Santa Ana’s City Council Members are finally reacting to the increasing violence and crime in our city – but their reaction is not what anyone might have expected. In a city where the Council Members have in the past led marches against violence and conducted town hall meetings to discuss the issue, our elected officials are now ducking and covering.
Consider what several of the Council Members told the O.C. Register after five shootings and three fatalities in the past month: Continue reading
OCEA boss Nick Berardino has a grudge with Mayor Pulido
The Voice of OC is reporting that Santa Ana Mayor Miguel Pulido voted for a $1.35-million no-bid city contract with a local auto parts firm just over a year after he and members of his family purchased a home from the store owner for $230,000 less than its fair market value.
As usual when the VOC attacks Pulido you have to dig a little deeper to figure out how contrived these attacks are. I spoke to Mayor Pulido and he was happy to explain what happened. Continue reading
Is it desperation? Santa Ana Council Members Sal Tinajero and Vince Sarmiento placed an odd 85 A item on tonight’s City Council agenda:
DIRECT CITY ATTORNEY TO PREPARE NECESSARY DOCUMENTS TO PROPOSE A CHARTER AMENDMENT ESTABLISHING A PRIMARY ELECTION FOR MAYOR SEAT TO BE CONSIDERED BY VOTERS AT THE 2014 GENERAL MUNICIPAL ELECTION – (Mayor Pro Tem Tinajero and Councilmember Sarmiento
If I am reading this correctly it looks like a proposal to make the Mayoral election in November, 2016 a Primary Election, with a General Election to be set at some later date. This is completely crazy! The only good news is that the voters would have to approve this in the November, 2014 election, as it is a change to the city’s charter. Continue reading
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
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
We recently took a look at the official City Calendars of each of our Santa Ana City Council Members. Now it is time to vote! Which one of our Council Members is the very worst of the bunch?
We have been looking this week at the publicly posted official calendars of our City Council Members, for the month of June, 2013. So far we have determined that Council Members David Benavides and Angie Amezcua are barely present in their own Wards, while Council Member Michele Martinez is staying pretty active in her own Ward. Now we turn to the calendar of Mayor Pro Tem Sal Tinajero, who represents Ward 6.
The City Council has approved a new ordinance aimed at simplifying the permit process for restaurants and other night-time businesses that want to offer entertainment, according to the O.C. Register.
According to the Voice of OC, the new rules include: Continue reading
“A dispute involving adult baseball leagues in Santa Ana is providing yet another backdrop for the ongoing political battle between Mayor Miguel Pulido and the current City Council majority, with Pulido going so far this time as to advise the leaders of two leagues to sue the city over the use of baseball diamonds, according to the owner of one league,” according to the Voice of OC.
Here are a few more excerpts from the Voice of OC article: Continue reading
I had a long talk this afernoon with a Santa Ana insider who had some amazing chismes for me. I was expecting that perhaps Santa Ana Mayor Miguel Pulido would run for the Orange County Supervisorial seat that is currently held by Janet Nguyen, but apparently Councilman Vincent Sarmiento has decided to run, and Pulido is not going to oppose him.
But the biggest shocker was that Measure D may be in trouble – and that it could be reversed if it is challenged in court. That was the measure that extended the term limits of the Santa Ana Council Members by four years, from 8 years to 12. That measure was on the ballot in a special election but apparently it should have been put in front of the voters in a general election. What this means, if it does get wiped out, is that several Santa Ana Council Members will be termed out – including Michele Martinez and Sal Tinajero. Continue reading
So many chismes! The big one I am hearing is that the Santa Ana City Council is preparing to hire a new City Manager at a special meeting next week, perhaps on Tuesday, and that they are continuing to accept job applications through this Friday. But who would want to work for this bunch?
Santa Ana Council Member Michele Martinez is up for re-election in 2014. But this time she won’t be getting a free pass. I hear a very well-connected Latina is preparing to challenge her! Considering how poorly Martinez fared in last June’s Open Primary, when she came in almost last in her campaign for the 69th Assembly District, she better be worried about this. She blew some $200K on that race. Who will donate money to her now? Continue reading
I almost fell out of my chair laughing today when I read that “Among the shifts Rourke made late in March, External Affairs Manager Jill Arthur was promoted to deputy city manager and installed as head of the city’s community development agency, according to an email March 27 from O’Rourke to the city’s management team,” according to the Voice of OC.
Hilarious! The Santa Ana City Council absolutely hates Jill Arthur and now their $22K a month temporary City Manager, Kevin O’Rourke, has effectively given her a raise! For this they fired Paul Walters? Unbelievable. Continue reading
Adios Martinez?
Inside sources tell me that Santa Ana Council Woman Michele Martinez, who lost badly last June in her bid for the 69th Assembly District, is considering a job in Sacramento, so she might end up there after all. I am told that she will resign from the City Council if she gets this unknown job.
Martinez is actively involved in SCAG, the Southern California Association of Governments, and NALEO, the National Association of Latino Elected Officials. It is as such feasible that she might be leaving our city for a job in the state capitol. Continue reading
” The City of Santa Ana will pay out more than $700,000 under the severance agreement struck with former city manager Paul M. Walters,” according to the O.C. Register.
The Voice of OC asked Santa Ana Mayor Pro Tem Sal Tinajero if the council majority miscalculated? “A miscalculation is the car’s running at 50 miles per hour and you think you can get across before you get hit,” Tinajero said. “But if the car speeds to 110 miles per hour, that’s not a miscalculation, someone just changed the rules on you.” Continue reading
“The cost of the severance agreement with former Santa Ana City Manager Paul Walters will be “above $400,000,” according to Mayor Pro Tem Sal Tinajero, as reported by the O.C. Register.
The L.A. Times reported that “Santa Ana city leaders have also agreed to name the city’s police building in honor of Walters” – a fitting tribute to a public servant who toiled on our behalf for 42 years. Continue reading