Biography

When he was first elected Mayor of Anaheim in 2002, Curt Pringle brought to the job an exceptional depth and breadth of policy experience, and had built a track record of success as both an elected official and independent businessman.

Mayor Pringle served with distinction in the California State Assembly from 1988-90 and again from 1992-98, including a term as chairman of the influential Assembly Appropriations Committee. The independent California Journal rated Pringle as the “Best Problem Solver” and as the “Most Influential Leader” of the California State Assembly. Pringle was elected Speaker of the California State Assembly in January 1996, which was widely considered the second-most powerful office in state government, and served as Speaker until December 1996. His Assembly speakership made possible a number of landmark legislative achievements, including far-reaching welfare reform and the largest tax cut in California history.

Since Mayor Pringle’s election, Anaheim has established itself as the nation’s leader in pioneering a “freedom-friendly” approach to governing – a spirit that has fostered greater personal, entrepreneurial and corporate initiative in the City.

Mayor Pringle has translated that “freedom-friendly” governing philosophy into a number of policy successes. Among them is the pioneering of tax-free incentives for both homeowners and new business owners. For 14 weeks in Spring 2004, the City of Anaheim’s Home Improvement Holiday waived all home improvement permit fees for its residents. This resulted in more than $28 million in individual reinvestment in the local economy and led the California Building Officials organization to award Anaheim its “Building Department of the Year” award. In the Spring of 2005, the Mayor led the charge for a first-ever “Business Tax Holiday,” giving free business licenses to any new company seeking to locate in Anaheim. 540 new businesses became a part of Anaheim as a result and 550 other businesses that had been operating without a license took advantage of the amnesty program, and officially registered with the city.

In May 2004, Mayor Pringle spearheaded approval of a landmark update to the City of Anaheim’s General Plan that included sweeping changes to the zoning code. This had led directly to the dramatic revitalization of the 807-acre Platinum Triangle which includes the Arrowhead Pond and Angel Stadium, the historic downtown area, and portions of West Anaheim.

In August 2005, the Anaheim city council adopted an ambitious new housing strategic plan, coauthored by Mayor Pringle. The Plan uses market incentives rather than command-and-control policies to sizably increase the affordable housing stock in the City of Anaheim over the next 4 years.

Municipal WiFi has become fashionable in urban policy circles. Rather than putting city government in the business of operating a citywide wireless Internet network, Mayor Pringle in late 2005 pioneered a policy that simply leveraged city assets such as streetlights and utility poles and asked for proposals from providers to invest their capital and expertise in creating a citywide wireless network. As a result, Earthlink will have city-wide WiFi in place by the end of 2006.

Mayor Pringle has also been sought out at the national, regional and local level to speak on policy issues such as affordable and workforce housing, transportation, planning and development, and local government finance reform.

In addition to his civic duties, Pringle runs Curt Pringle & Associates, a public relations, governmental affairs and consulting firm located in Orange County. He also serves as an adjunct Political Science faculty member at the University of California, Irvine, where he teaches California Government.

A resident of the Anaheim/Garden Grove area for more than 36 years, Mayor Pringle and his wife, Alexis, have two children, Kyle and Katie.