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Category Archives: Miguel Pulido

Mayor Miguel Pulido speaks out about the 13 COVID-19 cases in Santa Ana

Posted on by Posted in Civic Affairs, Disease, Emergencies, Health and Medical, Miguel Pulido, OC Health Care, Orange County, Public Safety, Santa Ana Leave a comment

Santa Ana Mayor Miguel Pulido issued a formal press release today regarding the latest COVID-19 case numbers provided by the O.C. Health Care Agency, which now show that Santa Ana has 13 cases.

Here is Pulido’s message:

To the People of Santa Ana,

Today the OC Health Care Agency for the first time released the number of COVID-19 cases for each individual city in Orange County. OC Health reported 13 novel coronavirus (COVID-19) cases in Santa Ana, out of 321 cases countywide.

The fact that COVID-19 is in Santa Ana should not come as a surprise. We have seen the number of confirmed cases countywide rise rapidly over the past two weeks as the virus has spread across the United States and around the world. Nor should this news be a cause for panic or a reason to think that those living in Santa Ana are at greater risk of contracting the disease than they were before.

OC Health emphasized that the data released today reflects where those diagnosed with COVID-19 live but does not necessarily reflect where transmission occurred. They also said the city-level numbers shouldn’t be seen as an indication of where the disease is geographically centered.

There are still many unknowns, of course. The case counts don’t necessarily mean these are the only people with the disease in each city, because OC Health prioritizes testing for those at greatest risk or who are most sick.

So what does this all mean?

For one, knowing exactly how many confirmed cases are in Santa Ana helps us all stay informed about the impact this global pandemic is having on members of our own community. I hope this news will encourage everyone to recognize that COVID-19 is a real threat and that we must take the guidance of our health officials seriously.

I know you are all making great sacrifices during this unprecedented crisis – including jobs and income, important activities, education and simply your own personal sense of freedom and well-being. Yet we all must change our habits if we are going to overcome this together.

Thoroughly wash and sanitize your hands regularly, especially before eating and after touching surfaces in public places. Sanitize and clean your home and anything you bring into it. Stay home as much as possible and don’t go to work unless you are in an essential industry or government agency. Non-essential businesses are required to close under the Governor’s executive order, and restaurants can only serve food for take-out or delivery.

Importantly, don’t congregate in groups, keep a 6-foot distance from others and don’t shake hands or make personal contact. It is essential to heed this advice in order to safeguard you and your loved ones, particularly the elderly and others who are at greater risk of serious illness.

The City Council this month declared a local emergency in order to implement numerous measures to protect public health, following the mandates and guidance of State and County health officials. We have closed municipal buildings and many outdoor facilities such as skate parks, and we are urging everyone to follow the Governor’s stay-at-home order. Some City employees have been sent home, but many are still working to provide essential services to our constituents, including police and fire services, road repairs, street sweeping, trash collection and graffiti removal.

The City Council also has taken steps to shield our residents and businesses from the economic impacts of the pandemic as much as possible.

We waived street sweeping tickets so that those who are following the stay-at-home order won’t be cited if they don’t move their cars during sweeping hours. That ticket suspension has been extended through April 30. We’ve also waived late fees on City-provided services and stopped all shut-offs for City-provided utilities.

Additionally, we enacted a moratorium on residential and commercial evictions and foreclosures during the state of emergency so that no one will be forced from their home or business during this crisis. We’re also allowing businesses to pay their business license annual tax that’s due this month later without additional penalties or interest.

To help the people of Santa Ana stay afloat and eventually get back on their feet, we’ve been working diligently to educate the public about all of these measures and the supportive resources available to them locally and at the County, State and Federal levels. For example, the Santa Ana WORK Center is an important City and multi-agency resource that provides guidance for those who need to file for unemployment, find work or seek other career support.

The countywide and city-level data is available on the OC Health Care website at www.ochealthinfo.com/novelcoronavirus. OC Health said the total case counts and city counts will be updated every afternoon.

You can find information about the latest COVID-19 news, City services and links to resources on our website at www.santa-ana.org/covid19. There you will also find videos from me providing regular updates about COVID-19.

To receive regular news updates and urgent alerts, sign up for the Nixle.com alert service and follow City of Santa Ana and the Santa Ana Police Department.

Join Nextdoor.com to connect with your neighborhood and community and to receive announcements from the City.

Follow us on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter: @CityofSantaAna.

Thank you and please stay home and stay safe. We will overcome this challenge together.

Respectfully,

Miguel A. Pulido
Mayor

Mayor Miguel A. Pulido speaks out about the COVID-19 crisis

Posted on by Posted in Civic Affairs, Disease, Miguel Pulido, Santa Ana Leave a comment

Mayor Miguel A. Pulido today issued a video message to the people of Santa Ana about the City’s response to COVID-19 (coronavirus).

