Three years ago, the Orange County Power Authority (OCPA) was established with the promise that Irvine electricity ratepayers would receive greener energy at lower rates, and that the agency would provide the public with full transparency.

Through its own audit, the County of Orange found the same problems, resulting in its decision to pull out of OCPA. Why won’t Irvine protect the City’s taxpayers and ratepayers?

There is an ongoing FBI investigation into public corruption at Irvine City Hall involving disgraced political consultant Melahat Rafiei.

It should be obvious to everyone that it would be a conflict of interest to have the City investigate itself … with the Council directing and overseeing the investigation. A friend who teaches legal ethics and is an expert witness in these matters told me that any internal investigation by the City that was controlled by the Council would itself be unethical, lack credibility, and viewed as highly questionable.

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.)

As the founding publisher of Irvine Community News & Views, I have been privileged for 8 years to write my “Publisher’s Perspective” column — weighing-in on Irvine civic affairs.  With election season now upon us, I want to provide our readers with my initial review of the candidates and issues at the forefront of our City’s November 8th election.   

Councilman Anthony Kuo and Councilman Larry Agran both have years of local governing experience. Of course, both are now Councilmembers on the same City Council, sitting at the same dais. In fact, they are seated next to each other. But the commonalities stop right there. On the central issues of this campaign, Agran and Kuo couldn’t be more different. 

In 2020, Farrah Khan won Irvine’s Mayoral race with just 47% of support from Irvine voters. Now, she’s running for re-election in November, hoping that her four opponents will split the vote, allowing her to win again.

During the 2020 election, Khan falsely told Irvine voters that she had already created and implemented a Climate Action Plan. It’s been nearly two years since Khan made that false claim and Irvine still doesn’t have a Climate Action Plan.
So, who are Khan’s challengers and where do they stand on these issues?

Just days before ballots were mailed out, Irvine voters received political hit pieces in their mailboxes — funded by a Political Action Committee (PAC) established last week with tens of thousands of dollars in difficult-to-trace “dark money.” The PAC was created explicitly to attack Councilman Larry Agran.

Mayor Khan and her hand-picked Vice Mayor, Anthony Kuo (who is running for re-election against Agran) appear to be teaming up to spread lies about Agran’s record and his positions on the key issues in the November 8th election.