Wanted! Irvine Mayor!
*YEAR MAYOR
1988 AGRAN
1990 SHERIDAN
1992 WARD
1994 WARD
1996 SHEA
1998 SHEA
2000 AGRAN
2002 AGRAN
2004 KROM
2006 KROM
2008 KANG
2010 KANG
2012 CHOI
2014 CHOI
2016 WAGNER
* Beginning with the June 1988 election Mayors were directly elected by the voters of the City for 2-year terms
Irvine residents: We are getting ready to elect our 9th Mayor and we thought it would be fun to put a profile together of what we want to see in the next mayor in the hopes of getting the best field of mayoral candidates for the November 2018 election!
The mayor is the highest ranking municipal officer in the city. Our city is evolving and we should be continuously raising the bar since it was June of 1988 that Irvine mayors were directly elected by the voters for 2-year terms. The list above gives us some history. So…
What characteristics do you want to see in our next mayor? We’ve got a few, like transparency, honesty, and accountability, but want to hear from others. Please post your thoughts and keep it civil. It takes a village and we want to hear from everyone. Our number #1 priority is quite simple – show us you want the job. Run like you mean it. Actually, campaign and don’t just rely on developer money to tell your story. Talk to everyone and get their perspective. Listen and don’t fake it.
The filing period for Mayor begins Monday, July 16, 2018, and closes at 5 p.m. on Friday, August 10, 2018. Let the race begin!
18 Comments
Gail Lewis
July 18, 2018 at 12:38 pmThe person running for Mayor should make a promise to not accept any donations from the developers in our City.
Branda Lin
July 18, 2018 at 9:57 pmDon Wagner is a career politician. How about somebody with a different occupation?
Susan Sayre
July 26, 2018 at 5:01 amI want a mayoral candidate who will honor the Irvine Village development concept, and thus act to protect Irvine Village general plans and vow not to make density changes. zone changes and land use changes in Irvine villages without overwhelming support of residents of the village and adjoining villages.
Susan Sayre
July 26, 2018 at 5:18 amI want a mayor, and also city council members, who will appoint commissioners that do not have a conflict of interest with regards to Irvine Developers and their proposed projects. I want the mayoral and city council candidates to vow to support only enhancement changes to Irvine Villages that are approved by village residents. I want the candidates to support a development process that requires notice to, interaction with, and approval of village residents and village HOAs. I want a mayor, city council members, and their appointed commission members to be required to recuse themselves from making decisions on agenda items should they have any sort conflict of interest, financial or otherwise, related to the agenda item.
Rose
July 27, 2018 at 12:26 pmI just listened to interview between Karen Jaffe and nonprofit investigative news agency, Voice of OC. Awesome and informative interview. https://www.podomatic.com/podcasts/voiceofoc/episodes/2018-07-27T06_51_03-07_00
Even though I am not an Irvine resident, I am still affected by the massive housing developments in Irvine because the resulting traffic pours out onto the freeway which I do use and also discourages shopping in your city! The mayors of the cities have joint meetings and the city managers have joint meetings (with no transparency), I would like to see these meetings include collaboration to consider creation and implementation of quality of life policies for all residents in Orange county. Neither Irvine nor any Orange county city lives in a cocoon. What each city does affects more than just their residents
Rose Tingle
July 27, 2018 at 12:29 pmGreat interview/podcast with activist and resident Karen Jaffe and nonprofit investigative news agency, Voice of OC.
https://www.podomatic.com/podcasts/voiceofoc/episodes/2018-07-27T06_51_03-07_00
katherine daigle
July 27, 2018 at 3:22 pmOutstanding interview Karen, extremely well spoken and eloquently stated.
We have have asked from our city council, time and time again we want – “transparency” and what we have received in exchange for our votes their “empty promises” they have completely disregarded “we the voters” voices. These council members Shea, Fox, & Wagner have become is charlatans!
I am running for Mayor!
Thank you Irvine Watchdog you have done the hard work and exposed these “Charlatans” it is about time to clean up City Hall.
BTW, I have served happily as a public servant for Woodbridge Village Association serving 30,000 residents since 2012. And most importantly, I am not funded nor have I ever been supported by any of the developers, or any other PAC’s or industries.
A 26 year resident of Irvine. I have an MBA, my professional career has spanned the fields of law, finance, and executive business management.
As an independent professional Leader, businesswoman, wife, and proud mother, I know how difficult it has been for residents to see through the deceit, clouded by millions of dollars thrown at these 3 self serving politicians. Look what we have done as a community. We did make a difference with the Veterans cemetery, we drew attention to that watchtower and we are not done. I believe the hardworking families deserve an advocate for their communities, to create safe neighborhoods and most importantly protect our veterans and our quality of life.
