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Category Archives: Michele Martinez

Will Jose Solorio run for the Santa Ana City Council again in 2012?

Posted on by Posted in 2012 Elections, Civic Affairs, Claudia Alvarez, Elections, Janet Nguyen, Jose Solorio, Michele Martinez, Miguel Pulido, Politics, Sal Tinajero, Santa Ana 1 Comment

Assemblyman Jose Solorio won reelection easily in November, as he always has.  But he is going to term out of his seat in the 69th Assembly District in 2012.  It will finally be time for him to move on to something else.

I thought for some time that Solorio would run against Supervisor Janet Nguyen in 2012.  I am beginning to have my doubts about that.  The O.C. Board of Supervisors is going to redistrict before the 2012 elections.  Nguyen will find a way to move Latinos out of her district and replace them with more Vietnamese voters.

Solorio has never had to run against a determined, well-funded opponent.  His Republican challengers have all been cupcakes.  Nguyen won’t be a pushover.  And she will make sure that she changes her district to give her an innate advantage over Solorio.

That is why I have now come to believe that Solorio will punt.  He will instead either resort to lobbying or government relations work, go to a non-profit, or, most likely, find another way to spend his time as he waits for State Senator Lou Correa to term out, in 2014.  Solorio will then run for Correa’s seat.

Solorio does have another option.  He could run for his old seat on the Santa Ana City Council.  It is highly likely that his replacement on the City Council, Vince Sarmiento, will run for Solorio’s Assembly seat.  So what they will do is trade places.  Solorio has been gone from the City Council for years.  He will be able to run for three more consecutive terms, if he wants to.

I suspect that is exactly what Solorio will do.  He will then get a good-paying job at a public agency.  Remember that he used to work at the OCTA.  He will land on his feet.

This may actually work out well for the City Council majority.  Solorio will work well with Council Members Sal Tinajero, Michele Martinez and Mayor Miguel Pulido.  Mayor Pro Tem Claudia Alvarez will term out in 2012 and she could easily run for the SAUSD School Board – and win.

As for Nguyen, she will still face challengers, but most likely they will come from the right, not the left.

Bloggers and media demonstrate Santa Ana must be the most interesting city in OC

Posted on by Posted in Blogs, Carlos Bustamante, Claudia Alvarez, David Benavides, Michele Martinez, Miguel Pulido, Sal Tinajero, Santa Ana, Vince Sarmiento 4 Comments

Read the local blogs or the pseudo-media and you will see an incredible fascination, some might say obsession, with our great city and our elected officials.  Whether they live in Anaheim, Long Beach or Irvine these folks can’t seem to focus on their own communities they instead choose to write about ours and do so with an outsiders ignorance.  Their wild eyed accusations and assessments are based on second hand knowledge and biased observations.

It looks as though these folks have joined in with the small, but angry, mob of local residents that offer no real solutions or alternatives to help move our city forward.  The recent election results demonstrated that the voters soundly rejected this “coalition of no” and their negative view of our city and our leaders.  Rather than simply opposing projects and attacking our electeds perhaps these folks could offer up some different ideas for moving our city forward along with a plan on how they would do it.

Simply saying you want more cops, more parks and more services is not an answer.  Everyone wants those things.  Tell us how we can do that or how we can accomplish it by tweaking what we are currently doing.  Mayor Miguel Pulido, the city council and city leaders like our Police Chief Paul Walters are doing all they can to provide our community the best services possible given the current budget issues we face.  Things could be much worse but thanks to our leadership they aren’t.

We here at the New Santa Ana blog are all ears when it comes to hearing new ideas and plans on how we can make our city a better place.  We would love to hear constructive criticism of the way things are being done now, perhaps there are ways to do things better.  However all we hear out of these bloggers and so-called media types is pissing and moaning and personal attacks against our city, our leaders and their supporters.

For all of you folks throwing rocks from afar I ask you this, if you are so concerned about our city why don’t you move here and help make it a better place?  You are constantly telling the blogosphere how smart you are, why don’t you move to Santa Ana run for office and let us all reap the awards of your incredible intelligence?

