Managing change
John Russo is Irvine’s new city manager, replacing Sean Joyce, who retired in February after a nearly 13-year career in Irvine. Russo was a city councilman and city attorney in Oakland, served four years as city manager for the city of Alameda, and most recently was city manager of Riverside. Russo is “a forward-thinking manager who helped shore up the city’s financial position and brought more openness to city government,” according to Riverside City Councilman Mike Gardner, who was quoted in the OC Register. The new city manager says he plans to publish meeting agendas 12 days ahead so the public and the city council have more time to read and analyze them, and he hopes to move Irvine to a two-year budget cycle. “Among our priority goals, this city council will turn to him to forge traffic improvement initiatives; support of public safety and our schools; the opening of large sections of the Orange County Great Park; and the continued high service to our community,” says Mayor Don Wagner in a statement about Russo’s hiring. 
 
Dining debuts
The city’s culinary scene is seeing a wave of anticipated new openings this month. The second location of the always-busy 85°C Bakery Café is opening at Irvine Spectrum Center, part of the $200 million remodel there to replace a shuttered Macy’s store. Other foodie finds coming to the center include Hello Kitty Café, Falosophy, Afters Ice Cream, Robata Wasa and BLKdot Coffee (which has another new location at Irvine Market Place). Several of the new dining options will be in a family-friendly area near Target where the carousel has been relocated. Also opening soon are Pizza Press, a welcome addition to the Woodbridge Village Center, and JimBoy’s Tacos coming to Oak Creek. The taco shop offers old-school ground beef tacos in a corn tortilla shell that’s griddled, not fried, and dusted with Parmesan. They’re delicious and addictive, and just like those first created at the original location in Lake Tahoe in the 1950s. Pizza Press may seem like another build-your-own pizza place, but we love the 1920s newspaper ambiance, complete with signature pizzas named after major newspapers. We plan on creating an Irvine City News selection soon. Go to thepizzapress.com/gpg to register for a free pizza voucher redeemable at the Great Pizza Giveaway event on Aug. 2, the opening of the Woodbridge location. 
 

By Irvine City News staff

Fire Station 20, the newest fire station in Irvine, was dedicated today at a ceremony attended by local dignitaries, Orange County Fire Authority leadership and the community. The morning ribbon-cutting ceremony was held at the new station located at 7050 Corsair, near the cross street of Ridge Valley in the Orange County Great Park.

The new station will support Irvine's stellar reputation for safety by reducing response times, saving lives and ensuring the safety of residents of the Great Park Neighborhoods as well as visitors to the Great Park.

The program included a welcome by Greg McKeown, division chief of the Orange County Fire Authority. The invocation was given by the OCFA Chaplain Duncan McColl.

Councilmember Melissa Fox spoke from the podium about the new fire station's role in continuing to keep Irvine among the safest and most-protected cities in the nation. She also participated in the ribbon-cutting ceremony.

Bob Blankman, a former Marine who was stationed at the Marine Corps Air Station El Toro in 1943, had the honor of holding the scissors. Assisting him were city officials and police and fire staff.​

Irvine Police Chief Mike Hamel as well as Fire Chief Brian Fennessy also offered remarks about the safety milestone that Fire Station 20 represents for the city.

By Irvine City News staff

Cyber security
Those worried about issues of privacy and the security of our nation’s digital infrastructure may take solace in the giant Cylance logo now watching over the Irvine Spectrum area from atop one of the twin glass towers. The company, which recently announced it raised $120 million in funding, applies artificial intelligence, algorithmic science, and machine learning to cyber security to prevent the most advanced security threats in the world. Some 350 employees have relocated to Cylance’s new worldwide headquarters across six floors of 400 Spectrum Center Drive. “Irvine continues to be a strategic advantage for us as we continue our rapid pace of innovation and accelerate market leadership,” said Stuart McClure, chairman and CEO at Cylance. “Cylance’s roots are in Irvine, which brings many of the same advantages as Silicon Valley – a confluence of people, properties, universities and companies – while forging a unique identity,” McClure says. Cylance also supports local research and development efforts. The company sponsors UCI’s Center for Machine Learning & Intelligent Systems, providing funds to bring speakers to campus and to recruit doctoral students, and is also a corporate partner of UCI Donald Bren School of Information and Computer Sciences.
 
