Roman Reyna and Carlos Bustamante
Multiple sources have confirmed tonight that Santa Ana Councilman Roman Reyna will be running against Santa Ana Mayor in 2014.
Who will you vote for? Be sure to vote in our poll, above. Continue reading
David Benavides at the 2013 Fiestas Patrias Parade
We recently reported on a story that has been rippling through Downtown Santa Ana. The City of Santa Ana’s contract with their Fiestas Patrias and Cinco de Mayor entertainment manager, MXLive is ending this year. Our post about this that apparently offended MXLive and Santa Ana Councilman David Benavides.
We received separate letters from the attorney for MX Live and from Councilman David Benavides this Friday, curiously within hours of each other, via email. Continue reading
Connect to Council is inviting the residents living within the South Coast Metro Neighborhoods of Santa Ana to a joint meeting. on Oct. 2, 2013, at 7 pm, at the Segerstrom High School Auditorium, located at 2301 W MacArthur Blvd., in Santa Ana.
This meeting will include residents from the nine neighborhoods in the South Coast Metro area that includes Morning Sunwood, Thornton Park, Sandpointe, Sunwood Central, Metro Classic, Rosewood Baker, South Coast, Republic Homes and Summerfield Homes. This is the first annual meeting for the Alliance of South Coast Area Neighborhoods.
Santa Ana Councilman David Benavides, who was badly defeated when he ran for Mayor of Santa Ana last year, will be the guest speaker. He represents some of these neighborhoods. Others are represented by Councilmen Vince Sarmiento and Sal Tinajero.
The topics include: Continue reading
Several Santa Ana Council Members are going to have to run for re-election in 2014, including David Benavides, Michele Martinez and Sal Tinajero.
It may well be that by then a court will have already invalidated Measure D, which would mean these Council Members would be termed out, but that is by no means guaranteed.
So will anyone challenge these Council Members? Continue reading
Can you believe it? Our city is broke but on August 28, 2013, “officials from Santa Ana conducted a one-day site visit to learn more about the highly successful transit and streetcar system in Portland, Oregon.”
That’s right. We paid to send a bunch of Council Members and city staffers to Portland, Oregon, to look at their light rail system. Now why in the world would our city leaders do this? Well, they allege that “Out of the 15 systems currently operating and the 40 under design or construction throughout the country, Portland’s has been seen as a model that reflects the Transit Vision for Santa Ana’s proposed streetcar system.”
But is that true? Does Portland really have anything in common with Santa Ana? Continue reading
More than 100 people from about 25 churches and community organizations marched on Saturday morning in a quest for peace in Santa Ana’s neighborhoods, according to the O.C. Register.
What was missing from this Santa Ana Peace March? Apparently none of the Santa Ana Council Members showed up. Click here and see for yourself – the Register did not capture any Council Members in their photo coverage of this event. And Pastor Ariel Meza, who coordinated this event, also did not mention the Council Members on his Facebook page, nor do they appear in the pictures that he took. Continue reading
We recently took a look at the official City Calendars of each of our Santa Ana City Council Members. Now it is time to vote! Which one of our Council Members is the very worst of the bunch?
We have been scrutinizing the public calendars of the Santa Ana City Council Members this week. We already looked at Councilman David Benavides’ calendar, and that of Councilwoman Angie Amezcua. Now we will have a look at Ward 2 Councilwoman Michele Martinez’ calendar:
We reviewed Santa Ana Councilman David Benavides’ official city calendar, for the month of June, 2013, yesterday. Today we are taking a look at Council Woman Angelica “Angie” Amezcua’s city calendar – and boy is it empty. Amezcua represents Ward 3 on the City Council.
While Benavides has spent 90% of his time outside of his Ward, Amezcua has done almost nothing in her own Ward.
Let’s have a look at Angie’s calendar (note that I did not include the City Council meetings as she has to attend those): Continue reading
It would appear that Santa Ana Councilman P. David Benavides has forgotten which Ward he was elected to serve. He is supposed to be representing Ward 4 – but let’s take a look at his official June calendar and see what he was really up to last month:
The City Council has approved a new ordinance aimed at simplifying the permit process for restaurants and other night-time businesses that want to offer entertainment, according to the O.C. Register.
According to the Voice of OC, the new rules include: Continue reading
Wow! There were 28 crimes reported in Santa Ana on Saturday, July 13, 2013, according to our friends at CrimeMapping. The crimes included four DUIs and numerous acts of Domestic Violence. You have to wonder why our City Council has done almost nothing with regard to stopping Domestic Violence and it is dismaying that Councilman David Benavides is trying to keep the bars open until 4 am. What a horrible idea!
Here is our Santa Ana Daily Crime Report: Continue reading
Residents at the Bali Hi Mobile Home Park in Santa Ana say they are in the path of the Harbor Corridor Transit project that could force them from their homes, according to NBC News.
Mobile home park residents started a petition to let city planners know they are against the 2-mile-long facelift. The Harbor Corridor Transit project will add 3,800 homes, shops and restaurants. Continue reading
Santa Ana Councilman David Benavides is apparently pushing for a modification to the City of Santa Ana’s Proposed Alcohol and Entertainment Ordinance that I can at best call irresponsible and ridiculous. Click here to read what Benavides is proposing.
Benavides wants to allow after-hours alcohol sales up to 4 am. Currently bars in town have to close up at 2 am at the latest.
Continue reading
Santa Ana Councilman David Benavides (seen above getting a piggyback ride from Councilman Roman Reyna) is going to be honored by the United Artists of Santa Ana this Saturday, July 6, 2013. It is hard to believe given that just a year ago Benavides was involved in trying to sell the historic Santora Arts building to his church, Newsong, which is based in Irvine.
Just how involved was Benavides in what turned out to be a complete fiasco? Here are a few excerpts from local media – note the negative comments from the artists themselves: Continue reading