Obviously you have all solved the problems in Anaheim, Irvine, Long Beach and wherever else it is that you hail from.  Since you see our great city as being so interesting that you focus your obsession on it I ask you to come and help us move it forward.  For many years Art Pedroza and I found throwing rocks to be easy, finding solutions is hard.  Join us and or great city leaders in finding the solutions necessary to improve the most interesting city in Orange County.

The time is now and the place is Santa Ana.

Have critics of the Santa Ana City Council gone too far?

Posted on by Posted in Civic Affairs, Michele Martinez, Miguel Pulido, Sal Tinajero, Santa Ana 16 Comments

My colleague, Sean Mill, recently extended an invitation to the editor of a local news and entertainment publication to go on a ride-along with Mayor Miguel Pulido, to see some of the great positive things that are happening in Santa Ana.  The editor’s response?  No, he said, because Mayor Pulido has not yet visited the editor’s girlfriend’s local store.  How petty can you get?

Orange Juice blogger Gabriel San Roman topped that yesterday in a truly ridiculous post wherein he slammed the entire Santa Ana City Council because they did not attend a fundraiser for the Breath of Fire theater ensemble.  According to San Roman, the Council was invited, in person, to attend the event, but they did not.

Is this guy serious?  The City of Santa Ana provides a community calendar, where such events receive free publicity.  Events are also featured on the front page of the City’s website.   The City of Santa Ana also sends out a regular email newsletter, called Celebrate Santa Ana, that touts such events.

Councilwoman Michele Martinez also promotes these events in her monthly newsletter and on her blog.  So does Mayor Pulido, on his blog, and Councilman Sal Tinajero, on his blog.

The reality is that our Council Members and our Mayor are busy people.  Most of them have kids.  All of them have jobs to do and many of them already serve on numerous charitable boards and civic commissions.  Must they attend every event that San Roman wants them to attend, or risk getting ripped?

Expecting our local elected officials to spend all of their free time attending meetings and events is unreasonable.  These folks serve our City on a part-time basis.  They should be allowed to spend their free time doing whatever they want to.

Latino activists used to complain because the Santa Ana City Council was full of non-Latinos.  Now we have an all-Latino City Council and their critics are still unhappy.  Nothing will ever please them…

City Council installation set for December 14th

Posted on by Posted in David Benavides, Entertainment, Michele Martinez, Miguel Pulido, Sal Tinajero, Santa Ana Leave a comment

The 2010 Mayor and City Council Installation ceremony has been scheduled for Tuesday, December 14th at 6:00 PM in the City of Santa Ana Council Chambers located at 22 Civic Center Plaza, Santa Ana.  All residents are invited to join in the celebration of the swearing in of Mayor Miguel Pulido and Council Members Michele Martinez, David Benavides and Sal Tinajero.

Voters reaffirmed their support for the terrific council majority when Mayor Pulido, Martinez and Tinajero were re-elected along with Benavides in November.  After a spirited campaign season lets hope that all sides can put their differences aside and get behind the movement that will lead our community into the future.  The silly season that is born out of elections that has led to ridiculous lawsuits and obstructionist behavior should now be put to rest for the good of the city.

Immediately following the ceremony at the council chambers there will be a reception at the Bowers Museum which is located at 2002 North Main Street, Santa Ana.  Everyone is welcome and we here at the New Santa Ana blog look forward to see you all there.  Let’s celebrate our city council and our city’s future together.

Who will run for the Santa Ana City Council in 2012?

Posted on by Posted in Alfredo Amezcua, Carlos Bustamante, Civic Affairs, Claudia Alvarez, David Benavides, Democratic Party, Elections, Janet Nguyen, Jose Solorio, Michele Martinez, Miguel Pulido, Politics, Sal Tinajero, Santa Ana, Vince Sarmiento 7 Comments

This year’s Santa Ana City Council elections were a mixed bag.  On the one hand, mayoral challenger Alfredo Amezcua proved he could run a serious campaign – but he lost badly to Mayor Miguel Pulido, despite spending a quarter million, from what I hear.