First in class
UCI’s class of 2018 graduated in recent weeks, with some 7,000 students and their families in town for commencement ceremonies. In a remarkable testament to the American dream of a college education being fulfilled in Irvine, 50 percent of the bachelor’s degrees awarded went to first-generation college students. That’s a key reason UCI has twice earned the top spot among the nation’s universities that do the most to help students achieve the American dream, according to New York Times ranking. This year, UCI granted bachelor’s degrees to more than 2,000 Latino students (2,014), almost double the number awarded five years ago (1,034) and more than triple the total 10 years ago (637). UCI remains a popular choice for California’s Latino high school graduates, receiving more fall 2018 applications from them than any other UC campus. “This graduating class continues to highlight how well UCI serves the people of our state by offering a world-class education to our best and brightest students, regardless of their financial circumstances, and acting as a powerful engine of upward economic mobility,” said UCI Chancellor Howard Gillman.
 
Tunnel vision
Chicago beat SoCal to the punch when it comes to possibly building the first Elon Musk tunnel. Musk’s Boring Company won a bid to build a high-speed underground transit line linking the city’s downtown to its Chicago O’Hare airport. Musk’s Boring Company claims it will be able to build tunnels at least 14 times faster than current technology and engineering allows. Musk says he will build the 14-mile, $1 billion tunnel for free, in exchange for keeping fees and revenue, including advertisements, branding and in-vehicle sales. What’s this got to do with Irvine? Sign us up for the second one, we say. Imagine autonomous electric vehicles running underground from John Wayne Airport to the Irvine Transportation Center/Orange County Great Park, with stops at Irvine Business Complex, UCI, and the Spectrum. If the mad scientist/billionaire behind Tesla, SpaceX and a mission to Mars wants to pay for it, we’ll be the first to ride. 
 
PHOTOS, COURTESY UCI

​When: July 10; 4:00 p.m.
 
What: City Council Meeting with veterans cemetery issue on the agenda
 
Why: City Councilman Jeffrey Lalloway wants Irvine residents to spend $80 million of city/taxpayer money on a veteran cemetery at the contaminated ARDA site. Online polls after the election show nearly 64% of respondents do not support spending that amount on the cemetery at the ARDA site, with 55 percent saying their vote on Measure B was more about traffic and development than a preference for the ARDA cemetery site.
 
How much: A 2016 California Department of Veterans Affairs CalVet study estimates the cost of the ARDA site at $78 million, including $38 million in site clean up to remove hangars, barracks, runways and other buildings. The site also has an FAA antenna and an old flight control tower on it. CalVet estimated the cost of a cemetery at the Strawberry Fields site at $28 million, with all costs committed from FivePoint and the state and federal governments.
 
What you can do: Call, write or email the city council. Or attend the July 10 session: If you would like to address the City Council, complete the Request to Speak Form located at the table at the entrance to the City Council Chamber.

​The “No on B” group recently attempted to convince the Democratic Party of Orange County to reverse its strong support of the Orange County Veterans Cemetery located at the Strawberry Fields site, part of the former MCAS El Toro base. The DPOC was not swayed, rejecting the overture. 

In fact, both the Democratic and Republican Parties in Orange County support a “Yes on B” vote, along with many other organizations and elected officials. Below is a summary of that support.
 
