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“Thank you! Irvine, Time for a Breath of Fresh Air! New Leadership, New Ideas!” 

 

                         Campaign Platform

Dear Friends and Neighbors,

 

Irvine is a good city, however, there is definitely room for improvement. For example, Irvine's ranking on Money Magazine's "Best Places to Live" list dropped from No. 6 in 2012 to No. 14 in 2014, and dropped again to No. 20 in 2016. The main reasons for this are the traffic problems and housing prices.

 

Like many Americans, I worked hard and realized my American dream. I am NOT a career politician. I am one of you, and I will be your voice in Irvine City government. Irvine started as a ranch with a family. I am lucky enough to be blessed with a family of my own. All of my children attend public schools in Irvine, and participate in Irvine Swim League.

 

I am running for the mayor of Irvine to make Irvine better. My campaign platform is one vision with three focuses. The vision I have for Irvine is to become a real first-class city while still maintaining its unique features such as having many parks and green spaces, nice architecture, and a relaxing family ranch feeling as well as being the safest city in the nation. My focuses are traffic, managed growth, and education. It is an honor for me to serve as the Green Ribbon Environmental Committee member for the City of Irvine.

 

My first name is Gang, so we use “Join Our Gang for a Better Irvine” as our slogan. Now you’ll never forget me.

 

Please vote for me on 11/6/18. I would be honored to have your vote. Irvine does not belong to just Republicans or Democrats, but belongs to all of us. Let us work together to make Irvine better.

 

As your mayor, I will:

  • Place Irvine and Irvine residents' interests first, as well as respect and promote cultural diversity. I have the courage to fight for you to ensure your interests are protected.

  • Use a comprehensive and holistic approach to alleviate the traffic problems that have plagued Irvine for the past decade.

  • Re-evaluate and revamp the Irvine Master Plan to meet the needs of Irvine's current population and create smart and sustainable growth.

  • Use Irvine's strategic location at the Pacific Rim, and fully take advantage of the opportunities created by the current historical development trend and face any potential challenges with wisdom.

  • Make Irvine a more business friendly city by attracting high quality investment and human resources to Irvine, and create more high-paying jobs.

  • Support small businesses.

  • Ensure fiscal responsibility.

  • Ensure no new taxes (including back door taxes) are applied without voters’ approval.

  • Continue to keep Irvine safe.

  • Support green buildings and sustainable development.

  • Preserve Irvine's environment.

  • Promote a healthier lifestyle.

  • Improve education by working with your school board representatives to start the process of class sizes reduction, increase the number of APAAS classes to meet Irvine residents' demands, and improve the libraries.

  • Support senior services.

  • Improve Irvine's overall competitive edge.

 

Let me elaborate on some of the aforementioned key points:

 

During the 1960s, my fellow architect, William Pereira, proposed the idea of incorporating Irvine as a new city, created the Master Plan for Irvine, and introduced his vision of a city and university (UCI) growing together.  This plan has been successful for a long time. However, after 50 years, the current population of Irvine has grown to about 270,000. We have to re-evaluate and revamp the City of Irvine's Master Plan to meet the needs of the current and projected population. As an architect with extensive training in urban and regional planning, master planning, architecture, and landscape architecture, I am a perfect fit to lead this effort.

 

Irvine has outgrown its infrastructure's capacities. This is one main reason for all the traffic congestion we have experienced over the past decade. The Irvine city government realizes this problem, as have previous governments; as a result, they have been trying to develop a solution. However, their solutions are passive, piece-meal, and limited to only making physical improvements. It is a good start but can be improved.

 

The first thing I'll do when elected is to lead the effort of adopting a comprehensive and holistic approach to alleviating the traffic problems. For example, in addition to widening roads and synchronizing traffic signals, we can adjust the city's Master Plan to distribute the traffic generating businesses more reasonably and reduce the sources of the traffic congestion; we can also ask Irvine businesses to provide the option of flexible working hours for their employees, and stagger work hours citywide to alleviate the rush hour traffic. Measures like these will greatly alleviate the traffic congestion and improve the quality of life for Irvine residents.

 

Over the past 100 years, European immigration to the East Coast has largely fueled the development of the United States. Immigrants have brought investments, skills, and cultural influences to the East Coast and have helped to create some successful cities, such as Boston and Washington, D.C. During the next 100 years, the development of the United States will be mainly in the West Coast. The City of Irvine cannot shut its door completely and ignore this historical development trend. As your city council, I'll use Irvine's strategic location at the Pacific Rim, and fully take advantage of the opportunities created by the current historical development trend and face any potential challenges with wisdom; further, I will draw on the city’s cultural diversity to improve Irvine.

 

I'll make Irvine a more business friendly city by attracting high quality investment and human resources to Irvine. This will create high paying jobs for the 21st century, thus increasing the average household income and property value.

 

People compete with each other, companies compete, and cities compete with each other too. Irvine should not lose to other cities in this global economic and the related competition.

 

Most people bought a home in Irvine because of its good schools. However, the class sizes for Irvine schools are too large. For example, a class often has 33 students for 4th to 6th grades. With a larger class, it is hard for the teachers to pay adequate attention to each student. The main reason for larger class sizes is because of the limited state funding for education. As your city council, I will work with your school board representatives to start the process of class size reduction, work to increase the number of APAAS classes to meet Irvine residents' demands, and improve the libraries. I will work with the mayor and other city councils as we go to Sacramento to request more funding for our schools and also work with private firms, residents and IPSF to start to raise money toward this goal. I will also have the city staff evaluate the Irvine city ordinance to require all new schools to be planned and designed to have the capacity to reduce class sizes, instead of continuing to add portables whenever we need to add a classroom.

 

I would be honored to have your vote. Join me in restoring the Irvine government to "government of the people, by the people, for the people." Please vote for me and ask all your friends and relatives to vote for me. Together, we can make Irvine a better city for YOU! May God bless America! May God bless Irvine!

 

Please feel free to contact me if you have any concern. You can reach me at info@GangChenUSA.com

 

P.S. -- If you have not registered to vote, do it now. Your vote and your voice are very important!

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E-mail: info@GangChenUSA.com

Tel: (949)-872-5359

WeChat ID: aa_gangchen

微信:aa_gangchen

                                                                          

Paid for by Gang Chen for City Mayor 2020, FPPC# 1414923      

 

Here are some photos from our campaign trail:

Bill Cook shook hands with Gang Chen in front of the Irvine City Hall: Gang Chen spoke in Irvine City Council meeting to support the win-win landswap proposal presented by Bill Cook, the leader for the veterans.

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​Videos of Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ):

After talking with thousands of voters, we have summarized the following frequently asked questions (FAQ) and our answers. Each question is asked and responded to using a very short video. For your convenience, we also place our written response at the description of each video and at our blog:

http://gangchenusa.blogspot.com/2016/06/frequently-asked-questions-faq.html

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Videos of Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) :

1. What is your vision for Irvine?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ttPdiL4LQnc

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2. Have you held any kind of public office before? Why should we vote for you?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tXp5uo6qugM

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3. Why do you use "Join Our Gang for a Better Irvine!" as your campaign slogan?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=axRJrPwtgNw

 

4. What is your position on the veterans' cemetery in Irvine?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PFUHuEZApx8

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5. Are you going to represent ALL people in Irvine?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zru5Fxw1e-E

 

6. What is the progress on the Great Park Project?

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rAS0djkhMXM
 

Photos from Our Campaign Trail:
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