New Santa Ana | Category Archives: Civic Affairs

Mayor Pulido will honor the Little Sparrow Café at the next City Council meeting

Posted on May 28, 2015 by Art Pedroza Posted in Civic Affairs, Entertainment, Miguel Pulido, Restaurants, Santa Ana 5 Comments

City of Santa Ana, Downtown Orange County

Community Alert: Mayor Pulido Honors the Highly Acclaimed Little Sparrow Café

Mayor Miguel Pulido will present the owners of the Little Sparrow Café with the Exceptional Service Award for their outstanding contributions to the City of Santa Ana at Tuesday’s City Council Meeting.

Armed with a dream to create a better food culture in Orange County, Bruce Marsh and his wife, Santa Ana native, Naseem Aflakian, partnered with Jenny Le to open the “Little Sparrow Cafe,” a French inspired bistro in Downtown Santa Ana in May 2013. Despite having no formal training in the restaurant business, they converted a vacant café space on Main and Third into an award winning culinary hotspot. Continue reading→

Santa Ana Community Budget Hearing set for Wednesday, May 27

Posted on May 26, 2015 by Art Pedroza Posted in Civic Affairs, Entertainment, Santa Ana Leave a comment

City of Santa Ana, Downtown Orange County

Community: Community Budget Hearing: Wednesday, May 27th

The community is invited to participate in the upcoming Community Budget Hearing. The hearing will provide an overview of the upcoming 2015-16 Budget and the Capital Improvement Program. This will be an opportunity for the community to provide input and priorities in the budget process.

Please join us on Wednesday, May 27 at 6:00 pm at Remington Elementary School (1325 East 4th Street). Continue reading→

Mayor Pulido to honor OCEA General Manager Nick Berardino on May 19

Posted on May 15, 2015 by Art Pedroza Posted in Civic Affairs, Entertainment, Labor, Nick Berardino, Santa Ana Leave a comment

City of Santa Ana

Advisory: Mayor Pulido Honors Dominick “Nick” Berardino, General Manager of the Orange County Employees Association

Mayor Miguel Pulido will present Dominick “Nick” Berardino, General Manager of the Orange County Employees Association (OCEA), with the Exceptional Citizen Award for his outstanding service to the City of Santa Ana at Tuesday’s City Council Meeting.

OCEA is the largest independent public-employee labor union in Orange County. With its headquarters in Santa Ana, OCEA represents 18,000 public employees in their collective bargaining with public agencies. Dominick Bernardino joined OCEA in 1978 and has served as its general manager since 2004. Continue reading→

Coffee With a Cop set for May 27 at the 4th Street Market in DTSA

Posted on May 13, 2015 by Art Pedroza Posted in Civic Affairs, Coffee, Entertainment, Neighborhood Associations, Public Safety 1 Comment

Join your friends and neighbors and our local Santa Ana police officers for coffee and conversation on May 27, 2015, from 6 to 8 pm, at the 4th Street Market, located at 201 E. 4th St., in Downtown Santa Ana.

The 4th Street Market is essentially a food court featuring a number of different eateries and Portola Coffee. There is seating both indoors and in the outdoor patio. City parking is available for a few bucks next door. Continue reading→

Land swap results in an FPPC fine but no criminal charges for Mayor Pulido

Posted on May 11, 2015 by Art Pedroza Posted in Civic Affairs, Miguel Pulido, Politics, Santa Ana 11 Comments

Santa Ana Mayor Miguel Pulido has agreed to pay $13,000 in fines to the California Fair Political Practices Commission (FPPC) stemming from a personal land deal with a city contractor, according to the O.C. Register.

