Santa Ana City Manager Dave Ream will be addressing the Santa Ana Communication Linkages (Com Link) Forum on Thursday, January 25, at 7 p.m., at the Community Room of the Santa Ana Police Department headquarters, located at 60 Civic Center Plaza.
Ream will be joined by Jim Ross, the Santa Ana Director of Public Works, and Kia Mortazavi, the Director of Strategic Planning for the Orange County Transportation Agency (OCTA). The topic of discussion will be how the renewal of Measure M will affect Santa Ana.
The discussion will include a look at Santa Ana’s freeway, transit, streets and roads. It might be a good time to talk to Ream about the proposed Metro East project, which, according to an article in today’s O.C. Register, will dump another 11,000 people into the area between the 55 Freeway and the 5 Freeway. Current residents know full well that traversing 1st Street in that area during rush hour is already a nightmare. This project would almost certainly bring traffic to a complete stop.
My personal theory is that the Mayor of Santa Ana, Miguel Pulido, and his allies are trying to build all these towers, including the apparently doomed One Broadway Plaza (OBP) tower, in an effort to artificially raise property values and bring in an influx of well-heeled, ostensibly non-Latino, residents. This is gentrification – and in my humble opinion the goal is to reduce Latino influence in Santa Ana. Presumably my co-blogger, Sean Mill, will now have a chance to scrutinize this latest proposal in his capacity as a Santa Ana Planning Commissioner. Go get em’ Sean!
This meeting is not to be missed if you want to let Ream know how you feel about his administration’s poor management of our roads in Santa Ana. If you show up early at 6:30 p.m. there will be a free snack spread provided by HomeTown Buffet. Spanish translation services will be available as well. You do not have to RSVP – just show up and let your voice be heard.
I won’t be there as I will be on yet another business trip – so I hope that my co-bloggers will pick up the slack by attending and writing about this meeting (hint, hint!).
BEWARE! The only time Ream does his dog and pony show on a subject like this is because the council wants to raise taxes!!! Look for a “special roads tax” to be part of the solution.
Carlos Bustamonte has been telling Park Santiago residents that if elected he will get money from a “special county slush fund” to put in a Quiet Zone along the tracks. That’s is absurd but some residents believe him. Too bad he didn’t spend the 3 Million Dollar Plasma T.V. money on the Quiet zone. Can you link to a story on the Plasma T.V.s Carlos had the city buy from his friends for those who don’t know about the issue???
It is good to have the city management and the county OCTA at the same spot on dealing with future traffic improvements.
Maybe they can explain why these large projects being approved in Santa Ana and elsewhere, are not providing the new open space/ park space required (required may not be the correct word) or that the measure M also has a requirement that future projects would pay for their own increased traffic burden.
Be sure to ask Ream how much the city spent on “Bustamonte’s Folly” AKA 3 million dollars worth of Plasma T.V.’s! How many pot hole do you think we could have filled with that much money!!!!!!!!!
Any truth to the rumor that Mr.Ream is soon to be fired by the new council, along with the Mayor’s overpaid PA Jill Arthur and the City Attorney?
I’d like to see Mr Ream replaced by someone with a little more common sense and a desire to improve the lives of his cities residents.Maybe he and Tom Scumberg could car pool to work after Scumberg kicks Bustamantes butt on Feb 6.
I find it ironic that the city doesn’t have any money to pave our streets, but yet they have plenty of money to offer city employees a 22% raise over the next four years as well as an enhanced retirement benefit….gotta love those unions, boy! They own our council, lock stock and barrel.
You know what I hate about Santa Ana the most? The F**ck**# POTHOLES!!!!! Now wonder the City is full of clunkers/hoopties/junk cars. Who in their right mind would drive any other kind of car?
#8
There aren’t any potholes north of 17th Street. I bet a five year history of street maintenance, throughtout the city, would be enlightening to our neigbors in central and south Santa Ana.
Post #8 and #9. Try driving down Lyon between 1st and Edinger.The road looks and feels like bombs hit all that stretch of road.The road has commercial on one side and apartment complexes on the other.Guess who those residents are.The reason for the neglect is apparent.The general problem is that the neglect affects all of us that use the city’s roads.
Let’s see if COM-LINK is truley open to all residents concerns. Will the common folk be allowed to ask any real questions to Ream? Has there already been prepared questions and answers provided to Ream or vice versa?
Perhaps we homeowners can ask Ream to resign at this meeting? Will he heed our request? NOT, just like he won’t address traffic and infrastructure issues. Ream, just like his hack Pulido & puppets et al, always claim “no budget” and dump the responsibility on other pulblic agencies. Priority number one here in the City is to maintain the high standard of living for the cream of the City employees.
You hear that giant sucking sound.? It is SA’s revenue being drained outside the City into non-residents bank accounts. We have the worst streets in the county,not for lack of revenue, but because the ones reposible for fixing the streets don’t even live in the City which is why they could care less and keep they their positions by tokenism to the COM-LINK members.
Again I ask, How many pot holes could we have filled with the 3 MILLION DOLLARS worth of Plasma T.V.’s Carlos Bustamonte insisted that the city buy using HIS FRIENDS to sell the T.V.’s so they would then put $$$ into his Campaign account! Sound unethical? I believe it is at least that.
#11
Try driving down McFadden between Grand and Main. It’s deplorable. The neighborhoods off those streets – Eastside and Delhi – don’t warrant the attention Floral, WFloral Park and Santiago Park do.
Don’t streets fall under Public Works Director Jim Ross? What’s his budget look like? I bet he gets a big fat paycheck to go along with the big fat potholes in the streets! What’s his excuse?
Ream, Ross and Fletcher should all be fired.
Ream is senile,Ross incompetent and Fletcher a drunk.
#16
More importantly, Ream and Fletcher know where the bodies are buried.
Is that a comb-over I see on Ream’s hair? Doesn’t he know, it’s pretty obvious he’s bald!
When the council goes along with “Bustamonte’s Folly” AKA 3 Million Dollars for Plasma T.V.’s, there is no money left for Pot Holes..oh wait…maybe in a year when the Plasma T.V.’s are broken we can use then to fill the 40″ pot holes on my street!