I met last week with Bijan Mazarji, one of several candidates for the Irvine City Council. I am glad that we had a chance to meet and talk about Irvine politics.
Mazarji appears on the ballot as “Army Reservist/Student.” He is indeed a graduate student, but he is not some high school kid. In fact he will finish his Masters in Public Administration next year. Mazarji has a lot of relevant experience, including working at the Irvine City Hall, in the Community Services Department.
Mazarji is an independent. We talked about the other candidates, but he is going it alone. He does think that many voters who vote for Shiva Farivar might vote for him too. Call it the Persian connection.
It should be noted, for the record, that Farivar is allied with Irvine City Councilman Larry Agran.
Mazarji’s father is Persian. His grandmother came here from Lithunia. His mom’s family is Jewish. This of course makes Mazarji a prime example of the diversity found in Irvine.
You can read Mazarji’s full bio by clicking here.
Mazarji has some good ideas, particularly his idea to build a Convention Center at the Great Park. You can read about that by clicking here.
Can Mazarji pull off the underdog victory? Hard to say. But he is working hard and he has some unique ideas about campaigning. For one thing, he is putting up his signs in the neighborhoods, where the residents enter and leave the many Irvine developments. He is avoiding the clusters at main intersections. Good thinking.
I do like some of the other candidates, particularly Jeff Lalloway and Chris Moore. But only two seats are available. Maybe Mazarji will inadvertently help knock out Larry Agran? One can only hope!
You can read about the rest of the Irvine City Council candidates by clicking here.
I’m going w/Lalloway & Schott