Candidate Close Up 2024: Ayn Craciun
Ayn Craciun is an environmental activist running to represent District 4. Photo credit Ayn Craciun
Ayn Craciun's journey to running for City Council in District 4 is rooted in her personal experiences. Spending time in foster care as a child instilled in her a commitment to creating a secure community.
“I had a very chaotic childhood, and throughout those years, my guiding North Star was to build a safe, normal, healthy life for myself someday,” Craciun shared in a recent Zoom interview. “Irvine is where I’ve been able to do that and I want that to be possible for everyone.”
As a Quail Hill resident of over 20 years, Craciun brings her experience in community advocacy to her candidacy. She wants to address the pressing issues facing Irvine, particularly those impacting residents of District 4: “I have a long history of delivering results on issues that have impacted our community.”
Craciun's foray into politics began in 2015 when she said that three children in her neighborhood were diagnosed with brain tumors. She discussed her concerns with a friend, who claimed the brain tumors could be related to pesticides used in routine landscaping.
“I got very mobilized and started raising concerns,” she recalled.
This concern propelled her to rally other Irvinites to demand lower pesticide usage in community areas. The successful adoption of an organic landscaping policy was a testament to her effectiveness.
“We got that policy adopted in just a few months of active campaigning,” said Craciun. “I believe that all Irvine residents deserve a representative who focuses on solving their problems.”
Public Safety
Craciun has observed an increasing concern among residents about residential burglaries, property crimes, and retail theft in District 4. While she lauds the Irvine Police Department for being “head and shoulders above many of our neighboring police departments,” she said she feels more can be done.
“We need to feel safe in our homes and on the streets,” she asserted, calling for a greater police presence in the area. “It would make sense to have some sort of substation down here in this part of the city. We're just so far away from [IPD’s primary station]. It seems reasonable.”
She also called for improved infrastructure to protect pedestrians and cyclists.
“The most likely way you're going to get killed or injured in Irvine—other than by disease—is by a car, especially for young people,” Craciun said. “There are approximately 37 traffic-related deaths and serious injuries each year from car crashes in Irvine, and that number is rising.”
Craciun attributed this problem, in part, to the master plan of arterial highways that was established by the OC Transit Authority many years ago. But she has suggestions to fix it.
“We need better infrastructure at our intersections that enables people to cross the street safely on foot,” said Craciun. “We need to slow cars down at certain junctures and stop illegal speeding and street racing.”
The passion Craciun feels for her community is an essential part of her argument for why District 4 voters should choose her as their representative. Her commitment to community service drives her make a difference for her neighbors.
“I have a proven track record of delivering results that improve our quality of life,” said Craciun. “I have a long history of delivering results on issues that have impacted our community. And I want to continue to do that for residents of the fourth district.”
School Traffic
Another of Craciun’s primary concerns is school transit. She referenced the Irvine City Council's decision to allow apartment development on a site designated for a new elementary school for the newer Spectrum adjacent families in District 4. The decision has had serious implications for traffic and safety.
“We cannot have leaders who make these decisions in a vacuum without contemplating the impacts,” Craciun said, underscoring the need for comprehensive school bus programs and permanent funding solutions to alleviate congestion around schools. “Residents are tired of the traffic. They're not happy with the development because of the traffic that it brings. So we need to ensure that whenever possible people have ways to get around by walking, biking, or using transit, especially for schools.”
Craciun’s solution to this problem is simple and familiar.
“We're going to need a comprehensive school bus program,” explained Craciun, who noted that Irvine schools outside of District 4 are facing the same issue. “At many elementary schools, the line into the parking lot is wrapped around the block. It's a big problem.”
Housing Affordability
“Cost of housing is a leading issue for folks in Irvine,” said Craciun. “I really want to provide more starter homes for purchase rather than apartments to enable families and individuals to climb the economic ladder and create the American dream.”
Craciun said homeownership would help more families establish themselves permanently in Irvine with greater stability. She is committed to negotiating with developers to ensure that new housing projects include a substantial percentage of affordable options.
