A residential citrus tree in town has tested positive for a plant disease called Huanglongbing (HLB) that infects and kills all citrus tree varieties, marking the first time the disease has been confirmed within Irvine.
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The 1,300-acre Great Park has now reopened, with a wide variety of amenities and attractions for the whole family to enjoy.
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Although the COVID-19 pandemic has impacted all of our lives, this past year has been especially difficult for many of our local seniors who have been stuck at home, alone. To help provide encouragement and hope, lots of our Irvine neighbors began dropping off cheerful cards and letters for residents at senior living communities.
Irvine Community News & Views has learned about one young letter-writer who has spent the past 15 months forming a real friendship with his pen pal at Regents Point senior living community. 89-year-old Bea Baker and 11-year-old Julian Abazajian have spent more than a year corresponding.
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For the past 15 years, Irvine has been recognized as “The Safest City in America” based on FBI data for violent crimes.
However, many residents in north Irvine will tell you that they do not feel safe in their own neighborhoods.
Not because of violent crime, but because the All American Asphalt Company operates a major plant in north Irvine that generates dangerous toxic emissions and noxious odors.
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For five decades, individual members of the City Council have been able to place items of concern to citizens on City Council meeting agendas for Councilmembers and the entire Irvine community to discuss.
However, the Council has now adopted a “Rule of Two,” which requires a second member of the Council (or the Mayor) to sign-on to an item before it can be placed on the agenda.
From a political standpoint, the Rule of Two has been an effective maneuver to silence Councilman Agran. But, in doing so, tens of thousands of Irvine residents have also been silenced.
The City of Irvine has hired a large law firm in anticipation of a costly legal battle over the City’s refusal to transition to district elections.
An at-large election system allows voters from across the City to elect all members of the City Council. District elections would divide Irvine into six geographic districts, with voters in each district electing their own City Councilmember, who must also live in that district.
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On May 18th, Orange County officially moved to the least restrictive yellow tier in the State’s COVID-19 tier system.
That’s great news for our local Irvine businesses as we head into the summer months!
However, the State’s indoor mask mandate will remain in effect until June 15th. The four-week delay is intended to give businesses time to make adjustments and for more people to get vaccinated before the State fully reopens.
Last May, Mayor Farrah Khan and Councilmembers Anthony Kuo and Mike Carroll voted to rezone the ARDA site in the Great Park exclusively for a Veterans Memorial Park & Cemetery.
A year later, Khan, Kuo, and Carroll say the project isn’t moving forward because they are waiting for a $700,000 CalVet study to be completed (comparing the ARDA site to another piece of property in Irvine) before they decide which site the City will transfer to the State — ignoring the fact that it was their vote last year that changed City law, making the ARDA site the only legally available location for a Veterans Memorial Park.
The Irvine City Council will soon be discussing how the City will spend the $53 million in federal funding that has been provided to Irvine as part of the Biden Administration’s American Rescue Plan. The discussion was originally scheduled to take place at the April 27th Council meeting but has been postponed.
According to a memo, City staff is recommending that the bulk of the funding be spent on improvements to Heritage Community Park ($42 million).
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Irvine Community News & Views updates you on important issues impacting our community. We also keep Irvine City’s residents informed about local events and fun things to do in Irvine every week.
