New Santa Ana | Category Archives: Civic Affairs

Birch Park Fitness Zone Ribbon Cutting Ceremony set for 10/12

Posted on October 8, 2013 by Art Pedroza Posted in Civic Affairs, Entertainment, Parks and Recreation Leave a comment

City of Santa Ana, Downtown Orange County

Community Alert: Birch Park Fitness Zone Ribbon Cutting Ceremony

SANTA ANA, CA (October 8, 2013) – The City of Santa Ana invites the community to the Birch Park Fitness Zone Ribbon Cutting Ceremony on Saturday, October 12, 2013. The Parks and Recreation Agency, with its continuous efforts to promote health and fitness, will host a Ribbon Cutting Ceremony at the new Fitness Zone in Birch Park. Thanks to city employees’ generous donations responding to the request from the Santa Ana Senior Center Advisory Board, the fitness zone has become a reality. Continue reading→

SAUSD Trustee Iglesias reportedly considering running against Tinajero

Posted on October 7, 2013 by Art Pedroza Posted in 2014 Elections, Cecilia Iglesias, Civic Affairs, Politics, Sal Tinajero, Santa Ana, SAUSD 12 Comments

Cecilia Iglesias and Janet Nguyen

I have heard from several inside sources that SAUSD School Board member Cecilia Iglesias is considering running against Santa Ana Councilman Sal Tinajero next year, in Ward 6.

Tinajero also served on the SAUSD School Board before he ran for the Santa Ana City Council.

Tinajero won his first election in Ward 6 back in November of 2o06, when his main opponent was Jennifer Villasenor. She had Mayor Miguel Pulido’s support. Tinajero was hammered via direct mail for weeks and he actually ran out of campaign money. However Villasenor was undone by the presence of George Collins on the ballot. Collins ended up with over five thousand votes and Tinajero squeeked past Villasenor by 880 votes, according to Smart Voter. Continue reading→

Updated: Adios Jill Arthur

Posted on October 7, 2013 by Art Pedroza Posted in Civic Affairs, Dave Ream, Miguel Pulido, Politics, Santa Ana Leave a comment

UPDATED: The Voice of OC is now reporting that Jill Arthur is possibly working in a volunteer capacity for Santa Ana Mayor Miguel Pulido. We have no problem with that. Who the Mayor opts to work with is up to him and apparently the taxpayers are not on the hook. That sounds like a good deal for the people of Santa Ana.

Jill Arthur, Santa Ana’s former deputy city manager accused of wrongdoing at the city’s unemployment office, is no longer employed at City Hall after a city investigation into the incident, Voice of OC has confirmed.

We might never know why in the world Arthur offered to use her influence at the city’s work center to help a young man named Marcel Alvarez to find a job after she backed her vehicle into his car but apparently that is what she did. Continue reading→

Regarding David Benavides and MXLive

Posted on October 5, 2013 by Art Pedroza Posted in Civic Affairs, David Benavides 11 Comments

David Benavides at the 2013 Fiestas Patrias Parade

We recently reported on a story that has been rippling through Downtown Santa Ana. The City of Santa Ana’s contract with their Fiestas Patrias and Cinco de Mayor entertainment manager, MXLive is ending this year. Our post about this that apparently offended MXLive and Santa Ana Councilman David Benavides.

We received separate letters from the attorney for MX Live and from Councilman David Benavides this Friday, curiously within hours of each other, via email. Continue reading→

City of Santa Ana launches online community planning survey

Posted on October 2, 2013 by Art Pedroza Posted in Civic Affairs, Planning, Santa Ana Leave a comment

City of Santa Ana, Downtown Orange County

Community Alert: City Launches Online Community Survey: City Council Wants To Hear Your Opinions

SANTA ANA, CA (October 2, 2013) – The City’s Community Survey is now available for all to complete. The survey will run through the month of October. The survey results, together with all the other community input, will be presented to the City Council at a public workshop later this Fall. With this input, the City Council will shape the five-year strategic plan. Continue reading→

City Council agrees to pay $275K to an innnocent man attacked by a police dog

Posted on September 23, 2013 by Art Pedroza Posted in Civic Affairs, Crime, Public Safety, Santa Ana Leave a comment

The Santa Ana City Council has agreed to pay $275,000 to a Santa Ana resident who contended in a claim that he had been mauled by a police dog, according to the O.C. Register.

