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Author: Roger Bloom

Tammy Kim Exits Council Race

On Friday, Tammy Kim withdrew her name as a candidate in the special City Council election in District 5, in the face of a lawsuit and an Orange County District Attorney investigation over allegations she lied about her residency in that district.

Kim announced her withdrawal the day after a hearing in Orange County Superior Court on a lawsuit brought by Ron Scolesdang, a District 5 resident who, like Kim, ran unsuccessfully for Mayor in last year’s election.

Scolesdang petitioned the court to keep Kim’s name off the ballot, alleging she is not really a resident of District 5. The judge was set to rule on Friday, the last day before ballots were sent to the printer and could no longer be changed.

Shortly after Kim’s announcement, the court granted Scolesdang’s petition, removing Kim’s name from the ballot.

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Irvine City Council Unanimously Approves Measure to Withdraw from OCPA

Tensions between the City of Irvine and the Orange County Power Authority (OCPA) boiled over this week, as the new City Council unanimously approved a measure threatening to withdraw from the agency.

The Council’s action on December 12th came in response to the OCPA’s surprise request two weeks earlier that the City agree to move its 115,000 ratepayers from the agency’s top tier of 100% renewable energy to a middle tier of 55% renewable energy, so that OCPA could scale back expensive renewable purchases. Otherwise, the agency said Irvine customers would be hit with a rate increase of 49% on January 1, 2025.

Irvine Councilman James Mai made a motion to have the City draft a notice of intent to withdraw from the OCPA, but not send it until next year. His motion also included moving all of the City’s ratepayers into OCPA’s least expensive tier.

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Tammy Kim Accused of Lying About Her Irvine Residency

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.

Kim registered to vote at an address in District 5 in May 2024. In December, she obtained paperwork from the City Clerk to run for Council in District 5, using the address at which she had registered to vote in May.

After a private investigator surveilled the District 5 residence in early January and learned that Kim did not in fact live there, Kim obtained a second set of candidacy papers from the City Clerk on January 13th, using a different address in District 5.

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.

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Interview with Irvine’s New Mayor: Larry Agran

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).

Agran’s career has been marked by many notable achievements, any one of which would be a career highlight for most Councilmembers in other cities: passing the nation’s first ordinance to ban CFCs, which became a model for local and national governments worldwide; preserving more than 10,000 acres of open space; and defeating a massive international airport that would have devastated Irvine with noise and air pollution.

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.

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Meet District 1 Councilmember: Melinda Liu

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.

Liu is a longtime resident of Northwood, where she raised three children while caring for her aging parents and building a law practice. As an attorney, she has particular experience in immigration law, representing small businesses, and estate planning.

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.

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