Santa Ana's top news & views blog

Santa Ana's top news & views blog

Category Archives: John Moorlach

Sen. Moorlach opposes quarantining Novel Coronavirus patients in Costa Mesa

Posted on by Posted in Costa Mesa, Disease, John Moorlach Leave a comment

COSTA MESA – Senator John M. W. Moorlach has been apprised and briefed of the situation by both the Governor’s office and the leadership of the city of Costa Mesa.

Here is his statement on these recent events:

“The coronavirus patients from California should have finished their quarantine on the cruise ship in Japan. Now that they are in the state, they should not be sent to Fairview Developmental Center in Costa Mesa. Nor to any other highly populated area.

“Because the facilities have air vents, it is not prudent to house them off of a main thoroughfare like Harbor Boulevard. It would be better that they are sent to a retired military base in the desert.

“The coronavirus patients should be treated humanely and with the best medical care available. But the first priority must be to contain the virus and make sure it doesn’t jump into the local population, in this case, the citizens in my 37th Senatorial District or any other densely populated Senatorial District.”

Sen. Moorlach responds to Gov. Newsom’s plan to use the Fairview Developmental Center as a homeless shelter

Posted on by Posted in california, Costa Mesa, Gavin Newsom, homeless, John Moorlach Leave a comment

COSTA MESA – Earlier today Gov. Gavin Newsom announced that he intends to use Fairview Developmental Center in Costa Mesa as a site to house the homeless. This announcement comes on the heels of his State of the State address on Wednesday in which he discussed the need to solve California’s growing homelessness crisis.

In response to this sudden announcement, Senator John Moorlach released the following statement:

“I am disappointed the Governor has rushed to announce his intention to use Fairview Developmental Center as a homeless shelter before doing the site assessment I negotiated in the fiscal year 2017-18 budget to evaluate the feasibility and best use of the property. Orange County, much like the rest of California, is facing a crisis surrounding mental health and homelessness which must be addressed in a smart, consistent and safe way. This rush to place homeless Californians on a property where there is an uncertain determination of its disposition is premature and reactive. And it doesn’t consider the many good-faith discussions I’ve tried to have with this and the previous Administration over the last five years.

I’m proud of the progress that has been made in Orange County by its agencies and the medical and nonprofit community to build a system of care for the mentally ill. Engaging mental health professionals, while crafting public policy and using public resources, is essential to getting this right. The Fairview property provides a unique opportunity to provide services in a safe, secure and effective way. I would ask Governor Newsom to consider the needs of Orange County and the work that is already being done here. And I call on him to be a part of the solutions already being pursued, rather than rush to use Fairview as a Band-Aid by converting the property into a homeless shelter.”

Fairview is a 116-acre state-owned property in the heart of Costa Mesa that has been used as a medical facility to treat the developmentally disabled for the last 60 years. The site has been gradually closing for the past five years and is scheduled to be fully shut down by 2022. The announcement of Fairview’s closure has begun a discussion on the future use of the property.

Senator John M. W. Moorlach represents California’s 37th Senate District. He is a member of the bipartisan Senate Mental Health Caucus and previously Chaired Orange County’s Commission to End Homelessness while a member of the Orange County Board of Supervisors.

New California State Senate Bill will bring even more new apartments to Santa Ana

Posted on by Posted in california, Development, Housing, John Moorlach, Planning, Santa Ana Leave a comment

Santa Ana residents who are sore about the new apartments being developed in town are really going to be upset when they hear about Senate Bill 50, a bill by State Senator Scott Wiener (D-San Francisco), who is trying to resolve the 3.5-million-home deficit in California.

Senate Bill 50 is a second attempt at making it easier to build high density housing by essentially circumventing local planning regulations if certain conditions exist. Senate Bill 50 is very likely to apply to much of Santa Ana.

SB 50 would waive allow for the construction of apartments near “high-quality transit” – meaning within a half-mile of a rail station or a quarter-mile of a bus stop with frequent service – and also in job-rich areas – which are identified by the Department of Housing and Community Development and the Office of Planning and Research. Developments located within a half-mile radius of a transit stop, but outside of a quarter-mile radius, would be eligible for waivers from height limits less than 45 feet and FAR limits of 2.5-to-1. Developments located within a quarter-mile radius of a transit stop would be eligible for waivers for height requirements under 55 feet and FAR limits of 3.25-to-1. According to a release from the advocacy organization California YIMBY, this effectively amounts to four- and five-story buildings, according to Urbanize L.A.

All of that is of course good news for developer Ryan Ogulnick, who is trying to build a new high quality apartment development at 2525 N. Main St., which is located just a quarter mile from two busy bus stops and is in an area replete with medical, retail and office jobs. In short SB 50 would ensure that his project would be approved even if the City of Santa Ana did not approve it. Of course that approval is now almost a certainty as the project’s EIR (Environmental Impact Report) was very positive and the Santa Ana Planning Agency’s staff review of the EIR was also glowing. It is now just a formality for the Santa Ana Planning Commission and eventually the Santa Ana City Council to approve this project.

SB 50 ensures that Ogulnick’s project won’t be the last of its kind. In fact another huge project is currently being planned at the MainPlace Mall. 

