IRVINE : 3 Candidates Vie for Vacant Council Seat

Residents will have three candidates to choose from when they vote to fill a vacant City Council seat Nov. 3.

By Friday’s 5 p.m. filing deadline, a school board member and two city commissioners had returned nomination papers to the city clerk’s office.

If the papers are verified by the county registrar of voters office, the three candidates will vie to fill the one year remaining on the term of William A. (Art) Bloomer, who resigned last month to take a job in Virginia.

The candidates are:

* Marc Goldstone, a planning commissioner who made an unsuccessful run for mayor last year. Goldstone was the leader of a petition drive that forced city officials to hold a special election rather than make an appointment to fill Bloomer’s seat.

* Alireza Jazayeri, a marketing consultant and community services commissioner. Jazayeri, who was appointed to the post by Bloomer, is chairman of the commission.

* Greg Smith, a member of the Irvine Unified School District Board of Education. Smith was a leader of the Safe Community Task Force, a committee made up of both city and school district officials that looked into ways of reducing youth violence in Irvine.

City Clerk Judy Vonada estimated that the election will cost the city about $60,000.