Author: Franklin J. Lunding

For most of us, the beginning of the year brings a renewed sense of optimism and hope. When it comes to the Irvine City Council, I am cautiously optimistic that many of the contentious items from last year may be overcome.

We’ll have to watch the next few Council meetings to see if this new Council really will work together on behalf of the City’s residents to deliver on the promises they have made. Stay tuned!

Years ago, I served as Chair of Irvine’s Transportation Commission. Later, I also had the...

Tuesday, November 8th is Election Day!

Before you vote, we encourage voters to take a look at where the candidates stand on the issues.

Ballots for the November 8th election have arrived. In the proud American tradition of local newspapers, Irvine Community News & Views (ICNV) endorses and urges support for those candidates for City office who have earned our community’s trust. 

Recognizing his proven record of faithful and remarkably effective service to the people of Irvine, ICNV endorses Councilman Larry Agran for re-election to the Irvine City Council. Over the years, Agran has remained committed to Irvine’s master-planning.  He has led the way or had a hand in just about every good thing in Irvine — open space preservation, the Great Park (instead of an airport!), an amazing community park system, and our award-winning senior and childcare centers.

As ballots were being mailed out, Irvine voters began receiving a slew of political attack mailers — funded by a political committee established just days earlier with tens of thousands of dollars in “dark money.” The dark money has now been traced back to mega-developers FivePoint and the Irvine Company.

On the other hand, Anthony Kuo has a history of relying on large sums of dark money to attack his political rivals and help himself get elected. Apparently, Kuo is relying on the same political funding scheme again … this time using developer money to attack Agran. (Kuo and Agran are running against each other for re-election to the Irvine City Council.)