LOCAL ELECTIONS / IRVINE : 3 Seeking City Council Seat in Quiet Race : Candidates have similar views on two key issues of public safety and the need for more jobs. Winner will fill vacancy for 1 year.

IRVINE — Campaign placards are finally springing up along the wide parkways of Irvine, one of the few indicators that Election Day is just two weeks away.

Three candidates are vying to fill a vacant City Council seat in a low-key race that so far lacks the divisiveness of recent Irvine political campaigns.

One reason is that the winner will serve for only the one year remaining on the term of William A. (Art) Bloomer, who resigned from the council in July to take a job in Virginia.

To some, however, the quiet campaign also symbolizes a city in transition.

For much of its 23-year history, Irvine was accustomed to both booming growth and a feeling of insulation from urban ills. But over the last year, Irvine was rocked by its first gang-related shooting and continues to be hit hard by the recession, which has slowed development and reduced city revenues. It also faces the closure of the El Toro Marine Corps Air Station.

The candidates disagree on an array of issues from affordable housing to arts funding, but they have similar opinions on two key points: that Irvine needs to lure more jobs to the city and to make public safety a top priority.

The candidates include Marc Goldstone, 37, a planning commissioner and principal design engineer at Western Digital; Alireza Jazayeri, 47, a community services commissioner and management/marketing consultant; and Greg Smith, 44, an Irvine school board member and owner of an auto parts distribution firm.

No independent polls of the race have been taken, so it is difficult to tell which candidate is the front-runner. But Smith holds a $4,000 fund-raising lead over his opponents and has spent the most money so far on campaign pamphlets and signs.

Smith also received endorsements from Mayor Michael Ward and council members Barry J. Hammond and Christina L. Shea, who together make up the council majority on some issues. Councilwoman Paula Werner has endorsed Goldstone, while Bloomer endorsed Jazayeri.

One issue repeatedly stressed by all candidates is public safety, although the FBI recently ranked Irvine as one of the 10 safest cities in the United States.

“We are at a critical point in the city’s history,” Smith said. “We have the ability now to reverse the trend of youth violence that has become pervasive in other communities and is still in the preliminary stages in Irvine. . . . We can turn things around.”

Smith headed the Youth Community Task Force, a committee made up of both city and school officials who seek ways to reduce youth violence, from beefing up school security to ethics instruction in schools.

Goldstone suggested that the city and school district work with children and teen-agers in developing a youth program.

“The kids need to help create the programs. They need to be part of the process,” he said. “If the adults create them, the kids aren’t going to participate.”

Jazayeri said that officials should solicit the help of Irvine’s growing ethnic community for ways to reduce crime. Parents, he said, also need to take an active role in keeping their children out of trouble.

“They have to be involved and share the responsibility for watching their kids,” Jazayeri said. “I believe in a partnership with parents, schools, police and the city.”

The winner of the election is sure to spend a good portion of his term dealing with the redevelopment of El Toro, which promises to prompt a bruising countywide political fight.

All three candidates support the council’s efforts to secure a strong voice for Irvine in crafting a reuse plan for the 4,700-acre site. Smith and Goldstone also agree with the council’s stand against turning the base into a commercial airport, fearing that would increase traffic, noise and pollution.

“I believe an airport is an incompatible land use with the adjacent residential community,” Goldstone said. “We have to fight long and hard to find alternative uses.” He said the base should be considered for a mixture of residential, industrial, commercial and recreational developments.

Smith suggested that the city draw up a list of alternative uses for the base with the help of residents and business people.

“We need to lay out all of the alternatives,” he said. “We need community input.”

Jazayeri said it is too early in the process for him to make a final decision on the airport idea. He said he is sensitive to residents’ concerns about an airport but that a cargo facility could provide a significant economic boost to the city.

“I think we need more information before a decision is made,” Jazayeri said. “This is economically good, but socially not good. We need to find the optimum point in between.”

On the issue of affordable housing, the candidates offered different views. Jazayeri and Goldstone expressed general support for the city’s affordable housing program. “Do we want to visit our kids in other states or find ways (for them) to live in the community?” Goldstone asked.

Smith said he supports some forms of low-cost housing. But he said it’s time for Irvine to reconsider its goal of setting aside 25% of new developments for affordable living. “My gut reaction is that it’s too high,” he said.

Irvine City Council

Candidates in the Nov. 2 election for one seat on the City Council:

Marc Goldstone

Age: 37

Community involvement: Planning commissioner

Occupation: Principal design engineer at Western Digital

Alireza Jazayeri

Age: 47

Community involvement: Community services commissioner

Occupation: Management/marketing consultant

Greg Smith

Age: 44

Community involvement: Irvine Unified school board member

Occupation: Owner of auto parts distribution firm