Irvine’s Stand on Threats to Ozone

The purpose of this letter is to express concern about the current political activities of the mayor of Irvine and several members of the Irvine City Council. They have made public statements concerning radically reducing the budget of the Department of Defense, they passed an ordinance broadening civil rights, and now they are discussing special rules designed to protect the ozone layer of the earth’s atmosphere. A very ambitious project for any city council!

Even if we concede that the council members are acting out of the noblest motives, it is clear that they are greatly exceeding their mandate when they concern themselves with national issues. We have elected President Bush and Rep. C. Christopher Cox (R-Newport Beach) to deal with such matters. It only causes confusion when cities formulate their own policies on national defense, universal civil rights and environmental issues that really call for international agreement. Are we going to have an Irvine policy on NATO, Central America, South Africa and immigration?

We elected Mayor Larry Agran and the other council members to look after local problems, such as zoning, streets, parks, police and fire protection. We voted for them because we believed they were competent in these matters, and because we more or less agreed with the positions they had taken on the local issues. It does not seem right that they should take their election to the local office as a mandate to meddle in broader matters that are properly in the purview of our national government.

Most of us would differ with them on the national issues, and it is highly unlikely that they would receive the vote of the majority of the residents of Irvine if they decided to run for Congress. As a matter of fact, we should already be asking if we made the right choice by electing to the council people who do not find running the city challenging enough and intrude into the domain of other branches of the government.

BELA A. LENGYEL

Irvine