Irvine Mayor Farrah Khan was sworn into a second term during a ceremony at City Hall on Tuesday, Dec. 13, along with newly elected Councilmember Kathleen Treseder and longtime Councilmember Larry Agran.
Khan was first elected as mayor in 2020, after serving a two-year stint on the City Council, where she was the first Muslim and the first woman of color to be elected.
Among her top priorities are affordable housing and the launch of Irvine’s transit vision pilot program. The program is a study commissioned by the city to look at options to address traffic and other community transportation needs.
Treseder, who was endorsed by Rep. Katie Porter and ran on a climate change-centered platform, was sworn in by a representative of the Orange County Buddhist Church Tuesday evening.
“What I really want to prioritize is moving forward on Irvine’s development of our climate action and adaptation plans that has been ongoing for about a year now,” Treseder said. “It’s been going very slowly. I don’t quite understand why, but I would like to get it moving again.”
Khan, Agran and Treseder also plan to focus on the future of the All American Asphalt plant — the topic of a planned closed session meeting on Tuesday, Dec. 15.
As city officials weigh options with the plant, including a potential relocation, they have turned to outside legal counsel. Khan said she wants to ensure the steps taken are legal, saying that is the “biggest hurdle that we’ve been facing.”
Although the City Council is nonpartisan, it has a Democratic supermajority for the first time in a decade. However, the Democrats said, their viewpoints still vary.
“Local political involvement is one area where you can be free of partisanship, and that’s the way it should be,” said Agran. “Local issues for the most part are not partisan issues. I hope and expect we will be operating in that regard.”
Agran, who has served on the City Council at various times since 1978, was sworn in by his son. He served as a council member for the last two years but resigned on Dec. 5 so he could seek reelection in 2026 instead of being subjected to term limits.
Council members Mike Carroll and Tammy Kim were not on the ballot this year.
Kim wants to prioritize job creation and affordable housing and continue Irvine’s development as a center of innovation. In recent years, the city has become a burgeoning tech hub.
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