A friend of mine, who is a planner, didn’t like my recent post about the last Santa Ana Housing & Redevelopment meeting. In that meeting, Planning Manager Karen Haluza gave the Housing & Redevelopment city commissioners, and the members of the public who were there, a presentation regarding the City’s Renaissance Plan.
Haluza used the phrase “getting people out of their cars” more than once as justification for much of the plan. I am not comfortable with the notion of “getting people out of their cars.” That is not, in my opinion, the job of our government.
When it comes to transportation, I believe that the government should step in and provide options, primarily for those without the means to get around on their own. Planners, however, do not look at us as individuals. They look at us as colored dots meant to be pushed and prodded around.
But is that really what planners think of us? I decided to look for more information. I found the American Planning Association. But they don’t let you access information unless you sign in. So I did. Only to find out you have to be a member to access their information. Deep sigh.
So I resorted to google.com. And I was referred back to the American Planning Association, but this time I found a page accessible to the public. And at last I found an article about “What is Planning?” Here is an excerpt from that page:
A city planner
On the point about “getting people out of their cars” – you’re right. The Monday night renaissance meeting bore a different perspective, to get people to park and stick around longer. – which is in line with your argument that the planning departments job is OPTIONS. If we make parts of our city a DESTINATION (via car, or otherwise) people will come here, park, shop at multiple places at once and then leave.
I like the idea of getting out of the car.
I would like to see a bunch of the streets closed to cars all together.
How can you get a sense of community if you travel though your neighborhood enclosed in a steel and glass cocoon with tinted windows?
Art,
It seems to me that you are just LOOKING for another chance to gripe instead of being part of the process. It also shows your inability to set your personal bias aside to look at the big picture.
“Getting people out of their cars” is not meant to FORCE people to do one thing or another, it is about giving them OPTIONS. If getting to the market, or going to downtown, is made easier to walk and more attractive, then people might choose that option (not just from necessity) instead of driving to one spot and leaving the area. And for those who have no choice BUT to walk, who can argue against making it easier, safer, and more attractive through Public Works improvements?
Have you never walked the streets of Los Angeles? There is so much going on…the city itself has a heartbeat and vibrancy that you can’t feel from a car – then again, you probably choose your car.
You probably do not know what the job of planning entails (which is scary that you get to make decisions as a commissioner) any more than you know about architecture, financial management, and/or economics – which are also a part of city government. That’s why they hire professionals, and not wannabes.
Change in a city does not happen overnight, but surely it does. And to get there, you need a vision as to what the city should look like in 20 years. Do you want it walkable? Do you want it commercially viable? Do you want to encourage needed services nearby for residents within the city? And then..after you have thought about all that —do you want to support the Renaissance Plan or not?
You can’t talk about what you don’t know. Read it and figure it out.
OK, so they get out of their cars…
What do you do to help the many of us who will be handicapped in some way as the population gets older? My mother is now in her 70’s and can still walk but not well and shops mostly at stores that have motorized carts. So the question is valid and will become more valid as the baby boom reaches it’s zenith. What do we do with those who have mobility issues when you make the city more pedestrian friendly? Additionally at what cost, and to whom?
Poster 3,
On the flip side, Haluza admitted that the Renaissance Plan is estimating only two parking spaces per household, and three people per household.
The U.S. Census indicates that Latino households average 3.5 people per household. And if you have teenage kids who are headed to college, they generally end up driving a car. There goes your two spaces.
So the City of Santa Ana is basing their plan on faulty numbers that do not reflect the people in their city. I have a problem with that. This is not about options, it is about LIMITING options.
How can we worry about where our city will be in twenty years when it is such a damn mess right now! Shouldn’t we worry about running the city right NOW? You are asking me to trust the people that have screwed up my city with making plans that will affect us for the next twenty years? I don’t think so.
Here is my plan – dump Pulido and company and start anew with leaders who are not corrupt and selfish. That would be a fantastic new start for Santa Ana.
Art,
I was at the meeting and your synopsis was right on! I feel that the planners talk out of both sides of their mouths. They tailor their presentations to fit the audience. 2 parking spots per household is a joke. There are not enough jobs in Santa Ana to keep the citizens out of cars. Most importatnly, we need to fix what is wrong in our city before we carry out the RSP. Look at the current EIR for the project across the street from MainPlace Mall. A lot of issues that impact the city are glossed over as NO IMPACT HAH!
More people need to question what the RSP is really about. Thanks for taking the time to share your information ( :
Art, if the plan contained affordable housing guarantees in there as well as a prosecution of Ware Disposal and an alternative of buses as transit instead of street cars would that ok?
