The Santa Ana City Council meeting tonight was somewhat anticlimactic. They voted yes on everything – with the exception of Councilwoman Michele Martinez’s “no” vote on the new budget.
Councilman Sal Tinajero was excused. He was in Wichita, Kansas, coaching a team of students form the high school he works at, in a speech competition.
While Tinajero wasn’t there, the City’s youth were – in full force. A number of youthful protesters showed up to ask the City Council to support more youth programs. While they eventually left disappointed, it was encouraging to see our young people take part in the political process.
Council votes to raise trash rates
I was disappointed when the entire City Council voted to raise the trash rates. Consider that, according to the California Secretary of State, the following Council Members accepted money from the City’s trash company, Waste Management, in 2006:
- David Benavides, $1,000
- Carlos Bustamante, $249
- Miguel Pulido, $249
Waste Management also gave money to a couple of Pulido’s puppet candidates in 2006:
- Jennifer Villasenor, $1,000
- Tino Rivera, $249
And they gave Carlos Bustamante $1,500 for his Supervisorial campaign last year.
It looks like their investment paid off tonight.
I was a bit surprised that Councilwoman Michele Martinez also supported the trash rate increase. In fact she moved to approve the increase – and the Council voted unanimously for the increase.
Council votes to fine owners of barking dogs
The City Council also voted to approve the ordinance that will fine the owners of dogs who bark too much – and the fines will go up to $1,000 if dog owners do not feed or water their dogs as well.
I spoke to the Council about this measure prior to the vote. I asked them to consider warning people prior to fining them. Amazingly, they heeded my counsel and Mayor Pro Tem Claudia Alvarez amended the measure to include a warning prior to a fine being issued.
Stop funding the Chamber’s propaganda!
I spoke to the City Council prior to their vote on the budget – and I was followed by over a dozen other speakers. I asked the City Council to consider rescinding the $85,000 they give to the Santa Ana Chamber of Commerce for distribution of their CityLine newspaper. I noted that last year the CityLine included political advertisements for the candidates favored by the Chamber – all of them Pulido puppets.
Maybe one day we will see Santa Ana Chamber of Commerce President Mike Metzler washing cars and selling cookies to raise money for his organization but not this year. As usual, they will be getting a load of money – and local taxpayers will be getting nothing while the Chamber continues to hype their friends on the Council.
I also asked the City Council to reconsider the $2 million they give to the Bowers Museum, noting that the people of Santa Ana have other more important needs, such as improving our roads and parks, building more libraries and funding more youth programs.
Councilman Carlos Bustamante came unglued in his response to me. He defended the CityLine, saying that they only publish ads about Council campaigns every two years, in an insert, and the City does not pay to publish said insert. But we do pay to mail it to CityLine recipients. Bustamante conveniently failed to mention that.
Bustamante says he was a Rentacop!
Bustamante also said he was a security guard at the Bowers when he was in high school. That’s right – Bustamante was a “Rentacop!” That figures.
He then said that the Bowers serves 50,000 students a year. He failed to note that the Bowers website states very clearly that students have to pay to go to the Bowers. Only children under six get in free. But they better not touch anything!
Bustamante did harp on the fact that Santa Ana residents can go to the Bowers for free on the second and last Tuesday of the month. But he failed to admit that the funding for that program does not come from the city’s agreement with the Bower’s board. Instead, it is funded by grants from dead people who left money to the Bowers.
City Commisioner Tish Leon later made “Rentacop” Bustamante eat his words, during public comments, when she pointed out that he, as a member of the Bowers’ Advisory Committee, ought to know that even though Santa Ana residents can go to the Bowers for free twice a month – that does not include their new wing. Oops! Bustamante looked like he was having a stroke when Leon dropped that on him.
Councilman Vince Sarmiento, unlike Bustamante, actually spoke with intelligence on the matter. He admitted that there is a need to reassess this spending and that the Council’s Finance Committee is going to do just that. They are going to look at the City’s return on investment from their expenditures on the CityLine and the Bowers. Thank you Councilman Sarmiento!
Councilman David Benavides actually tried to help Councilwoman Michele Martinez when she asked the City Council to amend their budget to include about a million dollars for a youth employment program, recreation programs designed to help fight obesity in children, community art murals, and bringing back the Bookmobiles.
Unfortunately, Mayor Pulido and the other Council Members voted against the motion. Council Member Claudia Alvarez in particular was totally condescending, as we have come to expect. And in the end only Councilwoman Martinez voted against the budget.