The video is available at www.santa-ana.org/coronavirus, where the City is providing updates and resources for COVID-19. Today the City closed libraries, community centers, recreation centers and the Santa Ana Zoo in the interest of public health.

On Tuesday, March 17, the City Council will meet in closed session to discuss public safety impacts related to COVID-19. During the Council’s open meeting, they will consider other possible actions, including Declaration of an Emergency, which may further expand closure of non-essential services and actions to alleviate financial hardships for our community due to business interruptions.

The City is encouraging the public to watch the meeting on television or online instead of attending in person. The meetings are broadcast live on Spectrum TV Channel 3 and AT&T U-verse Channel 99 and livestreamed at www.santa-ana.org/cc/city-meetings. Members of the public who wish to comment on matters before the council, instead of doing so in person, may submit comments by emailing ecomment@santa-ana.org. The comments will be provided to the City Council as part of the meeting record and will be uploaded to the City’s website.

Mayor Pulido will not advance to the First District General Election in November

Posted on by Posted in 2020 Elections, Andrew Do, Elections, Miguel Pulido, Orange County, Politics, Sal Tinajero, Santa Ana, Sergio Contreras Leave a comment

The Orange County Voter Registrar has just about tied up the results of this year’s March Primary Election. It is safe to say now that Westminster City Councilman Sergio Contreras will advance to the November Primary to face off against incumbent Orange County Supervisor Andrew Do, in the First District of the O.C. Board of Supervisors.

Santa Ana Mayor Miguel Pulido trails Contreras currently by 2,147 votes. That number has not shifted in some time.

It is a surprise end to Pulido’s political career that few expected. He is terming out this year as Mayor of Santa Ana after over 20 years. In that time he brought a lot of positive change to our city but he antagonized the liberals because he was always a pro-business moderate.

In hindsight perhaps we should have seen this coming as Contreras was assisted from the start by Pulido’s old nemesis, former Santa Ana City Councilman Sal Tinajero. You might recall that Tinajero barely lost to Pulido in the last Santa Ana Mayoral race.

Contreras was very active in social media and he garnered the endorsement of the Democratic Party of Orange County, which has shifted far left over the past few years. He also got a lot of support from the area’s more liberal unions.

That said it is highly unlikely that Contreras can beat Do. While the First District has shifted to the blue column Contreras is very liberal and the voters in the district tend to be more moderate. Do also will outraise him by a country mile.

Here is Contreras’ bio:

Sergio Contreras, a husband, father, homeowner, and registered Democrat, has served on the Westminster City Council since 2012, where he successfully championed the largest upgrade to Westminster’s park system since 1996, encompassing 22 park facilities and representing a $10.4 million investment in the community. Contreras oversaw the city’s first general plan update in decades. He also placed emergency call boxes in all Westminster parks to enhance public safety, and fought to place outdoor exercise equipment in local parks to improve public health Contreras accomplished all of this at no cost to the city’s General Fund, showing how to do more with less.

Contreras previously served on the Westminster School Board from 2004 to 2012, including serving as president of the board in 2012. On the School Board, Contreras helped pass a $130 million school bond to modernize Westminster’s school facilities and make them safer. In that role, he established an all-day kindergarten system, making Westminster School District the first in Orange County to provide day-long kindergarten at all school sites. Contreras also increased access to music and arts programs districtwide, while expanding afterschool programs.

Contreras works as the Senior Director of Education and Healthy Schools for the Orange County United Way, where he helps oversee dispersal of funds to students from disadvantaged socio-economic backgrounds.

Born and raised in Orange County, Sergio attended Westminster High School and Orange Coast Community College before transferring to California State University Long Beach, where he received his BA and MPA.

Sergio currently lives in Westminster with his wife Adriana and their daughter and son.

Pulido endorsed by the O.C. Attorneys Association

Posted on by Posted in 2020 Elections, Elections, Lawyers, Miguel Pulido, Orange County, Politics, Santa Ana 1 Comment

Santa Ana Mayor Miguel Pulido announced today that he has been endorsed by the Orange County Attorneys Association for his campaign effort to be elected to the Orange County Board of Supervisors. The organization, which includes Orange County’s Deputy District Attorneys, represents over 500 attorneys employed by the County of Orange, including those employed by the DA, County Counsel, Public Defender, Alternate Defender, Associate Defender, and Child Support Services.

“We are proud to endorse Mayor Pulido for County Supervisor,” said Orange County Attorney Association President Mena Guirguis. “He has an excellent record of achievement as Mayor of Santa Ana and we believe he will add a lot to our County Board of Supervisors.”

