Irvine Ca Elections

The City Council voted this week on the wording of three measures for the Nov. 5 election after several officials criticized the ballot language as confusing. The biggest of the three measures is a referendum on whether the Irvine Co. may go ahead with the proposed 3,850-home Westpark II community approved by the council last December.

Orange County cities sorted out election results Wednesday in several hot city council races that centered on open space issues, development of El Toro and political rivalries. In Irvine, two of three candidates picked by anti-airport mayor-elect Larry Agran succeeded in winning seats on the City Council, creating a majority block.

Petitioners hoping to force a special election to fill a vacant council seat submitted 5,600 signatures Monday to the city clerk's office. The signatures--about 1,000 more than required to call a special election in November--increases the likelihood that voters, rather than the City Council, will choose a successor to William A. (Art) Bloomer, who resigned from the council this month to accept a job in Virginia.

How much does it cost to run for City Council? In Irvine, that answer could range from not a penny to the price tag on a mid-range luxury car, depending on whom you ask. The 12 candidates running for council this year have spent from zero to $30,934 so far. Councilman Larry Agran has been the top spender, with challengers Christopher Gonzales and Savvas Roditis spending nothing, according to candidate statements filed last week at City Hall.

It was one of the longest election nights in this city's history, a white-knuckle, emotional roller coaster ride for mayoral candidates and longtime political rivals Sally Anne Sheridan and Larry Agran. At Agran's University Park home, once-jubilant supporters at his post-election party grew despondent as his early--but narrow--lead unexpectedly began slipping away.

A plan to ease traffic congestion around University High School is one of the first projects that probably will be postponed or canceled in the wake of a tax ballot measure's defeat this month, said trustees of the Irvine Unified School District. Braced for severe budget cuts, district officials have advised board members to decline the city's request to shoulder some of the costs of the $600,000 plan.

Six residents will compete to become the city's next mayor in the Nov. 3 election. The filing deadline was Wednesday. Altogether, 14 people are running for City Council, creating the most crowded ballot since 1976. Three of the 14 filed nomination papers Wednesday within hours of the deadline. Candidates who filed for mayor Wednesday are: Michael Ward, 46, a salesman and member of the Planning Commission, and David Fondots, 29, who owns and runs a telecommunications company.

Residents interested in making a last-minute decision to run for mayor or for one of two open City Council seats have another chance. With two incumbents not filing for reelection Friday, the deadline for submitting nomination papers for the November election has been extended to 5 p.m. Wednesday. When an incumbent doesn't run, the filing deadline for that seat is automatically extended five days to give newcomers a last chance to decide to run.

The next mayor of Irvine will almost certainly be someone who has never served on the City Council. Councilman Bill Vardoulis, who had been contemplating a run for mayor, said Monday he will bow out of city politics to spend more time with his business and family. Councilman Barry J. Hammond, who had gone as far as forming a fund-raising committee to run for mayor, has also decided he won't run because of the extra time the campaign and job would take.

Three residents picked up nomination papers Monday for the City Council and mayoral seats that will be chosen in the November election. Monday was the beginning of the filing period for residents running for the two council seats and the mayor's post on the Nov. 3 ballot. Candidates have until Aug. 7 to return nomination papers, although the deadline is automatically extended until Aug. 12 if an incumbent does not file for reelection.

In a sign of ongoing tensions in the Irvine school system, union leaders may soon ask teachers to take a no-confidence vote on the superintendent and a majority of school trustees. A memo recently distributed to union representatives at each Irvine school set Monday as the date for the group to discuss whether to hold a vote of the full union membership. Teachers union President Gail Rothman was on spring break and could not be reached for comment late Tuesday.

Irvine residents John and Carolyn Brossa aren't school activists. And they certainly don't care for higher taxes. But Irvine public schools have given a lot to their four grown children. So Wednesday was payback time. The day after a tax measure failed that would have brought $3 million a year into the district, the Brossas decided to pay their share anyhow. John Brossa, a carpenter, drove to nearby Bonita Canyon Elementary School and handed Principal Robin Beacham a personal check for $1,520.

Irvine's tax election provided a lesson in fractions Wednesday, as teachers struggled in the classroom to explain why 120 of them will have to leave their jobs. At Springbrook Elementary School, Kathy Calkins' third-grade class asked her to draw them a picture of what the two-thirds majority required for passage of the measure looks like. "This was hard for them to understand," Calkins said. "When we vote on things in our own classroom, like which game to play for P.E., the majority rules."

Teachers broke into tears Tuesday night as a tax to rescue the strapped Irvine schools failed, forcing the shutdown of arts, music and science enrichment programs and the swelling of class sizes in a premiere school district that has been the pride of the city. The measure drew 63.9% of the vote, nearly 3 percentage points short of the two-thirds needed for passage. More than 42% of the Irvine electorate cast ballots on the measure, a heavy turnout especially for a special election.

The stakes are considerably higher this time as Irvine voters head to the polls next week to once again cast ballots on a proposal to raise property taxes to help their struggling school district. After the failure of a similar measure in November, members of the Irvine Unified School District's Board of Education said they had no choice but to identify $5 million in budget cuts in case Measure A, the proposed $95-per-parcel tax, does not pass April 11.