Santa Ana's top news & views blog

Santa Ana's top news & views blog

Category Archives: Claudia Alvarez

Alvarez gets the last laugh as Bustamante gets arrested

Posted on by Posted in Carlos Bustamante, Civic Affairs, Claudia Alvarez, Courts, Crime, David Benavides, Democratic Party, Orange County, Politics, Republican Party, Sal Tinajero, Santa Ana, Vince Sarmiento 15 Comments

Alvarez couldn’t help but smile at tonight’s City Council meeting…

Remember when Santa Ana Council Member Carlos Bustamante went after his colleague, Santa Ana Mayor Pro Tem Claudia Alvarez, after she compared landlord and developer Irv Chases’s business practices to Adolf Hitler’s ethnic cleansing?  Well, last week the Orange County Grand Jury found that Alvarez was right about Chase and his friends at Downtown, Inc. – in a report that slammed the Santa Ana PBID tax.  And Bustamante?  Well he is now rotting in jail after being arrested today on multiple felony and misdemeanor counts.

When Bustamante raises bail he will have quite a few decisions to make – like hiring a lawyer, but eventually he will also have to write his formal letter of resignation.  His time on the Santa Ana City Council is done.

I expect that one of our City Commissioners will be named to replace him – perhaps one of the many Planning Commissioners who live in Ward 3.  Bustamante’s seat will be available this November in the General Election and his replacement will have a leg up on the rest of the competition. Continue reading→

City Council to decide the fate of the Downtown PBID tax tonight

Posted on by Posted in Business, Carlos Bustamante, Civic Affairs, Claudia Alvarez, Courts, Dave Ream, David Benavides, Development, Fraud, Latinos, Michele Martinez, Miguel Pulido, Politics, Sal Tinajero, Santa Ana, Vince Sarmiento 12 Comments

July 4 falls on a Wednesday this year but there will be fireworks early this week, at Monday night’s Santa Ana City Council meeting, on July 2, at 5 pm, as Council Member Sal Tinajero and Mayor Pro Tem Claudia Alvarez have placed an 85 A item on the City Council agenda to disestablish the Downtown Santa Ana property tax – the PBID.

Here is the 85 A PBID agenda item: Continue reading→

Isn’t it time to end the Downtown Santa Ana Pbid?

Posted on by Posted in Arts and Culture, Bars, Business, Civic Affairs, Claudia Alvarez, David Benavides, Michele Martinez, Restaurants, Sal Tinajero, Santa Ana, Taxes, Vince Sarmiento 19 Comments

Santa Ana Council Member Sal Tinajero may put an item on an upcoming City Council meeting agenda to get rid of the Downtown Santa Ana Pbid, a property assessment that is collected and spent by a non-profit, Downtown Inc.  There has been a lot of anger on the part of small businesses made to pay these fees (either directly as property owners or passed on to them in their leases by their landords), but who feel that they don’t draw benefit from Downtown Inc’s marketing, which has apparently benefited the Downtown restaurants and bars more.

Need more proof of that?  Tara Jimenez, the owner of Drapes Vintage, was hired by Downtown, Inc. to run workshops to teach local Downtown businesses how they could make their stores more appealing to the downtown’s changing demographic,” according to the Voice of OC.  But she is now closing her business – and she has turned on Downtown Inc. too. Continue reading→

Santa Ana City Council should vote to change racist chicken ordinance

Posted on by Posted in Civic Affairs, Claudia Alvarez, David Benavides, Latinos, Nature, Pets, Sal Tinajero, Santa Ana 5 Comments

I was pleased to read in the O.C. Register that Santa Ana Council Members Sal Tinajero, Claudia Alvarez and David Benavides voted, as the Public Safety Committee, to change a city ordinance so that residents may keep chickens in their backyard, provided they are at least thirty feet from any neighbor’s property.