Katherine Daigle
Richard McDonough
July 28, 2018 at 10:40 amGood statement, well composed. I just wish you were not a commited conservative.
katherine daigle
July 28, 2018 at 3:44 pmThank you Richard, but I would serve as I have served in Woodbridge for “all” of the people . There are no sides when an official is voted in by you the voters. Especially since I am a non partisan “no party preference” in our community.
Listen, I want to represent all of you and what you have now in the city council is representation of the developers money, nothing more.
Katherine
Farrah N. Khan
July 28, 2018 at 8:41 pmThere are 3 seats coming up this November and if we, the residents, want change, transparency and a control on development, then we need to elect 3 new representatives – all who commit to not taking money from developers/lobbyists/special interests. I have made that commitment and everyone is welcome to review the finance reports of all candidates at https://public.netfile.com/pub2/Default.aspx?aid=COI and entering the name of the candidate they are searching. As of June 30th, I have over 300 individuals and small business owners who have contributed to my campaign, no developer and no developer lobbyists (Patrick Strader, Pam Sapetto, Starpointe Ventures). I hope we have someone run for mayor on the same promise.
Monte Taylor
August 9, 2018 at 1:55 pmFirst, PLEASE folks don’t make this a ‘political’ thing by making statements such as “if you were not a committed conservative”!!!!
Geez Louise(!), I realize that some folks think that is, or the opposite, will make or break what is a GOOD Mayor?! What is a good Mayor is someone who is honest, doesn’t take bribes under the table from big Developers, holds to the promise of getting the VA Cemetery built as promised, and stop the increase traffic in our City, among a few!
None of this has anything whatsoever to do with liberalism, conservatism, or socialism, or whatever else one wants to conjure up ‘politically’ my God!! It’s simply about doing what is best for us as citizens of this great city, Irvine. A GOOD Mayor will do just that and it doesn’t matter what the heck their ‘persuasion’ is! So stop these remarks that do nothing but try to start a feud over something that is irrelevant.
Now, what I hope for, along with the items above, and to re-iterate – is OUR VA Cemetery, in our lifetime, meaning not years or decades from now.
And, IMO STOP all new home development!! I’m not sure how this is something that ‘appears’ as if it HAS TO HAPPEN!! I ask the question WHY? We have seen, those of us who’ve lived here for many, many years, this HUGE increase in traffic. A gazillion new traffic signals where once it was several miles without one (i.e. Portola Parkway). And it’s not going to increase as some would like us to believe if you build a VA Cemetery. Cemeteries don’t add any noticeable amount of traffic whatsoever – I know – drove in and out of Pt. Loma (San Diego) Cemetery for years, every month, sometimes more than once a month, and have NEVER seen any amount of ‘traffic’ whatsoever from that – and it’s one entrance, and a huge cemetery compared to what we are expecting to have here in Irvine. THE problem, is too many homes which equals too many vehicles which equals TOO MUCH TRAFFIC!
For anyone that doesn’t get that I’ll repeat:
THE problem, is too many homes which equals too many vehicles which equals TOO MUCH TRAFFIC!
Stop the development and we halt the increase in traffic.
So I hope that whomever becomes the mayor in this election that they will see how the quality of life (i.e. traffic in this case) in our great city has been now a JAM of new homes and more traffic!
Please, STOP the development – we have enough homes.
AND, Please get our VA Cemetery that we Veterans have been PROMISED!
Thank you for listening.
Gail Lewis
August 9, 2018 at 2:11 pmMonte I totally disagree with you. I thank Richard for pointing out the Katherine Daigle is a conservative. You say lets not make this political but Katherine is running for a political office. For some people Katherine being a conservative is a positive and others it is a negative. We need information on the candidates that are running and that is what Richard provided for us.
Monte Taylor
August 9, 2018 at 3:28 pmGail, I understand your ‘need’ to have the information brought forward. And for the record, I have no affiliation, preferred candidate, and know nobody who is a big developer. I’m simply a Vietnam Veteran resident of Irvine – who wants our promised Cemetery and things like less traffic and not bribed political bureaucrats.
This is why I made the statement about it has nothing to do with conservatism, liberalism, or whatever you wish to label it.
It has to do with a person being honest and transparent (something that comes from Integrity and how one was raised and NOTHING to do with being off the charts left or off the charts right!!).
It has to do with a person fighting to fulfill the promises made to us Veterans for having a VA Cemetery (something that comes from again, Integrity, as well as a commitment and a desire to honor the promise to us as Veterans getting our VA Cemetery and NOTHING to do with being off the charts left or off the charts right!!).
It has to do with stopping the increased traffic we have (something that again, comes from a commitment and a desire to honor us as citizens of Irvine and our wishes, and NOTHING to do with being off the charts left or off the charts right!!).
It has to with not taking bribes and ‘under the table’ payments from developers (which again, comes from having Integrity and good character, and NOTHING to do with being off the charts left or off the charts right!!)
