Mayor Agran Details His Expansive Vision & Specific Action Plan During “State of the City” Address

 
Agran began the speech with the expected report that the state of the City is “excellent.” He said, “Our financial underpinnings are strong, our budgets are balanced, and our reserves are extraordinarily large.”
 
But then he ventured beyond the dry status report, saying: “We are once again poised to invest in building an even brighter future for our entire Irvine community.”
 
For the next 50 minutes, Mayor Agran described what the City is already doing and what more the City can do to govern with “competence, not chaos; compassion, not cruelty,” and to “make Irvine the safest, smartest, greenest, healthiest, and kindest city in America.”
 
Among the forward-looking initiatives already underway, Agran touched on:

• The establishment of a City library system to take over and expand services provided at the three county libraries in Irvine, and to add two more libraries (at the Great Park and in Woodbridge).
   
• The closure of the All American Asphalt plant in North Irvine and the work currently underway to transform the plant site and 700 surrounding acres into the Gateway Open Space Preserve.
   
• The initial “Irvine CONNECT” eco-friendly bus system shuttle bus begun last year under former Mayor Farrah Khan, which is set to be expanded into central and south Irvine later this year.
   
• The establishment of a City Office of Health and Wellness.

The Mayor also announced two potentially far-reaching public-private partnerships. The first is a donation to the City by Hoag Hospital of “tens of millions of dollars” to create a center for non-profit organizations dedicated to health and wellness at a site in central Irvine. It will be similar to the Melinda Hoag Smith Center for Healthy Living in Newport Beach, which provides space to some three dozen organizations — from United Way to Council on Aging OC to SOS Children and Family Health Center — that offer health care and other support services to underserved individuals and families.
 
Meanwhile, pursuant to Mayor Agran’s call for the development of an “instant affordability” housing plan, the Irvine Company is currently in talks with the City to steeply discount the monthly rent on thousands of existing apartment units in Irvine to make them affordable to families with limited household income. In advance of those talks, the Irvine Company has already committed to providing 25 apartment units for a program to get unhoused families with children in the Irvine Unified School District (IUSD) into housing. City Manager Oliver Chi said after the speech that the City and IUSD have so far verified 88 IUSD students whose families are unhoused, and he expects there will be more.
 
Agran also looked ahead and proposed several new projects and programs that the City could initiate in the coming months:

• “Strong local policies and enforceable ordinances” to regulate e-bikes, including licensing and stepped-up enforcement.
   
• Working with the schools on enhanced campus security.
   
• Updating and enhancing emergency response planning in the event of earthquake, wildfire or other catastrophic events.
   
• Adding significant funding in the next City budget to support Irvine schools, including $100,000 for scholarships for Irvine high school students to attend Irvine Valley College.
   
• An “urban forest” program to plant tens of thousands of trees in the Great Park and throughout the City, as an environmental and aesthetic benefit.
   
• A program to equip tens of thousands of homes and businesses in the City with rooftop solar and battery storage systems.
   
• Provide additional acreage to Harvest Solutions Farm and Second Harvest Food Bank to alleviate and eventually eliminate food insecurity throughout Orange County.

Reaction to the speech was strongly positive among the residents and officials in the Council Chamber. Councilmember Melinda Liu said that Agran had offered “good plans … to take care of our residents.” South Orange County Community College District Board President Carolyn Inmon called the speech “great,” and Doug Elliott, a member of the City’s Community Services Commission, commented, “He didn’t say one thing I don’t agree with.”

To read the full State of the City address, click here.