Irvine, Growing and Growing Fast

"Who wouldn't want to live here?" said Anthony Kuo, chairman of the city's Planning Commission for a city that's been master-planned since its inception in1971. Irvine is one of the safest and best planned cities in the country. It is also one of the fastest growing cities in the country. It is growing so fast that good qualities that are drawing people to move in may be becoming drawbacks, such as traffic.

Growth: the largest city geographically in Orange County, Irvine growth rate is eighth in the country, second in California. Irvine's population grew from 143,072 in 2000 to 212,375 in 2010, an increase of 48.4%. If all goes as planned the city eventually would fit a little fewer than 300,000 people inside its border. It had 53,712 homes in 2000, 85,000 in 2012, and at least 15,000 more homes are planned. Can Irvine’s current infrastructural sustain this growth and its environmental conditions get compromised? Residents are concerning and questioning.

Safety: one of the safest big cities in America. Irvine has been doing a great job to keep the city a safe place to live, consistently among top 10 safest cities in US for 10 straight years. In Irvine, you have just a 1 in 64 chance of being the victim of a crime as in Stockton. But rapid influx of population may compromise this outstanding record in the future.

Education: Irvine Unified School District has been a top ranking school system in the nation which includes 35 schools that serve 26,822 students in grades PK through 12. The Irvine Unified School District had a grades 9-12 dropout rate of 1% in 2008.  The national grades 9-12 dropout rate in 2007 was 4.4%. With extra 8,681 students by 2016 or 16,651 by 2022, seven new schools are needed to accommodate them by the end of 2020.

Traffic Concern: With all that growth, traffic has been noticeably worsening in main streets like Culver, jamboree, and Jeffery. Interstate 405 and 5 are increasingly jamming during rush hours.

Chinese Community: The big factor of Irvine’s growth I n last 10 years is that Chinese population growth is far out pacing other ethnicities. Of the recent houses sold in Irvine, the majority went to Chinese homebuyers. For decades, communities such as Monterey Park and San Gabriel have been gateway cities for Chinese immigrants, but increasingly Irvine is a top draw for some affluent members of the community.

而湾, 快速成长的而湾

谁不想在这样的一个城巿生活? 自从1971年成立以来，而湾市就实行整体的城市规划建设。而湾 是全美规划最好，最安全的城市之一，也是成长最快的城市之一，它如此快速的扩张可能会损害这个城市吸引居民的好品质，比如，逐渐拥堵的交通。

成长: 作为橙县地域最大的城市，而湾人口成长速度是全美国第八，加州第二。人口自2000年到2010年从14,3072人 成长到21,2375人, 成长了48.4%. 按规划,而湾人口会达到接近30 万人，而湾当前的市政道路能否承担这人口负重? 环境是否会遭到损害? 广大居民都开始担心起来。

安全:全国最安全的城市之一，过去十年一直排名前十名。说明而湾安全方面工作是可圈可点的，在而湾,你只有Stockton六十四分之一的机会成为犯罪的受害者。但是当前的扩张，安全问题是不是会受到挑战?

教育:而湾联合学区一直是排名靠前的著名公立学校系统，包括了35 个学校，26,800 名学生，从K-12 年级，学生退学率大致在1%, 全国平均水平4.4%. 到2022 年，学生还将增加16,650名，必须新建七所新学校才可满足需要。

交通: 近年来而湾的路面交通拥堵现象是有目共睹的，几条主要交通干道上车流长年不断，上下班高峰期堵塞已相当严重。和十年前相比，不能同日而语。有没有良方来解决，考验市政府和市民的智慧。

华人社区: 近年而湾的快速成长，很大程度归于华人人口的快速移入，很多是二岸三地的新移民，人口构成的多元化，将是而湾的一个特色，而湾已取代一些南加的传统华裔城市，成为很多富裕华人落户的首选。所以怎样让新移民成功融入社区，并将中华文化在而湾发彩，为而湾的发展作出正面积极的贡献，也是广大华人朋友们可以思考的。