Santa Ana's top news & views blog

Santa Ana's top news & views blog

Monthly Archives: February 2017

Mayor Pro Tem Martinez explains why she is going after Santa Ana’s food trucks

Posted on by Posted in Civic Affairs, Food Trucks, Michele Martinez, Santa Ana 4 Comments

Michele Martinez speaking about saving jobs

By: Santa Ana Mayor Pro Tem Michele Martinez

In a few weeks the mobile food vending ordinance will be coming back to the Santa Ana City Council for consideration. I want to make it clear that I support mobile food vending! But Produce and Food Trucks in the City of Santa Ana have existing regulations that do not adequately address the challenges of operating food /produce trucks in our city today. Santa Ana must attempt to balance entrepreneurship with the quality of life and preservation of public health and safety for all. We must take a look at the following 4 policy areas and come up with a balance approach that considers the economic and social impact for all Santa Ana Residents. Continue reading→

Who to call if you have a storm-related emergency in Santa Ana

Posted on by Posted in Public Safety, public works, Santa Ana, Water, Weather Leave a comment

Santa Ana Police Department

Advisory: Be prepared for tonight’s potential heavy rain storm! Here are some emergency phone numbers that might come in handy

Tonight’s storm may bring heavy rainfall and high winds, which may cause trees and power lines to come down and flooding of roadways or other low-lying areas. Continue reading→

Councilman Sarmiento wants to use public funds to provide legal support to the undocumented

Posted on by Posted in Crime, immigration, Santa Ana, Vince Sarmiento 10 Comments

For whatever reason Councilman Vince Sarmiento, a lawyer whose family owns and operates a number of somewhat seedy bars in the area, has submitted a proposal to the Santa Ana City Council to essentially use public funds to provide legal counsel to undocumented immigrants, as an 85B item: Continue reading→

Mayor Pro Tem Martinez wants to set up a Review Board to review police force incidents

Posted on by Posted in Crime, immigration, Police Brutality, Politics, Public Safety, Santa Ana, Vince Sarmiento 5 Comments

Santa Ana Mayor Pro Tem Michele Martinez is proposing at the next Santa Ana City Council meeting that an Independent Review or Citizen Review Board be set up to review police force incidents, procedures and policies and to make recommendations to the City Council.

Martinez has submitted this item to the City Council as an 85A agenda item: Continue reading→

17 men arrested by the SAPD for trying to hook up with prostitutes on Harbor Blvd.

Posted on by Posted in Crime, Santa Ana 2 Comments

Santa Ana Prostitutes

Santa Ana Police Department

Advisory: SAPD Vice Unit Arrests 17 Suspects in “John” Program

In an effort to continue to target the prostitution related activity along the Harbor Blvd. corridor, the Santa Ana Police Department’s Vice and Narcotic Unit conducted a “John” enforcement program on Wednesday evening, 02-15-17, with a focused effort on targeting men soliciting prostitutes for sex purchase in that area. Continue reading→

Santa Ana woman charged with fatal hit and run and insurance fraud

Posted on by Posted in Crime, OCDA, Santa Ana Leave a comment

ORANGE COUNTY DISTRICT ATTORNEY NEWS RELEASE

Case # 17CF0363

Date: February 16, 2017

WOMAN CHARGED WITH FATAL HIT-AND-RUN AND INSURANCE FRAUD AFTER LEAVING VICTIM AT THE SCENE AND FALSELY REPORTING VANDALISM

SANTA ANA, Calif. – A woman was charged yesterday with fatal hit-and-run and insurance fraud after leaving the victim at the scene and falsely reporting the damage as vandalism to her insurance company and police. Belen Sicairos, 23, Santa Ana, was charged on Feb. 15, 2017, with one felony count of hit-and-run causing death, three felony counts of insurance fraud, one felony count of insurance fraud through a written claim, and one misdemeanor count of falsely reporting a crime. If convicted, Sicairos faces a maximum of eight years in state prison. The defendant was arrested today by Orange County District Attorney (OCDA) Investigators, and her arraignment date is to be determined. Continue reading→

Man charged with murder for running over and killing the cousin of a shooting victim in Santa Ana

Posted on by Posted in Crime, Gangs, OCDA, Santa Ana Leave a comment

ORANGE COUNTY DISTRICT ATTORNEY NEWS RELEASE

Case # 17CF0376

Date: February 15, 2017

MAN CHARGED WITH MURDER FOR ASSAULTING AND RUNNING OVER COUSIN OF SHOOTING VICTIM DURING VIGIL AND FLEEING THE SCENE

*A female co-defendant is charged with being an accessory after the fact

SANTA ANA, Calif. – A man was charged today with murder for assaulting and running over the cousin of a shooting victim during a vigil and fleeing the scene with his co-defendant. Sonny Steven Zieres, 26, Orange, is charged with one felony count of murder with sentencing enhancements for the personal use of a deadly weapon and a prior serious and violent felony conviction for assault with a deadly weapon in 2009 in Orange County. If convicted, he faces a maximum sentence of 56 years to life in state prison. Zieres is scheduled to be arraigned today, Feb. 15, 2017, in Department CJ-1, Central Jail, Santa Ana. The time is to be determined. Continue reading→

Santa Ana to release $769K in CDBG grants to local non-profits

Posted on by Posted in Charities, Civic Affairs, Santa Ana Leave a comment

City of Santa Ana

Community: Santa Ana to Release $769k in Community Development Block Grant Funding for Nonprofits

The City of Santa Ana will release an estimated $769,151 of Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) funds to Nonprofits for the provision of public services.

