Candidate Close Up 2024: Larry Agran
After over 30 years serving on Irvine City Council, Larry Agran is running once again for Irvine Mayor. Photo credit Larry Agran
Larry Agran is no stranger to Irvine politics. With a career spanning over 30 years as a member of the Irvine City Council, including a decade as the city’s mayor, Agran’s impact on Irvine is undeniable. As he steps forward once again to run for mayor, Agran is focused on his vision for a master-planned community that can adapt to the demands of a crowded future.
“Here we are, approaching 60 years of master planning and really completing our city from the moment of incorporation to the final build-out,” Agran reflected on a recent phone call. “That represents an extraordinary community achievement, and I've been privileged to have had a major hand in that for most of the period.”
Agran views the upcoming phases of Irvine’s growth warily. As a current City Councilmember, he voted against the August 13th City Council agenda item to comply with the state’s housing mandates. Irvine has been ordered to build 57,000 new housing units in Irvine between now and 2045.
“I don't think it deals properly with affordable housing, which we should be addressing first,” said Agran, pointing out that Irvine has already built more affordable housing than all other cities in Orange County combined. “We have over 5,000 affordable housing units right now. We need to double that number to about 10,000. The best way to do that is to work out a deal with the Irvine Company and get the state's blessing to write down rents on existing apartment units. This would almost instantly provide affordable housing on a meaningful scale without having to build tens of thousands of upscale housing units, which, frankly, Irvine doesn't need more of.”
While Agran worries about Irvine’s affordable housing, he said there is a larger problem looming over the city.
“Our biggest challenge is one we've had for decades: traffic,” said Agran. “Our response has not been satisfactory, in my judgment.”
Agran laments that an initiative to build Irvine’s light rail was narrowly defeated back in 2003, during one of Agran’s previous terms as Irvine’s Mayor.
“We had our opportunity in the early 2000s to be part of the centerline system, which I think would have been terrific,” Agran said of Orange County’s light rail system. “It would have come through Santa Ana to UCI and out to Irvine Spectrum. It would have been a big step forward. But that opportunity was missed, rejected by Irvine voters in a close vote in the early 2000s.”
Since then, traffic congestion has only worsened. The city has taken what Agran described as a 1980’s model for traffic improvement: building more roads. Agran said he wants to improve traffic while allowing for future growth. His wish list for alternative solutions includes the Swyft Cities Whoosh® autonomous elevated cable and rail mobility system. Swyft Cities, a Google spin-off transportation start-up, offers electric vehicles with advanced autonomous technologies that move independently along an elevated network of fixed cables and rails.
Rendering of a city using Swyft Cities Whoosh transportation. Image credit Swyft Cities
“Vehicles are on-demand like an Uber, and systems can be built at a cost far below conventional transit projects,” explained Leonard Lee, Head of Communications for Swyft Cities. “All trips are fast and nonstop with no stops at intermediate stations.”
Although not yet operational, a pilot program for Whoosh is currently underway in Queenstown, New Zealand.
“The beauty of that system is that we don't need to rely on new right-of-way to do it,” said Agran. “Instead, this is an overhead system that will use existing roadways, installed above them in a way that can move people around the city. It could revolutionize things.”
Another way in which Agran has sought to revolutionize Irvine is his long-standing advocacy for district elections. The 2024 election will be Irvine’s first district election since the measure was approved by voters in March. City Councilmembers will now be elected to represent one of Irvine’s newly drawn six districts, instead of representing the entire city. Mayors will still be elected by and represent all of Irvine. Agran said his support for district-based elections is rooted in his desire to see city government address the diverse needs of Irvine’s residents.
“Council members will start to pay attention to their specific districts and the specific problems in those districts,” Agran explained.
During Agran’s tenure as a civil servant, he said he has observed a coarsening in the political climate. At 79 years old, he said he faces ageism and skepticism about his ability to lead in a rapidly changing world.
“Despite my years of experience, I don’t feel 79, and I don’t think I look it either,” Agran said. “Compared to my colleagues, I have more energy, stamina, and engagement in public policy issues.”
Whether tackling traffic, advocating for affordable housing, or ensuring that the city’s governance is more responsive, Agran’s platform is built on a legacy of service and a commitment to shaping Irvine’s future. For Agran, this isn’t just about another term in office. It’s about finishing what he helped start and guiding Irvine into its next chapter.
“All this can be done, but it takes a lot of planning, discipline, and an evolution of lifestyle to some extent,” said Agran. “But it can be done, and that's the future.”
Irvinite Questions
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Irvinite Questions 〰️
Read Agran’s answers to some questions posted by members of the Irvine subreddit.
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The answer is yes. We take traffic enforcement and public safety laws very seriously. We spend a tremendous amount of money on it and have a strong enforcement record, but we always need to do more. Actually, the most serious violent crime in Irvine is reckless driving. We take life and crime very seriously in this city.
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We’re ramping up activities at the Great Park, including special transportation. We’re investing in those systems. As we stage more concerts, we’ll be getting people from the Transportation Center to the Great Park via special transit. It should start coming online, if not next summer, then the summer after.
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After protracted negotiations, we’re taking over the library system from the Orange County Public Library district. That means people will start to see significant physical and service improvements in our branch libraries here in Irvine. We’re also building a major library at the Great Park, likely to open in about four years. It will be exclusively controlled by the city of Irvine. We’ll maintain a relationship with the Orange County Library district, but the system will be our own, and we hope it will be as good as what they have in Newport Beach and other communities with their own systems.
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I’ve opposed the Orange County Power Authority and our involvement with it. The promise was lower electricity costs and 100% renewables, but both promises have been broken. We’re paying the highest electricity rates in Orange County, with no evidence of more renewables. This has been a failed and costly experiment for Irvine residents. I advocate for our disengagement from the Orange County Power Authority, and I’ll push for that if I’m mayor and have a city council inclined in the same direction.
We need to take serious steps toward climate action that produces real results. I’m advocating for planting 200,000 trees in the next five years, which would increase our tree canopy by almost 50%. That’s an important step. Another is the installation of solar rooftops—about 5,000 a year instead of the current 1,000. I plan to step that up dramatically if given the opportunity.
We currently have about 500,000 trees in the city, but I’d like to see us increase our tree canopy with another 200,000. It takes a while for them to grow, but the payoff is enormous—cooling our city, cleaning the air, beautifying the community, and adding value in so many ways. That’s the program I’ve been pushing forward.
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