As I follow the city of Santa Ana’s council actions to address a key issue in their city I looked at my Measure M files and need to pose the question. How did we get here? No, I do not live in Santa Ana but years ago had an office there and know many of the roads that have been neglected by that administration.
Since 1991, the city of Anaheim, with 50.5 square miles, received $169,494,000 Measure M dollars which are to be used for road repairs and related infrastructure. Said another way that corresponds to $3.34 million dollars per mile.
No, I have not looked at the actual mileage of the streets in either of these two illustrations.
Let’s now look at Santa Ana with 27.4 square miles. Santa Ana received $105 million dollars of Measure M funding in the same 15 year period or $3.83 million dollars per mile.
As I peel the onion back further I notice that Anaheim did a much better job in lobbying for a larger share of the Measure M pie which in itself needs to be revised. I refer to the slice of the county pie where distribution is based on “competitive” applications. i.e. Anaheim received $124,195,237 while Santa Ana, the largest city in the County, only received $64,395,673. The remaining funds are distributed on an “apportionment” formula called “turnback” that, in my opinion, is an acceptable and valid distribution.
Question. How did this happen?
Drive over to Anaheim and check out their roads. While Santa Ana is an older city it is the responsibility of your city staff to set aside funds for routine maintenance and not let conditions get so bad that the taxpayers must now put up the funds, through costly bonding, to address their oversight.
What say you?
Better yet, what explanation have you received from your elected officials and city management?
The current city council is owned by the Labor Unions and continues to choose to spend money on richer contracts for city employees than for roads. It’s just that simple. Go to a Labor Day picnic with your video camera and please record the rah rah union speeches given by Councilmembers and you will have a clue as to what has happened to the money.
Former councilmember Patricia McGuigan was on the Santa Ana City Council for nearly 20 years during that time period. Perhaps the O.J. staff could ask her to post her perspective on this issues.
King Dave Ream has dumped a good majority of the Measure M funds into the widening of Bristol. Ream has a h*rd on for this project which explains his fixation with Orangeline. It must be said that Ream’s children are Mater Dei graduates, one of the county’s finest private high schools, and MD certainly got a significant chunk of money to make their streetscape look mighty fine!
Eminent domain was exercised to make this project a go. I wonder how much was funded by Measure M dollars.
Thanks for the comprehensive post larry. I hope it brings a more open and honest conversation about where the hell all the money is going and why didn’t Santa Ana get more Measure M monies.
I don’t quite understand what it is that you are upset about. You claim that you “notice that Anaheim did a much better job in lobbying for a larger share of the Measure M pie” because “Anaheim received $124,195,237 while Santa Ana, the largest city in the County, only received $64,395,673.” Santa Ana is the largest city in the county population wise, not geographically. As you yourself note, Anaheim covers almost twice the area that Santa Ana does, and accordingly received a little less than double what Santa Ana received. How is that a “much better job”?
Larry,
Excellent post.The Santa Ana Council is responsible to the residents for the answers of neglect.They have to be pressured into action.It is unfortunate that it does’t happen only out of their fical responsibility.
What the council is good at is “fecal responsibility” aka B.S.
Anonymous 11:11 a.m.
Let’s start with city obligations to protect its infrastructure. Every city should set aside whatever funds they deem necessary to maintain it’s roads.
Can we agree on that point?
All of the funding for that public works effort does not come from Measure M (which in fact did not exist before 1991.) However, I pose this question. What became of the $105 million dollars already received? Better yet, before Bonding for street imporvements, what about the $193,604,765 projected by OCTA in their $two billion dollar countywide projections which we were told as they promoted the extension??? Was that discussed before making this COP decision?
My insider at city hall told me that the majority of Measure M money Santa Ana receives has been, and will be, spent on the Bristol Street widening project. And the bulk of that money is going towards property acquisition. My pajarito tells me that the city has been forced to pay upwards of $600k for houses located along Bristol. If you have ever seen these houses, they are total dumps. Factor in relocation expenses the city has to pay, and voila, there it all goes! Do we really need to widen one street in one corner of the city utilizing all the money we have while neglecting the rest of the town?
And as anonymous #1 said, how can the council justify giving away huge pay and benefit raises while asking us citizens to pony up even more money?? Where does the city council get the nerve? Oh, I forgot, they think we’re idiots and the vast majority of residents either don’t care or aren’t paying attention.
“What became of the $105 million dollars already received?”
By this question to you propose that NO work has been conducted on Santa Ana streets over the past 15 years? Or that, in your opinion, $105 million worth of work has not been performed? Or that non-Measure M money has actually been utilized for the work that has been performed while Measure M money has been squandered?
