I believe that a case could be made that the contract the City of Santa Ana entered into with the Bowers Museum’s Board of Governors, back in 2003 if I recall correctly, should be voided, for several reasons.
Firstly, there was no consideration. Here is what Wikipedia has to say about this legal concept:
Consideration is something that is done or promised in return for a contractual promise. For example, in a promise between A and B for the sale of A’s car to B, B’s payment of the price of the car (or promise to do so) is the consideration for A’s promise. Consideration is a central concept in the common law of contracts. Under classical contract theory, consideration is required for a contract to be enforceable. Service contracts and, in the United States, other contracts not governed by the Uniform Commercial Code, generally require consideration for a contract modification to be binding on the parties, because of the preexisting duty rule. Consideration is what must be given up by each party when making an agreement; this may be by means of doing or not doing an act or just promising to do or not do an act. Consideration can be defined as being a benefit to one party while being a detriment to the other one at the same time.
Santa Ana residents get no return from the Bowers agreement. They get to go to the Bowers for free twice a month NOT because of the agreement, or anything in it to that effect, but rather because the Bowers is subsidizing those visits under the terms of a few large grants to the museum from supporters who are now dead. You can read about this at the Bowers website.
The agreement spans 39 years – at a current level of support of $2 million a year. That is a ton of money. In a city with one library, I don’t know how you can justify spending that money on a facility that the majority of the city sees absolutely no benefit from.
The City of Santa Ana owns the land the Bowers sits on and the facility itself. Why not stipulate in the agreement that Santa Ana residents can go to the Bowers anytime – gratis? I am not asking for a handout. We own it and are paying for all of its operating costs. Yet we draw ZERO benefits from it.
Better still, why not SELL the Bowers and use that money to open likely as many as three libraries? Now that makes a ton of sense!
It’s not like this museum is doing much with regards to local history. It is full of mummies and now they are expanding with a new wing that, “include a major Asian History and Arts Gallery focusing on 5,000 years of Chinese history.” I am sure that a city that is over 90% Latino will be thrilled about that.
Furthermore, it appears that the Bowers Board of Governors has only one Latino on it, in the form of Santa Ana Mayor Miguel Pulido. And I truly doubt that very many, if any, of the other Board members live in Santa Ana. We are giving them $2 million a year – with almost NO representation. Again this speaks to consideration. The agreement should have mandated that a majority of the Board be drawn from Santa Ana residents.
We can also argue that the City Council members who voted for the agreement were incapable of representing the best interest of the residents. The lack of consideration supports that argument. This agreement sticks us with almost $100 million in corporate welfare to the Bowers and residents are left holding an empty bag.
Santa Ana residents ought to show up in force on Monday night at City Hall to ask the Santa Ana City Council to cancel the agreement. And we ought to ask the O.C. District Attorney and/or the O.C. Grand Jury to investigate this.
It is unconscionable for the City of Santa Ana to blow almost $100 million on an extravagant playground for the rich, in a city that is struggling with only one library, not enough parks, messed up roads and more liquor stores than any other city in the O.C.
Will you be at the meeting and speaking on the subject Art? It’s easy to tell people to “come out in force” but are you willing to take the time to go and speak as well? Will Michele be speaking out against it? See you there Art! I agree, we should all go.
“It’s not like this museum is doing much with regards to local history. It is full of mummies and now they are expanding with a new wing that, “include a major Asian History and Arts Gallery focusing on 5,000 years of Chinese history.” I am sure that a city that is over 90% Latino will be thrilled about that.”
I agree! Why do Latinos need to learn about the British and the Chinese??? This should be turned into a Mexican/Chicano Cultural Center like the one they have in Long Beach and Sacramento. We could put on Bailes Fokloricos and teach our children the history of OUR people. I can see kids learning about Latin American history and and culture there. We could turn the restaurant into a place where REAL Mexican food is served (not this Gringo El Pollo Loco/Del Taco stuff!) and Rueban Martinez could move his book store into the current Museum store. We could remove the useless palm trees and hardscape out front and allow famlies from Santa Ana to picnic and play on the lawns. What a fun place for a family gathering or a birthday party if the space was opened up! Let’s think outside the box people and get back to our roots. I’d be interested to know how many people agree with this idea. Let’s form a working group and draw up plans. The first step is the council meeting. Perhaps someone like Ms. Martinz will help us get this through.
