Mayor Agran Outlines Strategies for Making Irvine the Smartest City in America

Greater Irvine Chamber of Commerce photo

During his State of the City address, Mayor Larry Agran explained what he meant when he described Irvine’s goal to become the Smartest City in America: “I am referring to our City government, and the smart policies, programs, best practices, and overall organization, professionalism, and high performance of our workforce.”

Agran continued: “During this past year, the City of Irvine — with approximately 1,500 City workers — once again ranked among the Top 20 Best Places to Work in all of Orange County. Having a highly educated, highly trained, high-performing professional workforce costs money. This past year, we raised the minimum hourly wage for our lowest-paid part-time and seasonal employees, as well as for contract workers such as landscape workers and janitorial staff. The state minimum wage is $17 per hour. Our City’s minimum wage — we call it a Living Wage — is now $20 per hour for part-time employees and $25 per hour for full-time workers.”

The Mayor explained that the wage increase is part of a plan “to make sure that our City employees — those who work in offices here at City Hall, as well as those working in our streets, parks, and City facilities throughout town — earn sufficient household income to live in Irvine and work here, to be part of our community, and to enjoy the high quality of life they help provide for the rest of us.”

The City’s transition from the Orange County Public Library (OCPL) system to the Irvine Public Library system was another “smart” strategy. Under the previous library system, Irvine taxpayers were contributing roughly $17 million annually to the OCPL. However, the libraries operated by the OCPL in Irvine were receiving only $5 million annually in services, with Irvine residents being underserved by the City’s three small libraries. The transition allows the City to expand and modernize existing branches; plan for new branches in town; and improve library services to better meet the needs of Irvine residents.

When discussing smart business strategies, the Mayor thanked Assistant City Manager Pete Carmichael for “leading an effort to establish the City of Irvine Center for Innovation & Entrepreneurship. This soon-to-open center near the Great Park is made possible with $1 million in federal seed money secured by our U.S. Congressional Representative, Dave Min. The center is designed to be a one-stop business accelerator for new and innovative Irvine enterprises.”

The Mayor also announced the launch of the Irvine Business Support Nonprofit Grants Program — a program administered by the Greater Irvine Chamber of Commerce that provides small grants to support promising small businesses emerging from historically underrepresented groups.

Mayor Agran outlined the City’s approach to education: “Being a smart city means working with professional educators whose job it is to teach kids and help produce the next generation of smart grownups. Here in Irvine, we are fortunate to have very high-performing K-12 public schools, public charter schools, Irvine Valley College, and UCI. For decades now, we have been providing Irvine’s public schools and students with more than $10 million per year — about $200 per student — in the form of matching funds and in-kind support. We see that funding as a smart investment.”

Agran continued: “We have systematically built productive partnerships, principally with the Irvine Unified School District and the Irvine Public Schools Foundation; but also with the Tustin Unified School District, which runs five outstanding public schools in Irvine. The financial aid, matching funds, and in-kind support we provide translate into more teaching assistants, more arts programming, support for school bus transportation, after-school programs, and, in the case of Irvine Valley College, many $2,000 City of Irvine scholarships for community college students to help cover their school costs.”

As the Mayor has often noted, Irvine did not become one of the smartest cities in America by accident. The City was master-planned around UCI, a world-class research institution. Through decades of thoughtful planning, creative partnerships, and sound financial investments, Irvine has become a city with top-tier educational institutions, a highly-educated workforce, a thriving business community, and an exceptional quality of life.