Santa Ana's top news & views blog

Santa Ana's top news & views blog

Tag Archives: ballot measure

Council to consider the marijuana dispensary measure, which is a hot mess

Posted on by Posted in 2014 Elections, Civic Affairs, Drugs, Elections, Health and Medical, Marijuana, Planning, Santa Ana 1 Comment

Kids smoking pot

One of our readers asked me to have a look at the information that the Santa Ana City Council will be reviewing and voting upon at tomorrow night’s Council meeting, regarding the medical marijuana dispensary ballot initiative that may end up on the ballot in November, 2014.

You can read the info yourself by looking over the Council’s agenda, however note that the medical marijuana info is way back towards the end of the document.

The initiative specifies that the dispensaries will be allowed in the City’s commercial, industrial and professional office zones, but they cannot be closer than 600 feet from any public or private schools, grades K-12. Continue reading→

Medical marijuana dispensary ballot measure campaign turns in 16K signatures

Posted on by Posted in 2014 Elections, Drugs, Marijuana, Politics, Santa Ana 13 Comments

Smoking big joints in Santa Ana

“Yesterday, medical marijuana activists seeking to overturn Santa Ana‘s ban on medical marijuana collectives showed up at city hall with 16,000 signatures of city residents who want the pot clubs back in business. The group, which formed in August 2012 and calls itself the Committee to Support Medical Marijuana Ballot Initiative, hopes to let voters decide whether to set up a registration process that would allow no less than 22 cannabis clubs to operate, or roughly one per every 15,000 residents,” according to the OC Weekly.

The Santa Ana City Clerk’s office is apparently going to validate every single signature collected, which is not the norm – usually only ten percent of the signatures are inspected.

Some residents are up in arms over this proposed ballot measure, which won’t show up on any ballots until 2014.  One of my readers sent me this list of complaints: Continue reading→

Update: Revised argument against the Santa Ana term limits accepted

Posted on by Posted in 2012 Elections, Civic Affairs, Santa Ana, Term Limits 5 Comments

Rob Cook and I were able to file our argument against the latest flawed Santa Ana term limits measure today and were joined by Becky Valencia Verdin, who also signed the argument.

You may recall that our illustrious City Council gave us a horrible term limits measure a few years ago, Measure D, which actually extended term limits by four more years, for the City Council.

Cook and I agree that term limits are ridiculous.  They are an abridgment of voter’s rights.  Here is the argument we submitted today, with five minutes to spare: Continue reading→

Santa Ana term limit ballot measure update

Posted on by Posted in 2012 Elections, Santa Ana, Term Limits 4 Comments

I spoke to Santa Ana City Clerk Maria Huizar today about the Term Limits measure that will be on the November ballot.  This measure will limit the Mayor to eight years while allowing the City Council to serve up to 12 years.

My personal sentiment is that term limits are a limit on our freedom as voters to choose who we want to represent us.  We already have the right to boot the mayor every two years. Continue reading→

Santa Ana issues request for term limit ballot measure arguments

Posted on by Posted in 2012 Elections, Civic Affairs, Politics, Santa Ana, Term Limits 1 Comment

City of Santa Ana, Downtown Orange County

Advisory: NOTICE OF ELECTION REGARDING CHARTER AMENDMENT (MEASURE) TO BE VOTED ON CITY OF SANTA ANA, CALIFORNIA

SANTA ANA, CA (August 2, 2012) – NOTICE IS HEREBY GIVEN that the following measure will be voted on at a special municipal election consolidated with the general municipal election to be held in the City of Santa Ana, California on Tuesday, the sixth (6TH) day of November 2012: Continue reading→

Ballot measure seeks to legalize Santa Ana’s medical marijuana dispensaries

Posted on by Posted in 2012 Elections, Civic Affairs, Health and Medical, Marijuana, Politics, Republican Party, Santa Ana, Seniors 7 Comments

A group called the Committee to Support Medical Marijuana Ballot Initiative pulled paperwork from the Santa Ana City Clerk to begin the process of gatherings the roughly 5000 signatures needed to qualify it for the November ballot, according to a post written by OC GOP Central Committee Member, and Santa Ana resident, Thomas Gordon, at the OC Political blog.

According to Gordon, “The initiative would allow medical marijuana dispensaries to operate under strict guidelines such as limiting hours from 9 am to 9 pm, restricting patients to 21 years of age and older, forbid loitering and limit dispensaries no closer than 600 feet from a school or park. It would also limit the number of dispensaries in Santa Ana to 20.” Continue reading→