Santa Ana's top news & views blog

Santa Ana's top news & views blog

Tag Archives: parks

When will Santa Ana act to keep sex offenders out of our local parks?

Posted on by Posted in Crime, Orange County, Parks and Recreation, Public Safety, Santa Ana, Youth Activities 9 Comments

Men lurking at dusk at Santa Ana’s Santiago Park

UPDATE: The City of Mission Viejo is also considering a new ordinance banning registered sex offenders from their parks, at their City Council meeting tonight.  Click here to read the press release, from the O.C. District Attorney’s office.

The City of Los Alamitos enacted tonight a law to create child safety zones to protect children from registered sex offenders in city parks and playgrounds, according to an O.C. District Attorney press release.  The O.C. Board of Supervisors passed a similar measure in April of this year.  Click here to read about that.

When is the City of Santa Ana going to pass a similar motion?  It is a well known fact that perverts congregate nightly at Santa Ana’s Santiago Park.  Continue reading→

Prop. 84 meeting about local parks on June 20 and 21, in Santa Ana

Posted on by Posted in Civic Affairs, Education, Entertainment, Parks and Recreation, Santa Ana, SAUSD Leave a comment

June 20th – Proposition 84 Statewide Development & Community Revitalization Program Community meeting

On Monday, June 20th, at 6pm, there will be a meeting at Edward B. Cole Academy, 333 E. Walnut, to discuss a $5 million grant opportunity for the Roosevelt/Walker school site.

The Edward B. Cole Academy is a charter school in the SAUSD.

The City of Santa Ana Parks, Recreation and Community Services Agency and the SAUSD are partnering to seek park improvements. Community input is needed to seek ideas for the grant project.

For more information about this meeting, please contact Pearl Raya at (714) 571-4230 or at praya@santa-ana.org.

June 21st, Proposition 84 Statewide Development & Community Revitalization Program Final Community Meeting

A final community meeting will take place at Roosevelt Elementary School, 501 S. Halladay, at 5pm, with Parks, Recreation and Community Services Agency staff. All the community ideas from previous meetings will be shared
and residents will have an opportunity to select the project for the community. Please join us and give your input.

For more information about this meeting, please contact Pearl Raya at (714) 571-4230 or at praya@santa-ana.org.

County of Orange bans perverts in parks, should Santa Ana do so too?

Posted on by Posted in Crime, Orange County, Parks and Recreation, Public Safety, Santa Ana, Youth Activities Leave a comment

Orange County supervisors have approved a law significantly restricting the movements of registered sex offenders, banning them from entering some beaches, parks and harbor areas, according to the L.A. Times.

Under the proposal, registered sex offenders caught in designated county recreational areas where children regularly gather would be subject to misdemeanor charges. Violators could be punished with up to six months in jail and/or a $500 fine, according to the OC Weekly.

Kudos to O.C. District Attorney Tony Rackauckas and O.C. Supervisor Shawn Nelson for drafting this ordinance.  Now we need to pass a similar law here in Santa Ana.

As my readers might recall, I spent a lot of time researching the problem of men lurking at Santiago Park, after I personally observed these men and found spent condoms and vinyl gloves on the park’s trail.

I found a report by the Santa Ana Police Department, dated 2001, indicating that the City of Santa Ana has known about this problem – for over 25 years.

The SAPD ended up arresting a bunch of these perverts after I wrote a few posts about this problem.  Click here to read about their sting operation.

Is this a problem in Santa Ana?  You bet.  In fact, we have over 200 registered sex offenders in our city, according to another of my investigative reports.

It is time for our City Council to pass a law, like the new County law, banning sexual predators from all of our city parks.

If you would like to communicate your feelings about this to the SAPD, click here. Click here to contact the Santa Ana City Council.  You can contact City Manager Dave Ream’s assistant, Mark Lawrence, at MLawrence@santa-ana.org.

Poll: What are the top ten issues in Santa Ana going into 2012?

Posted on by Posted in 2012 Elections, Crime, Economy, Education, Elections, Energy, Fiscal Sustainability, homeless, Housing, Janet Nguyen, Jobs, Labor, Miguel Pulido, Orange County, Paul Walters, Politics, Public Safety, Real Estate, Redevelopment, Santa Ana, Water 1 Comment

As the year 2011 draws to a close it is time to ponder the top ten issues facing the people of the City of Santa Ana, going into the New Year.

You can vote on your top ten issues here (my top ten follow the poll) – and remember that you can vote for up to three issues: Continue reading→

Santa Ana receives $7.9 million for new parks, from a state fund

Posted on by Posted in california, Green, Miguel Pulido, Parks and Recreation, Santa Ana, SAUSD, Sports, Working Families, Youth Activities 2 Comments

California’s voters created a fund, in 2006, to support water-quality improvements, conservation, pollution-control efforts and parks, according to the O.C. Register.

Yesterday the first grant recipients were announced – and Santa Ana struck gold.

The city of Santa Ana won $4.4 million to replace the grass fields at Willard Intermediate School with tougher synthetic turf and a rubberized track. The project also includes a playground, outdoor exercise equipment and restrooms.

Latino Health Access received more than $3.5 million for a second park project in Santa Ana. It plans to build a community center, playground, open space and half basketball court on an empty lot near downtown, located at 602 E. 4th St.

