Edi Birsan

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Edi Ersalesi Birsan (also known as Ed Birsan) is a Concord, California councilmember currently serving as mayor [1] (vice mayor in 2017 [2] & 2023 [3] and mayor in 2018 [4] & 2024 [5] ), a game designer, an independent business owner in the maritime container inspection industry, and one of the best-known American players of the game Diplomacy. [6] He was born in Brooklyn in 1949, but has resided in the San Francisco Bay Area since 1981. Birsan is married and has two children. [7]

Political career

In 2012, Birsan was elected to his first term for one of two open seats on the city council of Concord, California, [8] and was re-elected in 2016 and 2020. [9] In 2021, Birsan ran for Contra Costa County Board of Supervisors for the District 4 seat [9] unsuccessfully.

Birsan voted in favor of Concord First Partners leading the Concord Naval Weapons Project, a housing and commercial development on a formal naval base. There was opposition from the public due in part to the selection of the Seeno/Discovery Builders company, described by Claycord News' Tony Hicks as having a "history of running afoul of environmental laws, having been fined millions of dollars over the years for destroying wildlife habitat while developing projects in East Contra Costa County." [10]

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References

  1. https://www.sfgate.com/news/bayarea/article/city-council-picks-vice-mayor-edi-birsan-as-new-18539089.php
  2. "Edi Birsan Appointed Mayor of Concord, Carlyn Obringer Named Vice-Mayor". Archived from the original on 2017-12-06. Retrieved 2017-12-06.
  3. "Birsan Selected As Concord's Mayor". Contra Costa News. 7 December 2023.
  4. "Edi Birsan Appointed Mayor of Concord, Carlyn Obringer Named Vice-Mayor". Archived from the original on 2017-12-06. Retrieved 2017-12-06.
  5. "Birsan Selected As Concord's Mayor". Contra Costa News. 7 December 2023.
  6. Richard Sharp (1978), "11 Introduction to Postal Diplomacy", The Game of Diplomacy, Arthur Barker, ISBN   978-0-213-16676-2, archived from the original on 2012-07-29, retrieved 2009-02-01
  7. Buz Eddy, Edi Ersalesi Birsan, The Diplomatic Pouch, archived from the original on 2002-03-01, retrieved 2009-02-01
  8. "Dan Helix & Ed Birsan Win the Two Open Seats on Concord's Council". Archived from the original on March 4, 2016.
  9. 1 2 "Concord's Birsan aims for county board, pushing issues around the homeless and housing". 11 July 2021.
  10. Hicks, Tony (27 October 2021). "Concord City Council Moves Forward With Seeno Group To Develop Former Naval Weapons Station".