Publisher's Perspective - Irvine Community News and Views

Publisher’s Perspective: Councilmember Treseder’s Attacks on Local Democracy

Politicians often run for office promising transparency and a commitment to democratic principles. However, once in office, some elected officials ignore their campaign promises and act in ways that subvert rather than support their constituents.

Irvine City Councilmember Kathleen Treseder has become one of those politicians.

Treseder ran for Irvine City Council in 2022, promising “transparency and accountability.” She’s running for re-election this year, making those same promises. However, a review of her record shows that Councilmember Treseder has actively worked to deny Irvine voters their democratic right to weigh-in on critical matters.

Publisher’s Perspective: Three Councilmembers Spend Millions While Attacking City Staff for a Budget Overage

Irvine City Manager Sean Crumby recently reported that economic instability nationwide has led to rising costs locally. Those rising costs, coupled with new Council programs, have resulted in a projected $6 million budget overage.

Councilmembers Kathleen Treseder, James Mai, and William Go spent nearly an hour publicly attacking Mr. Crumby and City staff for the overage.

These are the same three Councilmembers who have kept us stuck in the costly Orange County Power Authority (OCPA). In the last four years — including projections through the end of calendar year 2026 — OCPA has cost our City government and Irvine’s electricity customers (both residents and businesses) nearly $100 million in overcharges.

Irvine’s Impressive Environmental Leadership

As we approach Earth Day on April 22nd, it seems appropriate to take a look back at Irvine’s impressive environmental leadership and see what’s next for our remarkably “green” City.

Today Irvine has the second-best park system in America, and our community is recognized as the fourth-greenest city in the entire nation. An impressive 28% of Irvine’s land is dedicated to beautiful parks and green spaces, which is nearly double the national average. And 96% of Irvine residents live within a 10-minute walk of a park.

Like most good things in Irvine, none of these accomplishments happened by accident. Irvine has been fortunate to have been led by a number of environmental champions.

Looking Back on 2025, Looking Ahead to 2026

For most of us, the beginning of the year brings a renewed sense of hope and optimism.

As I reflect on all that was accomplished in 2025, I am hopeful that the new year will bring even more good things to our Irvine community.

During his State of the City address early last year, Mayor Larry Agran proposed ambitious plans to make Irvine the Safest, Smartest, Greenest, Healthiest, and Kindest city in America.

While lofty goals are often expressed by elected leaders, the City was able to establish a number of new and expanded programs last year to implement the Mayor’s stated agenda.

Publisher’s Perspective: Four Irvine Councilmembers Betray Veterans … Again!

I wrote an article in May regarding four Irvine City Councilmembers — William Go, James Mai, Melinda Liu, and Kathleen Treseder — who voted to break a promise that the City of Irvine made 11 years ago to veterans and their families to build a Veterans Memorial Park & Cemetery on the former El Toro Marine Corps Air Station at the Great Park.

That has become the most-read article Irvine Community News & Views has ever published, with more than 75,000 residents having read the article and 1,293 Irvine residents (so far) sharing it on their own social media platforms.

On December 9th, City staff proposed a compromise, suggesting the City build a beautifully sculpted “columbarium” structure within a Wall of Honor & Remembrance as part of the Veterans Memorial Park & Gardens. But once again Councilmembers Go, Mai, Liu, and Treseder voted NO!

Happy New Year to Our Readers

As we head into the new year, we want to thank our readers for your continued support.

Over the past ten years, our community newspaper has become a trusted source of information. Thousands of Irvine residents read our twice-weekly email messages and more than 70,000 follow us on social media.

We also want to express our gratitude to our readers for your input. Every week, Irvine Community News & Views (ICNV) receives messages from residents asking us to investigate stories that impact our City or to spotlight an event taking place in town.

Our goal for 2026 here at ICNV is to continue to inform our readers regarding policies coming out of City Hall while also spotlighting events and human interest stories from within our wonderful Irvine community.

Happy Holidays from Irvine Community News & Views

Here at Irvine Community News & Views, we want to take this opportunity to thank our readers who rely on our publication to stay informed about the latest news and events happening here in Irvine.

To allow our staff to enjoy quality time with their families, we will not be releasing our usual twice-weekly email newsletters over the holidays.

In the menatime, be sure to check out Joel Smith’s article, Things to Do in Irvine Over the Holidays.

Our twice-weekly email schedule will resume on January 4th.

Happy Holidays to all of our Irvine neighbors!

Publisher’s Perspective: OCPA Continues to Break Its Promises

Three years ago, the Orange County Power Authority (OCPA) became our City’s electricity provider — promising Irvine customers greener electricity at lower monthly rates. OCPA also promised to create green programs to boost our local economy. None of those promises have been kept!

Broken Promise #1: Greener Electricity

During the November 12th Irvine City Council meeting, it was revealed that OCPA has been purchasing dirtier energy than SCE for two of the agency’s three energy tiers — including the “Basic Choice” tier in which Irvine ratepayers are enrolled.

Broken Promise #2: Lower Monthly Rates

For two years, OCPA charged Irvine customers the highest monthly electricity rates in all of Orange County!

Broken Promise #3: Green Programs

OCPA’s promise to boost the local economy through the establishment of green programs (and green jobs) never materialized.

City Councilmember Tammy Kim Leads 3-to-2 Vote Directing Council to Ignore Hate Incidents in Our Local Irvine Schools

There are a variety of reasons why families plant roots here in Irvine. We have won countless...

Has the Mayor Become a Problem for Democrats?

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

However, it appears that Khan is facing increasing opposition from local Democrats. In fact, just last month the local Democratic club in Irvine overwhelmingly voted not to provide an early endorsement for her November Mayoral re-election campaign. (Khan received less than 25% support from Democratic club members in Irvine.)

Before the vote was taken, Irvine Democratic activists — who had campaigned, donated and voted for Khan in 2020 — rattled off a number of instances where the Mayor had defied the Democratic Party’s core values.

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.”

Khan and Kuo Team-Up for the 2022 City Council Election

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.

Since Kuo’s appointment as Vice Mayor, he and Khan have begun hosting joint meetings, posting selfies on social media together, and making sure that Irvine voters see them as a “team.”

Khan orchestrated the same political maneuver back in 2020 when she voted to appoint Mike Carroll as Vice Mayor. In the run-up to that election, Khan and Carroll appeared at numerous events together and were sold as a team to voters in campaign TV ads and mailings worth hundreds of thousands of dollars.

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 and Its Residents Need an Immediate Audit of the Orange County Power Authority

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.

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Category: Publisher’s Perspective

Publisher’s Perspective: Councilmember Treseder’s Attacks on Local Democracy

Publisher’s Perspective: Three Councilmembers Spend Millions While Attacking City Staff for a Budget Overage

Irvine’s Impressive Environmental Leadership

Looking Back on 2025, Looking Ahead to 2026

Publisher’s Perspective: Four Irvine Councilmembers Betray Veterans … Again!

Happy New Year to Our Readers

Happy Holidays from Irvine Community News & Views

Publisher’s Perspective: OCPA Continues to Break Its Promises

City Councilmember Tammy Kim Leads 3-to-2 Vote Directing Council to Ignore Hate Incidents in Our Local Irvine Schools

Has the Mayor Become a Problem for Democrats?

Khan and Kuo Team-Up for the 2022 City Council Election

The City of Irvine and Its Residents Need an Immediate Audit of the Orange County Power Authority

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