The Council incumbents won handily.  Michele Martinez and David Benavides ran unopposed.  Sal Tinajero was challenged by Nam Pham and Helen Martinez.  They were not competitive.

But 2012 will be a different bag altogether.  Vice Mayor Claudia Alvarez is termed out.  Councilman Carlos Bustamante will be running for his third term – but this time he figures to draw heavy competition, after he was caught campaigning for Republican Assemblyman Van Tran, who challenged Congresswoman Loretta Sanchez.  And Councilman Vince Sarmiento might leave the Council and run for Assemblyman Jose Solorio’s seat in the 69th A.D., creating an open seat on the Council.

Amezcua could run for Mayor again, but he ought to consider challenging Bustamante, who has been in cruise control for a few years.  If Amezcua does that, he might pick up support from folks who support Pullido but want Bustamante, who is the last Republican on the Santa Ana City Council, off the Council.

Who else might challenge Bustamante?  Well, how about past Assembly candidate Armando de la Libertad, who lives in the new CityPlace center?  He is very popular and he is very well connected in the O.C. business community.

Guess who else lives in Bustamante’s ward?  Popular SAUSD Trustee John Palacio, an ally of Amezcua.  Palacio just won a new term on the SAUSD School Board.  He would have a free shot at Bustamante’s seat.

What about Alvarez’ Ward?  The obvious leading candidate would have to be SAUSD Trustee Roman Reyna, who ran for the City Council before.  He works at the new Santa Ana YMCA and previously worked at the Boys and Girls Club.  He knows a lot of families in town, and he is also popular in the faith community.  He would be a formidable challenger, if he could raise enough money.

But it is unlikely that Tinajero, Martinez and Councilman Vince Sarmiento would back Reyna.  The danger for the progressive Council majority would be that Reyna would team up with Benavides, Pulido and Bustamante (if Bustamante won reelection) and form a new conservative Council majority.

Then again, who knows?  It is still very early in the game.  Alvarez’ ward includes the Artesia-Pilar and Washington Square Neighborhood Associations.  Both are full of activists and community leaders, including past SAUSD candidates Gloria Alvarado, Cecilia Aguinaga, Oscar Garza and Irene Ibarra, and past Rancho Santiago CCD candidate Lynette Verino, as well as former Councilman Tom Lutz and his wife Nancy, who lost to Alvarez many years ago.  And I think that Amezcua’s daughter Valerie might live in this Ward too.  She also ran for the SAUSD Board a couple years ago.

If Sarmiento leaves the Council to run for Solorio’s seat he might well end up running against AUHSD Trustee Jordan Brandman – and Solorio may go with Brandman instead of backing Sarmiento.  Of course Solorio will have to be careful as he may end up running against Supervisor Janet Nguyen in 2012.

So who might run for Sarmiento’s seat?  Community leader Jim Walker did pretty well in 2008, when he challenged Sarmiento.  He might run again.  But most likely we will see a number of Commissioners and Neighborhood leaders run for this Ward.

What about Pulido?  He won handily, again, this year.  I doubt anyone will challenge him this time, except for perhaps Amezcua.  Oh, you might see a few underdog candidates arise, but no one is going to defeat Pulido.  And don’t forget that 2012 will be a presidential election year.  Pulido will be helping Obama – and that means Obama will be helping him.  Game over for anyone who wants to take on Pulido…

Santa Ana Councilwoman Michele Martinez’ mother passed away this morning

Posted on by Posted in 2010 Elections, Michele Martinez, Santa Ana Leave a comment

Santa Ana Councilwoman Michele Martinez is not facing an opponent tomorrow, on Election Day 2010, but it will be a difficult day for her nevertheless, as her mother, Maryann Oliva Martinez, passed away this morning.  Click here to send your condolences to Councilwoman Martinez.

Councilwoman Martinez posted this remembrance today on her Facebook account, “I love you mom and thank you for always loving me. I know it was difficult at times because I could not be so loving like my brothers, but you never gave up on me. I loved you with all my heart and soul. I was so proud of you for being a good mom and always having a heart of gold. Thank you for giving me life and making me the person I am today! Love you always mommy. Thank you for always being my number one fan!”

