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Irvine voters got their first chance to hear from many of their candidates for city council on Sunday night in a forum – weighing in on the future of green power and how to best address the housing crisis.
The forum was hosted online by volunteer group Irvine Watchdog, who asked candidates a series of yes or no questions and let them go more in depth on some of the issues.
To watch a recording of the discussion, click here.
The discussion comes as the city transitions to district elections – meaning residents can only vote for one city candidate in the district they reside in.
In the city’s old at-large elections, voters across the city got to vote for as many candidates as there were city council seats up for grabs. For example, if three seats were up for election, voters could select three candidates.
The mayor is still an at-large election – everyone gets to vote for that office.
To see the city’s new district map, click here.
The city council is also growing from five to seven members.
[Read: Irvine Voters to Decide on Changing City’s Election System]
The most divisive issue among both candidates for city council and mayor was whether or not the city should remain in the Orange County Power Authority, the county’s largest green power agency founded by Irvine.
The agency has faced repeated questions since its launch at the end of 2020, culminating with a state audit that found the agency failed to properly oversee millions of tax dollars, at which point leaders fired the CEO and launched a rebranding campaign.
[Read: Is OC’s Green Power Agency on the Way to Being Clean?]
The other major debate between candidates focused on the future of housing in the city, which has built more housing than any other city in the county over the past decade and has set itself a goal of building over 20,000 more housing units in the coming decades.
Most of the city council candidates who attended agreed the city needed to move forward on supporting the city’s climate action plan and supported the expansion of Irvine Connect, the city’s new public bus program that was set up after the OC Transportation Authority pulled back.
[Read: Irvine Launches New Shuttle System as OC Bus Service Continues Shrinking]
Mayoral Discussion
One of the hottest races in Irvine this year is for the mayor’s seat, with incumbent Mayor Farrah Khan termed out and two of her council colleagues running for the seat.
Beyond Councilmembers Tammy Kim and Larry Agran, there’s also business owner Ron Scolesdang, who picked up the endorsement of the county Republican Party, finance commissioner Lee Sun and realtor Akshat Bhatia.
All the candidates agreed that housing prices in the city were too high but split about how to address the issue.
Agran pitched an idea to strike a deal with the Irvine Company to convert as many as 5,000 of the developer’s apartment units into affordable housing, but didn’t share details on how that plan might look.
“What I have proposed is to not try and build our way out of this crisis,” Agran said. “What we don’t want to be doing to tell you the truth is building 57,000 additional housing units.”
Kim, the most well-funded candidate for mayor so far who has been endorsed by the local Democratic Party and most of the city’s employee unions, disagreed.
“The master plan that was created in the 1960s is no longer compatible with the needs of the 21st century,” Kim said. “We need to press forward … we have a housing shortage.”
Scolesdang and Sun agreed with Kim on more development, with Scolesdang noting the only reason he could buy a home in the city was because the buyer in front of him fell out of escrow.
“We literally hit the lottery just finding a home in Irvine. There definitely is a shortage,” Scolesdang said. “But at the same time, we don’t want to build so much housing there’s an over surplus. There’s got to be a balance.”
Kim and Lee called on the city to remain in the Orange County Power Authority, while Agran and Bhatia said it was time to go.
Scolesdang said it only made sense to stay in if the agency was performing properly.
Candidates Felipe Delgado and Wing Chow were absent.
Resident’s in the city’s first district, which includes neighborhoods like Orchard Hills and Lower Peters Canyon, heard from four of the five candidates running for their city council seat.
Candidates who attended included finance commissioner Melinda Liu, who’s endorsed by the OC Democratic Party, planning commissioner Michelle Johnson, business owner Jackie Kan and systems engineer Jeff Kitchen.
“Irvine in some ways is a victim of its own success. You have people from all over the world who want to own a part of Irvine,” Kitchen said. “A lot of those people own the housing but they don’t occupy it, they don’t have anyone else occupy it, which leads to higher prices.”
They all agreed that the city needs to focus on developing new housing and to focus on providing affordable levels of housing for young people entering the workforce or looking to start a family, with many saying they wanted to see more building in the city’s downtown.
“It should not be the case that only the wealthiest of families get to live in Irvine,” Kan said, one of the only renters running for office. “I truly believe that building for mixed use in high density areas close to transportation hubs will help relieve some of these concerns.”
Johnson and Kitchen both came out against the city remaining in the OC Power Authority, while Kan and Liu both supported staying in.
“Residents who don’t want to participate in the program have the option to opt out,” Liu said. “Currently we as a city are choosing to be leading the way in going into renewable energy by choosing the top level, 100% renewable energy. But residents who disagree have that option.”
Johnson argued that residents shouldn’t have to take an extra step to decide their power options.