I won’t insult you with a list of street maintenance and other projects that have happened in Santa Ana over the past decade and a half, since that information can be easily found online, and at the end of the day that is not the point anyway. All I am saying is that your allegation that one can imply from the better condition of Anaheim’s roads that Santa Ana’s city staff has not done their job of setting aside proper funds is an illogical syllogism. Compare the roads in Anaheim between Disneyland and the freeways with the roads on the outskirts where Anaheim meets, for example, Garden Grove, and you will know why the roads in Anaheim are so well maintained. Santa Ana does not have the corporate citizenship that Anaheim does, and that is the difference.
The reason that Santa Ana has not received its “fair share” is they haven’t done their jobs!
Turnback money is calculated the same for all cities, meaning we are all equal. It is the competitive projects that separate the great cities from the also-rans. Santa Ana unfortunately does not place an importance on roads, so thus projects don’t get forwarded to M committee’s for money.
SA residents need to keep after the City leaders to do more for basic road repairs. OCTA should stop the wasting of M monies for boondoggles such as Orangeline. Why would anybody trust Santa Ana to build a train when it can’t fill a pothole!
Anonymous 4:20 p.m.
I respectfully did not post that zero Santa Ana Gernal Budget or Measure M funds have been spent on actual road repairs. Nor did I say that the city budget failed to include funding for routine road maintenance. The question is how did Santa Ana roads get so bad that it is now going to cost a small fortune to fill the pot holes and pave the roads. If routine scheduled maintenance was done, as we perform in Mission Viejo, your costs would be considerably less. Some time back I posted our cost vs yours and the differential is extensive.
Furthermore, we do not have a Disneyland nor any “corporate citizenship” to speak of that contributes to our roads.
Pot holes. It’s like the auto commercial “pay me now or pay me later” when your engine dies for lack of proper care.
And the “takings” of personal private property along Bristol, if in fact that occured, can be costly. Did these acquistions take place for the choo-choo to no where called “Centerline” in anticipation that the system was going to be built? So much for spreading the money across the entire city rather than pouring it into a single pet project.
Let me repeat my challenge to anyone inside the city who can respond anonymously.
Where did the $105 million go?
Provide a detailed listing of all outlays in excess of $100,000 would be a great place to begin. If said funds were wisely spent than you should be proud to disclose how frugal you have been with the Measure M funds.
This documentation might be available through a normal Public Records request.
Anonymous 4:37 p.m.
While numbers can be boring the following is important to the debate.
While we were engaged in the Measure M extension discussion last summer and fall I debated former Supervisor Bill Campbell at a club meeting in the city of La Habra. During that exchange I pointed out that La Habra received $6,892,514 in “turnback” funds while Placentia, a comparable city, received $6,418,562.
The problem that I than pointed out was that La Palma did a much better job in their “competitive” funding request as confirmed by their getting $29,027,486 while Placentia only received $2,971,438 in competitive funding. That’s basically a 10 to one differential. Supervisor Campbell responded by saying that they recognize this flaw and had a plan to address it.
Correction.
I debated former Board Chairman Bill Campbell, not former Supervisor Bill Campbell who is still in office. Sorry Bill.
#9 didn’t talk about specfic projects but I will… I may not be “inside the city” but in the last ten or so years I’ve seen Dyer get completely rebuilt. Warner Ave got an overhaul. Edinger rebuilt. South Main completly redone including curbs and gutters. Broadway thru out the downtown just got finished. The sewers for all the homes on South Flower got new mains and now the road construction will start. The Logan neighborhood got completely slurried. Grand improvements will start soon… and yes Bristol St.
I’m sure some of that came from the monies you question. There’s probably more I can’t think of off the top of my head. The idea that the city has done nothing is pure bull. The whiners don’t like it that THEIR street hasn’t been done. I prefer it that way, it keeps traffic slow in front of my house!
Find out where #14 lives and have the street in front of his/her house repaired last.Apparantly he/she finds potholes in front of his/her house advantageous.
The point has been that repairs should be to all neighborhoods not just to exclussive ones.The attention to Broadway in Downtown is it’s proximity to the Artist village and the attention to the Logan neighborhood is it’s proximity to the Train Station , the Renaissance plan and the Santiago Lofts.The whiners are just asking for equal opportunity to public services.
THE PROBLEM WITH SANTA ANA POLITICSS IS ELECTED OFFICIALS ARE ALWAYS PANDERING TO RESIDENTS OF NORTH SANTA ANA, WHERRE MOST OF THE VOTES ARE.THAT IS WHY THE CITY SPENTS MORE MONEY IN THAT AREA OF THE CITY.
Sorry, Arturo, but Logan improvements were planned for long before any of the projects near there were even thought of. Ask the Andrades or Sam for a history lesson there.
Broadway (which was done with measure M matching funds) was done because the sewers and water main were the oldest and most vunerable in the city NOT because they are located near the Artist Village nor a certain dentist’s office nor any other reason.
