Irvine City Council Passes Three “Green” Items
The greening of Irvine is under way and got another boost from the City Council at its July 25th...
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Author: Roger Bloom
Irvine’s Robotics Team Wins World Championship
The Irvine robotics team Flying Cheese — a pairing of Ezra Wang and Kenneth Zhang — is once again on top of the robotics world.
This year, the team repeated as a division champion in the elementary division at the 2023 VEX-IQ world robotics competition in Dallas.
To win, the pair had to design, build and code a robot to complete a set of specific tasks in 60 seconds. The course this year involved collecting plastic discs from different containers around the game board and and then disgorging the discs into a target area of the board.
Ezra and Kenneth, who both attend Turtle Rock Elementary School, spent a year developing and honing their robot, as they competed first at the county level, then state and national, and finally at the world championship.
“We ran the game thousands of times by the time we got to the world finals,” Ezra said, troubleshooting the whole way.
It’s Official: Construction of the Veterans Memorial Park & Gardens on the ARDA Site at the Great Park Has Begun!
After more than a decade of developer schemes, political battles, and ballot measures, the work of...
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City Council Passes E-Bike Ordinance
E-bike riders in Irvine will have to follow a speed limit of 28 miles per hour on streets and 20 miles per hour on bike paths.
Riders will also be required to travel with the flow of traffic on streets and sidewalks under a new ordinance approved by the City Council at its July 11th meeting.
In addition, the ordinance requires e-bikes to yield to all pedestrians and vehicles when entering a roadway from an alley or driveway; bans e-bikes from the City’s Open Space areas; and prohibits people from tinkering with their e-bikes to increase their speed capability.
The ordinance was recommended to the Council by the Irvine Police Department (IPD) and the City’s Transportation Commission, in response to the Council’s October 2022 request that an ordinance addressing e-bikes be drafted.
Irvine City Council Discusses Proposed New Noise Ordinance
Irvine may soon be a quieter place, as the City Council on June 13th asked for a review and updating of the City’s anti-noise ordinance.
Amplified music and tighter enforcement were among the concerns raised by Councilmember Kathleen Treseder in asking for the review, but much of the Council discussion centered on gas-powered leaf blowers and lawn mowers.
“When I talk to residents of Irvine, the gas-powered leaf blowers are the second-most cited nuisance” behind traffic, said Treseder. She suggested the City ban the gas-powered equipment by next year.
Other Councilmembers and public commenters all agreed that the landscaping equipment noise is a pervasive nuisance.
Councilmembers decided to bring the transition to electric landscaping equipment back for discussion at the next meeting (June 27th), separate from the noise ordinance overview.
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