The City of Santa Ana is proposing raising the water and sewer rate by 3.2 percent a year until 2018, according to the O.C. Register.
The money is supposed to be used to pay for $24 million in debt financing for water capital improvement projects and $18.2 million for sewer improvements. Continue reading
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
A new national study has revealed that the Santa Ana area is lagging in jobs growth, compared to many other cities.
We have explored this issue before. A previous study found that Santa Ana is one of the most expensive cities to do business in, here in Orange County. And we have the highest water rates in Orange County, as well as the highest property taxes, due to an abundance of municipal bonds.
If our city leaders want to help create more jobs, they need to lower the cost of doing business in this city, and make it easier for new businesses to open up.
Someimes our own residents are the ones who kill jobs. A Buffalo Wild Wings restaurant tried to open up here last year, only to face a lawsuit filed by a number of Santa Ana’s “Usual Suspects.” The restaurant owners went elsewhere and now the food court that lost this franchise is struggling to survive. This is typical of what goes on in Santa Ana. Continue reading
Raul Godinez is getting ready to raise your water rates again!
Have you enjoyed watching your water bills in Santa Ana get higher and higher? Well prepare yourself. Public Works Director Raul Godinez wants to raise your water rates again.
I spent some time the other day with a City Hall insider and got an earful about what is really going on at the Santa Ana Public Works Department, since Godinez came to town.
Like most city agencies, the Public Works Department has had to let go a lot of people. Senior operators and techs are retiring and not being replaced.
Godinez is trying to use computers to regulate water pressure at night, instead of hiring nighttime operators. The result? All those damaged water mains. What is damaging them isn’t corrosion, but rather water pressure spikes. The computers cannot adjust the pressure the way humans do. So sometimes the water pressure zooms up and some of the pipes cannot take it. Continue reading
Santa Ana’s high water prices may rise even more if the MWD pension spike is approved
Santa Ana Mayor Pro Tem Claudia Alvarez added an 85a item, at the last minute, to the agenda for tonight’s Santa Ana City Council meeting. The item is titled “Proposed Metropolitan Water District (MWD) Employee Compensation and Benefits Issue.”
What this means is anyone’s guess. My theory is that she is going to ask the City Council to vote to support the irresponsible proposed pension spike for the MWD workers, but who knows? Perhaps she may be taking the counter view. One can only hope. Continue reading