Deputy Santa Ana Police Chief Carlos Rojas, who oversees field operations as well as animal control, said his staff looked at a variety of issues, and contacted both Orange County officials and the Centers for Disease Control. Like other city officials, he said he wasn’t sure why the 100-foot standard was adopted, according to the O.C. Register.

Well, the law was ridiculous and it was designed to keep chickens entirely out of our backyards.  It was passed years ago when white City Council members regularly used city ordinances to punish Mexican American residents, who often kept chickens in their backyards, having come from rural traditions in their home country.  Some of our residents are still clinging to the old racist ideals.  Just look at Tim Rush’s comments at this link. Continue reading→

Newcomer to Santa Ana politics announces campaign for Ward 5

Posted on by Posted in 2012 Elections, Civic Affairs, Claudia Alvarez, David Benavides, Democratic Party, Elections, Karina Onofre, Latinos, Loretta Sanchez, Politics, Roman Reyna, Santa Ana 20 Comments

Karina Onofre has announced that she is running for Ward 5 on the Santa Ana City Council, which is currently represented by Santa Ana Mayor Pro Tem Claudia Alvarez, who has apparently termed out after serving for three four year terms.  Alvarez reportedly is going to sue to get on to the ballot.

Onofre works for a fellow named Mike Dalati, at Santa Ana Property Management, a company that manages rental properties.  She is also apparently the publisher of Mundo Latino Magazine, but their website appears to be defunct.  You can however learn a bit about this publication at this link.  Onofre states on that website that “Our goal with MUNDO LATINO WORLD magazine is to Strengthen Latinos & the Whole WORLD in unison with tips on healthcare, eating, excercising, love poem.”  I have never seen nor heard of this magazine but apparently Congresswoman Loretta Sanchez gave her an award for publishing it.  Sanchez must have dug those love poems! Continue reading→

No Gustavo, Michele Martinez and I did not sell out to Miguel Pulido

Posted on by Posted in 2006 Elections, 2008 Elections, 2010 Elections, Alfredo Amezcua, Carlos Bustamante, Claudia Alvarez, Dave Ream, Democratic Party, Elections, Julio Perez, Latinos, Michele Martinez, Miguel Pulido, Politics, Sal Tinajero, Santa Ana 14 Comments

The OC Weekly’s Gustavo Arellano is a huge fan of far-left Democrat Julio Perez – one of four Democrats vying for the 69th Assembly District.  That’s fine.  What is not cool is Gustavo’s continued allegation that Santa Ana Council Woman Michele Martinez “sold out” to Santa Ana Mayor Miguel Pulido.  That is not just untrue – it is complete B.S.

The reality is that Martinez was elected to Ward 2 on the Santa Ana City Council by running AGAINST Pulido’s handpicked candidate, the useless Tino Rivera (a Republican who switched to the Democratic Party for that race).  That was a tough race – Martinez was unknown and vastly underfunded.  The other candidates included a Com Link Board Member, Evangeline Gawronski, who ran a credible campaign; a candidate, Tish Leon, who took out a loan on her house; and Rivera.  Martinez punked them all, garnering 32.6% of the vote, according to Smart Voter.

Think about it – Martinez began her career in politics by taking out Pulido’s handpicked lame candidate.  This is a sell out?  Really? Continue reading→

Sources report that Santa Ana Mayor Pro Tem Alvarez is running again

Posted on by Posted in 2012 Elections, Claudia Alvarez, Elections, Miguel Pulido, Politics, Santa Ana 38 Comments

UPDATE: Sources report that Santa Ana Mayor Pro Tem Claudia Alvarez is going to run for reelection this November.  There has been some debate about whether or not Measure D, which allowed her to run for a third term, would allow her to run for two more.  Alvarez is essentially challenging her detractors to sue her if they want to remove her from the ballot.  There is precedent for similar measures to grant incumbents a new set of terms – which means that Alvarez could run twice more.  She has been on the City Council for three terms – twelve years.  Only Mayor Miguel Pulido has been there longer.  Go Claudia!