Claudio quotes President Ronald Reagan!
Maybe the Hull-Richters are right about my co-blogger Claudio Gallegos! He quoted President Ronald Reagan when talking to the City Council about the fence that the Santa Ana Unified School District wants to put up around their new high school at Centennial Park. Gallegos asked the Mayor to “tear down that fence!” And a lot of folks in attendance agreed with that sentiment.
Great post Art but I’m so depressed. It seems like all they can just keep on ignoring the people. Even the councilmembers I trust are letting me down.
I think Tinajero should have been there to vote or requested that they continue the budget two weeks so he could vote. They do that many years anyway. There is nothing more important that he will vote on than the budget. Had Pulido or one of the others missed this meeting for a work related event/trip we would have been on him like a cheap suit!
Art are you telling me that they use high school students to guard the Bower’s world class collections? Given the Bower’s budget you would think they could do better.
Poster 1,
Hang in there! We may not have won this skirmish, but the Council gave us plenty to work with. We have to keep hammering them.
Sarmiento also opened the door to reassessment of the money wasted on the Chamber and the Bowers. I am going to hold him to his word.
Poster 2,
It was too bad Sal missed the meeting, but the Mayor still would have got his way. We need to hold Pulido – and his Pro Tem Claudia – responsible for this budget.
Oh, and “Rentacop” Bustamante too.
what about the safety/street improvement tax?
I caught part of the public comments on cable.
The homeless man pointed out that it is the police dept that is taking half the cities budget.
Some of those kids had no idea why they were there. It’s a shame that certain councilmembers use kids as political pawns to put on a show to support their own agenda.
It’s unclear what Martinez was trying to do with the youth employment program. It was fully funded using a dedicated federal grant, but she apparently wanted to pay for it out of the general fund instead. That makes no sense. If the program had been unfunded, then it would have been appropriate to use general funds, but if you don’t take advantage of the restricted federal money, you don’t get to use it for something else, you just lose it.
The general fund money is better spent on filling potholes or public safety. I’m told staff explained all this to her, but she tried to make a substitute motion anyway. She then voted against the budget when she didn’t get her way.
#6, Michele didn’t have anything to do with those kids. Those kids organized themselves.
I helped them make those signs. Those young people want more programs in the city to keep others like them from winding up in the wrong crowd because of nothing to do in the city.
Nice photo of Bustamonte…I”m surprised he didn’t use it in his campaign material.
You guys have some much time on your hands, and seem to truly enjoy turning real life into an overly dramatic soap opera. It’s sad you can’t use your talents to make a positive difference instead of leading such negative lives.
Maybe you didn’t get the memo Ryan.
Michelle’s minions were handing out flyers about a “youth rally” at the city council meeting.
Maybe you did gather those few kids, and her rally didn’t pan out, but I’ve got the flyer if you’d like to see it. It came from one of my neighborhood leaders and it was given to them by one of Michelle Martinez’s people.
Sal Tinajero has to only attend 2 city council meetings a month, and yet he still has a higher absentee rate than any other council member.
The budget is probably the most important vote he should be making as a councilmember, and yet he isn’t there for the vote and doesn’t have it continued so he can participate.
That’s not a very good track record, and is a poor representation for all the people who supported him and expected him to represent them.
I know it is minor but I dislike when good honest work is derided. A security guard is a person who puts his safety on the line for very low pay. But it is honest work and should not be insulted with the term rentacop.
Tinajero had the same attendance record on the school board. He was late, or missed, a lot of meetings. This pattern is nothing new for him.
Martinez doesn’t have a clue about how things work, and continues to show her ignorance every time she opens her mouth. Staff tries to explain stuff to her over and over, but she either doesn’t understand, or doesn’t care. The only thing she cares about is getting her name in the papers.
You rag on Bustamante for being a security guard when he was in high school, but I think it’s great that he got a job instead of hanging out on street corners. The work ethic is nothing to be ashamed of.
Where is the tirade against Martinez for voting to increase the trash fees? Given your comments about the folks who received contributions from them, shouldn’t you have asked if Martinez supported the increase in hopes of getting $$ from them too?
And last, but not least, Martinez voted against the budget because she didn’t get her million dollar program. If she would have gotten it, she would have approved the budget. What does that say about her?
Expect the Chamber to endorse both Martinez and Tinajero for re-election and include them in the City Line Political insert.
What is Mayor Pulido’s e-mail address?