Michele Martinez and her mom, Maryann Oliva Martinez, on stage as Michele Martinez became the O.C. Boys and Girls Club Youth of the Year

Maryann Oliva Martinez was born on February 19, 1963.  She never had it easy. An article published in the L.A. Times, after Councilwoman Martinez won her Council seat in 2006, revealed a glimpse about Maryann Oliva Martinez’ life struggles and her inner strength…and love for her daughter:

Martinez is one of six children born to a drug addict in Santa Ana. While her mother served four years in prison and four years in county jails for various drug offenses, Martinez was raised by a great-grandmother who also cared for her five siblings and seven cousins. She said she never knew her father.

Martinez’ mother, Maryann Oliva Martinez, 43, said her daughter’s goal was to “not be like anyone in our family.

“No one has gone as far as she has in our family,” she said. “Everyone else dropped out of high school in the eighth and ninth grade. She always wanted to better herself.”

When Martinez graduated from high school, she said her mother told her: “The best thing I can do is make you go on your own.”

“She gave me two weeks to leave the house,” Martinez said.

She moved into a $750-a-month apartment and worked part-time jobs, her first as a basketball coach for the city’s parks division. Later she was a receptionist at Gold Coast Bakery and, by 21, was promoted to human resources manager. After the company was sold, Martinez became a human resources manager with ConquistAmerica, a lending company.

Councilwoman Martinez made her mom proud.  Tomorrow she will be reelected to the Santa Ana City Council.  Her mom won’t be there to celebrate, but she will surely be looking down from her celestial perch, with a warm smile for her beloved daughter.

R.I.P. Maryann Oliva Martinez, 1963-2010.

Maryann Oliva Martinez and Michele Martinez’ twin brother, Michael, and his son JR, who was Martinez’ first grandchild.

Pulido, Clinton and Sanchez rally attracts a crowd of 1,000 in Santa Ana

Posted on by Posted in 2010 Elections, Claudia Alvarez, Democratic Party, Elections, Latinos, Michele Martinez, Miguel Pulido, Politics, Santa Ana, Vince Sarmiento Leave a comment

Underscoring the importance of an Orange County congressional seat in the battle for control of the House of Representatives, former President Clinton urged Democrats at a Santa Ana rally Friday afternoon to get out the vote for Rep. Loretta Sanchez (D-Garden Grove), according to the L.A. Times.

Other speakers at the Clinton event included state Senator Lou Correa, Santa Ana state Assemblyman Jose Solorio, Santa Ana Mayor Miguel Pulido and Orange County Democratic Party Chairman Frank Barbaro, according to the OC Weekly. Santa Ana Council Members Claudia Alvarez, Michele Martinez and Vincent Sarmiento were also there.

Apparently a few of Van Tran’s followers showed up to hoot and holler.  More of them will be in Anaheim tomorrow at a Sarah Palin rally.

If Alfredo Amezcua was there, he was buried in the crowd.  He tried to fool everyone with a few emails this week suggesting he was involved in the event.  Nope.  That was a big lie.  This was a Pulido event, period.  Will it be enough to put Sanchez into the victory column on Nov. 2?  Time will tell…but bringing in Clinton was a brilliant move.

South Santa Ana Merchants Association to host Santa Ana candidates forum tonight

Posted on by Posted in 2010 Elections, Alfredo Amezcua, David Benavides, Elections, Michele Martinez, Miguel Pulido, Politics, Santa Ana Leave a comment

The South Santa Ana Merchants Association (SAMA) is hosting a Santa Ana City Council and Mayoral candidates forum tonight, at the O.C. Musicians Hall, located at 2050 S. Main St., in Santa Ana.

Admission is free and dinner is free too, courtesy of Otto Bade, who operates the La Perla de la Amazona restaurant, at the Santa Ana Zoo.  Bade is himself a past candidate for State Assembly.

If you have any questions you may call Jorge Doffo, the President of the Association at 714-715-6609, or call Mary Guzman, their Secretary, at 714-380-2210.