The City receives an annual allocation of CDBG funds from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) to address a wide range of unique community development needs. Continue reading→

Get ready for the next storm with free sandbags at the Santa Ana City Yard

Posted on by Posted in Civic Affairs, public works, Santa Ana, Water, Weather Leave a comment

Sandbags at the Santa Ana City Yard

City of Santa Ana

Community: Storm Alert February 17-18, Free Sandbags Available / Alerta de Tormenta 17-18 de febrero, Sacos de Arena Gratuitos / Bao Cát Miễn Phí

A strong winter storm is in the forecast to impact Southern California late Thursday night through Saturday afternoon, with the heaviest rainfall and damaging winds occurring Thursday afternoon through Friday night. This storm has significant potential to create flooding in the City of Santa Ana and residents are encouraged to use sandbags to protect their property.

Ten (10) sandbags per resident can be picked up at the self-service sandbag station at 215 S. Center Street from 6am to 8pm Monday thru Thursday, 24 hours a day on Friday and Saturday, and all day Sunday until 8pm. For additional information, please contact the Public Works Agency at (714) 647-3380 between 7:00 am and 3:30 pm. Continue reading→

Use the mysantaana smart phone app to report problems to the City of Santa Ana

Posted on by Posted in Civic Affairs, Graffiti, Public Safety, public works, Santa Ana Leave a comment

City of Santa Ana

Community: Santa Ana Public Works on the Go!

Santa Ana Public Works on the Go!

“MySantaAna” puts the power of the Santa Ana city government in the palm of your hand! Quickly and easily report issues to the City for clean-up.

Residents with an iPhone or Android can now download the “mySantaAna” application for free, allowing them to point, click, and send photos of maintenance issues such as: Continue reading→

The SAPD has arrested four suspects in two recent gang-related killings in Santa Ana

Posted on by Posted in Crime, Gangs, OCDA, Santa Ana 17 Comments

In a break from the norm the SAPD has arrested two gangbangers in connected with two homicides – and SAPD Chief Carlos Rojas, who may be barely clinging to his job at this point, announced reward money of up to $50K is being offered for information regarding this past week’s four homicides, according to the O.C. Register.

Chief Rojas announced at a press conference that “It’s pretty unusual to have as many as we have had in that period of time,” indicating that he has apparently forgotten that we had 27 shootings in the month of January, this year. Continue reading→

Zeus, a famed SAPD horse, has passed away

Posted on by Posted in Pets, Public Safety, Santa Ana Leave a comment

RIP Zeus the SAPD horse

Santa Ana Police Department

Advisory: The SAPD Mounted Unit Announced The Death Of Zeus One Of Its Most Experienced Horses

The SAPD Mounted Unit announced the death of one of its most experienced horses, Zeus, a 21-year old American Quarter Horse. Zeus died today February 15th, 2017, while he was attending training with the Orange County Regional Mounted Unit in the city of Norco. At this time, cause of death is unknown.

Zeus joined the SAPD’s Mounted ranks in 2007 and has participated in most of the large scale events here in Santa Ana and across the Orange County over the last ten years. Zeus was Mounted Unit’s Sergeant Kanan Blake’s horse. They were often seen patrolling the downtown streets and parks, as well as demonstrations, festivals, concerts and crime suppression details across the city and county. Zeus also had his softer side, appearing at many schools and community events over the years. Continue reading→

Remember when former SAPD Police Chief Walters cut gang violence by 40%?

Posted on by Posted in Crime, Gangs, Paul Walters, Santa Ana Leave a comment

 

Walters plaque unveiled

With all the talk about combating gang violence in Santa Ana we thought it would be worthwhile to revisit what our former, and far more capable, Police Chief, Paul Walters, accomplished a few years ago.

Walters was forced out of Santa Ana by the last City Council – and some of those Council members are still around, including David Benavides, Vince Sarmiento and Sal Tinajero.

Here is what the O.C. Register reported in 2013, about how effective Walters was: Continue reading→

Former SAPD Police Chief Walters first introduced a gang homicide reward program back in 2007

Posted on by Posted in Carlos Rojas, Crime, Gangs, Guns, Juan Villegas, Paul Walters, Public Safety, Santa Ana 5 Comments

Apparently current SAPD Police Chief Carlos Rojas, who was hired by the Santa Ana City Council despite the fact that he had zero experience running a police department, wants us to believe that he has come up with a solution to the tsunami of gang violence in our city. So tomorrow he is going to face the media, at last, and talk about his new reward program.

But hold the presses – it turns out the SAPD already has a reward program in place for those who give tips about gang-related homicides. That program was put in place by former SAPD Police Chief Paul Walters, who now serves as the Chief of Staff to Orange County Supervisor Lisa Bartlett. Continue reading→

SAPD Chief Rojas will talk about this week’s 4 homicides and his new reward program tomorrow

Posted on by Posted in Crime, Santa Ana Leave a comment

Embattled and overwhelmed SAPD Police Chief Carlos Rojas has finally woken from his slumber as the year 2017 has started with a bloody bang in Santa Ana – with 27 shootings in the month of January. Rojas will hold a press conference tomorrow, Feb. 15, 2017, at 10:30 a.m., at the SAPD’s  Community Room to talk about the four homicide cases that occurred over this past weekend.

Rojas will also be introducing his new idea to try to convince fearful local residents to talk to the police. The SAPD is going to be offering monetary rewards to witnesses of gang violence. Continue reading→