The Associated Students of UCI (ASUCI) hosted two debates for the Irvine City Council candidates at the Crystal Cove Auditorium in the Student Center on Oct. 8.
The event, ahead of the general election on Nov. 5, included a debate between candidates from District 2 — Gang Chen, William Go and Jeff Starke — and Ayn Craciun from District 4. District 4 candidate and council incumbent Mike Carroll was not in attendance. A second debate between candidates from District 1 — Jackie Kan, Jeff Kitchen and Melinda Liu — and District 3 — Tom Chomyn and Jing Sun — followed.
This year’s general election will be the first with voting districts after Irvine residents approved the establishment of six districts in the city and expanded the council to seven members in March 2024. Of the six districts, District 1 includes most of North Irvine, and District 2 takes up a portion of East Irvine and The Great Park. District 3 is located in Northwest Irvine and includes Irvine High School, while District 4 encompasses a portion of South Irvine. UCI is located in District 6 and will have a chance to elect their first district-dedicated council member in 2026, along with District 5.
According to Kylie Jones, ASUCI external vice president and fourth-year public health policy major, one of ASUCI’s goals in hosting the debates is to promote civic engagement among UCI students. Through hosting candidates in debates, Jones spoke to the importance of involving communities in local politics.
“Specifically with the forums, we really try to make sure that we are bringing our candidates onto our campus because, at the end of the day, we really want to make sure they are not only held responsible to our local and greater Irvine community but … also our campus,” Jones told New University. “It’s just given us a really good way to interact with our city governments.”
Candidates did not know the questions prior to the debate and were provided by Jones, who acted as the moderator. While different questions were asked during each of the debates, they all focused on major issues facing the city.
Affordable housing was a prominent topic during the night. During the debate between candidates from Districts 2 and 4, all candidates seemed to support creating more affordable housing to cater to young families and students. Chen and Craciun supported the ideas of building smaller housing units or starter homes, and District 2 candidates Starke and Go suggested allocating a portion of housing to students.
“We should allocate [as much housing] as we can to affordability, in terms of providing it for new graduate students or … working people,” Go said. “I think that diligence in planning and making sure we keep building as we go through the years is the only solution [that we have if] we’re going to resolve as much of this problem as we can.”
Another topic of concern was the specific strategies to advance climate-sustainable infrastructure within the districts to help Irvine achieve its goal of carbon neutrality by 2030. While championing different strategies, all candidates in the debate between Districts 1 and 3 seemed to support the carbon neutrality goal. Kitchen supported expanding a rail system throughout Irvine and its major areas, while Chomyn proposed implementing a $5,000 rebate for residents who purchase solar panels. Liu, of District 1, commented on maintaining environmental justice and supporting businesses while implementing policy.
“What we need to do is not only achieve the goal of becoming carbon neutral; we also need to make sure that we are achieving environmental justice,” Liu said. “So we’re not leaving anybody behind by making sure that it stays affordable for everybody and it is not punitive to businesses, and we’re not leaving any workers working in any fossil fuel industry behind and leaving them without a job.”
District 2 and 4 candidates were asked about how they intended to support UCI commuter students in their district, given that 57% of UCI undergraduates commute to campus, according to Jones. Go, Chen and Craciun all advocated for an improved public transportation system, and Starke suggested the idea of regularly scheduled town hall meetings geared toward high school and college students.
“I would like to have people [who are] college-aged represented in our government,” Starke said. “As a city council member, you are able to appoint a lot of people to different commissions, and I think having a young voice in our government is very important. A lot of the decisions we are making today … are decisions that are going to shape the city 10, 15 or 20 years down the road, so it’s important that the people who are going to bear the outcome of those decisions have a voice in how they’re made.”
According to Jones, increasing awareness about local government and encouraging students to engage in greater city politics is key to ensuring that students will make informed decisions about their representation.
“We’re really making sure that we’re getting students out there; we’re getting community members out there and making sure that folks are able to interface with their potential lawmakers and policymakers,” Jones told New University. “[We want to] really make sure that they are not only informed about what their policies are but … that they are able to make informed choices when it comes to this election.”
ASUCI will also be hosting Irvine Mayoral Debates on Oct. 16 at 6 p.m. at the Crystal Cove Auditorium. UCI students, faculty and staff are encouraged to attend.
More information on Irvine’s Nov. 5 general municipal election can be found here.
Grace Hefner is a News Intern for the fall 2024 quarter. She can be reached at ghefner@uci.edu.
Edited by Beatrice Lee and Jaheem Conley