With more than a dozen candidates running for a pair of seats on the Irvine City Council, there  are plenty of things to take into consideration when choosing from such a deep pool of Irvine candidates.

In the event that Farrah Khan is elected mayor of Irvine, a third council seat will open. The vacant City Council seat will be decided by the candidate who receives the most votes — after the two seats are filled.  

John Park

While we have formally endorsed Christina Shea for mayor and Mike Carroll for City Council, there are a couple of other candidates for City Council that caught our attention and deserve an honorable mention: John Park and Diana Jiang.

John Park is a 
21-year resident of Irvine, with experience as a vice president at two Fortune 1000 companies. One of his main priorities is to maintain a strong relationship with the Irvine Police Department. As a business owner, and a member of the Irvine Finance Commission, Park understands where Irvine is financially and has experience well-suited to guide Irvine into a stable economic future. Additionally, Park believes that the veterans cemetery in Irvine should be built but with funding from the state government.  

Diana Jiang

Irvine City Council candidate Diana Jiang shares Park’s stance on the veterans cemetery, as building without state funding would be a burden to city taxpayers, she says. Jiang is a 26-year resident of Irvine, running to be an independent voice on the council. A mother of two, she is highly involved within the community, volunteering for the Irvine Children Youth, Family Advisory Committee and the UCI Social Science Foundation. Professionally, Jiang is a software engineer who believes Irvine is poised to become the economic hub of Orange County or “Silicon Orange.” Jiang said she will use her professional expertise to bring innovation and develop technology into city government, by way of app-based software, to better prepare Irvine for the future and create a more open and transparent government. 

About Irvine Weekly’s Endorsement Process: Irvine Weekly undergoes a thorough study of the positions and backgrounds of each of the candidates running for City Council and mayor. As part of that process, we send questionnaires to all of the candidates to better understand their beliefs, values, vision for the city and the policies they would prescribe if elected. Irvine Weekly believes that Irvine is one of the most desirable places to live in Orange County because of its safety, quality education, strong business climate, commitment to open space and the environment and its diversity. Those guiding principles influence who we endorse for elected office here. We also realize that not everyone in our community shares the same beliefs or political positions, which is why we also provide information about all the candidates running so that each member of our community can make up their own mind about the candidates and support the candidate that best shares their values. We also welcome feedback and letters to the editor which may be submitted at IrvineWeekly.com.

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