The fines stem from a land swap wherein Pulido traded a parking lot next to his brother’s muffler shop to auto parts provider Rupen Akoubian, who runs a NAPA auto parts store located next to the parking lot in question. Akoubian swapped a home in Westminster for the parking lot so he could expand his business. Continue reading→

Santa Ana prepares for the drought

Posted on May 9, 2015 by Art Pedroza Posted in california, Civic Affairs, Miguel Pulido, Santa Ana, Water 3 Comments

Santa Ana Prepares for Drought

By: Santa Ana Mayor Miguel Pulido

California is in its fourth year of a severe drought. In response, Governor Jerry Brown issued an Executive Order on April 1st, mandating statewide water reductions for the first time in history. The Governor’s Executive Order calls for a reduction in water usage by 25 percent statewide. To achieve these savings, the State Water Board has adopted emergency regulations to set water use reduction targets for communities around the state.

What does this mean in Santa Ana? Continue reading→

Pulido to honor the director of the OC Alliance for Children and Families

Posted on May 4, 2015 by Art Pedroza Posted in Charities, Civic Affairs, Miguel Pulido, Santa Ana Leave a comment

City of Santa Ana, Downtown Orange County

Community: Mayor Pulido Honors Gene Howard, Executive Director of the Orange County Alliance for Children and Families

Mayor Miguel Pulido will present Gene Howard, Executive Director of the Orange County Alliance for Children and Families, with the Exceptional Citizen Award for his outstanding service to the City of Santa Ana at Tuesday’s City Council Meeting. Continue reading→

Santa Ana announces an artist grant opportunity

Posted on April 23, 2015 by Art Pedroza Posted in Arts and Culture, Civic Affairs, Entertainment, Santa Ana Leave a comment

City of Santa Ana, Downtown Orange County

Community Alert: INVESTING IN THE ARTIST GRANT OPPORTUNITY

The City of Santa Ana announces the “Investing in the Artist,” an exciting grant opportunity that serves as a catalyst to enhance Santa Ana’s vibrant local art scene. Grants will be awarded to artists living or creating in Santa Ana and organizations with an arts and culture focus serving Santa Ana communities. Awards will be funded in $5,000 or $10,000 increments with approximately $85,000 available for distribution.

“It’s exciting to launch this program designed for talented artists and organizations dedicated to furthering the vibrant arts movement in Santa Ana,” says Mayor Miguel Pulido. “This program provides resources for visionary work being created by our community and for our community,” he adds. Continue reading→

Does the City Council have a problem with the homeless and the LGBT?

Posted on April 17, 2015 by Art Pedroza Posted in Charities, Civic Affairs, David Benavides, homeless, LGBT, Santa Ana 1 Comment

One of our readers paid attention the other night when the Santa Ana City Council was deciding how to spend their Community Development Block Grant money. Kidworks, a non-profit organization that recently hired Santa Ana Councilman David Benavides, asked for $45,000 in CDBG grants and the City Council gave them $56,000!

While Kidworks, and presumably Benavides, scored the City Council rejected these requests: Continue reading→

The OCDA’s decision to clear Pulido of any wrongdoing is a sound one

Posted on April 15, 2015 by Art Pedroza Posted in Civic Affairs, Miguel Pulido, OCDA, Politics, Santa Ana 22 Comments

Orange County District Attorney Tony Rackauckas will be clearing Santa Ana Mayor Miguel Pulido of any criminal wrongdoing related to a property swap between the mayor and a city contractor, according to sources with knowledge of the decision, according to the Voice of OC.

Of course the Voice of OC does not explain why Pulido won’t be charged. Instead they used their latest article to attack our Mayor yet again.

I spoke to Mayor Pulido yesterday. He said that the OCDA twice had the parking lot that his father traded for a home in Westminster assessed. It turned out that the parking lot, located in Downtown Santa Ana next to a Napa Auto Parts store that was desperate for more space, is worth more than the house that the Pulido family received in return for the lot. Continue reading→

The SAPD will host community forums about the use of body cameras by our police

Posted on April 15, 2015 by Art Pedroza Posted in Civic Affairs, Crime, Entertainment, Public Safety, Santa Ana Leave a comment

Santa Ana Police Department

Advisory: SAPD will be hosting a series of Community Forums on the Benefits and Challenges of Body-worn Camera Systems

The Santa Ana Police Department will be hosting a series of Community Forums on the Benefits and Challenges of Body-worn Camera Systems on Thursday, April 30th at 6:00 P.M. – 7:30 p.m. in the Community Room, located near the front lobby of the Police Department, 60 Civic Center Plaza, Santa Ana.