Love the sarcasm #2. But you did not even address the main focus of this post, which is whay should the taxpayers subsidize this museum when there are so many things lacking in our community? Things like better libraries for one.
Your sarcastic back handed slap at the Latino community is just more of the same from your type. Stay focused on the issue at hand and stop with the race baiting already.
Sean you got it half right. The point of the sarcasm was to show that we Latinos ARE interested in Chinese and British culture and art. The rest of the post was just absurd hyperbole to emphasize my point not unlike the
I hate to be disrespectful mr. pedroza but often check out books at Newhope Library. Why do you keep saying there is only one Library?
Carlos,
The Newhope facility is considered a “learning center”. It is not a fully functioning library. So I guess you could say we have 1 1/2 libraries in the city.
However, even if we did have 2 libraries, do you feel that is sufficient for a city the size of Santa Ana? For a city with a youth population as big as ours and an illiteracy rate like ours don’t you feel we deserve better?
So whether we have one or two libraries Carlos, there is still no justification for the taxpayers to give the Bowers Museum $2 million of ours.
Follow the money…Why don’t you post a list of Bowers Board members Sean (which includes Councilmember Bustamonte!) and then those who are interested should check it against the list of supporters on Bustamonte’s Campaign reports. It’s called you scratch my back and I’ll rasca yours!!
I’d also like to thank you Sean for keeping up these hard hitting posts to keep us informed. I was worried that when you went on the planning commish they might be able to keep you quiet…BUT i’m glad you kept your word to never stop shining the light on the city and it’s budget! Thanks.
Fair enough Sean, but does not the City own the Bowers and many of the collections?
Maybe the real demand should be how do we help the Bowers privatize?
How do other cities do it? Does Los Angeles provide funding for its museums too?
I for one like the museum, I have taken my children there.
THe real question again should be, since it is the City’s museum, owned by the City, should the demand be that it privatize?
How you go #7:
CHAIRMAN OF THE BOARD
Donald P. Kennedy*
CHAIRMAN EMERITUS
Stephen Chandler*
BOARD OF GOVERNORS
Janis Agopian
Wendy Kuran
Douglas R. Stewart
D. Diane Anderson*
Dr. Rosalyn M. Laudati
Dr. Mozelle Sukut
Steven E. Barth*
Jean MacGregor*
M. Linda Sutherland, MD
Jeffery L. Bennett
Karen E. McCulley
Sharon Thompson
Frank J. DeSantis*
Joan McSunas*
Carole Van Houten*
Derek D. Dundas
Alexander Nalle
Barry Waldman*
Barry Gernstein
Dominic Ng
Larry A. Walraven
Mathew A. Hodel
Miguel Pulido
Stanley E. Washington
Jim Y.C. Hsu
Robert Ronus
William Wu
S.L. Huang, Ph.D.*
Anne Shih*
Katherine Cone Keck
Janice Smith*
*Executive Committee
HONORARY
Norma Kershaw
Mary M. Muth
Edward P. Roski, Jr.
Barbara Tsai
Mary Tu
PRESIDENT’S ADVISORY COUNCIL
Councilwoman Lisa Bist
Councilman Carlos Bustamante
Dr. Thomas Chavez
Willard Clark
Angela Fisher
Donald B. Murray
Donald Peterson
Mayor Miguel Pulido
William P. Richards, Jr.
T.T.Tsui
PRESIDENT
Peter C. Keller, Ph.D.
#4. Art Pedroza’s comment,I beleive was intended with the same sarcasm you wrote.The point to his comment is,where are the exibits that also interest other communities.There are none.The question is that of variety.I am sure you would appreciate that too.
Carlos,
The city does not get any of the revenues from Bowers. Not the admission fees, nor the revenues from the restaurant, store or other concessions. That money all goes to the Bowers folks.
I agree, they should be privatized and stop being subsidized by the taxpayers.
I believe it was Thomas Gordon that said that residents of Paris get into the Louvre free of admission any time they want. The residents of Santa Ana get in to Bowers on two weekday afternoons when most of us are working. This is a joke.
If they can tell us what benefits we get from Bowers receiving the $2,000,000 from the taxpayers of Santa Ana I’d love to hear it.
They continually brag about the Artists Village and such, but so much of it was subsidized by the taxpayers. We the citizens have to suffer so they can brag about having an Artists Village and a museum. That just isn’t right.