Apparently Santa Ana police officers thought they were sending the dog into a house on West First Street to get ayoung suspected felon named Reuben, at 3:35 am on June 6, 2012. But the dog attacked 50-year old Higinio Hernandez instead.

Here’s the best part of this mess – the city, said Assistant City Attorney Laura A. Rossini, “did not acknowledge any liability for the city and/or any employees for this matter as a result of the settlement.” Continue reading→

Santa Ana launches an online Strategic Planning Info Portal

Posted on September 19, 2013 by Art Pedroza Posted in Civic Affairs, Planning, Santa Ana 1 Comment

City of Santa Ana, Downtown Orange County

Community Alert: Creating Our Future Together: Santa Ana’s Strategic Planning Information Portal Now Available

SANTA ANA, CA (September 19, 2013) – The Santa Ana City Council is pleased to announce that the Strategic Planning Information Portal can now be viewed on the City’s web page. (http://www.santa-ana.org/strategic-planning/) Santa Ana is undertaking a five-year strategic planning process to hear from the Santa Ana community about their priorities. The City Council is soliciting input into this planning process from representatives from a broad range of community interests such as: residents, business owners, nonprofit organizations, students, the faith-based community, property owners, educators, and other interested stakeholders. All members of the community are encouraged to visit the City’s web page to see the input that has been provided so far. This is an exciting time to be a member of the Santa Ana community and City Council wants everyone to participate in this important process. Continue reading→

Updated: Power partially restored at Santa Ana’s Civic Center

Posted on September 18, 2013 by Art Pedroza Posted in Civic Affairs, Energy, Santa Ana Leave a comment

Will inmates break out with no power at the Santa Ana jail?

UPDATED: Two circuits were damaged. The first circuit was restored — 681 customers initially. One customer remains off. There were 1,082 customers impacted by the loss of the second circuit. All customers remain off.. Restoration at approx 9pm. A car hit a pole causing the power lines to come down.

Santa Ana Police Department Advisory: Power outage in Civic Center area

The Police Department has experienced a power outage. Apparently, the power outage also encompasses the city hall complex, the jail and the neighborhoods in the vicinity of Civic Center and Bristol, Main and Civic Center, First and Main, and Washington and Bristol. Continue reading→

Will anyone challenge Council Members Benavides, Martinez and Tinajero in 2014?

Posted on September 16, 2013 by Art Pedroza Posted in 2014 Elections, Civic Affairs, David Benavides, Michele Martinez, Politics, Sal Tinajero, Santa Ana 2 Comments

Several Santa Ana Council Members are going to have to run for re-election in 2014, including David Benavides, Michele Martinez and Sal Tinajero.

It may well be that by then a court will have already invalidated Measure D, which would mean these Council Members would be termed out, but that is by no means guaranteed.

So will anyone challenge these Council Members? Continue reading→

Large crowd shows up to watch the Santa Ana 2013 Fiestas Patrias parade

Posted on September 15, 2013 by Art Pedroza Posted in Arts and Culture, Civic Affairs, Independence, mexico, Miguel Pulido, Santa Ana 2 Comments

The 2013 Fiestas Patrias Parade was held this afternoon in Downtown Santa Ana. This annual event is always well attended and despite the heat today there were a lot of people lined up along the parade route, which stretched along a route that ended on Civic Center, by the O.C. Courthouse. Click here to see the pictures that are included in the video slideshow above.

