Irvine Was Betrayed by City Officials

Thanks for publishing Stephen Smith’s revealing column about the Irvine City Council’s mismanagement and loss of millions of dollars in taxpayer funds. (“Easy Money’s Just a Fairy Tale--but the Sky Really Was Falling,” Dec. 18).

In plain words, Smith described how a reckless city management team led a foolish and negligent City Council to borrow $62 million--without vote approval--in order to make a high-risk bet on the Orange County investment pool.

When the dice stopped rolling, city officials had lost nearly $20 million of the $62 million borrowed in this single irresponsible transaction. By my calculation, that’s a loss of about $500 for every Irvine household. Of course, Irvine’s total stake in the (county) pool was over $200 million; the total loss was $56 million, or more than $1,300 for every Irvine household.

Irvine’s once-proud reputation for sound fiscal management is now ruined. City Manager Paul O. Brady Jr. is either lying or stupid when he says there will be no reduction in public services in Irvine. There are bound to be service cuts, layoffs and increased taxes and fees. There is only one answer for this unprecedented betrayal of public trust in Irvine: City Manager Brady and the City Council should resign immediately!

BEVERLY KASPAR

Corona del Mar