“I am excited to add the support of the Orange County Attorneys Association to my effort for County Supervisor,” said Santa Ana Mayor Miguel Pulido. “Their extensive knowledge, expertise, experience, and hard work are vital to our District Attorney, Public Defender, and other county agency offices. I look forward to working with them after my election to the Board.”

Miguel Pulido was first elected to the Santa Ana City Council in 1986 and is presently serving his 13th term as Mayor, a post he has successfully held since 1994. Under his leadership he has made Public Safety the City’s #1 priority, leading the charge to hire more police officers, crack down on gangs, expand community policing, increase the use of crime fighting technology, and help solve the city’s homeless issue. Crime in Santa Ana is now at its lowest level since the early 1960’s.

State Senator Umberg endorses Santa Ana Mayor Pulido for O.C. Supervisor

Posted on by Posted in 2020 Elections, Elections, Miguel Pulido, Orange County, Politics, Santa Ana, Tom Umberg 2 Comments

When State Senator Tom Umberg beat his Republican opponent, Janet Nguyen, in the last election it was a major surprise. We supported him as Nguyen had proven to be incredibly corrupt. He was also backed by Santa Ana Mayor Miguel Pulido.

Now Umberg has returned the favor as he has publicly announced that he is endorsing Pulido, who is on his last term as Santa Ana’s Mayor. Pulido is now running for the Orange County Board of Supervisors, in the First District, which is currently represented by former OCDA prosecutor Andrew Do, a Republican.

“I am proud to endorse Mayor Pulido for County Supervisor,” said State Senator Tom Umberg, whose 34th State Senate District overlaps with County Supervisorial District 1. “As Mayor of Santa Ana, Pulido has provided the leadership, vision, and drive for the renaissance and revitalization of Santa Ana over the last two decades. I have enjoyed working with him. He has the experience and knowledge to be extremely effective and impactful for our community on the County Board of Supervisors.”

Do has done a great job of not being partisan in what is ostensibly a non-partisan seat. In fact he had a falling out with Nguyen, who had attacked him repeatedly over the past few years.

Umberg’s announcement was a bit of a surprise in one respect as there are a couple other Democrats in the race including Garden Grove City Councilwoman Kim Bernice Nguyen and Westminster City Councilman Sergio Contreras.

Nguyen in particular is an interesting candidate as she is young and is half Latina and half Vietnamese.

Will you vote for Miguel Pulido for the O.C. Board of Supervisors?

Posted on by Posted in 2020 Elections, Andrew Do, Elections, Kim Nguyen, Miguel Pulido, Orange County, Politics, Santa Ana, Sergio Contreras, Steve Rocco Leave a comment

Santa Ana Mayor Miguel Pulido first won a seat on the Santa Ana City Council way back in 1986. He has been Mayor now for 13 two-year terms, since 1994. Now he has filed to run for the Orange County Board of Supervisors, in the First District. 

Will you vote for Pulido and put him in a position to influence not only what happens in our city but also at the County of Orange?

Pulido won’t have a cake walk in this race. He will have to beat the incumbent, Supervisor Andrew Do, a former Garden Grove City Councilman who has also worked for the O.C. District Attorney’s office.

Sergo Contreras

And Pulido is not the only challenger in this race. Three others have pulled papers, including :

I don’t see Contreras having much of a chance. He and Nguyen are both Democrats but Westminster doesn’t have nearly the influence that Garden Grove does. Nguyen is also dating Santa Ana City Councilman David Penaloza. He will surely work hard to help her to garner votes in Santa Ana.

Rocco never spends any money on his campaigns. But he is the only non minority candidate in the race and he always gets a chunk of votes for that reason.

There were rumors for a while that former State Senator Janice Nguyen would file against Do but I suspect she will resort to working behind the scenes, most likely to help either Pulido or Nguyen. Her aim is just to make sure Do loses.

Pulido has many detractors but he enjoys the highest name I.D. in this race. He does not have much of a grassroots following. You won’t likely see volunteers walking precincts for him. But he does raise money easily and most likely he will resort to using direct mail to try to win the March Primary election.

Pulido’s major claim to fame is redeveloping the city and fostering the Artists Village in DTSA. He may have overplayed his hand with the Streetcar that is being built now and will ultimately connect DTSA to Downtown Garden Grove. The project is very unpopular and expensive and many doubt it will ever be worth the trouble.

While Pulido is a lifelong Democrat I suspect he will not get the support of his own party. Most likely the liberals who now control the DPOC will back Nguyen (pictured above).

Nguyen is far too liberal to win this seat. But unless Pulido can deal with her the road to victory will be a tough one for him. The good news for Pulido is that Nguyen most likely won’t be able to raise the money that Pulido can raise. The bad news though is that County races are subject to major constraints when it comes to fundraising. Pulido however always gets elected with help from PACs – and they are not subject to the same fundraising limits that will handcuff the actual Supervisorial candidates.

