As you drive to the market two miles away you honk your horn irritated by the massive traffic jam. After a few minutes of frustration you realize how bad traffic is when small children on bikes pass by on the sidewalk.  You refrain from stepping on the gas, because if you do you will just hit the car in front of you. This is what will happen if Irvine continues to build apartments and why Irvine needs to slow down its city growth.

Irvine is full of apartments and it seems like there is a new apartment complex being constructed every month which results in an unnecessary increase in Irvine’s population.

“I think Irvine is starting to become overcrowded because people move here because it’s a safe city with good schools,” junior Sarah Nishioka said.

Irvine’s population was about 109,000 in 1990 and it increased to 250,000 in 2015 according to the city of Irvine website. The excess apartments result in bumper to bumper traffic and trouble parking. Many homes do not make Irvine a peaceful and relaxing place, but more like a stressful anxious place with less open land for people to enjoy.

“When I was young there used to be orange groves everywhere, and you could smell them as you passed by. Now we don’t have that anymore and it’s all apartments,” Spanish teacher Zucely Monterroso said.

When a city is crowded prices tend to go up and life becomes more expensive. For example prices go up with houses because when there are a lot of people more than one person may want the house, so the prices have to raise so the person with the money can get the house. Expensive real estate is definitely a problem when a 1,701 square foot house in Irvine costs 829,000 dollars while a 1,792 square foot house in Buffalo, N.Y costs 159,000 according to Zillow. How can a house be slightly smaller than another house and still cost five times more?

“If Irvine gets more expensive, I might not be able to live here anymore,” Monterroso said.

Overall, an overpopulated Irvine does not make Irvine better. It only makes Irvine more crowded, stressful, and expensive.