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. Following two successful terms as Mayor, Beth Krom was elected to the City Council in November 2008. She is currently serving as Mayor Pro Tem, working closely with Mayor Sukhee Kang to ensure that Irvine remains a great city in which to live work and play. Her current term expires in 2012. A resident of Irvine since 1985, Mayor Pro Tem Krom has brought her experience as a teacher, a business owner, a community volunteer and a mother to her work on the Irvine City Council. It was the fight to defeat the El Toro Airport plan that motivated Beth Krom to run for City Council. An advocate for balanced planning and preserving “quality of life” in the City of Irvine, Beth Krom has been recognized by numerous community organizations for her work as a civic leader.
Over more than a decade of public service, Beth Krom has advanced initiatives focused on environmental stewardship, smart growth, affordable housing, education and the arts. She led the effort to rebuild the William Woollett, Jr. Aquatics Complex and has had the privilege of participating in the dedications of numerous Community Parks.
Through prudent management of our City resources, Beth Krom tripled city reserves during her term as Mayor, providing a critical safety net that has allowed Irvine to weather these tough economic times without cutting critical services. She also led the effort to create a residential and commercial Greenbuilding Ordinance — the first of its kind in Orange County, and under her leadership, an enhanced traffic management program was implemented to upgrade all of Irvine’s signalized intersections and move traffic more efficiently.
An advocate for integrated transportation planning, Beth Krom presided over the launch of the i-shuttle in the Irvine Business Complex in June 2008, providing transit connections to Metrolink commuters. The i-shuttle expanded to the Irvine Spectrum in 2011 which is a great benefit to Irvine’s dynamic workforce.
Beth Krom spearheaded Irvine’s Healthy City, Healthy Planet Initiative and, throughout her tenure on the City Council, she has supported innovative partnerships, including the ZEV•net electric carshare program at the Irvine Transportation Center, the Hydrogen Hybrid Fuel Cell Vehicle partnership with Toyota and the National Fuel Cell Research Center at UCI and the national “Plug-in Partnership” to advance the development of plug-in hybrid electric vehicles. As Mayor she joined a national coalition of Mayors for Climate Protection which is working to ensure that what we do at a local level supports the health of our people and our planet.
In addition to her City Council responsibilities, Beth Krom currently serves as Chair of the Orange County Great Park Corporation. Since the land for the Great Park was publicly dedicated in 2005, Beth Krom has been fully committed to the development of the Orange County Great Park, complete with passive and active recreation, cultural and performance venues, permanent agriculture and the Great Orange Balloon. The Great Park hosted more than 600,000 visitors in 2011. Whether at the Great Park or throughout the Irvine community, Beth Krom puts people first. She helped to develop Irvine’s Strategic Plan for Children, Youth and Families and is quick to point out that “Buildings don’t make communities, people make communities.”
Mayor Pro Tem also serves on the Irvine Educational Partnership Fund Advisory Board, the Transportation Corridor Agencies boards, One Water, One Watershed, the Local Government Commission, the boards of the League of California Cities, Discovery Science Center, Arts Orange County, Laguna Canyon Foundation, San Joaquin Marsh Wildlife Sanctuary, and – during her tenure – has represented the City of Irvine at the U.S. Conference of Mayors, the National League of Cities, Southern California Association of Governments and the Orange County Council of Governments.
(rev. 1-18-12)