Other SAMA officers include Rene Mancia, the owner of the Pupusodromo Restaurant; Gustavo Barcenas, of the Mill Bakery; Alfredo Amezcua (who is also a candidate for mayor this year), who operates a law firm on Broadway, just north of the downtown area; Omar Moreno, of Comerica Bank; Felipe Sosa; and Alejandro Racini, a consultant.

Click here to visit SAMA’s website.

Build it and they will come…creating the Pacific Electric Park

Posted on by Posted in Civic Affairs, Michele Martinez, Redevelopment, Santa Ana, Youth Activities 2 Comments

The City of Santa Ana has partnered with a community coalition to make a dream come true for the residents that live around McFadden and Orange. Residents from Eastside, Madison Park, Wilshire and members of the Saint Anne’s Orange County Congregation Community Organization (OCCCO) Committee are working to build a new park on a 1.4 acre open space site owned by the City and immediately next to the beautiful Pacific Electric Bike Trail.

The coalition has named this potential park site, to honor the history of the area, the Pacific Electric Park site. Other organizations involved in the planning of this effort are the Grain Project, Taller San Jose, Casa Guanajato, and the University of California, Irvine’s Community Outreach Partnership Center.

Click here to read the rest of this article.

Will George Collins help Mayor Miguel Pulido get reelected in November?

Posted on by Posted in 2010 Elections, Alfredo Amezcua, Civic Affairs, Elections, immigration, Michele Martinez, Miguel Pulido, Politics, Sal Tinajero, Santa Ana Leave a comment

Santa Ana Councilman Sal Tinajero won in 2006, because of George Collins.  Mayor Miguel Pulido threw his entire political machine behind Jennifer Villasenor, but then Collins jumped into the race for Ward 6.  He effectively split the vote, allowing Tinajero to prevail.

Collins got 5,419 votes in 2006.  Villasenor got 12,922 votes.  Tinajero won with 13,802 votes.

Today Tinajero is part of a progressive majority on the Santa Ana City Council.  Villasenor is on the Santa Ana Housing and Redevelopment Commission.  And Collins?  He is running for Mayor.  Again.

Collins ran in 2008, which is also when Santa Ana City Councilwoman Michele Martinez challenged Pulido.  Collins ended up with 7,610 votes.  Martinez got 16,199 votes.  Pulido easily won with 30,352 votes.

How will Collins do this time?  Well, there are quite a few challengers to Pulido this year.  They include two first-time opponents, Charles Hart, a County government worker; and Roy Alvarado, a retired union engineer.  Also running is criminal defense lawyer Alfredo Amezcua, who got over 54,000 votes in 2004, when he won a seat on the Rancho Santiago Community College District’s Board of Education.  He mysteriously resigned before his term was over.

Collins will no doubt cost Hart any chance he had at a victory.  Hart came out of nowhere.  To win he must get all the white votes – Collins will assure that he fails in that regard.  I still think Hart might come in second this November.  Hart is quite popular with Santa Ana’s “Usual Suspects.”  But don’t underestimate Collins.  He has a following and he increased his votes from 2006 to 2008.

Collins has a unique way of campaigning.  He whirls around on his one-man Segway, dropping flyers all over town.  He bought his own high speed color copier, and he says he can make thousands of copies in a very small amount of time, at a very low cost.  He is his own one-man army.

Collins uses a Segway to deliver campaign flyers all over town

What exactly does Collins stand for?  He is centering his campaign this year around the premise of taxing wire transfers to foreign countries.  I got into an argument with him about this idea at a candidates forum this week.  It seems to be that this idea punishes the very poorest residents of our city even as they try to send money to folks who are even poorer.  It is rather heartless.

Collins however is not generally a cold guy.  He donates a lot of time to various charities in town.  He just has an issue with immigrants.  That’s too bad, but he is a Republican and that’s how they roll.

Collins also says he supports Santa Ana’s different cultures.  He is married to a Peruvian immigrant.  But if you visit his website you will find a screed about how the Mexican flag hangs higher at our Plaza of the Flags, at the Civic Downtown area.  Collins also spoke, at the recent forum, about American culture.  I believe the only real American culture is that of the Native Americans.  Everything else came from somewhere else.  Collins disagrees.

