Santa Ana's top news & views blog

Santa Ana's top news & views blog

Category Archives: Politics

OC Supervisor Do’s plan to restore independent oversight and accountability at the County of Orange

Posted on by Posted in Andrew Do, Orange County, Politics, Santa Ana Leave a comment

Chairman Andrew Do’s Plan to Restore Independent Oversight & Accountability

Do’s Proposal: Restore Funding & Direct Office of Independent Review to Explore Nexus between Law Enforcement & Social Services in Addressing the Homeless Crisis

Proposal:

  1. Restore Funding to County’s Office of Independent Review (OIR); and
  2. Provide Specific Direction to Focus on Nexus between Law Enforcement & Social Services in Addressing the County’s Homeless Crisis; and
  3. Return to the Board of Supervisors in six months to reevaluate the scope of work for OIR and review preliminary findings.

OIR Purpose: The Office of Independent Review is intended to: Continue reading→

The insane Santa Ana City Council wants to raise our sales taxes to pay for their mistakes

Posted on by Posted in 2018 elections, Civic Affairs, Politics, Santa Ana, Taxes 2 Comments

The Santa Ana City Council majority

The Santa Ana City Council, as you may know, has made so many mistakes over the years that the City of Santa Ana is now teetering on the edge of bankruptcy. The solution that is being proposed by our City Council majority is completely ridiculous – they want to raise our sales taxes to pay for their mistakes!

What the City Council majority (Jose Solorio, David Benavides, Sal Tinajero and Vince Sarmiento) is proposing is to put a measure on the ballot so the taxpayers can screw themselves in the upcoming November election. Continue reading→

The OC Board of Supervisors is opposing distribution of drug needles in Santa Ana’s Civic Center

Posted on by Posted in Drugs, homeless, Orange County, Politics, Santa Ana Leave a comment

Orange County Vows to Fight Plan for Expanded Needle Exchange

Santa Ana, California – After removing 14,000 dirty needles from the Santa Ana Riverbed, Orange County is fighting a proposal to give away more needles to addicts. 

On Tuesday, a unanimous Board of Supervisors adopted a resolution to oppose a pending application with the California Department of Public Health for a mobile needle giveaway program in Orange County.  Continue reading→

2018 O.C. June Primary Election Voter Guide

Posted on by Posted in 2018 elections, Orange County, Politics, Santa Ana 2 Comments

The 2018 June Primary Election is coming up on June 5. We have examined all of the candidates in Orange County. If you support the CA Gas Tax you will not like this Voter Guide. We are generally not supporting candidates who want to raise our taxes or who support the High Speed Rail boondoggle. Here are our thoughts about the candidates for local offices here in Orange County:

  • Orange County Assessor – the incumbent is Claude Parrish. From what we hear he is a few sandwiches short of a picnic. Nevertheless the OC GOP has endorsed him. The Democrats have endorsed Nathaniel Fernandez Epstein, a lawyer who did not bother to buy a candidate’s statement. We like Richard B. Ramirez, a Deputy Assessor. He has our endorsement.

Continue reading→

Pop-up voting center set for May 21 at the Santa Ana Civic Center

Posted on by Posted in 2018 elections, Elections, Orange County, Politics, Santa Ana Leave a comment

City of Santa Ana

Community: Pop-Up Voting Center at Santa Ana Civic Center May 25 at 7am-6pm

OC Registrar of Voters Office will host the first of its kind in California, a Pop-Up Mobile Vote Service Center for the June 5, 2018 Statewide Primary Election

Voters will be able to register to vote, cast their ballot, drop off their vote-by-mail ballot, and have their questions answered by trained staff at the Pop-Up voting center. Continue reading→

The Santa Ana City Council has canceled all public hearings regarding Ward redistricting

Posted on by Posted in 2018 elections, Ballot Measures, Civic Affairs, Politics, Santa Ana Leave a comment

City of Santa Ana, Downtown Orange County

Community: Notice to Residents: Cancellation of Public Hearing to Consider Ward Re-Boundaries

The Santa Ana City Council has canceled the Public Hearings to consider modifying the Ward boundaries. The Hearings were originally scheduled for May 1, May 3, May 15, May 19 and June 5, 2018.