“The city of Santa Ana has sought an outside legal opinion on whether Councilwoman Claudia Alvarez — who is thought to be termed out of office next year — can run for a fourth term on City Council, Santa Ana’s interim City Manager Paul Walters confirmed this week,” according to the Voice of OC. Continue reading→

Poll closes tonight: Who will be Santa Ana’s Woman of the Year in 2011?

Posted on by Posted in Claudia Alvarez, Janet Nguyen, Loretta Sanchez, Michele Martinez, Orange County, Politics, Santa Ana, SAUSD 3 Comments

Our readers enjoyed voting yesterday for Santa Ana’s Man of the Year in 2011 – now it’s the ladies turn as we consider who was Santa Ana’s Woman of the Year in 2011?  We had a very strong field last year, and many of those nominees are back in this year’s poll, but I also expanded the poll to include many of the leaders of our top non-profit organizations.  If I missed someone you think should be in the poll, please be sure to let me know in the comments.

This will be a tough decision as there are many great candidates!  One of my favorite choices is Santa Ana Council Member Michele Martinez, who had a tough year in 2011, with the passing of her mom and her great grandmother, but Martinez persevered and she is now the leading candidate to replace Jose Solorio in the 69th Assembly District.

Here is the poll – you can vote for up to three choices:

Continue reading→

A Year in Review – a look back at Santa Ana in 2011

Posted on by Posted in Carlos Bustamante, Civic Affairs, Claudia Alvarez, Dave Ream, Michele Martinez, Politics, Santa Ana, Tom Daly 4 Comments

Our posts about Santa Ana’s Cafe Lu and Councilman Bustamante topped the charts in 2011

What a year it has been here in Santa Ana – and on this blog, the New Santa Ana.  Since January 1, 2011, we have had 226,798 Visits and 407,051 Pageviews.  Wow!  That’s not bad for a blog that was started not too long ago, in September of 2009.

Now let’s take a look at our top stories this year:

Continue reading→

Will Mayor Pro Tem Claudia Alvarez run for the SAUSD School Board in 2012?

Posted on by Posted in Claudia Alvarez, Elections, Politics, Santa Ana, SAUSD 8 Comments

Santa Ana Mayor Pro Tem Claudia Alvarez most likely won’t be able to run for a fourth term on the Santa Ana City Council, according to an article posted in the Voice of OC today.  Alvarez is going to term out in 2012, but if she wants to stay in politics she has a lot of options.  Alvarez will have served three terms on the Santa Ana City Council, after extending term limits by one term via the successful passage of Measure D, a few years ago.

Alvarez chose not to run for the 69th Assembly District again.  Her colleague, Council Member Michele Martinez is the leading contender for that seat.  Alvarez could run for the First Supervisorial District, against incumbent Janet Nguyen.  But it is more likely that State Senator Lou Correa may do so.

So where should Alvarez go?  How about the Santa Ana Unified School District’s (SAUSD) School Board?  She could walk on easily.  Three SAUSD Trustees are up for reelection in 2012, including Rob Richardson, Jose Hernandez and Roman Reyna.  Of the three, it is likely that only one of them, Reyna, will opt not to run.  He is likely to run for, and win, Alvarez’ seat on the Santa Ana City Council. Continue reading→

City Council reacts to Forbes article that named Santa Ana 4th Safest City

Posted on by Posted in Civic Affairs, Claudia Alvarez, Crime, Public Safety, Santa Ana, Vince Sarmiento 3 Comments

Thursday December 22, 2011, 8:18 AM
City of Santa Ana, Downtown Orange County

Advisory: Santa Ana City Council Reacts to Recent ‘America’s Safest Cities’ Article by Forbes

SANTA ANA, CA (December 22, 2011) – On December 15, 2011, Forbes published ‘America’s Safest Cities,’ which ranked the City of Santa Ana 4th in the entire country. In order to find the 10 safest cities in America, Forbes looked at cities with a population exceeding 250,000. The article then ranked the cities’ using their violent crime and pedestrian fatality rates to arrive at the final ranking. Continue reading→