You would think the Usual Suspects would endorse such beliefs, but they don’t trust Collins.  He is truly independent and self-motivated.  He is the last guy who will kiss up to the Usual Suspects.  And so he continues to campaign on his own, blazing through Santa Ana on his Segway.  Don’t scoff.  He just might be the deciding factor in this year’s race.

You can learn more about Collins at this link.  He also is the publisher of Santa Ana Insight, a video blog.

I must add in closing that Stanislav Fiala, a Czech immigrant who also ran for Mayor in 2008, is now making noise about running a write-in campaign in November.  He got just over one thousand votes in his last campaign.  If he does jump in this year, Hart will lose even more votes.

Santa Ana City Council candidates forum to be held by Com Link on Thursday Sep. 16

Posted on by Posted in Civic Affairs, David Benavides, Elections, Michele Martinez, Miguel Pulido, Neighborhood Associations, Sal Tinajero, Santa Ana Leave a comment

The Communication Linkage Forum is hosting a meeting on Thursday, September 16th at 7 p.m.  with an agenda focusing on:  Mayor and City Council candidates forum sponsored by Com-Link and moderated by the OC League of Women Voters.  Click here to read the event flyer.

This forum is going to be moderated by the OC League of Women Voters. The event includes questions from the audience and takes place at the Santa Ana Council Chambers from 6:30 p.m. – 8:30 p.m.  For additional information, please call (714) 667-2260.

This will be the FIRST opportunity to see Santa Ana Mayor Miguel Pulido debate his challengers, who include George Collins, Alfredo Amezcua, Charles Hart and Roy Alvarado.

Santa Ana Council Members Michele Martinez and David Benavides are also up for reelection but neither one has a challenger.

Santa Ana Councilman Sal Tinajero does face two challengers, in Nam Pham and Helen Martinez.  It is suspected by many that these two candidates were put on the ballot in order to split the vote, to benefit Thomas Gordon.  However, Gordon failed to collect 20 signatures and he is now out of the race for Tinajero’s Council seat.

Tinajero already debated Martinez and Pham at a candidates forum in his ward.  The vote splitters were lousy. They kept repeating the questions and then would ask many times to have each question repeated to them.  It was painful to watch.

The Communication Linkage Forum strives to promote positive leadership, community participation, unity and pride in all neighborhoods by improving the quality of life in Santa Ana “block-by-block”. Our community has 64 recognized neighborhoods as illustrated on the attached map.

Santa Ana Councilwoman Michele Martinez launches a new campaign blog

Posted on by Posted in Civic Affairs, Elections, Michele Martinez, Politics, Santa Ana Leave a comment

Santa Ana Councilwoman Michele Martinez, who represents Ward 2, is not facing a challenger in this year’s general election, but she has nevertheless launched a new campaign blog, at this link.

The new site features good news about Santa Ana, information about local events, and links to many arts and cultural organizations.  There are also dozens of pictures on the site of Martinez and her friends and supporters, as well as YouTube videos.

Martinez says she will be loading her popular email newsletter into this new blog, in addition to posting original content.

Martinez’ campaign blog is also linked to her Facebook and Twitter accounts.

Why I am voting for Santa Ana Mayor Miguel Pulido

Posted on by Posted in Civic Affairs, Claudia Alvarez, David Benavides, Elections, Latinos, Michele Martinez, Miguel Pulido, Politics, Sal Tinajero, Santa Ana, Vince Sarmiento 14 Comments

Mayor Miguel Pulido, with Angels owner Arte Moreno, and Council Members Vince Sarmiento and Michele Martinez

I have spent years fighting the folks at Santa Ana’s City Hall, and have been, quite frankly, brutal in writing about our Mayor, Miguel Pulido and our City Council.

The high point of the “revolution” was beating Pulido’s hand-picked candidates, Tino Rivera and Jennifer Villasenor, in 2006.  Michele Martinez beat Rivera, in Ward 2, and Sal Tinajero beat Villasenor, in Ward 6.  Both benefited from vote-splits that occurred when other challengers took votes away from Pulido’s picks.

The low point, for me, was when Tinajero allied with the Pulido majority.  I was not pleased, to say the least.