The opposite is someone who has little to no Integrity, none to weak character, and a lack of basic honesty and commitment to whom they serve. AND GUESS WHAT, with nearly 70 years on this planet, that statement can apply to a gazillion far lefts, far rights, and everything in between I’ve seen throughout my entire lifetime. And am sure that won’t ever end unfortunately.
For me, I don’t give a darn where they are on some ‘political’ chart – it MEANS NOTHING!!!! What matters is the integrity, honesty, character, commitment, and signs that they truly wish to serve our community for our betterment.
In my opinion, anyone that votes for someone just because they are this or that on your preferred scale, is totally ignoring the IMPORTANT points, and shouldn’t even be voting! They choose only one affiliation over another and completely disregard the IMPORTANT points of WHOM they are voting for. No difference then voting for your friend just because they are your friend, and not at all for what they can do to improve our city, Irvine.
It’s unfortunate, but I see MY Country, America, going in the direction of it doesn’t matter a single bit of what is right or wrong, or something / someone has or doesn’t have integrity, honesty, character – it’s all about MY WAY and MY PARTY and to hell with common sense. You don’t know how glad I am that I’m getting older and checking out soon, as MY America is going down in flames!!
And guaranteed, something very ugly is coming in a country that has lost there nationalistic spirit but has nothing but hatred for anyone that does not agree with them!
I’ll leave with a very short video from a 1960’s TV show “To Tell The Truth” – listen to the wisdom that was stated many years ago and what all of us, including myself, should seriously consider (and it has NO political direction whatsoever – just about HUMANS):
https://www.youtube.com/embed/dnnXpLNL12M
I’ll be voting for whom I believe can be honest, get our VA Cemetery, stop traffic increase, and show character and honesty by being transparent and not taking bribes., If that happens to be the most far Left human on planet Earth we’ve ever seen, so be it, they have my vote. If it’s the most far Right human on planet Earth we’ve ever seen, so be it, they have my vote, PERIOD!
Gail Lewis
August 9, 2018 at 3:49 pmWow it really sounds like you are an angry person . All the qualities you mentioned that a person should have running for Mayor I agree with but we have had a conservative council for the last decade and with that the traffic in Irvine is becoming unbearable. So unlike you I still wish to know a candidates political persuasion. It is important to me and I hope you respect the fact that we differ in this. PERIOD….I will comment any more on this issue.
Monte Taylor
August 9, 2018 at 4:03 pmGail. The only thing that makes me angry is ignorance where one just doesn’t care – and I actually find that sad more than making me angry honestly.
So believe me, I’m not angry. Apologies to you if it comes across that way. And I totally and completely respect your position and opinion. Let’s just hope that WE ALL, as citizens here in Irvine, get the things we’re hoping for, and not more – and I hate to use the term with anyone here – political outcomes! But actual ACTION on important things we all I believe hope for in our great city, Irvine!
katherine daigle
August 9, 2018 at 8:39 pmGive me a call, lets all meet for coffee or you are welcome in my home or as your elected Director of Woodbridge you can attend any and all regular session meetings.
My number is 949 374-0901 or my email is [email protected]
I would love to meet all of you and I have never taken a penny from anyone , I truly run a grass roots campaign only with my family. Katherine
deefox
October 19, 2020 at 8:43 pmGail,
So are you saying a candidate has to be the same party affiliation as you are? Or are you saying because we had a Democrat majority, you feel we now need a Republican majority? Because as Monty stated, if city officials are answering to developers, does it matter what party they are affiliated with? In city elections, you vote for the person because party affiliation doesn’t enter into city issues. I am a Republican and support Larry Agran 100% on where he stands on the issues for our city. I would never consider Shes because she represents everything I don’t want for our city. You have to look at the person. State and Federal elections are quite different.
deefox
October 19, 2020 at 9:30 pmFarrah,
You failed to mention a very important fact. A city official represents the majority when deciding issues before the council. So when 63% of Irvine voters (the majority) voted for the ARDA site, you decided to go with the minority of an alternative site. You stated at the Debate Forum that the Great Park residents do not want a Cemetery near them. However, these residents were told when they purchased their homes that the ARDA site was going to be a Veterans Cemetery. Even IF they claim they didn’t know this, the plans for the Cemetery were in effect way before their homes were even built. And, if they don’t want a Cemetery near them then the alternative Golf Course site won’t work either. The Great Park residents stated at the Town Hall Meeting with Shea and Kuo that as far as proximity, they would rather see the cemetery at the ARDA site. So how can you even justify supporting the alternative? We heard excuses from Shea that had no justification either but we know it was because she wanted to lease the ARDA site to FivePoint. So it has me wondering what is your motivation for not supporting the people? Also, “diverting” funds from the Irvine Police Department is also not inline with our city and the majority. If you are elected I fear we will be worse off then we are now.
Comments are closed.