What Mayor Pulido had to say at his last State of the City Address

Posted on by Posted in Civic Affairs, Miguel Pulido, Santa Ana Leave a comment

Santa Ana, CA – On Thursday, October 17, Santa Ana Mayor Miguel Pulido delivered his annual State of the City Address in which he highlighted the City of Santa Ana’s regional partnerships, enhancements to public safety and renewed financial strength. Hosted by the Santa Ana Chamber of Commerce, the event was held at the Discovery Cube Orange County in Santa Ana; State Senator Thomas Umberg was present to introduce Mayor Pulido.

During the Address, Mayor Pulido announced his plans to build a state-of-the-art soccer educational facility with retired professional soccer player, Hugo Sanchez. The facility will serve thousands of soccer players in Santa Ana and beyond.

He highlighted other regional partnerships that will set the groundwork for the future of Santa Ana and the rest of Orange County as well including the OC Streetcar, a project being completed in partnership with the City of Garden Grove and the Orange County Transportation Authority (OCTA). The OC Streetcar is currently under construction and promises increased mobility in Orange County.

The Mayor also announced the approval of an 85-year ground lease with Rancho Santiago Community College District Continuing Education Center at Centennial Park. The $50 million project will bring several community benefits to the City including community meeting spaces, a branch library and classrooms. The Education Center will also provide Santa Ana residents a unique educational resource offering adult high school diplomas, citizenship classes, English as a second language and multitude of technical career training programs.

“This project has been in the works for many year,” said Mayor Pulido. “I am proud to announce that we have finalized negotiations with the College and this project will soon be moving forward.”

Mayor Pulido also discussed the City’s strong financial state. The City of Santa Ana ended the year with a $6 million surplus that has been reinvested in the City’s youth, homeless populations and public safety programs. With the investment in additional resources, the City’s Quality of Life Team (QOLT) has been augmented with a new Daily Action Response Team (DART). The City now has additional Homeless Outreach Workers, two full time QOLT teams, and several DART teams working evenings and weekends to ensure that the City is clean at all times and that services are offered to end homelessness.

Additionally, the City of Santa Ana continues to be a hub for thriving businesses with over 1,000 new businesses opening in the last year. Award-winning restaurants continue to expand in the City, especially in the downtown area, and are creating a mecca of culinary experiences that benefit residents and visitors alike.

The Mayor also highlighted the Santa Ana Police Department’s efforts to fast track the hiring of police officers to increase response times and is on track to hire 50 new police officers by December 2019. With staff expansion, the Police Department will be establishing a new Metropolitan Division, effective January 2020. The new division will consist of three elements: a Major Enforcement Team (MET), Gang Suppression Unit and a SWAT team. The MET will compliment and directly support the City’s Community and Traditional Policing strategies with a focus on violent crime prevention, mitigation and proactive response.

The State of the City Address gathered over 450 attendees including several local elected officials: State Senator Tom Umberg, Santa Ana Mayor Pro Tem Juan Villegas, Santa Ana Councilmember Vicente Sarmiento, Santa Ana Councilmember David Penaloza, Santa Ana Councilmember Jose Solorio, Anaheim Mayor Harry Sidhu, Carson Mayor Albert Robles, Garden Grove Mayor Steven Jones, and Santa Ana Unified School District Board President Valerie Amezcua.

For more information about the City of Santa Ana, visit santa-ana.org.

Will Ceci Iglesias become Santa Ana’s next Mayor?

Posted on by Posted in 2019 Elections, Cecilia Iglesias, Elections, Jose Solorio, Miguel Pulido, Politics, Santa Ana 8 Comments

Santa Ana Mayor Miguel Pulido is finally going to term out which means that after some 20 years Santa Ana will finally have a chance to elect a new Mayor, next year.

Current Ward 3 City Councilman Jose Solorio has been plotting for some time to replace Pulido but his odds now look less than great. He has angered the residents of Ward 3 over development issues to such an extent that I don’t think he could win reelection in that Ward, which might be for the best since he left his wife and kids in Ward 1 when he ran for Ward 3.

Compounding Solorio’s bad luck are the rumors that several former City Council Members could be looking to replace Pulido as well, including the likes of Sal Tinajero, Vince Sarmiento and perhaps even Michele Martinez and David Benavides.

These candidates are all Democrats and their views are similar. They will all subtract votes from each other. And I am not entirely sure that the voters want to elect a retreaded perennial candidate.

Over the past few weeks there has been an attempt to recall current City Councilwoman Ceci Iglesias. While the local police union leaders are saying they are not behind the recall it is pretty obvious that they are – as they are not pleased that Iglesias did not back their huge contract – which was not exactly a financially responsible raise.

