Category: Publisher’s Perspective

Although City Council elections here in Irvine are nonpartisan by law, Mayor Farrah Khan runs her campaigns as a partisan Democrat.

Khan also appointed a notorious Armenian Genocide denier to her Mayor’s Advisory Council. And, she was caught on video telling members of the Turkish community that she stood with them “no matter what,” and then went on to participate in a joke about making Armenians “disappear.”

Last December, Mayor Farrah Khan appointed Anthony Kuo to be her Vice Mayor. That appointment signaled the beginning of the 2022 City election campaign — with Khan and Kuo now running together for re-election to the Irvine City Council.

Khan’s new political partnership with Kuo may look good on social media but it can’t mask the fact that they stand together — against the people — on a number of key issues of concern to Irvine voters.

The City of Irvine has advanced $7.7 million to OCPA with no oversight as to how, and how wisely, those taxpayer dollars are being spent.

As publisher of Irvine Community News & Views, from time to time I feel the need to weigh-in personally on important community matters.

Khan then appointed Kirlikovali to her newly-formed Mayor’s Advisory Council and has been seen at a number of events with Kirlikovali by her side.

In addition to dealing with the latest surge in COVID cases, there are three important issues that the Irvine City Council should address in the first 100 days of 2022: All American Asphalt Plant, the Veterans Memorial Park, and the Orange County Power Authority.

On December 28th, Irvine will commemorate its 50th anniversary! To mark the occasion, I sat down with two of our City’s longtime leaders — Mary Ann Gaido, former Councilmember and current Planning Commissioner and Larry Agran, former Mayor and current Councilmember to discuss highlights from the past five decades.

Both Gaido and Agran were integral in crafting and implementing policies that have made Irvine one of the greenest cities in the nation.

On Veterans Day, we heard speeches from Irvine’s Mayor and her Council majority, professing to support our veterans and all who have served our nation.

Just two weeks earlier, these four Councilmembers embraced the latest scheme hatched by billion-dollar-developer FivePoint to abandon plans for the Veterans Cemetery at the Great Park ARDA site.

Later this year, Irvine will celebrate its 50th anniversary. Historically, voters and City leaders in Irvine have shared a mutual respect for one another. Voters have trusted that the people they send to City Hall to represent them will do just that … represent the will of the people. And, previous City leaders have respected the voters enough to implement the will of the people.

However, respect for voters and respect for our local democracy seems to be disappearing in Irvine. For example, the Mayor’s undemocratic “Rule of Two” — requiring two Councilmembers to put matters on the Council agenda — has resulted in the Council refusing to even talk to the voters about critical issues that directly impact thousands of Irvine residents.

Three months ago, at the March 23rd Council meeting, Mayor Khan said that honoring veterans with a Veterans Cemetery was a “top priority” for the Council, stating: “We are in a unique position as a City to actually get this done. I see it happening in May or June….We are all committed to making this happen!”

Khan, Kim, Kuo and Carroll have now unilaterally decided — contrary to the expressed will of the people — that Irvine no longer wants a Veterans Memorial Park. (Councilmembers Kim and Carroll even attended a July 1st press conference in support of the newly proposed “Gypsum Canyon” site which is located just past the 241 toll road and the 91 freeway connector.) This latest freeway site is 23 miles from Irvine, just 5 miles from Riverside County.

Through my decades of work as an attorney specializing in election law, I have unfortunately witnessed a few politicians who will say one thing to voters during a campaign and then do another thing once they are in office.

Call me old-fashioned, but I expect elected officials to follow-through on promises they make.

Last year, in the midst of his City Council election campaign, Councilman Mike Carroll violated Irvine City policy when he transferred tens of thousands of dollars — originally allocated for his Council staff — to instead cover the cost of promotional mailers he sent to Irvine residents.

This year, Mayor Farrah Khan — with the help of Councilmembers Anthony Kuo and Tammy Kim — made Carroll’s violation “go away” by changing the City policy Carroll had violated. Now, Khan, Kim and Carroll have doubled the office budget of each individual Councilmember while removing key restrictions and oversight on how they spend that money.

Last year, Farrah Khan campaigned for Mayor of Irvine, promising to bring transparency, ethics, and democratic values to City Hall.  In just the first few months in office, she’s broken those promises.