A Candidate’s Character Plays a Role in Irvine Mayor Campaign

Larry Agran and his coalition, including Cameron Cosgrove and Mary Ann Gaido, have claimed that they stand for reducing development and for fiscal conservatism. The legislative record of the Agran coalition, especially with respect to transportation issues, shows that these claims are not true.

To date the Agran coalition has squandered over $3 million of Irvine street improvement funds in an effort to increase development in the Irvine Business Complex.

Agran and his loyalists believe that people should use mass transit instead of cars. They know that most people are not going to voluntarily give up the personal mobility of car use, so they have devised a strategy to force people out of their cars. This entails creating unbearable congestion by approving more development. Concurrently, they are resisting the construction of needed street and highway improvements.

Cameron Cosgrove has sensed the voter hostility to the Urban Village project and now claims that he is opposed to it. However, this does not alter the fact that he voted for the wasteful misuse of transportation funds for this project.

Before all else, our political leaders must be honest with us. The Agran coalition won’t tell the voters what they really stand for. They do not deserve our votes in the coming election.

CRAIG S. NEUSTAEDTER

Irvine