Those same police union leaders have lined up behind Solorio. Now they must surely be pulling their hairs out as Iglesias just announced on Facebook yesterday that she intends to run for Mayor. If she does run it is fairly certain that she will win as the rest of the candidates will divvy up the same voter base while Iglesias now has support from both the left and the right.

Iglesias has always been fairly independent minded but her clash with the police union has made her a hero to Santa Ana’s progressive activists – something I never saw coming. She is already hugely popular in Santa Ana’s faith community. Garnering the support of the most liberal voters in our city on top of her more conservative voter support makes her the clear favorite to replace Pulido.

Pulido by the way is currently running against First District Supervisor Andrew Do. If former State Senator Janet Nguyen also files against Do it could divide the Vietnamese vote and put Pulido on the O.C. Board of Supervisors. However my sources tell me that if the current City Council makes certain changes to the City’s charter it could result in Pulido getting a new set of terms – which means we could see him run for Mayor yet again, should he lose his Supervisor’s race.

Solorio must have thought that the recall effort against Iglesias was a great idea. But that recall effort is a joke and now it looks like Iglesias is going to dash his dreams and take the Mayor’s office Solorio has long been lusting for.

Will the voters dig what Iglesias has to offer? I think so. She does not support over-development, she consistently opposes new taxes and fees and is a longtime fighter against government waste. She is also a longtime supporter of our immigrant community as Iglesias herself came here from El Savador when she was a little girl. I think the voters will like what Iglesias has to say about Santa Ana’s future. What do you think?

Who will be Santa Ana’s next Mayor?

Posted on by Posted in 2020 Elections, Civic Affairs, David Benavides, Elections, Jose Solorio, Miguel Pulido, Nam Pham, Politics, Santa Ana 5 Comments

Santa Ana Mayor Miguel Pulido is finally going to term out of office next November. He is already making plans to run for the First Supervisorial District.

So far three candidates have created committees to run for Mayor of City of Santa Ana – Municipal Government in 2020:

I cannot imagine many folks are excited about voting for Benavides, who was on the City Council for years but left no legacy and made no impact on the community.

Solorio has had a very successful political career including serving in the State Assembly. However he faces a strong headwind as there are a group of residents in Ward 3 who are trying to launch a recall election against him. They are mad about a development he is backing and are alleging he does not live in Ward 3.

Solorio however already has a ton of campaign cash on hand and he has vast connections in Orange County and in Sacramento.

Pham has no chance. He should find something else to do with his time.

There will be other candidates filing of course. Possibly including former City Councilman Sal Tinajero who barely lost to Pulido in the last Mayoral election.

Don’t be surprised if City Council Member Ceci Igliesias runs for Mayor. If she does she will be the only fiscal conservative in the race. She already enjoys broad support in our city and would be a dangerous candidate to be sure.

Of course being the Mayor in our city is a part-time job that demands full time hours. And you still have to get a majority of the City Council to work with you or nothing will get done. It is a tough job.

Pulido has had a heck of a time dealing with unfriendly City Councils over the years. Who knows what his successor will have to deal with as our city teeters on the edge of financial ruin?

Mayor Pulido has requested more state funding for homeless resources

Posted on by Posted in california, Gavin Newsom, homeless, Miguel Pulido, Santa Ana Leave a comment

Mayor Pulido Joins Big City Mayors to Call for More State Resources to Address Homelessness

Mayors from California’s 13 largest cities met yesterday with the governor and legislative leaders to advocate for additional state resources in the 2019 budget to address the ongoing homelessness crisis. The mayors highlighted the success of the Homeless Emergency Aid Program (HEAP), an allocation of $500 million – of which $150 million went directly to cities with a population of 300,000 or more – that is on track to produce more than 4,000 new shelter beds across the state.

“The City of Santa Ana is grateful to the State of California for the Homeless Emergency Aid Program block grant, that we collectively advocated to come to fruition last year through a strong coalition of Big City Mayors,” said Santa Ana Mayor Miguel Pulido. “We have successfully expanded our joint efforts through the support of two additional cities, intensifying the need of funding for the future to address the national crisis of homelessness. We are excited that Governor Newsom had made funding homelessness a priority as we see the direct result of state funding creating positive change in our community.”

California’s homeless population now stands at 134,278, according to 2017 statewide counts – an increase of 16% from 2015. Half of all the country’s homeless are in California; nearly half of California’s homeless are in the state’s 13 largest cities.

“State and local partnerships are critical to tackling issues as big as our homeless crisis,” said Assemblymember Phil Ting (D-San Francisco), who helped the Big City Mayors secure HEAP funding in the 2018-2019 state budget. “Last year, California’s significant investment in emergency assistance enabled cities to quickly ramp up the number of beds and services available in the hardest hit communities. But we need to do more to truly solve this problem. I look forward to working with all stakeholders to determine how we can keep moving people off the streets and into affordable housing.”