In 2008, Martinez inexplicably challenged Pulido.  I found out later that Alfredo Amezcua put her up to it.  He later denied it, but the source of that tidbit was Supervisor Janet Nguyen, with whom Amezcua is still allied.

The Janet Nguyen alliance with Alfredo Amezcua is most disturbing

I have a real issue with Amezcua’s alliance with Nguyen.  She already took over the Garden Grove City Council.  She got her carpetbagging former Chief of Staff, Andrew Do, elected in 2008.  She got her husband, Tom Bonikowski, appointed to the Planning Commission – even though he owns a restaurant that has been cited by the O.C. Health Department too many times to count.  She is planning, I hear, to run Bonikowski for the Garden Grove City Council, in 2012.  Hell will freeze over before I will let her take over the Santa Ana City Council as well!

After Martinez lost, she, like Tinajero, joined the Pulido majority.  I had long since buried the hatchet with Tinajero.  I came to see that he had no choice.  Nor did Martinez.  If they wanted to be effective Council Members they had to count to four – four votes on the Council.  Sans those votes they could not accomplish anything.

Since Martinez’ defeat however something unusual has happened.  She has pulled the Pulido majority to the left.  Tinajero has been a huge part of that as well, as has Councilman Vince Sarmiento.  And Mayor Pro Tem Claudia Alvarez has concurred.

One more down, one to go…

The result has been the unprecedented expulsion of the Usual Suspects from City Hall.  One by one the Usual Suspect City Commissioners have been booted off their Commissions, or asked to leave.  After Monday’s meeting, only one will remain, their Queen Bee, Julie Stroud.

The Pulido majority passed a resolution honoring Harvey Milk Day.  They passed a resolution condemning Arizona’s racist SB 1070 law.  And they refused to join Councilman David Benavides in honoring Lupe Moreno and her Minutemen.

Amezcua was lockstep with Pulido all those years I was fighting City Hall.  Even in 2008, he drove to Pulido’s election night party, in a limo, abandoning Martinez.  Only now, as the Pulido faction finally has come into good form, is Amezcua launching his ridiculous attempt at change.  Why change the Council now that they are doing good things?

As our recent post about Amezcua and his alliance with Janet Nguyen indicates, he has built a strange coalition of Latino activists, xenophobes, Usual Suspects and Republicans.  That is no change I want anything to do with!

Charles Hart?  No bueno…

Nor am I inclined to vote for the Usual Suspect Charles Hart.  I have supported George Collins in the past, but I think he is running just to get a few of his issues out, during the debates.  And I am not comfortable with his views on immigrants.

Ultimately our next Mayor has to be able to count to four – four votes on the Council.  None of the challengers will be able to do that.  The only one who can is Pulido.

The City of Santa Ana is at a crossroads.  Our city has a massive structural deficit.  Businesses are closing in droves.  Now more than ever we need a Council that can take action, not one that will be hamstrung by clueless hacks.

So after all these years I am voting for the only candidate that is at all reasonable and effective.  Miguel Pulido.  Be disappointed if you want, but I have always fought for the betterment of our working people.  We cannot take a chance now on a gasbag like Amezcua.

The Pulido majority helped me move the Santa Ana Zoo free day to the third Sunday of the month

Will I agree with everything Pulido does?  No.  But I have found him and the Council to be very accessible.  Many of the my proposals have been implemented this year.  They changed the free day at the Santa Ana Zoo to a Sunday, at my request.  They swept the brush at Santiago Park and conducted a decoy sweep that resulted in the arrest of numerous perverts.  They are considering my dog park proposal.  They have started to use the Google language translator widget on their city website.  All of these were my ideas – and they were open to them.

Pulido and his team know that if I don’t like their position on an issue they will be hearing from me.  And I know they will take my comments seriously.  What more can I ask for?

