IRVINE : International Affairs Program Adopted

This city, known for turning global issues into local ordinances, has embarked on a new international affairs program over the objections of Councilwoman Sally Anne Sheridan.

In a program adopted by the City Council on Tuesday, the city will establish a nonprofit Irvine Sister City Foundation, provide international trade assistance to local businesses and help establish a nonprofit foundation to aid in the reunification of immigrants and refugees with family members around the world.

“We have a lot to learn from other people,” said Mayor Larry Agran, who returned this week from Hermosillo, Mexico, after spending five days talking with officials there about the possibility of establishing a sister-city relationship. In April, Agran accompanied state Sen. Art Torres (D-Los Angeles) on a trip to Vietnam as part of the family-reunification effort.

The council allocated a total of $54,000 for its international affairs program Tuesday--$32,000 for staff support of the Irvine Sister City Foundation, $12,000 for a program to develop import-export trade assistance, and $10,000 for seed money for a statewide Family Reunification Foundation. The money comes from $110,000 budgeted last summer for the program during the 1989-91 two-year fiscal period.

Sheridan, however, who has announced plans to run against Agran for mayor in June, criticized what she described as “spending any more local tax dollars on political agendas thinly disguised as humanitarian efforts.”

“This is local government,” Sheridan said, reading a three-page statement. “We’ve got local problems to solve.”

The global-versus-local argument will be a major part of Sheridan’s campaign for mayor, she said.

Several Irvine residents and professionals testified before the council in support of all parts of the program. University High School teacher Fred Niditch, for example, called the sister-city program “an unparalleled opportunity to relate to . . . a Mexican city which is a vibrant state capital.” Earlier this year, Irvine set up a another sister-city relationship with Tsukuba, Japan.

Richard King, president of King International Group, an Irvine management consulting firm, said, “Like it or not, Irvine is a transnational city today.”

More than 600 Irvine firms are either active in international affairs or wish to be involved in them, Agran said.

In moving testimony on the Family Reunification Foundation, an effort being launched through the Legislature, Irvine resident Duc Le--a Vietnamese native whose wife was recently reunited with her Vietnamese family after 14 years--praised the work of the city and the foundation.

“I came to Irvine because it was a friendly and understanding city, understanding the importance of family reunification,” Le said.

That testimony prompted a suggestion from Councilwoman Paula Werner that the city had been getting a bad rap for some of its efforts.

“The words ‘pro-family’ have been bandied about in this city recently,” Werner said. “I consider this (program) very pro-family.”

Werner was referring to a hotly contested November city election on Measure N that amended the city’s controversial Human Rights Ordinance, which barred discrimination on the basis of race, sex, age or sexual preference. In a very close election, voters struck the sexual preference portion from the ordinance.