Across the state, cities have utilized HEAP funds to dramatically increase capacity for low-barrier shelters, Navigation Centers, Bridge Housing, rental subsidies, and other supportive services to get traditionally hard-to-serve people into housing. The mayors highlighted how quickly the state was able to disburse funds to local governments, allocating resources according to need as demonstrated by 2017 PIT Counts, and the flexibility of what resources could be spent on as critical components of the program’s success. That information is now available in a report on HEAP funding allocation released by Big City Mayors yesterday.

The Santa Ana City Council can still vote to open a public hearing regarding the 2525 Main St. apartment development this Tuesday

Posted on by Posted in Civic Affairs, Development, Housing, Miguel Pulido, Planning, Santa Ana, Steven Mendoza 5 Comments
2525 N Main St. Development

Are you wondering why the Santa Ana City Council meeting agenda for this Tuesday’s meeting was suddenly altered on Friday – to read that there should not be a public session regarding the proposed apartment development, The Addington, at 2525 Main St.?

It turns out that the acting City Manager, Steven Mendoza, got bamboozled by Mayor Miguel Pulido, who might be a lame duck in his last term but is still acting like his voice is the only one that matters on the City Council.

Mendoza indicated on Friday that the delay was due to issues with a traffic study, pertaining to the apartment development project. However Planning Director Minh Thai told the developer of the project that Mendoza was ordered by Pulido to pospone the meeting.

The Planning Agency has already finished the project’s EIR and they indicated that they approved of the project. While the Planning Commission later voted against the project they are an advisory body and the City Council can easily overrule them.

Here is the kicker – despite Pulido’s last-minute machinations the City Council, on Tuesday, can still vote to open the public session on 2525 Main St. They just need four votes – and that seems very likely to happen.

In fact there are only two City Council Members that, to my knowledge, oppose this project – and Pulido is one of them.

The City Council absolutely should vote to approve this project. The proposed project generates more funding for the City, provides for more affordable housing units, funds more park improvements and supports a series of benefits to the neighboring Park Santiago neighborhood that simply would not materialize if the site remained vacant or was developed into a new office building.

In its first year, the project will pay more than $16 million in permit fees, of this more than $5 million will go directly to the City’s general fund. The project’s net annual fiscal benefit to the City of Santa Ana will be more than $1.2 million annually or more than $1.1 million than the existing office structure. These funds can be used to fund much needed City programs and services including youth programs, education, city improvements, parks improvement and more.

The project will remit more than $3.5 million in property taxes annually, of that $1.5 million will go to the Santa Ana Unified School District. However, the project anticipates multi-family residents having far fewer children, so the cost to school children from the project will be less than $500k annually, resulting in a net benefit of more than $1 million to our school district.

The Addington proposal is consistent with all of the City’s General Plan goals and policies, and helps to support its Gateway Designation. This project helps to realize the goals for Main Street that previous City Councils established with the help of significant community input.

The plan for 2525 Main Street was the product of nearly a year of community input, and was sensitively designed to limit impacts to privacy, reduce car trips through surrounding neighborhoods, and eliminate the need for guests to park on nearby streets.

The City of Santa Ana is in dire financial straits. I cannot imagine that very many of our elected City Council members will vote to turn their backs on the vast tax revenues that will be created by The Addington. In fact given Pulido’s outrageous actions on Friday I suspect the vote to approve this project will now be 6-1 with Pulido casting the only “no” vote.

Pulido can vote no as he is terming out in two years so he won’t have to deal with the City’s financial problems much longer.

As for the Nimby’s who are opposing this project, one of them is now suggesting that residents of North Santa Ana should break away from the
City of Santa Ana and form their own city!

How insane is that? If anything this proves that the privileged, entitled Nimby’s in North Santa Ana don’t care about the rest of our city.

Ironically these Nimby’s are ignoring the real threat in the Santiago Park neighborhood – the lawless vagrants that live in Santiago Creek. The Addington project will include around the clock security not only in the apartment project but also in Santiago Park and in the adjacent neighborhood. This project will actually solve the vagrant problem and make us all safer in the process.

The public session on this project should be held on Feb. 5 at the City Council meeting. And the City Council should at last approve this project without further delays!

Who is going to be Santa Ana’s next City Manager?

Posted on by Posted in Civic Affairs, David Cavazos, Fuad Sweiss, Jill Wallace, Kristine Ridge, Michele Martinez, Miguel Pulido, Raul Godinez, Santa Ana, Steven Mendoza, Vince Sarmiento Leave a comment

We are starting to receive snippets of information and chisme regarding who the Santa Ana council is looking to hire as our next City Manager, since apparently the current City Manager, Raul Godinez, has in effect resigned after offering the city a separation agreement. He was a friend of former City Councilmembers Michele Martinez and Sal Tinajero and they led the charge to overpay him. It is going to cost a small fortune to settle with him now.