Off topic FAQ,
Art or anyone, do you know how much can a person donate to a council member between now and November 2008?
What is the limit?
Off topic…I see on page 4 of the Register local section today that Santa Ana is going to vote on raising Trash Fees Monday night at the council meeting. It’s just keeps getting more expensive to live in Santa Ana. It would be nice if Councilmembers who oppose these fees would speak up before the meetings so we know who to trust.
My city only has 2 libraries (Costa Mesa) and both are under utilized! Helk I don’t even think my kids have been to the library since they were in grade school…and most of the grade schools have in house libraries. Do people even go to the library anymore? When my kids need books for school we go to Borders and purchase them for less then $10 or the teachers have loaner copies.
So what is the big deal? It is a sign of the changed times – not negelct in Santa Ana. How many libraries are in Newport? I think only 1.
Flowerszzz,
Costa Mesa has three libraries. Go to http://www.ocpl.org/21brnch.asp and see for yourself. The links to each library are on the left side of the page. One of your libraries is a technology library.
Go to http://www.friendscmlibraries.org/ and you can read about how your libraries are too small and you need even more libraries. Sounds familiar.
I take my kids to the library every week. I read a new book about every other week.
$10 is a lot of money for the working poor. Not to you – but it is a meal for them. (It will buy you a raw chicken, a pack of corn tortillas and a bag of rice, if you go to a non-union grocer).
Newport Beach has FOUR libraries. Go to http://www.city.newport-beach.ca.us/nbpl/HoursAndLocations/Hours_And_Locations.htm and see for yourself.
Comparing Newport to Santa Ana is not fair. They don’t have the literacy problems that we do – and you know that.
Why not close the library and spend the entire Library budget to buy computers for every child in Santa Ana and offer free internet access. We might reach more kids that way and help them more.
Art the Technology Library is nothing but a store front with a few computers. It is basically a net library that is not open on weekends, a cyber cafe if you will. There are no books there…..so by your own descriptions NOT A LIBRARY. But hey you can order books there and they only take 3-5 days to get there lol. And the other libraries are under utilized. The BEST library in the County is in HB…that is a great library!
Do not think Santa Ana corners the market on poor latino immigrants (legal or illegal) we in Costa Mesa have plenty as well. We also have poor people of other races as well, you see latinos are not the only poor people in this country.
Santa Ana kids have a BEAUTIFUL new high school that was built within the last 5 years, with all the best technology and equipment. I can tell you the kids in Costa Mesa or Newport or that matter have nothing that compares to that school.
The literacy issues in Santa Ana or Costa Mesa are as the Governor put it, due to lack of the kids being fully immersed in the english language.
“It is basically a net library that is not open on weekends”
Santa Ana has ZERO libraries open on Sunday.
How about asking Bowers to put a library on their campus and help staff and oversee it?
Art-
The city website is incorrect.
Get out of your house and see what the city has.
There are 2 libraries in Santa Ana and the former McFadden Branch is now a homework center.
Is that enough? Of course not, and I would never try to claim that it is.
It just seems odd to me that you refuse to get this right.
The city is currrently working on a project to make 2 school libraries joint use, one at Valley HS and one at Century HS. Children’s books will be added to the school collections and the bookmobile will be parked at Valley.
This is a pilot program, and it seems like a creative way to use existing public resources. It remains to be seen if the school district is capable of managing their end of this project, since their track record on joint use with the city is miserable.
Will that be enough libraries? Of course not, but it’s a step in the right direction. Sometimes, it’s a facilities and staffing issue and not something that a one time dose of money can fix. The city is trying.
It wouldn’t surprise me if you continue to spread the lie that there is only one library in Santa Ana, but please try every once in a while to give the city credit for the assets it does have. Once the new shared libraries are up and running, I’m sure the city could use your help to spread the word and let the residents know.
Poster 21,
I hate to have to break this to you – but the guy who edits the city’s website is the Director of their Library. You think he got it wrong?
The Newhope and McFadden branches are learning centers. Newhope has a few books as well.
I know all about the joint use proposals. I worked on the committee that came up with them. (Suprised?).
The fact that we don’t have enough libraries is not a staffing issue. It is a direct consequence of Pulido’s reign. He has not made libraries a priority. Ever.
I will be happy to credit the city for the joint use pacts – but we STILL won’t have enough libraries – and you know that quite well.
BTW, you may want to ask the Library Director to change the city website if you are in disagreement with it.