UPDATE: Santa Ana Code of Ethics meeting tonight at 6 pm

Posted on by Posted in Carlos Bustamante, Civic Affairs, Claudia Alvarez, David Benavides, Politics, Sal Tinajero, Santa Ana, Vince Sarmiento 30 Comments

Unethical behavior is abundant in Santa Ana politics…

The Santa Ana City Council is holding a meeting on Dec. 6, at 5:30 pm, to review the “Code of Ethics,” which voters passed when they voted for Measure D, which extended Council term limits.  The Council appointed a committee of three Council Members, including Mayor Pro Tem Claudia Alvarez, Vince Sarmiento and Sal Tinajero, to conduct this review.

Alvarez has since backed out – in the wake of the Code being used by Council Members David Benavides and Carlos Bustamante to try to punish her after she made a bad Hitler analogy in referring to controversial Downtown Santa Ana landlord Irv Chase.

None of the other Council Members, including Benavides and Bustamante, want anything to do with the Review Committee.  I can’t blame them.  The Code of Ethics was designed to muzzle bloggers who were put on City Commissions.  Ironically it is now being used by the Usual Suspects to attack Santa Ana’s Council Member.  And that obsessed Long Beach blogger has written not one but two posts about the Santa Ana Code of Ethics Review Committee.  Good grief! Continue reading→

PBID to be reconsidered by the Santa Ana City Council in May

Posted on by Posted in Business, Civic Affairs, Claudia Alvarez, Politics, Sal Tinajero, Santa Ana 4 Comments

Santa Ana Mayor Pro Tem Claudia Alvarez tried her best to stop the PBID (a property tax in Downtown Santa Ana that is used largely to promote bars and restaurants and to maintain and secure the area) at Monday night’s Santa Ana City Council meeting, but she could not muster any support from her colleagues.

Instead, “The issue will be taken up again in May, according to Councilman Sal Tinajero, who told the Voice of OC “because the city should be allowed to consider dismantling the district without threat of litigation at that time. The law governing the district requires council members vote annually on whether to continue the district.” Continue reading→

City of Santa Ana to consider an ordinance to ban sex offenders from parks?

Posted on by Posted in Civic Affairs, Claudia Alvarez, Courts, Crime, Paul Walters, Politics, Santa Ana 9 Comments

Men lurking at Santiago Park

The City of Santa Ana may act to keep sex offenders out of our parks!

I got a press release today from the O.C. District Attorney’s office, announcing that the City of Laguna Hills has become the latest city to consider an ordinance banning registered sex offenders from their city parks.

The City of Huntington Beach also just passed a similar ordinance.  “City Council members at their meeting Monday approved the ordinance in a 4-3 vote with council members Connie Boardman, Joe Shaw and Keith Bohr dissenting,” according to the O.C. Register.

I have written a few posts asking why the City of Santa Ana hasn’t considered a similar ordinance, given that we have over 200 registered sex offenders living in our city.  This time I sent an email to the City Council and to SAPD Chief and Acting City Manager Paul Walters.  Mayor Pro Tem Claudia Alvarez quickly responded: Continue reading→

Why did Santa Ana Occupy fail to support affordable housing last night?

Posted on by Posted in Affordable Housing, Carlos Bustamante, Civic Affairs, Claudia Alvarez, David Benavides, Development, Michele Martinez, Orange County, Politics, Sal Tinajero, Santa Ana, Vince Sarmiento 56 Comments

Why should Santa Ana Occupy care about affordable housing?  

Their leader is a wealthy lawyer who lives in Brea!

About 40 members of Santa Ana Occupy showed up at Santa Ana’s City Council last night.  Thanks to them the meeting went on until midnight.  In the end the City Council rejected their demand to camp out at night on city property.

That much you know by now – but did you know that the Occupy members also completely failed last night – when they were given an opportunity to help the “99%?”

That’s right.  The City Council finally voted on an ordinance that would force developers to include affordable housing in their residential developments. Continue reading→