Kristine Ridge

Mayor Pulido, at the time that Godinez was hired, was pushing to hire Kristine Ridge, who used to work for the City of Anaheim, as their Assistant City Manager.

Now it appears that Pulido is pushing for Ridge again. Ridge was supposed to be next in line to be the City Manager of Anaheim but a split City Council sent her packing.

Would she come on a split package and try for a year, in Santa Ana, like Godinez? You see if a City employee gets one year at a high salary that salary will be used to calculate their future pension benefits. So often these volatile positions are attractive because of their salary not their longevity.

Ridge is a City Manager for the City of Laguna Niguel now – we hope she and her local Sheriff’s Deputies are not sending their homeless to us!

Some around town, in Santa Ana, are wondering if she might be willing to leave her current post, as the best she could hope for is a 4-3 vote.

Some of the City Council Members appear to be concerned that Ridge is apparently very friendly with Jill Wallace (aka Jill Arthur), who used to work at Santa Ana’s City Hall as Pulido’s Assistant. There are allegations that Wallace wants to influence the situation in Santa Ana.

Wallace remains very close with Pulido andis his closest confidant. But she freaks people out some folks at City Hall, for whatever reason.

Since Ridge is a City Manager already in South Orange County, don’t be surprised if she wants a salary package in Santa Ana that compares to previous City Manager David Cavazos’ $500,000+ salary. In fact the word is that she has already made a very high salary request.

Would the Santa Ana City Council, which still appears to lack a solid majority, want to hire a new City Manager without a transparent process, when she was already passed over in Anaheim?

David Cavazos

Remember the last time the City engaged in a rushed city manager hiring process they ended up with a hot mess, namely Cavazos.

The current City Council is split and some of them, starting with Council Member Jose Solorio, want to have the City Council consider people both from outside and inside City Hall.

Solorio supported Ridge the last time around, but he commented on our last post about this and said that Santa Ana needs to focus on a fair process to consider who the next acting or interim City Manager might be.

Solorio, and Council Members Vince Sarmiento, Roman Reyna and David Penaloza met last week in a closed session meeting and who knows what direction they gave to city staff?

Solorio also said that this all, including the City Manager’s separation agreement, will be on the upcoming January 18th City Council meeting agenda.

Fuad Sweiss

Inside choices to replace Godniez may include Steven Mendoza, who is the acting City Manager, while Godinez is still on “vacation.” Some Council Members are apparently pushing for Fuad Sweiss, who is the current Santa Ana Public Works Director. Sweiss is credited with getting the city’s newest emergency homeless shelter , The Link, built in a record 28 days.

Sweiss is already on the City payroll, so hiring him as the interim city manager would save the city some money. He previously worked for the city of San Francisco, so who knows what his politics might be? But now that we have a new Governor who hails from San Francisco, Gavin Newsom, Sweiss’ background in the Bay Area could be a plus. In fact we hear that Sweiss is very friendly with Newsom.

No question Pulido will be working to get support for Ridge up until the closing bell. But will he be able to get four votes on the City Council for Ridge?

To be continued…

What really happened at last Friday’s botched Santa Ana City Council meeting

Posted on by Posted in Cecilia Iglesias, Civic Affairs, David Penaloza, Jose Solorio, Juan Villegas, Michele Martinez, Miguel Pulido, Politics, Raul Godinez, Roman Reyna, Sal Tinajero, Santa Ana, Vince Sarmiento 2 Comments

Santa Ana City Councilmembers Vincent Sarmiento, Jose Solorio, Roman Reyna and David Penaloza tried to pull a fast one last Friday at a last minute special session of the Santa Ana City Council.

What this boiled down to was an attempt by Solorio to fire the current Santa Ana City Manager, Raul Godinez, who was a terrible hire, and replace him with an interim manager of his choice.

But Solorio, who should know better, got punked when Mayor Miguel Pulido, Mayor Pro Tem Juan Villegas and City Councilwoman Ceci Iglesias blew off the special meeting on Friday. You see firing Godinez takes five votes – and Solorio was only able to come up with four votes on Friday.

Solorio and Sarmiento spent the last year ripping the Santa Ana Police Officers Association but now that union is allegedly playing footsie with Solorio, who they believe is going to be our next Mayor, in two years, when Pulido terms out. Which is why Penaloza went along with Solorio on Friday.

Solorio may have fashioned an ad hoc City Council majority, with Penaloza now in league with him, but he won’t be able to fire Godinez without a fifth vote. And that simply is not going to happen.