“When the developers want something, there's always a negotiation,” said Craciun. “I would just make that part of the negotiations. A high percentage of affordable housing enables our teachers and firefighters and police to live in the city that they serve.”
Irvinite Questions
〰️
Irvinite Questions 〰️
Read Craciun’s answers to some questions posted by members of the Irvine subreddit.
-
A uniform complaint that I've heard from many residents is traffic. Residents are tired of the congestion, and they’re not happy with the development because of the traffic it brings. Many of our neighborhoods are not built to accommodate public transit, unfortunately. But some are, and we have the iConnect route, which has been a successful bus service that we should expand. I've taken it, and it's great, although it doesn't come to Quail Hill quite enough. I think that’s a great place to start.
Metrolink frequency is going to double starting next month in October, just a couple of days here. Improving connections to the rail facility would be great. Hopefully, we can also build connections to the airport, making it easy for people to get around.
-
E-bikes are a very popular issue. Last year, the city established an education program that requires middle school and high school students who want to ride their E-bike to school and leave it there at an IUSD school to complete a training program. I think it needs to be expanded into a multi-day program. There is a test currently, but I’ve heard that the students don’t necessarily pay much attention in class. I just think it needs to be more comprehensive and include on-road training in addition to the classroom part. That would be very valuable. There are so many valuable classes that the city offers. When my kids were little, I took them to various city classes all the time. It was like an absolute lifeline. We should do that for E-bikes as well. So that’s the education piece.
We also need better enforcement. Many of these E-bikes that people complain about are not street legal. According to California law, if it goes over 27 miles an hour, it’s not a bike; it’s a moped, and it needs a license plate and a driver’s license to operate. Therefore, it cannot be legally operated on sidewalks. I think those vehicles should be impounded, and we should probably have an education campaign around what constitutes a legal E-bike.
Infrastructure is the third piece of that. We need protected bike lanes because many residents are unhappy about being on the sidewalk with some of these E-bikes. When I'm on my E-bike, I usually turn it off and walk it when passing pedestrians, but I don’t think we need rules around that. It’s perfectly safe, but folks should slow down when passing pedestrians because it can be scary for them.
So, we need better infrastructure to allow E-bikes to be separate from pedestrians. That would be very helpful. It needs to be physically separated because just putting a line of paint down is not adequate. We should prioritize areas where we’re seeing the most E-bike usage and the most complaints about it. I feel like more of the complaints are coming from the Great Park area.
-
I support the establishment of the Orange County Maintenance Facility, which is important for increasing the frequency of rail transit to Irvine. The noise will be almost nil. It’s an indoor space built for maintaining the trains. My understanding is that it will be screened behind bushes. Those plans have been long-standing.
My position on OCTA adding an extra lane on I-5 is that it has never been demonstrated to alleviate traffic. Additional lanes cause what’s called induced demand, so for a few months, you’ll see a reduction until people become accustomed to that level of capacity on the freeway. Then, you’ll return to the same levels of congestion you had before. I think it’s better to implement other improvements because it’s hugely expensive—hundreds of millions of dollars—and it takes up a huge amount of space. They would have to expand into neighborhoods, which isn’t good and increases noise and pollution. Focusing on rail is better.
-
I was an advocate for banning leaf blowers several years ago. I kick-started the movement, so I absolutely support it and am glad it has gone into effect.
It was supposed to be implemented first for larger landscaping companies, so they shouldn't be using gas-powered blowers. The larger companies definitely should not. There was a provision allowing small business owners or individuals who own their own leaf blowers a little more time to transition. The timeline for those requirements should be coming up soon.
-
We have the organic landscaping policy for city parks, but for HOAs, it’s not possible because of the preempted pesticide policy that has been implemented statewide. Now, Irvine could apply lobbying resources at the state level to change that but that's a significant undertaking. But we do not use glyphosate on city property.
Find more 2024 Election coverage here!