Those in favor of voting “Yes on B” to move forward with the approved Veterans Cemetery at Strawberry Fields
 
The Republican Party of Orange County: 
“The Republican Party of Orange County strongly condemns the misleading tactics of Larry Agran, and encourages not only Irvine residents, but all of Orange County to unite together to soundly defeat any attempt to deny its veterans their cemetery at Strawberry Fields.” 
—letter to Irvine City Council
 
The Democratic Party of Orange County:
“The Democratic Party of Orange County opposes the misleading tactics and communication with Irvine residents by referendum proponents to initiate a zoning change, the effect of which would likely eliminate the development of a veterans cemetery in Orange County.” 
—letter to Irvine City Council
 
The clear majority of Orange County veterans:
        
•The American Legion

•Veterans of Foreign Wars

•The Vietnam Veterans of America
        
•The American Legion Riders
        
•The American Legion Auxiliary
        
•The Marine Corps League
        
•The American G.I. Forum
        
•The 40 & 8
        
•The Orange County Veterans Memorial Park Foundation
        
•American GI Forum of the United States Education Foundation Orange County, California (AGIFOC)
        
•League of United Latin American Citizens
 

​Federal, state and local government leaders, including:

•Gov. Jerry Brown
        
•U.S. Representative Lou Correa 
        
•U.S. Representative Dana Rohrabacher
        
•Assemblymember Sharon Quirk-Silva, the key leader in Sacramento seeking to honor veterans with a cemetery in Orange County 
        
•State Senator Janet Nguyen 
        
•State Senator Josh Newman
        
•State Assemblyman Steven Choi
        
•Orange County Supervisor Todd Spitzer
        
•Orange County Supervisor Michelle Steel
        
•Irvine Mayor Donald Wagner
        
•Irvine Mayor Pro Tem Christina Shea
        
•Irvine City Councilmember Melissa Fox

By Irvine City News staff

By Irvine City News staff

By Irvine City News staff

Dozens of vocal and angry Irvine residents filled the Irvine Civic Center Tuesday night for an emergency city council meeting to discuss a highly controversial plan by the Orange County Board of Supervisors to create a temporary homeless camp for at least 200 individuals, less than 100 yards from athletic fields and playgrounds at the Great Park. 
 
The council listened to nearly two hours of impassioned testimony about the potential impact of the  county's decision less than 24 hours earlier to spend, in part, $70.5 million on a homeless camp on county land along Marine Way and similar facilities in Laguna Niguel and Huntington Beach. The supervisors' strategy to construct the new encampments is the latest twist to the spreading county social crisis. 

The Irvine site is on 100 acres between Marine Way and a major rail line, and only a mile or two from newly built homes, schools and other amenities.

Public safety and health concerns were mentioned by opponents to the homeless camp that would become home to an undetermined number of tent structures that Supervisor Todd Spitzer said would have small generators and some sort of plumbing for bathing. Many told the council they had just learned earlier in the day about the county's new plan and decided at the last minute to appear and urge the council to take whatever measures necessary to stop the county from moving forward.
 
While most expressed empathy for those living on the street, they told similar stories of moving to Irvine, sometimes at great expense and hardship, to live in America's safest city. Locating a homeless camp so close to their homes and families would change all of that overnight, they said. 
 
Only one speaker challenged the council and those who spoke against the homeless camp. He encouraged the audience to be more compassionate and prodded city leaders to do their "fair share" to help those struggling to find shelter and services.
 
Mayor Don Wagner responded a short time later by saying "this city has shown great heart," before proudly naming nearly 10 longstanding Irvine-based nonprofits that are serving the disadvantaged with meals, clothing, training, housing and health services. He even pointed out the city's commitment to spend almost $30 million in state redevelopment money on future affordable housing in the city.
 
"This city cares big time," Wagner said. "Any suggestion that it doesn't is just wrong."
 
Wagner labeled the county's plan as "nothing more than what we have seen in the (Santa Ana) Civic Center and the (Santa Ana) River bed. How does this solve the problem? It doesn't. It simply redistributes the problem elsewhere."
 
Supervisor Spitzer, who spent several years in law enforcement, opened the special hearing by pointing out a motivation of Supervisor Shawn Nelson, charging that his colleague is attempting to "leverage" the city into approving the county's plan for a major mixed use development plan on the 100 acres where the homeless camp would be located. Irvine has filed a lawsuit to block the plan and Spitzer contends Nelson is now firing back by threatening to build the homeless camp on the site.
 
"This is reckless, irresponsible and disrespectful," said Spitzer. "It's just wrong." 
 