This Council majority is advancing affordable housing; supporting new developments that will bring jobs to our city; and doing what they can to serve our residents even in these tough times.  For those reasons and more Pulido has my vote, as do Council Members Martinez and Tinajero.  I will not be wasting my vote on Benavides, although he does not face an opponent.  He, like Amezcua, is allied with the Usual Suspects.  Some people never learn…

Panel to feature Sanchez, Martinez and Alvarez in Santa Ana on Tuesday, Aug. 24

Posted on by Posted in Business, Education, Entertainment, Latinos, Loretta Sanchez, Michele Martinez, Santa Ana, Women Leave a comment

You are invited to a panel discussion on Tuesday, August 24, from 2:30 pm to 4:30 pm, that will focus on the economy, business and education, hosted by Congresswoman Loretta Sanchez. This impressive panel will discuss challenges and solutions that many Latinos are facing in Orange County.

The panelists are: Santa Ana Mayor Pro-Tem, Claudia Alvarez; City of Santa Ana, Council Member Michelle Martinez; City of Santa Ana, business owner Teresa Saldivar, Teresa’s Jewelers; Ana Steaffens CEO/President of KidWorks and Erlinda J. Martinez, Ed.D., President of Santa Ana College.

Written questions will be taken from the audience the last 15 minutes of the program. The program will begin promptly at 3:15pm , check-in is at 2:45pm.

Please RSVP to Javiera Catagena at (714) 621-0102.  Click here to RSVP on Facebook.

Location: Rancho Santiago Community College District, in Boardroom 107, located at 2323 N. Broadway St., in Santa Ana.

Santa Ana City Council tosses Tish Leon

Posted on by Posted in Civic Affairs, David Benavides, Michele Martinez, Politics, Santa Ana Leave a comment

The Santa Ana City Council voted 6-1 to remove Tish Leon from the city’s Recreation and Parks Board.  Only Ward 4 Councilmember David Benavides voted against the motion brought forth by Councilmember Michele Martinez.  Leon was Martinez’ appointment to the board and it was her decision to go another direction by replacing Leon.

Martinez stated that her decision to remove Leon was based on the poor working relationship that Leon had created with her and most of Martinez colleagues on the council.  Martinez said that the issue of Leon’s bullying of the 16 year old honor student had nothing to do with her decision but it obviously didn’t help Leon’s case either.

Neither Leon or any of her other vocal supporters came to her defense at the meeting.  I guess they prefer to attack the 16 year old honor student, Art Pedroza and myself anonymously from behind their keyboards or via shameless blog postings by outsiders.  French Park resident Jeff Dickman, who himself was removed as a commissioner, did get up and eloquently speak in opposition to Leon’s removal but none of her allies did.

Art Pedroza and myself both spoke in favor of Leon’s removal and there were others at the ready if they felt it was necessary to speak.  Pedroza and myself both reiterated that we felt that Benavides appointment to that board, Julie Stroud, should be removed as well.  This did not seem to sit well with the Ward 4 councilmember who chose to snicker at my comments and shake his head no at Pedroza’s.

Benavides once again took the opportunity to distance himself from his colleagues and take pot shots at them.  He insinuated that Leon’s removal was “political retribution”.  Martinez then reminded him that she appointed Leon despite the fact that she was her opponent in the last election and asked why would she do that if she were interested in some sort of political retribution.

The rest of the councilmembers except Carlos Bustamante took turns playing whack-a-mole with Benavides and you could see whatever relationship he might have had with his fellow councilmembers disappear right before your eyes.  Mayor Pro Tem Alvarez stated that she too ahd previously appointed Leon to a commission and got the same treatment that Leon gave to Martinez and completely understands why Martinez removed her.

Leon is the lastest resident associated with the notorious “usual suspects” to be removed from their spot on a city commission.  Previously Thomas Gordon and Glenn Stroud were shown the door.  This must be a cold slap in the face for these folks considering that they used to bully their way around city hall and had past city councils at their beckon call waiting to do their bidding.

Of course the evening was not without of a few acts of bad behavior on the part of these folks and their pals.  Debbie McEwen, an original “usual suspect”, was photographed giving Pedroza and myself the middle finger (see photo) and their ally Ben Grabiel accosted a member of the public and berated him with expletives for speaking in Spanish before the council. (More on that later!)

Aye dios mio!!!!  You can’t take these people anywhere.