Make no mistake – Godinez is toast. But he will leave when Pulido decides to oust him. And Pulido won’t let Solorio decide the terms of Godinez’ ouster – or his replacement.

As for Solorio, he needs to calm down. He may have a boatload of campaign cash but he won’t be the only Democrat running for Mayor in two years. It is very likely that former City Council Members Sal Tinajero and Michele Martinez, and maybe even Claudia Alvarez, will run for Mayor.

Now imagine if a fiscal conservative, like Iglesias, decides to run for Mayor in two years? She will easily win if the Democrats split their votes three or four ways.

The Santa Ana Police Officers Association is really blundering by getting in bed with Solorio. Now they have antagonized Pulido and Villegas. Iglesias was already upset with them after they spent a small fortune trying to beat her in last November’s election. They are giving Penaloza bad advice by asking him to team up with Solorio, Sarmiento and Reyna. I am shocked that they would have anything to do with Reyna after they ripped him mercilessly for his alleged connections to the Mexican Mafia!

Cooler heads will ultimately prevail. I expect Penaloza will realize his error and team up with the real City Council majority – then Godinez can go his merry way and we can finally hire a competent City Manager.

Remember Godinez only got the job because he is Hispanic. That is what Tinajero told Pulido at the time. That sort of racist thinking will hopefully be set aside now. We need a great City Manager – irrespective of his or her race.

Mayor Pulido finally has a City Council majority he can work with

Posted on by Posted in Civic Affairs, Miguel Pulido, Raul Godinez, Sal Tinajero, Santa Ana 1 Comment

The last few years have been very tough on longtime Santa Ana Mayor Miguel Pulido. He has had to contend with a veritable cast of clowns as Councilman Sal Tinajero and his cronies took over the Santa Ana City Council majority.

Tinajero and company hired two awful City Managers in a row – and vastly overpaid them. Even worse they hired these yokels primarily because they were Hispanic – not because they were any good at their jobs.

Tinajero also wrote and backed a ballot measure that imposed term limits on Pulido – although Tinajero has nothing to say about the lack of term limits on the SAUSD School Board, where his ally John Palacio has been in power almost as long as Pulido.

And Tinajero also fooled the voters into giving the City Council members a raise – and he also made sure all the fat cat executives at our City Hall got raises.

Tinajero’s worst move however almost bankrupted our city when he forced ICE out of our City Jail – leaving our City no way to pay back millions in construction bond measures.

Tinajer’s final overreach was trying to topple Pulido himself this year in the Mayoral race. But Pulido got the last laugh. It was a close battle but Pulido prevailed.

Even better most of TInajero’s City Council candidates were soundly rejected by the voters. The unhinged socialist that is Paul Gonzales lost in Ward 2 to David Penaloza and the lazy campaigner Nelida Mendoza lost to Ceci Iglesias in Ward 6. Tinajero only prevailed in Ward 4 when he engineered a terrible smear campaign that toppled Pulido ally Phil Bacerra, allowing former Ward 5 City Councilman Roman Reyna to sneak back onto the City Council.

However Pulido now has a terrific City Council majority he can work with. I expect him to ally with Penaloza and Iglesias in addition to veteran City Councilman Juan Villegas. 

You only have to know how to count to four to be an effective City Councilman in Santa Ana. Now Pulido has four votes on the City Council. He is now the majority leader and Tinajero has been left out in the cold.

I expect that Pulido and company will be booting our awful City Manager, Raul Godinez, any day now. 

What else can we expect in the days to come? Well you can bet that Pulido and his City Council allies will boot the rest of the Council Members from the local boards and commissions they serve on. And the new majority will also take over the City Council committees. 

Pulido’s main goal this coming year is to see to it that the OC Streetcar gets completed. He has spent his whole life redeveloping our city and his legacy is beyond reproach. Everywhere you look you see the businesses and organizations that Pulido helped to bring to our city. 

Santa Ana is a hot mess but at least now we have a fiscally conservative City Council majority. I expect they will do great things in Pulido’s last term.

Officials celebrated the OC Streetcar groundbreaking today

Posted on by Posted in Miguel Pulido, OCTA, Orange County, Santa Ana, Transportation 4 Comments

OCTA officials join with Federal Transit Administration and California Transportation Agency officials to break ground Friday, Nov. 30 on the $408 million OC Streetcar

OC Streetcar Construction Gets Rolling

Signing of Full-Funding Grant Agreement with the Federal Transit Administration allows work to begin on the modern streetcar project from Santa Ana to Garden Grove

Next stop: The OC Streetcar.

The Orange County Transportation Authority today brought together local, state and federal officials to accept a $149 million federal funding grant and to mark the start of construction on the county’s first modern electric streetcar. Continue reading→