Irvine City Councilmember Melinda Liu was elected in November to be the first representative of Irvine’s new District 1. She is also the first Taiwan-born woman on the Council.

She has been a volunteer and leader in the community, serving as president of the Irvine Chinese School Parent Teacher Organization, a board member of the Northwood High School Athletic Booster Club, and a volunteer mediator at the Orange County Superior Court.

In December 2024, William Go joined the City Council as its first member to represent Irvine’s new District 2, encompassing the part of the City northeast of the 5 Freeway — from Jeffrey Road southward to the City limits that includes the Great Park.

Go was the first in his family to graduate college, getting a BS in computer engineering and then an MBA, both from UCI. He began his career as a software engineer but moved into business and grew a real estate and hospitality portfolio that includes more than 30 properties nationwide.

Turning the page on 2024, we can finally put the seemingly endless elections in the rearview mirror and have a year ahead without overblown rhetoric, overstuffed mailboxes and garish signs everywhere, right? Well … not quite.

In accordance with Measure D — the City Charter Amendment, adopted by Irvine voters last March to expand the City Council and transition to district elections — special election ballots to fill the vacancy in District 5 will be sent only to registered voters in the district.

Larry Agran has arguably had more to do with Irvine becoming a world-class city than any other person not named Donald Bren (the longtime chairman and sole owner of The Irvine Company).

In just the past two years, Agran was able to get: construction underway for a number of new resident-requested amenities at the Great Park; the replacement of a dangerous asphalt plant with a new 700-acre nature preserve; and the downsizing of a proposed outdoor amphitheater at the Great Park from a massive Hollywood Bowl-sized venue to a more appropriate Greek Theater-sized amphitheater.

On December 10th, James Mai joined the Irvine City Council as the first member elected from the new Council District 3, which straddles the 5 Freeway along the City’s northwest border from Northwood down to Westpark.

Mai sat down with Irvine Community News & Views in his new Council office at City Hall to talk about his hopes for his Council term and first impressions of his new job.

Tensions between the City of Irvine and the Orange County Power Authority (OCPA) boiled over this week, as the new City Council unanimously approved a measure threatening to withdraw from the agency.

Irvine Councilman James Mai made a motion to have the City draft a notice of intent to withdraw from the OCPA, but not send it until next year. His motion also included moving all of the City’s ratepayers into OCPA’s least expensive tier.

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