Author: Roger Bloom

Councilman Larry Agran requested an emergency Council meeting to discuss a proposal for the City of Irvine to give OCPA a notice of withdrawal from the agency, effective July 1, 2023, with the caveat that the withdrawal will be rescinded if OCPA takes concrete steps to address the problems identified by an Orange County Grand Jury report and County of Orange audit.

However, Mayor Farrah Khan, Vice Mayor Tammy Kim and newly elected Councilmember Kathleen Treseder voted to remain in OCPA.

The City of Irvine is hosting a pajama party drive-in movie event on Saturday, December 10th at 5:30pm.

Space is limited so registration is required!

A new voice has come to the Irvine City Council, with UCI Professor and environmental activist Kathleen Treseder having been sworn-in during the December 13th post-election organizational meeting. 

The newest member of the City Council recently sat down with Irvine Community News & Views to preview some of the issues and actions she is preparing to tackle in her new role.

On November 7th, a vote to remove Brian Probolsky as CEO of the troubled Orange County Power Authority (OCPA) failed in a closed session of the agency’s board, according to sources at the OCPA and Irvine City Hall.

If OCPA collapses, Irvine taxpayers and electricity ratepayers could be on the hook for tens of millions of dollars in loans, loan guarantees, and other liabilities that OCPA has incurred. In fact, ratepayers in all of the OCPA member cities could be responsible for the more than half-a-billion dollars in energy purchase agreements that OCPA has signed.

In matters of public policy, Irvine Mayor Farrah Khan and her City Council majority — Anthony Kuo, Tammy Kim and Mike Carroll — have a pattern of ignoring or shutting out public input, staff recommendations, and established procedures.

The OC Power Authority (OCPA) was established by Mayor Khan and Councilmembers Carroll and Kuo in 2019 with little review — even though they were committing millions of Irvine taxpayer dollars. OCPA is now the subject of three audits (City of Irvine, County of Orange, California State Auditor) and there is an ongoing FBI investigation.