The primary purpose of this forum is to get input from the community and provide information related to the current research being conducted by the Santa Ana Police Department. A short presentation will be made on benefits and challenges related to the use of Body-worn Camera Systems in law enforcement with the majority of time being allocated to community input. Continue reading→

Find out how the City is spending our money at upcoming community budget hearings

Posted on April 13, 2015 by Art Pedroza Posted in Civic Affairs, Entertainment, Santa Ana Leave a comment

City of Santa Ana, Downtown Orange County

Community: Community Budget Hearings

The community is invited to participate in the upcoming Community Budget Hearings. The hearings will provide an overview of the upcoming 2015-16 Budget, Strategic Plan update and the Capital Improvement Program. This will be an opportunity for the community to provide input and priorities in the budget process.

Please join us at one of the following: Continue reading→

Santa Ana Earth Day celebration set for April 18 at the Santiago Park Nature Center

Posted on April 9, 2015 by Art Pedroza Posted in Civic Affairs, Entertainment, Parks and Recreation, Santa Ana, Water Leave a comment

Cypher International and the Santa Ana Parks, Recreation and the Community Services Agency are hosting an Earth Day celebration, “Living Water,” on Saturday, April 18, 2015, from 1-4 p.m. at the Santiago Park Nature Center, located at 600 East Memory Lane, in Santa Ana.

Find out the role of indigenous knowledge in the stewardship of water resources Dialogue on Native American traditional beliefs and local community projects.
Guided tour of the Santiago Park Nature Center at 12:30 & 1 pm
Featuring state advocate Janet King, award-winning actor Tonantzin Carmelo, & TONGVAGAR, a Tongva cultural arts group.

Continue reading→

Poll – should Santa Ana double public parking fees in DTSA?

Posted on April 6, 2015 by Art Pedroza Posted in Civic Affairs, David Cavazos, Santa Ana 8 Comments

Santa Ana City Manager David Cavazos was known for nickle and diming the residents of Phoenix when he worked in that city. We warned Santa Ana’s City Council that he would do the same thing here but they hired him and overpaid him anyway. Now our predictions are coming true, sad to say.

This time Cavazos wants to increase public parking fees in Downtown Santa Ana (DTSA). “He is working to convince city officials and merchants that higher rates would benefit the city,” according to the O.C. Register.

In downtown Santa Ana, meter rates are 75 cents an hour. Parking garages charge $1 per hour, $7 per day and $40 per month. To Cavazos, it’s mind-boggling that the nearby Health Care Agency parking structure charges $4 an hour while the city’s meters charge 75 cents and off-street parking facilities charge $1 per hour.

Continue reading→

The gentrifiers take hateful aim at the Santa Ana Wellness District proposal

Posted on April 4, 2015 by Art Pedroza Posted in Civic Affairs, Development, Latinos, Racism, Santa Ana, Tim Rush 24 Comments

Downtown Santa Ana’s gentrification mob wants you to believe that they are not racist but the reality is that they have hated Mexicans forever and gentrifying the Downtown simply provided them with a means to an end.

One of them admitted as much when they sent a hate package to O.C. Register reporter Alejandra Molina. They scribbled over an article she wrote about the gentrification of our Downtown, scribbling this hateful message, “We made it over the border, whoopee…or our parents did.”

Now Santa Ana’s haters are riled up about the Santa Ana Wellness District. One of our readers forwarded us a particularly vitriolic message from a fellow named Tim Rush. Rush was one of many neighborhood activists who supported the illegal street barricades that were installed in Santa Ana’s French Park – to keep Mexicans out. The barricades had to be taken down after the ACLU beat the haters in court. Continue reading→