Irvine Vice Mayor Tammy Kim (c’mon, it’s Mayor Pro Tem anywhere else) and new Council member Dr. Kathleen Treseder have placed a discussion item on the city council agenda regarding a new city policy to overturn Mayor Farrah Khan’s appointment at City Selection Committee (CSC) — which requires a Mayor — in order to seat Kim for Irvine’s spot on the Orange County Transportation Agency (OCTA).
The pair cite Khan’s absence at the December 1, 2022 meeting of the CSC. Khan sent former Vice Mayor Anthony Kuo as her proxy (Kuo still held office at the time). The two are close and Kuo presumably had Khan’s recommendations and voted accordingly.
But Kim and Treseder want to enable a temporary policy change requiring a vote of the city council to direct how the city interacts with the CSC and, subvert Khan’s spot in OCTA. Kim has made no secret of her desire to serve on this agency which would put her on 14 committees or agencies this year to bolster her civic resume for a run for Mayor in 2024. This move is actually a conflict of interest so should it come to a vote, Kim should recuse herself…but she won’t. She’s still stung from the city council’s decision to move to expand the council and move to district elections, and her “idea” of a botanical garden for the Great Park — long on the books even before she arrived in Irvine — is now going to be a Veterans Memorial Park due to council member Agran’s efforts.
Here’s the memo: MetaViewer.php (granicus.com)
Kim really wants that OCTA seat but she currently has 13 other appointments.
- Irvine Child Care Project
- Irvine Community Land Trust
- Irvine Liaison and Coordinating Committee for IUSD
- Irvine Liaison and Coordinating Committee for TUSD
- Library Advisory Board of OC Library System
- OC Council of Governments
- OC Housing Authority Cities Advisory Committee
- OCPA
- Housing and Community Development Commission
- OCFA
- OC Mosquito and Vector Control District
- Southern California Association of Governments Regional Council
One source texted me to say “election denying and insurrection are the order of the day” when council members seek to undermine the mayor’s office based on who is sitting there.
Kim did a soft announcement of her intention to run for Mayor in 2024, even before Khan was sworn in for a second term. Kim oppose Agran, who has signaled he’s running in 2024 too — hence the animosity between the two. It’s disrespectful of Kim and Treseder to seek to alter leadership in other OC cities who chose Khan to serve on OCTA.
As for Kim’s stinging loss on the Veteran’s Memorial Park designation, I ask if she’s willing to disregard Irvine’s voters who have twice followed Agran’s leadership on establishing a Veteran’s Memorial Park at ARDA?
From Irvine Community News & Views:
…Councilmember Tammy Kim refused to support the construction plan until the words “Veterans Memorial Park” were removed.
Councilmember Kim spent several minutes complaining about Agran’s proposal being called a Veterans Memorial Park. Kim insisted that all of the elements in Agran’s plan — the control tower, planes, and military artifact displays; the Walk of Honor; the Great Memorial Meadow; and every other amenity honoring the former air station — should be referred to instead as a “botanical garden.”
This isn’t the first time that Councilmember Kim has railed against a proposed military-themed amenity at the Great Park. An uncomfortable exchange took place last year when Kim went after retired U.S. Marine Corps Brigadier General Mike Aguilar — representing the Flying Leathernecks Historical Foundation — after he presented a detailed plan for the proposed Flying Leathernecks Aviation Museum.
While her Council colleagues voted to approve General Aguilar’s proposal, Councilmember Kim aggressively challenged the plan saying she didn’t support a museum that included “military artifacts.”
During the January 10th meeting, Councilmember Kim took another swipe at the Flying Leathernecks Aviation Museum, saying that she has received “a lot” of calls from Irvine residents opposing the air museum. Ironically, Kim has never acknowledged the tens of thousands of Irvine residents who have signed petitions and gone to the polls in support of the Veterans Memorial Park.
Dude Dan, you sound like you have a thing for Kim. Reasonable/rational criticism requires you be equal in your critique of the mayor as well. She hasn’t really smelled like roses of late.
She steals ideas from other council members and claims they are hers. She is trying to wrangle a position on OCTA that she disrupts process for her personal ambition. She’s about promoting herself over public service.