Author: Roger Bloom

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.

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.

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.