I think everyone who drives in Santa Ana and hits a pot hole should e-mail Pulido directly and give him the pot hole location so that he is aware of the crappy streets in Santa Ana. It’s time for “Panson” Ross to retire!
Art, could you please confirm or deny some rumers about the council. Maybe your pajaritos are better than mine. Rumer has it that Councilmember Martinez has been stopped at LEAST ONCE and maybe more times but not ticketed by the Santa Ana police when they learned she was on the Council. With all this Rocky Delgadio in L.A. stuff in the news I thought maybe you could tell us if it’s true. Lot’s of S.A. residents pay tickets everyday with no special treatment and we need to know the same is happening with politicians. Thanks Art!!!
Regarding the Delgadio situation maybe you could also find out the city policy on family members driving family cars. (Rocky’s wife in L.A. was not supposed to drive his) I know a few years ago S.A. attorney Joe Fletcher wanted his teenagers to be able to drive his city SUV but i can’t remember what the council decided to do. Thanks! Also, how many city employees have city cars to drive for personal use?
Claudio quotes Reagan! I love that!
Looks like the SAUSD is about to step in the deep stuff again.
They have yet to come and make any type of presentation at a council meeting about this fence, but at the last council meeting, Mayor Pro Tem Claudia Alvarez mentioned that the fence issue was being discussed in closed session. Isn’t closed session where legal matters and potential litigation issues are discussed?
I know there is a very clear contract that specifies that the school district is not allowed to fence off the park area. Are they breaching that contract?
On the heels of all the shame and embarrassment the district has heaped upon itself this year with the attandance shenanigans and asking teachers to lie, the Otsuka warehouse, the personnel problems, the budget issues, etc., are they actually foolhardy enough to build this illegal fence and cause more issues for themselves?
What about the legal fees they wil have to pay from an already tapped budget to pay for their breach of contract?
The Santa Ana Unified School District is a public relations and administrative debacle that just keeps getting worse and worse.
#18
Council member Alvarez is back to her old shennigans. Last evening, in closing comments, she touched on the Godinez fence issue by stating the council was just made aware of the matter.
It’s hard to believe that Alvarez’s gal pal Audrey Noji has not kept her apprised. After all, Noji and Richardson have been meeting with city officials for nearly a year over this matter.
Nonetheless, it is quite intriguing that the matter is being discussed in *closed session.*
Russo’s first few months have been rocky, but count on Richardson and Noji to stand by their gal, no matter what.
The county animal control is making the rounds. Brea had a barking dog ordinance on the agenda tonight. Numerous residents spoke out against the proposed fines. One asked if it was fair that Paris Hilton receive less than a month for drunk driving and endangering the life of others while a dog owner could face 6 months for his dog barking when he wasn’t home or as a retribution of a disgruntled neighbor.
#20-
The district has yet to meet with the whole council.
They started the process back on ’06, so they have had plenty of time to do so. The only council members that have been courted are the ones that sit on the council “joint use” sub commitee, Martinez, Tinajero, and Sarmiento. (How’s all that joint use working out for the city, by the way? Most of the campuses I see are still locked up.)
The school district “forgot” to tell these new council members that there is a clear contract forbidding the fence in the park. As the new council members, none of them were aware of that fact. Now they know.
At a subsequent meeting, the district was told they would have to come forward and get the council to try and change to agreement under which they were given the land lease in the first place. They have not done that.
At no point has the school district come to the council for permission to build a fence or presented this proposed project at a council meeting.
It’s pretty clear the Santa Ana Unified School District tried to back door this project by getting a grant for something they have no right to do. There is no compelling safety issue, since the campus was designed with student safety in mind and has a huge amount of safety fencing already built in. There are also security guards and police right there on campus, and they are looking to add 24 special video cameras on this one campus.
The school district is only a part time tenant on the park ball fields, and they want to close them off in violation of a long standing contractual agreement. It’s not right, but that probably won’t stop the district from trying.
Alvarez did not say that the council was just made aware of the fence issue.
In fact, she and the mayor lambasted the district in their public comments more than a month ago. Since then, the Santa Ana Unified School District has not come forward to appear before the council and try to get permission for the illegal fence.
#22
The school district forget to inform the new council members about the MOU? City staff should be keeping “new council members” apprised of these matters. It’s not the school district’s responsibility to bring new council members up to speed.
If Richardson and Noji were informed by city staff and/or council members about bringing the fence matter to council and they have not, then Richardson and Noji have some ‘splaining to do.
I personally believe Richardson and Noji are banking on their pal Pulido to push this one through.
Keep turning the heat up on this one.