Beth Krom was first elected to the Irvine City Council in 2000 and was re-elected in 2002. In 2004, she won her first term as Mayor of Irvine and in 2006 she was re-elected with nearly 60% of the vote — the highest margin of victory for any Irvine Mayor running in a contested race. Irvine, a master planned city of 202,000 in Orange County, California, is home to the University of California at Irvine and major businesses including Broadcom, Toyota and Verizon. One of the most culturally diverse and thoroughly integrated cities in America , Irvine has been recognized as a city that values innovation, education and civic participation. Mayor Krom is proud to be part of a national coalition of Mayors for Climate Protection is working to ensure that what we do at a local level supports the health of our people and our planet.
An advocate for balanced communities, Mayor Krom is focused on ensuring a sustainable future for the City of Irvine . Among the initiatives that Mayor Krom has worked to advance are Irvine ’s long-term housing strategy to ensure a full spectrum of housing opportunities in the City and the establishment of Irvine ’s Community Land Trust to support the development of high quality affordable housing that will remain affordable in perpetuity. Mayor Krom also led the effort to create a residential and commercial Greenbuilding Ordinance — the first of its kind in Orange County .
By engaging Irvine citizens through community forums and enhanced technological resources, Beth works to increase public awareness about the challenges and opportunities we face locally and regionally, and to expand citizen participation in civic and municipal activities. A strong believer in collaboration and partnership, Beth works hard to bring civic, educational, non-profit and business entities together to better meet the needs of Irvine ‘s diverse and growing community.
Mayor Krom was a leader in the effort to create the Orange County Great Park —the first great metropolitan park of the 21st Century—in the heart of Orange County.
What it takes to have a balanced community was the topic of the Mayor Beth Krom’s luncheon forum and she explained in detail what her team has been doing for the last six years to inspire the business community, attract skilled labor and engineers and have good quality education. She said the City of Irvine has been at the top 10 and was the leading city and a model for its safety according to the FBI Statistics. She said most of the credit goes to the residents of this great city where 70% holds a college degree and among this 70%, 30% holds a second degree. She said being at the top has had its challenges to hold on to the innovative edge of the business which in recent years had been the center of genetic and bio engineering firms.
During the Q&A session, questions were raised about the subprime mortgage crisis and how it affected the city of Irvine and more information about the Irvine company and the women’ s role in making changes in the community. The luncheon forum ended with the lunch being served at 1 pm and the announcement of the next luncheon forum in Westwood, the topic of Multiculturalism in Beverly Hills by Beverly Hills Mayor Jimmy Dilshod.