The purpose of these Hearings was to allow interested persons to provide input on ward boundaries, community of interest and comment on proposed draft maps before the City Council for consideration. The City Council was unable to hold a formal public hearing on May 3, 2018 due to lack of quorum and at the May 15, 2018 City Council Meeting, the Clerk of the Council announced that the process was being suspended due to impending litigation. Continue reading→

Is it time for the Rancho Santiago Community College District to beg the Saudis for money?

Posted on by Posted in Arabs, Education, Politics, Raúl Rodríguez, Santa Ana 1 Comment

From: Renee Miller

Sent: Thursday, May 17, 2018 11:42 PM

Subject: Urgent financial assistance needed for The Rancho Santiago Community College District, Santa Ana, California

To: Adnan AlYousef

I am a retired faculty member from the Rancho Santiago Community College District. Our college’s Foundation has been working with the Colleges of Excellence for the past few years and recently entered into a partnership with Al Khaleej, forming Saudi American Educational Services, LLC. Continue reading→

Our lame City Council majority has driven Santa Ana to the edge of bankruptcy

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

 

The Santa Ana City Council Majority

Still mad about the cancellation of this year’s Santa Ana Cinco de Mayo event? Well guess what? It looks like that is the least of our worries. Apparently the Santa Ana City Council majority has driven our city to the brink of bankruptcy, according to the Voice of OC.

The Voice of OC quoted Deputy City Manager Robert Cortez about the situation. He said “the current situation is not sustainable.” However Cortez makes a whopping $294,881.41 in pay and benefits, according to Transparent California.  The median annual Chief Executive Officer salary in Los Angeles, CA is $192,976, as of April 29, 2018, according to payscale.com. Cortez is making more than most CEOs and he is just the Deputy City Manager! Perhaps that is part of the problem in Santa Ana?

But that’s not all. Our current City Council majority also made all these financial mistakes in the past few years: Continue reading→

The Rancho Santiago Community College District just blew $1M on a ridiculous lawsuit

Posted on by Posted in Education, Orange County, Politics, Raúl Rodríguez, Santa Ana 3 Comments

Raise your hand if you just blew $1 million dollars! (Pictured: RSCCD Trustee John Hanna)

The Rancho Santiago Community College District (RSCCD) just blew $1 million dollars of taxpayer money fighting a ridiculous lawsuit that never should have happened in the first place. And the lawsuit came about because of complete and utter mismanagement at the RSCCD.

Plaintiff Marisa Hernandez worked for the Rancho Santiago Community College District on and off for a number of years without any complaints about her performance. In 2013, she was hired as an administrative assistant. During her one-year probationary period, her performance was to be evaluated at three months, seven months, and 11 months. At the completion of 12 months of probation, she would be considered a permanent employee. Continue reading→

Santa Ana announces three more public hearings regarding possible changes to our ward boundaries

Posted on by Posted in 2018 elections, Ballot Measures, Civic Affairs, Politics, Santa Ana Leave a comment

City of Santa Ana

Community: Notice To Residents: Schedule of Public Hearings To Consider Amending City Ward Boundaries

The City of Santa Ana encourages the public to participate in the decision-making process. The following notice is sent to ensure that our community stays informed of a matter that may be important to you.

The City Council will hold the final three (3) Public Hearings to consider modifying the Ward boundaries to comply with both the Federal and California law, including the California Voting Rights Act (CVRA). Continue reading→

The Santa Ana City Council will hold public hearings regarding their plan to change our ward maps

Posted on by Posted in 2018 elections, Civic Affairs, Elections, Politics, Santa Ana 1 Comment

City of Santa Ana

Community: NOTICE TO RESIDENTS: SCHEDULE OF PUBLIC HEARINGS TO CONSIDER WARD RE-BOUNDARY

The Santa Ana City Council will hold a series of Public Hearings to consider modifying the Ward boundaries to comply with both the Federal and California law, including the California Voting Rights Act (CVRA).

