IRVINE : Agran Speaks Today on Overpass Issue

The Irvine Co., despite its denials of political involvement in the city’s affairs, is backing candidates and trying to influence the outcome of a controversial overpass project, Mayor Larry Agran charges.

Agran, who has frequently battled with the development company and said he will discuss his latest charges today, scheduled a press conference after the Irvine World News, a local newspaper owned by the company, chastised the mayor in a Jan. 25 editorial.

In the editorial, the paper reported that the company denies fielding candidates to oppose Agran and other council members. The company also denies hiring political consultants to aid the candidates, the paper said.

The editorial, which was not signed, suggested that Agran launched the “opening salvo” of the city’s “silly season” when he mailed out a recent letter to constituents criticizing the Irvine Co. for what he calls its meddling in city political affairs.

Agran, however, defended his mailer and criticized both the paper and the company.

“These denials of political involvement are misleading, to be polite, and outright lies, to be more direct,” Agran said in an interview Monday. The mayor added that he intends to produce written documentation substantiating his allegations at today’s press conference.

According to Agran, the Irvine Co. is actively supporting Councilwoman Sally Anne Sheridan, who has already announced her candidacy for mayor this year. She and Agran will vie for the mayor’s post in the June 5 election; two council seats will also be up for election.

Sheridan has brushed aside Agran’s criticisms, saying that she receives no more support than he does from the company.

Dawn McCormick, a company spokeswoman, on Monday reiterated the company’s position that it does not contribute to the campaigns of local candidates. McCormick refrained from further comment, however, saying that company officials preferred to wait until after Agran’s press conference to respond.

Still, some company officials are already playing a public role in the debate surrounding the Yale overpasses, a pair of narrow bridges that span Interstate 405 and the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe Railway tracks. In a recent public letter, Ray Watson, vice chairman of the Irvine Co., defended expansion of the overpasses and accused Agran of misleading the public on the issue.

The overpasses are now restricted to pedestrians and emergency vehicles. An initiative that proposes widening and opening them to vehicle traffic will go before Irvine voters later this year.

Agran had accused the Irvine Co. of backing a petition drive supporting expanded use of the overpasses, claiming that the company is “anti-neighborhood.”

“The mayor’s accusation seemed totally out of place and frankly, by all evidence, just plain wrong,” Watson said in his letter.

Sheridan is the only council member who supports vehicular use of the bridges, and Agran has vigorously opposed it. Many local political observers expect the Yale overpass issue to be an important point of debate between Sheridan and Agran in the mayor’s race, which comes to a vote June 5, on the same ballot as the overpass issue.