Kudos to Santa Ana Parks and Recreation Director Gerardo Mouet and to Assemblyman Jose Solorio, State Senator Lou Correa, and Mayor Miguel Pulido and our City Council for making this happen!

The Lighthouse Community Center hosts the Grand Opening of a Sports Field and Community Garden

Posted on by Posted in Cambodians, Charities, Churches and Religion, Civic Affairs, David Benavides, immigration, Latinos, Santa Ana, Vince Sarmiento, Working Families, Youth Activities Leave a comment

By Sophin Zoe Pruong-McCreery
July 31, 2010

Santa Ana, CA—Judging from the huge smile on Nubia’s face, one could not imagine that this 6 year-old girl once lacked a safe, nearby place to play outside of school grounds. Her family resides in the Cornerstone Village, a Santa Ana neighborhood historically known for crime, poverty and dense population. It is home to immigrants from Mexico, Central America, and Cambodia. Today, her wish of a new park came true.

Over 300 people gathered for the Grand Opening of the Lighthouse Community Center (L.C.C.) Sports Field and Community Garden at the northeast corner of Standard & McFadden Avenue on Saturday, July 31, 2010 from 10:00am-12:00pm. Lighthouse Community Center is an outreach of Mariners Church, Irvine, CA.


The new pocket park came to fruition because of the tremendous support and cooperation from city officials, non-profit agencies, and the private sector. This monumental project was the result of months of planning and close collaboration with Councilman Vincent Sarmiento, the City of Santa Ana, Carver Construction, The Grain Project, the private property owner and the local residents of Cornerstone Village.

Although L.C.C. has been offering the Minnie Street area with English classes, after school tutoring, youth groups, and parenting workshops for over 15 years, there was an important element missing: open space. The outdoor area will enable L.C.C. to expand their program to include outdoor activities in this under-served area.

According to the national Trust for Public Land, the City of Santa Ana has very limited open space, with less than an acre of park land for every thousand residents. Now the community can enjoy a beautiful, green sports field with over 9000 square feet of synthetic turf. The lawn is low-maintenance and does not require water so it is considered as an environmentally-friendly material. Presently, the new field is only a temporary solution to the problem; the land is leased to L.C.C. for only 2 years.

Click here to read the rest of this post.

Amezcua says Pulido isn’t helping our youth – but is that really true?

Posted on by Posted in Civic Affairs, Democratic Party, Education, Jobs, Miguel Pulido, Politics, Santa Ana, Youth Activities 4 Comments

Santa Ana Mayoral candidate Alfredo Amezcua finally offered a glimpse at one of his campaign ideas, with this comment that was posted today on Facebook ( I am posting it verbatim):

We are exchanging ideas wit voters concerned that the current mayor isn’t working with the school district to create greater opportunity for our youth.

What the heck is he talking about?  Why is Amezcua attacking Santa Ana Mayor Miguel Pulido on education of all things?

Don’t forget that Amezcua QUIT the Rancho Santiago Community College District’s Board of Education.  And, as we exposed here, it is likely that he quit because he broke the law by running for the RSCCD’s Area 1 even though he really lived in Area 3.

Our city is struggling to find ways to close our massive budget hole, and Amezcua now wants Pulido to expand his duties to include education?

And what does Amezcua mean by “greater opportunity for youth?”

The reality is that even though our city is broke, good things have indeed been happening that have had a positive impact on our youth.

Let’s take a walk through our city’s website and annotate some of these accomplishments:

  • The City has invested heavily in our community centers.  Click here to see a list of them.  Our community centers are currently hosting dozens of summer programs that you can read about by clicking here.  The Jerome Center was recently renovated.  You can read about the renovation by clicking here.  Our Parks and Rec Agency Director, Gerardo Mouet, took over control of our soccer fields and now youth have even more access to them.  Click here to read about that.  The Santa Ana Parks and Recreation Department is also offering a pretty amazing array of  “leisure classes.”  Click here to learn more about those.  And Mouet followed my advice and changed the Santa Ana Zoo’s free day to the third Sunday of the month.  Hundreds of Santa Ana’s kids got to see the Zoo for free today!  Click here to read about that.
  • How about our Public Libraries?  Mouet has acted swiftly to expand our library services since he took over management of our libraries.  Click here to see their new website.  Note that American History ebooks are now available for FREE to our residents.  Mouet also added an extensive online selection of books about animals.  And he added a virtual reference library!  Services also now include online book clubs!  And Mouet is offering a slew of summer programs that you can read about by clicking here.  Our libraries are also offering free computer workshops for kids, starting in August.  Click here to read about that.
  • And while the City has cut back on some City Commissions, the Youth Commission is still active.  Click here to read about that.
  • Did you know that the Santa Ana Police Department offers dozens of FREE programs, many of them youth-oriented?  Click here to read about them.  The Santa Ana Police Athletic League also has a vast summer activity program that you can read about by clicking here.
  • Our City also promotes events all over town on their Community Calendar, that you can access by clicking here.
  • And here is the clincher – our City even offers a “Youth Page” on their website – with dozens of links to all sorts of programs going on in our city.  Click here to access the Youth Page.
  • Our City also offers help to those looking for work.  Click here to see the City’s Work Center Page.

So is Pulido guilty of not offering enough “opportunities for youth?”  Not that I can tell.  If anything, Amezcua is guilty of slinging empty political B.S.  That is becoming the hallmark of his campaign.  It is most disturbing.