Mayor Farrah Khan knows the way, goes the way, and shows the way. Her inspirational work should be emulated by Mayors across the United States to bring it to a higher level – Photo courtesy India One News
Farrah Khan, Irvine’s Inspirational Mayor
By Mohammad Yacoob
Irvine has consistently been named America's safest city since 2005. Statistically, Irvine is the No 13 best city to live in the United States; safest city of its size for violent and lowest per capita violent crime rate of any city in the nation with a population of 250,000 or more.
Mayoral elections are held every two years and Farrah N. Khan, a resident of Irvine, made history November 2020 becoming the 23rd Mayor of Irvine. She not only received the highest number of votes for the position of Mayor in the city’s history but also shattered glass ceilings as the first woman of color to hold the position, and the first Muslim woman to lead a large city in the United States.
Born in Lahore, she immigrated to the United States at the tender age of three. She lived in San Francisco with her parents, later got her degree in English literature at University of California, Davis. She worked as a regulatory manager for a biotech company, and finally moved to Irvine in Southern California because of her husbands’ business.
Even before being elected as the council member in 2018, Farrah had served on the Irvine Community Services Commission, the Irvine Global Village Festival Steering Committee, the Community Emergency Response Team for the Irvine Police Department, Irvine Rotary Club, the Orange County Interfaith Network Board, and only after she was elected, served on the Board of the Irvine Community Land Trust. She was the first Muslim Executive Director of the Irvine Interfaith Council and carried the tradition to the Mayor’s office. Being a very thoughtful and inclusive person Farrah embraced the diversity of the city and as mayor celebrated Christmas and New Year, Purim Jewish Festival, Sikh Holy Festival, Easter, Makar Sankranti, Divali, Kwanzaa African Festival, Irvine’s Holiday Tree Lights Up during winter in December, Persian Nouroz , and Ramadan Food Drive event hosted in observance of Ramadan to support Families Forward, a nonprofit organization helping families in need in Orange County. She attended interfaith iftar at the Islamic Center of Irvine along with councilmembers, faith leaders and members of other organizations.
In April 2023 she held an open house for Ramadan for residents of Irvine. Farrah also attended the Islamic Center of Irvine (ICOI) annual interfaith Iftar along with Councilmember Larry Agran and Police Chief Kent. Many leaders from other faiths and organizations were also in attendance. On April 22, 2023 she issued the following message: Office of Mayor Farrah N. Khan@MayorofIrvine
Apr 22 . It was wonderful to be with community at today’s Eid celebration at Great Park! And swing by City Hall at night for the Eid colors display! I look forward to continuing the celebrations throughout the weekend. #Irvine #WeAreIrvine #eidmubarak .
In the month of May, she had the honor of holding a function at the Irvine City Hall with several religious and community members in attendance to recognize the achievements and contributions of the Jewish American community as May is Jewish American Heritage Month.
Mayor Farrah Khan launched the Chat with Mayor Program to allow residents and members of the public to speak with the mayor about any questions, issues, concerns and ideas regarding the city of Irvine, providing a chance to all members of the community to participate, be heard and feel valued. She introduced many more programs to make Irvine a fiscally strong and financially stable city. In her short time as Mayor, she has initiated several new strategies leading to Irvine becoming the first City in Orange County to spearhead COVID-19 Vaccination Clinics in local neighborhoods and senior centers.
Mayor Farrah Khan has formulated plans to build relationships with California State and the US representatives by holding meetings with them to take advantage of funds available for energy and environmental sustainability, housing, public transportation and rail services. She met with the Governor of California and key members of the assembly and senate to lobby for direct funding to the city in the areas of homelessness and housing.
Photo Orange County Register
Irvine has the status of the safest city in the nation and Mayor Farrah Khan is striving hard to maintain this status of the city by providing parks and open spaces, maintain fiscal stability and creating a culture of inclusivity, promoting opportunities for growth, and developing local talent.
Mayor Khan unveiled a gigantic plan to make the city of Irvine a thriving and diverse center of business including a center of technology and innovation in Orange County of California by launching an Innovation Council, assigning it the task of developing a multifaceted Strategic & Action plan for attracting, retaining and supporting high-growth technology businesses. More than 17,000 businesses have a license in Irvine, producing more than 275,000 jobs, including manufacturing, legal, financial and professional services, software, accounting, scientific and medical research firms. The city provides opportunities, local high-skilled employees, public education support, safety, and infrastructure that are of value to a business. Besides, she is continuing her efforts to work together with the University of California at Irvine (UCI) on housing, transportation and other matters to better serve Irvine residents and students at UCI. This includes supporting University of California at Irvine getting external financing help for the expansion of the Mesa Residence Halls Expansion project which will add 300 new beds for lower division undergraduates.
Mayor Farrah Khan is continuing to work hard and has created a culture of inclusivity by relating to others while enjoying public sentiments. She sends emails, messages and urges the residents of Irvine to contact her office, and holds public meetings. Nothing so conclusively proves her ability to lead others as what she does from day to day to be always accessible to public, advisors, Irvine police and workers.
She is very much enthusiastic and anxious about maintaining Irvine’s safest city in the nation status, best parks and open spaces and financial and fiscal stability, by not only working hard and making sure that various projects and initiatives are completed on time but also by providing information about the status of the work. Through social connectivity initiative she informs and updates everyone on the progress being made in the city including financial stability, growth, housing, Gateway Preserve and Great Irvine Park. She discusses various issues and initiatives with trade delegations that help create opportunities for growth and development of local talent. She intends to share her skills to improve the entire Orange County in Southern California. Mayor Farrah Khan is now running for Orange County Supervisor District 3 which covers the cities of Irvine, Lake Forest, Mission Viejo, Rancho Santa Margarita, Foothill Ranch, Yorba Linda, Villa Park, Tustin, and Orange.
Mayor Farrah Khan has earned public trust and self-respect along with gratitude and appreciation of the residents of Irvine by displaying the ability to decide on a project, formulate plans, and get it done for the betterment and welfare of the community. She uses reason, inspiration and her communication skills and takes people where they want to go. Through her social connectivity initiative she takes people where they don’t necessarily want to go but ought to be. She has inspired hundreds of people in Southern California and across the US. Mayor Farrah Khan knows the way, goes the way and shows the way. Her work should be emulated by Mayors across the United States to bring it to a higher level of prosperity one city at a time.
(Mohammad Yacoob is a retired Industrial Engineer and Engineering Proposals Analyst who lives in Los Angeles, California)
