Author: ICNV Staff

In the Nov. 3 election, residents living in the neighborhoods surrounding UCI, University Hills, and the Jamboree and MacArthur corridors will elect their very first City Council representative.

Hong, a 34-year-old public policy expert educated at Harvard and Cornell, has already drawn scores of UCI students to his campaign. In fact, they’ve established a “Students for Scotty” group on campus.

The financial services company WalletHub has released its 2026 list of Best Places to Raise a Family, and Irvine is ranked third best in America.

Irvine’s abundance of family-friendly activities, world-class medical facilities, quality education and child care programs, high-paying jobs, outstanding parks and trails, and thriving community programs were among the many factors contributing to the City’s third-place ranking.

Since taking office in December 2024, Mayor Larry Agran has worked to make Irvine safer, smarter, greener, healthier, and kinder.

But for Mayor Agran, building a strong community also means bringing people together to tackle challenges that reach beyond city boundaries. Food insecurity is one of them. After being sworn in as Irvine’s Mayor, Agran joined the National Mayors Alliance to End Childhood Hunger. Throughout the year, he heads into the fields at Harvest Solutions Farm, where he joins hundreds of local volunteers in harvesting tens of thousands of pounds of fresh produce.

The Irvine City Council has approved a five-year agreement with Innovation Baseball Partners (IBP) to bring a professional baseball team to the Great Park Championship Baseball Stadium beginning next summer.

Community organizations and local teams, including the OC Riptide summer collegiate baseball team, will continue to have access to the stadium.

The City of Irvine has once again been recognized as the “Best City to Live In” by readers of The Orange County Register, earning the honor for an impressive 11th consecutive year.

Over just the past year, Irvine was named the ‘Safest Big City in America’ for the 21st consecutive year and was ranked as having California’s No. 1 park system. The City also began building a 700-acre nature preserve, announced that a new professional baseball franchise would come to the Great Park next summer, and began construction on restaurants, museums, botanical gardens, and Veterans Memorial Park at the Great Park.