launched, the agency had broken all three promises.

From day one, Irvine electricity customers have been charged higher monthly rates than we paid to Southern California Edison (SCE).

And, the agency refuses to release all records that show OCPA’s purchase of system power (dirty brown power); and OCPA’s resale of wind and solar power — demonstrating actual delivery of advertised renewables to OCPA ratepayers.

Promising to do a positive thing and then doing the exact opposite is called “bait-and-switch.”

One of the most important jobs of the Mayor is to make sure that the Council chamber is a safe space for varying points of view to be heard. We need a Mayor who encourages constructive dialogue, is able to accept feedback and criticism, and is not afraid to hear diverse perspectives. That’s how consensus is reached … through civil discourse.