The Ward boundaries were last modified in January of 2012. Since then, the City received correspondence asserting that the City’s current at-large electoral system, whereby council members are elected by all of the city electors, violates the CVRA because it allegedly does not allow Asians (a protected class) to elect candidates of their choice or otherwise influence the outcome of Santa Ana’s council elections. Following receipt of this correspondence, the City Council decided to place a charter amendment on the November 6, 2018 General Municipal Election so that the electors of the City can decide whether to change the method of electing council members to a by-ward system where each council member is required to reside in the ward he or she represents and is elected solely by the electors of that ward. The City Council also decided to consider changing the Ward boundaries to ensure that they are consistent with Federal and State law, including the CVRA. This re-boundary process will consist of a number of public hearings to allow interested persons to give input on ward boundaries. Continue reading→

Recalled SAUDS School Board Member Nativo Lopez demands that immigrants stop working with the police

Posted on by Posted in Crime, immigration, Nativo Lopez, Politics, Public Safety, Santa Ana 1 Comment

It looks like recalled SAUSD School Board Member Nativo Lopez is up to his old tricks again. Yesterday Lopez announced a statewide campaign of “non-violent, non-cooperation” with all police authorities, according to the O.C. Register.

Lopez, a longtime ally of current SAUSD School Board Member John Palacio and current Santa Ana City Councilman Sal Tinajero, heads up Hermandad Mexicana, an organization that portends to help immigrants. Continue reading→

The Santa Ana City Council majority will try to change our ward maps before they term out

Posted on by Posted in Ballot Measures, Civic Affairs, Elections, Politics, Santa Ana 1 Comment

The Santa Ana City Council majority

The Santa Ana City Council majority has voted to start drawing up plans to place a measure on the November ballot to change our City Council elections to a ward-specific model.

But that’s not all. Most of the Santa Ana City Council majority is going to term out in November. But now they want to change our ward maps before they leave City Hall. The last time they did this Councilman Sal Tinajero made sure to remove Asian voters from his Ward. What shenanigans will they be up to this time? Continue reading→

The Santa Ana City Council decides to sue the County and several cities over the homeless issue

Posted on by Posted in Civic Affairs, Courts, Housing, Huntington Beach, irvine, Orange County, Politics, Santa Ana 1 Comment

City of Santa Ana

Community: Santa Ana Council Calls for Legal Action on Homelessness. City to Sue County of Orange, Irvine, Laguna Niguel and Huntington Beach

SANTA ANA, CA – On Tuesday night, Santa Ana City Council directed the City’s legal counsel to move forward with a lawsuit against the County of Orange and the cities of Irvine, Laguna Niguel and Huntington Beach for their opposition to sheltering the homeless on available County land. A County plan to locate three temporary homeless shelters in each homeless services region of the County had been adopted earlier in March but was subsequently rescinded by the County Board of Supervisors following opposition from those cities. The City’s legal action seeks to compel the parties to take action rather than merely say “no” to being part of the solution. Continue reading→

The Santa Ana City Council majority is going to try to redraw our wards to remove their opponents

Posted on by Posted in 2018 elections, Politics, Santa Ana 2 Comments

The Santa Ana City Council Majority

The Santa Ana City Council meeting set for this Tuesday night, April 17, at 5:45 pm, will finally reveal what our City Council majority really intended by trying so desperately to change our election system from an at-large system to a ward-specific one.

Council members David Benavides and Vince Sarmiento have placed an 85 A item on the agenda to “Proceed with Ward Re-boundary process to be prepared for adoption before the start of the 2018 Candidate Nomination Period.” Continue reading→