Edi Ersalesi Birsan (also known as Ed Birsan) is a Concord City 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]
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]
Edi Ersalesi Birsan (also known as Ed Birsan) is a Concord City 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]
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]