“We were basically forced into it without choice … you had to know how to opt out, most people still don’t know they’re even in it,” Johnson said. “If we want to get serious about climate change, we should institute a rooftop solar program with battery storage.”
John Park was the lone candidate from the district to not attend, but he carries endorsements from the Republican Party and Lincoln Club, a conservative donor group.
After years of debates over whether the Great Park has enough representation in Irvine’s politics, they’re now getting their own city council district along with the Portola Springs and Woodbury neighborhoods.
Candidates for the district include businessman Gang Chen, who’s backed by the OC Republican Party, finance commissioner Jeff Starke and transportation commissioner William Go, who’s endorsed by the OC Democratic Party.
Chen called for more housing, but also said it was important to stick to the master plan and provide retail for neighborhoods.
“People in Great Park have to drive 20 to 30 minutes just to get groceries,” Chen said. “We need to go back to the fundamentals and restart the village concept … we want to develop responsibly.”
Go called for the creation of more housing units accompanied by an increase in transit options.
“The solution we need to implement is build more housing,” Go said. “In District 2, we have the luxury of space.”
Starke also called for more low income housing stretching alongside the 5 freeway, adding he’d like to redevelop the city center into a mixed use area where people could do less driving and more walking.
“We’ll finally have the numbers to support that kind of mass transit, and I think that will benefit everyone with less traffic, less pollution, children possibly being able to use those buses to get to their schools,” Starke said.
Starke and Go both called on the city to remain in the OC Power Authority, while Chen came out against remaining in the program, citing the higher cost for renewable power.
“We lose so much money to OCPA but we have not received anything,” Chen said. “If we used the same amount of money as an incentive to residents to install solar panels on their roof we would have thousands of solar roofs all over Irvine and a lot of green energy.
Planning Commissioner Parissa Yazdani and Mohamed Kothermydeen, an IT Services Manager, are also on the ballot but weren’t at the forum.
Most of the newly created district three sits near the 5 freeway and the 261, including neighborhoods like Walnut, Northwood, and Westpark II.
Candidates for the district include Jing Sun, who chairs the city’s Community Services Commission and is endorsed by the OC Democratic Party, and his fellow Community Services commissioner Tom Chomyn.
On housing, Sun said there should be an effort to redevelop areas like the Irvine Business Center and consider where all the planned new housing should go.
“I think the only thing we can do is to add more housing,” Sun said. “We shouldn’t disturb the current villages … we have to think about location.”
Chomyn, who worked as an urban planner for decades, said the state’s housing mandates are too lofty and would lead to overcrowding.
“I’m not interested in adding 200,000 more people, and I’m not interested in adding 60,000 more cars a day to Irvine,” Chomyn said. “As long as we keep our master plan and keep our 30% open space, I’m onboard.”
The two candidates were also split on remaining in the Orange County Power Authority, with Sun calling for the city to remain there while Chomyn said it was too expensive.
“I didn’t sign up for it,” Chomyn said. “I got solar panels for my house and got solar energy. What I would like to do is put incentives for solar energy in the city instead of donating money to the OCPA and their board.”
Sun said he wants Irvine to be the “leader in sustainability,” and said it was “really really important” to stay.
James Mai, who’s backed by the county Republican Party, did not attend.
The newly created council district four is the city’s largest district on the southeast edge of town, covering neighborhoods like Turtlerock, the Spectrum, Los Olivos and open space areas like Quail Hill and Bommer Canyon.
The only candidate from district 4 to attend the event was Ayn Craciun, a climate activist who was one of the key leaders in helping push the creation of the OC Power Authority.
Craciun is endorsed by the county Democratic Party and prominent Democrats such as Congresswoman Katie Porter, and City Council Members Tammy Kim and Kathleen Treseder.
She defended the power authority after criticism from other candidates, highlighting the importance of keeping rates low and said the city council should focus on providing more housing for younger residents.
“My vision for Irvine is of course a safe, sustainable city where kids can walk or bike to school, and every neighborhood enjoys clean air and essential amenities within easy reach, all of that without using a car and with the help of public transit,” Craciun said.
Craciun is running against incumbent Councilman Mike Carroll, who’s been endorsed by the Republican Party and the Lincoln Club.
Craciun said residents are “tired” of the “drama” at council meetings, and said she’d be focused on passing policy without getting into personal battles.
“We have a great opportunity here before us,” she said. “This is an historic moment in our city, going to district elections. There’s so much that we can do together if we choose to and if we choose to focus on the right things, and that’s what I hope we can do together.”
Noah Biesiada is a Voice of OC reporter and corps member with Report for America, a GroundTruth initiative. Contact him at nbiesiada@voiceofoc.org or on Twitter @NBiesiada.
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