SB 50 has the support of local Republican hero State Senator John Moorlach – the man who predicted the Orange County bankruptcy. While the GOP has little pull in Sacramento, Moorlach’s support for SB 50 means this bill is likely go pass the State Legislature and I would be shocked if incoming Governor Gavin Newsom did not sign it. 

Sen. Moorlach names Santa Ana’s Mercy House the nonprofit of the year

Posted on by Posted in Charities, John Moorlach, Santa Ana Leave a comment

Senator John Moorlach Selects Mercy House As 2018 Nonprofit of the Year

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: June 11, 2018

On June 6, Sen. John Moorlach, R-Costa Mesa, took great pleasure in issuing a resolution selecting Mercy House of Santa Ana as the 37th Senatorial District’s 2018 Nonprofit of the Year. The Resolution commends Mercy House “for providing invaluable services to the people of the local area, and applauds it for its long history of community support.” Continue reading→

The Voice of OC needs to come clean on its funding

Posted on by Posted in Blogs, John Moorlach, Labor, Media Links, Orange County, Santa Ana 6 Comments

norberto&nick

Voice of OC Management — Norberto Santana & Nick Berardino

From the OC Politics Blog

Regular OCP Blog readers have observed we usually preface anything we use from the Voice of OC as attributed to the “union-funded” Blog.  It’s important to understand that the Orange County Employees Association at least partially funds their operation, although no one’s ever learned how much — the union won’t announce it and there are no web links between the two.  The Voice does not sell advertising, and lists sponsors including the AP, Californians Aware, HealthyCal.org, California Watch and PBS SoCal.  Per its website, it appears to have at least seven staffers at its Santa Ana office.

Continue reading→

Supervisor Moorlach addresses Bustamante arrest in email update

Posted on by Posted in Carlos Bustamante, Civic Affairs, Courts, Crime, John Moorlach, Orange County, Politics, Republican Party, Santa Ana Leave a comment

Subject: MOORLACH UPDATE — Carlos Bustamante — July 3, 2012
Date: Tue, 3 Jul 2012 21:45:01 +0000
From: Moorlach, John

To refresh your memory, you may want to reread MOORLACH UPDATE — Closed Sessions — March 14, 2012, which I am providing below. The reason I refer to this UPDATE is that I was unable to comment publicly on this issue until a thorough investigation had been concluded. The District Attorney, Tony Rackauckas, and his staff completed their investigation and arrested Santa Ana Councilman and former Orange County employee Carlos Bustamante yesterday evening. Continue reading→

Mayor Pulido agrees with me, we should house the homeless at the Great Park

Posted on by Posted in homeless, irvine, John Moorlach, Miguel Pulido, Orange County, Santa Ana 14 Comments

When Supervisor John Moorlach, who is the current Chairman of the O.C. Board of Supervisors, suggested in January that we turn the defunct bus station into a permanent homeless shelter, I suggested, “Why not set up a permanent encampment for the homeless over at the Great Park in Irvine?  They have plenty of space.  I am sure the OCTA can set up a bus line to give them rides to their new home.”

Apparently Santa Ana Mayor Miguel Pulido read my post.  He told the O.C. Register this week that “Long term the Great Park, whose board he sits on, could become a resource, providing space for housing and a rehabilitation center.” Continue reading→

Orange County’s financial crisis exposed by California lawsuit

Posted on by Posted in Education, John Moorlach, OC Treasurer, Orange County, Politics, Santa Ana Leave a comment

Op Ed: CALIFORNIA LAWSUIT EXPOSES ORANGE COUNTY FINANCIAL CRISIS

By: Chriss W. Street

The ballooning Orange County financial crisis continued to spiral down as the State of California filed a law suit to force return of $73.5 million of property tax revenue the County skimmed from local schools and community colleges last November.  It seemed bazaar at the time that the supposed “Most Conservative County in America” would increase spending by $145.8 million, then  grab the school’s cash and cancel planned layoffs of 490 union workers.

The new lawsuit has caused increased scrutiny of other dicey actions by the County.  The biggest shock came from the recently released Orange County 2010-11 Audited Financial Report, which discloses the County is short $30,146,000 in Reserves and out of accounting compliance:   Continue reading→

O.C. Homelessness panel delays turning S.A. bus station into shelter

Posted on by Posted in homeless, Housing, Huntington Beach, John Moorlach, Orange County, Santa Ana 1 Comment

The OC Commission to End Homelessness voted to encourage the Orange County Transportation Authority (OCTA) to give the County and the City of Santa Ana more time to address the city’s concerns, with regard to turning a vacant bus station in downtown Santa Ana into a shelter for the homeless, according to the O.C. Board of Supervisors Chairman John Moorlach’s blog.

Moorlach wrote that “The original recommendation was simply to encourage the County to purchase the Santa Ana Transit Station.  In an effort to provide good dialogue, I did reach out to Acting City Manager Paul Walters earlier this week to inform him of the agenda item at this morning’s meeting (Paul is also a member of the Commission).  You can see from the Voice of OC what happened after the heads up.  For the record, I abstained on the vote because I am on the Board of Supervisors and the Board of OCTA.” Continue reading→