Irvine council votes to keep Barclay funding

The Irvine City Council voted late Tuesday in favor of maintaining funding for the Irvine Barclay Theatre, to much applause.

City Manager Sean Joyce had originally suggested reducing the funds for the organization from $925,000 to $425,000.

Mayor Steven Choi and Mayor Pro Tem Jeffrey Lalloway cast the dissenting votes.

Douglas Rankin, president of the 25-year-old Barclay, said if the budget had been cut, it would have been “somewhere between completely adverse and catastrophic.”

“While I am pleased with the majority vote, I would have been more pleased with a consensus,” he said.

The issue was one of four singled out from the proposed 2013-14 budget, strategic plan and accompanying resolutions.

The council was similarly split on funding for the Legal Aid Society, Discovery Science Center and the Human Resources Commission.

Overall, the proposed budget garnered a 5-0 vote.