The usual politicians showed up to ride in the parade including local elected officials such as Santa Ana Mayor Miguel Pulido and Santa Ana Council Members David Benavides, Michele Martinez and Vince Sarmiento. There were also several legislators including State Senator Lou Correa, former Assemblyman Jose Solorio who is now a Community College District Trustee, Assemblyman Tom Daly and U.S. Representative Loretta Sanchez. Continue reading→

2013 Fiestas Patrias Parking, Traffic and Parade Route information

Posted on September 14, 2013 by Art Pedroza Posted in Arts and Culture, Civic Affairs, mexico, Politics, Santa Ana Leave a comment

The 35th annual Fiestas Patrias celebration, commemorating Mexico’s independence, takes place this weekend in downtown Santa Ana, from Friday, Sept. 13 to Sunday, Sept. 15. Don’t miss the parade, at 4 p.m. on Sunday, Sept. 15. The Fiestas Patrias Parade will start at 4 p.m. on 15th Street and Main Street, making a right onto Civic Center, ending at N. Flower Street. The parade is a great opportunity to take pictures of Orange County politicians trolling for Latino votes. I fully expect to see Assemblyman Tom Daly there despite his long record of anti-Latino votes as the former Mayor of Anaheim. And you have to believe that Supervisor Janet Nguyen will be there too – as she is now running for Lou Correa’s State Senate seat, which is up for grabs in 2014. Continue reading→

Fiestas Patrias Parade Grand Marshal will be Carla Estrada, Telenovela star

Posted on September 12, 2013 by Art Pedroza Posted in Arts and Culture, Civic Affairs, Latino Leaders, mexico, Santa Ana 2 Comments

City of Santa Ana, Downtown Orange County

Community Alert: Renowned Mexican Television Producer Carla Estrada will be the Grand Marshal for this Year’s Fiestas Patrias Parade

SANTA ANA, CA (September 12, 2013) – This Sunday, September 15th, 2013 the annual parade celebrating Mexican Independence Day will kick off at 4:00 p.m at the corner of Main and 15th St. in the City of Santa Ana. Renowned Mexican television producer Carla Estrada will be the Grand Marshal for this year’s Fiestas Patrias parade. Continue reading→

Bags of books for $2 at the Friends of the Library book sale set for 9/20-21

Posted on September 12, 2013 by Art Pedroza Posted in Charities, Civic Affairs, Entertainment, Literature, Santa Ana Leave a comment

City of Santa Ana, Downtown Orange County

Community Alert: FRIENDS OF THE SANTA ANA LIBRARY CHILDREN’S BOOK SALE

SANTA ANA, CA (September 12, 2013) – The Friends of the Santa Ana Public Library will hold a Children’s and Young Adult Book Sale on Friday, September 20, 2013 and Saturday, September 21, 2013. The sale will take place on the second floor of the Main Library in meeting room A. We will be selling books, videos, DVDs and other items for children and teens. Most items will be priced at 25 cents or 50 cents. Continue reading→

Public forum about what is new in Santa Ana’s city government set for 9/18

Posted on September 10, 2013 by Art Pedroza Posted in Civic Affairs, Entertainment, Santa Ana 1 Comment

Connect-to-Council will be conducting a public forum entitled “Santa Ana Winds of Change” on Wednesday, September 18,2013, from 6:30 pm to 8:00 pm, at the Rancho Santiago Community College District Boardroom, located at 2323 N. Broadway, in Santa Ana.

The forum will be a discussion of “What’s new in our City government?” Continue reading→

This is not Santa Ana’s September garage sale weekend

Posted on August 31, 2013 by Art Pedroza Posted in Civic Affairs, Santa Ana 7 Comments

The City of Santa Ana restricts when we can hold garage sales. Their garage sale ordinance specifies that we can hold garage sales for residential properties “on the first full weekend of March, June, September, and December each year.” As today, Saturday, is still part of August we cannot hold garage sales until next weekend, on September 7 and 8.

Of course you have to figure that the Santa Ana Code Enforcement officers are not working today, although the cops are. Please note that the City’s ordinance states that “Persons conducting sales on any unauthorized weekend or violating any of the above regulations will be subject to an Administrative Fine or a misdemeanor citation.” Some NIMBY’s are already going nuts about this on Facebook. And the gentrifiers at Downtown Inc. are having a cow too.

Continue reading→