After hearing from concerned residents, the council went into closed session with its attorney to discuss options.
 
Tuesday night's emergency council session, and a similar meeting in Laguna Niguel, was in response to action Monday in which the county identified three cities as sites for the temporary housing.
 
Irvine, Huntington Beach and Laguna Niguel have been identified as sites where the shelters could be located. As happened in Irvine, opposition from city leaders in Laguna Niguel and Huntington Beach has been swift, with councils in both cities also holding special meetings to discuss options.
 
According to Spitzer, county funds totaling $185 million earmarked for mental health services were discovered Monday and determined to be unspent funds from 2016-2017. The supervisors determined Monday in their meeting that they would allocate $70.5 million for temporary homeless shelters in the county.
 
"I'm embarrassed because I've been led to believe until today that we were doing everything in our power to money on the streets," Spitzer said. "Now we find out today, and it was confirmed, that we have $185 million from 2016-17 that we didn't spend. Every one of these board members had the same information I had, that up until today we didn't know those dollars were available."

If the county had spent those available funds, "we wouldn't be here today, so now we're saying we're going to put up tents," Spitzer said.

The transients, who were recently relocated from the Santa Ana Riverbed to local motels for one month–paid for by vouchers–will soon have to find new shelter. If there are not enough beds in local shelters, the tents erected in Irvine, Huntington Beach and Laguna Niguel will be made available.

Irvine, which has a capacity for some 200 tents will be accessed first, with overflow directed to Huntington Beach and then Laguna Niguel.
 
 
 

By Irvine City News staff

Irvine ranks as the No. 1 city in the nation when it comes to financial health. That’s according to the nonprofit watchdog organization Truth in Accounting, which released its annual Financial State of the Cities report on Jan. 24. The report is based on comprehensive analysis of the fiscal health of the 75 most-populous cities in the United States, based on comprehensive annual financial reports from fiscal year 2016. 

In ranking Irvine No. 1, the group commented that, “Unlike most cities, Irvine’s elected officials have only promised the amount of benefits they can afford to pay. Because of this, Irvine has enough money to pay all of its bills.” 

The study notes that Irvine has $609.7 million in assets and $195.6 million worth of bills, resulting in a $414.2 million surplus. That surplus is available to pay future bills, including $111.2 million in unfunded pension benefits and $5.3 million in unfunded retiree healthcare benefits. Each city taxpayer’s share of the surplus is $5,200, according to the study.

“There are very few U.S. cities that are free of bonded debt, and Irvine is one of them,” the report notes.
The report concludes that 64 of the 75 most-populous U.S. cities do not have enough money available to pay all of their bills, adding up to $335.4 billion in unfunded municipal debt. 

“Most of this debt comes from unfunded retiree benefit promises, such as pension and retiree healthcare debt,” according to the report. “This year, pension debt accounts for $210.7 billion, and other post-employment benefits—mainly retiree healthcare liabilities—totaled $119.5 billion.”

This isn’t the first time that Irvine has been given a top ranking in fiscal health and civic financial responsibility. Last year, The Fiscal Times gave Irvine a perfect score of 100 in ranking the fiscal strength of 116 U.S. cities with more than 200,000 in population. The city’s stellar score was based in large part on the $700 million of cash and investments on its balance sheet.

For a story on the ranking that ran last year, Irvine City News asked the report’s author Marc Joffe how economic growth, including new jobs, homes and office buildings, impacts fiscal health: “From a fiscal standpoint, growth is generally good,” Joffe responded. “New developments that generate revenue in excess of municipal service costs (which they generally do) should be welcomed.”

“A ranking like this reflects strong leadership and visionary planning,” Jim Doti told ICN. The renowned Chapman University economist, who holds the Donald Bren Distinguished Chair of Business and Economics at the university, said that, “For Irvine to attain a No. 1 raking in a national survey of the fiscal health of cities is a cause for celebration.”
​
With the new report confirming the outstanding fiscal health of the city, that celebration should continue, as should the growth-driven economic vitality of Irvine.