#15— Name one of the projects I mentioned that’s north of 17th. (PS. I drove thru Heninger Park the other day and saw that Cubbon, Richland and Birch all got a slurry seal last week. Is that North of 17th or in an exclusive area. Don’t think so…
The Andrades and Sam have been working for improvements of the current sort for over 20yrs.Nothing of significance was ever done untill the current attention to the projects mentioned.You say improvements in Logan have been planned for over 20yrs?Improvements to Logan just now have occured-what a coincidence.Improvements north of 17th is not the point here.NO attention to Cubbon,Richland and Birch for over 20 yrs and just now these streets only get a slurry seal.This is something you want to brag about?
Anonymous 1:35 p.m.
If Public Works was driving around town and making sure that roads were routinely maintained than perhaps someone can explain the need to now issue massive Bonds, without voter approval, for this work?
Having lists of future maintenance that “was planned for” while delaying said projects does not let you off the hook. Anyone can say “we’ll fix the roads.” The responsibility is to do it sooner rather than later at a premium.
I’m glad that all those streets are finally getting fixed, but if they have done so much and are in the process of doing even more, why does Jim Ross claim that we need 331 Million to fix the 74% of streets that have been labeled as poor
As to the slurry seal in Heninger, why did they only get slurry? Were those streets in the 84-89 range on the PCI index? Doubt it.
Looks like the city is doing temp repairs in the hopes that the citizenry does not storm the castle.
I will work on getting the PCI index and posting it here.
streets rated 84-89 are excellent and only need slurry
streets rated 73-83 are good and only need a thin overlay
streets rated 60-72 are fair and need thick overlay
streets rated 41-59 are poor and need partial reconstruction(most streets in Santa Ana fall into this group)
5 years from now, even after spending the 100 million, we will still have a 261 million dollar backlog. And 5 years from now, those streets will be in even worse shape and need even more money. This pot hole keeps getting deeper.
Let’s step back a second. Larry asked for a listing of projects and I gave one off the top of my head. (Not to mention Alberta Christy getting the neighborhood around Vallley High new curbs, sidewalks and streets a few years back). Larry’s response is not to acknowledge any of that work but simply to further denigrate staff. Thomas’ response is a bit better, “Yeah, but it’s not enough”. At least he admits the projects I mentioned actually took place! Then Arturo tries to tell me that work was only because its close to the council’s pet projects.
Larry, there’s where a lot of the money went. Should it have been allocated differently? Should Dyer or Warner or Edinger not been done? If you want to argue simply that staff should have lobbied for more Measure M funds, fine. I’ll accept that, assuming they could have and didn’t. Thomas, if you want to argue not enough has been done, maybe. But, I submit that in the thirty or so years I’ve lived here in Sandpointe the city has gotten much, much safer. That’s due to the extraordinary amounts spent on Public Safety. Personally, I’ll take that trade off.-and yes, the potholes in front of my house! 🙂
As for Arturo’s claim the issues in Logan only got fixed when development activity took place around the train station I simply say baloney. Parking issues, bad industrial neighbors, noise. Those issues were all tackled by Councilwoman Lisa Bist as soon as she got on council back in the late nineties. The reconstruction of the streets was a natural progression of that work and took place after those other issues were put to bed. Ms. Bist was so effective in Ward 2 that she was our de facto councilmember for Sandpointe. We called her for help because Solorio was such a waste. In fact, I would submit that most of the projects I mentioned were in ward 2 while she was the representative there. The ones in my ward were started while Ted Moreno was on council! And a lot of the work people complain about north of 17th happened while Brett Franklin was on council.
The bottom line is that the city’s funding of street repair is the question. Is it enough or is it equitable vs. money spent on other issues? I simply want to point out that the city has moved forward on many main arterials. Neighborhood streets, while obviously not a priority vs arterials, DID get done if a councilmember did their job.
Anonymous 9:20 a.m.
Although we have lived in southern CA for the past 30 years I grew up in norhtern New Jersey and spent many hours in the Chicago area on business.
Santa Ana does not have to deal with the effects of freezing rain, snow and icy conditions which destroy roads and cause potholes. If the city was on top of this issue from day one delayed costly repairs could have been avoided.
Thank you for citing one example. And I am certain there are other examples that can be pointed out.
$300 million dollars is not chump change. Yes, public safety should be job one.
Was the $105 million of Measure M well spent? What about your General Fund priorities? Some might say that any comment from me today would be Monday morning quarterbacking. Was a chunk of the money spent for eminent domain takings along Bristol in hopes of Centerline than residents might start holding your council accountable for focusing on a pet project when there is not adequate funding to address street repairs across the board.
Art reminds us of the money spent in support of the Bowers Museum. Although promoting culture is a worthy endeavor, should some of that money be used elsewhere? You decide.