Art, the city will change and the planners are doing two things with regards to that. First is working with the community and other stakeholders to create a vision of what they want the city to be like in the next 10-20 years. Second is to provide for where and how to locate amenities that are either required by law or because many in the community have expressed their desire to have them.
As for getting people out of their cars, that is the best thing you could ask for in regards to public safety. Since you are exploring the field of Planning, read Jane Jacobs “The Death and Life of Great American Cities”. In this very influential work, Jacobs coined the phrase, “eyes on the street” as a way to improve public safety.
Pedestrian-oriented neighborhoods and developments allow for their to be more eyes on the street which helps to reduce crime. Transit is a natural element of supporting pedestrian-oriented developments.
If you like the complete opposite, check out the development of Riverside County. No people walking, plenty of parking, and no transit. Sure sounds like paradise to me, ha ha ha ha ha ha ha!
Sal Tinajero and Claudia Alvarez are to blame for selling out the latino community.
Art #5
You ALWAYS write as if Santa Ana has always been and will continue to be 90% Hispanic. Every thought, opinion, idea, and gripe, you have is built around that misconception. Santa Ana has a great 125 year history of growth and progress. The first 100 of those years we were NOT 90% Hispanic. We were a multi cultural city with no one pushing any specific agenda for any particular race, ethnicity, or culture. The city had a much more livable balance. Income profiles were typical, the demographics were comparable to most cities of its size, and Santa Ana was a beautiful, safe, clean, progressive city.
That is not true today.
All that being said Art,this is not to get some hostile debate raging over white vs brown. This is to remind you to stop suggesting that all Santa Ana is or was, is what we see today. We have a debilatating and destructive imbalance in our demogrophics and income base and this once great City shows that.
You and I know that all City Hall is trying to do, through these new developments is to create an opportunity and an atmosphere to rebalance and stabilize the city as a whole.
This city and EVERY resident here is already negativly impacted by this imbalance and yet you continue to pander for more. If we as a City are ever to become that beautiful, safe, prideful, destination we once were, guys like you need to stop trying to hold back the progress keep us the ghetto we have become.
Pat Dixon
Pat,
Thank you for sharing your thoughts. I think they speak for themselves.
I am well aware that Santa Ana was not always predominantly Latino. But it is now. Rather than dealing with that fact, the Mayor and City Council are trying desperately to gentrify our city.
If only they had spent the last 21 years of Pulido’s career trying to help folks climb up the socio-economic ladder. Instead, they have kept people down in so many ways, such as having only one library.
Also, this administration has worked hard to pull the wool over our eyes. What do you think of the fact that Pulido pulled the second City Council meeting of each month off the T.V.? And our city is one of the only ones in Orange County that does not archive past City Council meetings on its website.
No matter how you feel about Latinos, you have to be dismayed by a city that does not want to conduct its business in the public eye.
#8
Most city’s planners do not live in Santa Ana, and more than likely, their job life in the city be less than 10 years. Yet, their will shall prevail regarding the planning of our city. That’s why their clandestine style of conducting the hearings for the RSP is suspect. And that’s why the city’s failure to televise the council meetings that have agendized the RSP is despicable!
If city officials are promoting a get out the car campaign, as it pertains to the RSP, then PUBLICLY televise your plan. This is not about getting out of cars. Duh. It’s about open government.
What are our city officials hiding?
This is all a plan that comes from Bustamonte and Cribb. They are trying to rid the city of Latinos if they can.
Art:
Diversity, as I am sure you know, is critical for a city’s economic base. That’s why it’s so alarming to that you constantly harp about fighting economic diversity.
I’d love to live in a city where there is high income earners, middle income earners and low-income earners. Similarly, I want a city that is diverse racially and as to viewpoints.
Hopefully, you’ll learn to embrace diversity in all its forms.
We need city planning. Too bad city planners aren’t allowed to do their jobs…in the end, each of their decisions comes down to politics. In reality in Santa Ana, it’s the Pulidos and Harrahs that do the planning.
Elements of the RSP are similar to elements of plans throughout Los Angeles and I don’t see that city becoming overwhelmingly white. It sounds like people on here are saying that any improvement or diversification negatively impacts Latinos. That is very insulting!
Art and #12, open government is very important, but the premise of the initial post is about what is being planned in Santa Ana. I think whole other posts have been written on the City of Santa Ana’s reluctance to conduct government in the open.
#10,
“Santa Ana has a great 125 year history of growth and progress.The first 100 we were Not 90% Hispanic. We were a multi cultural city with no one pushing any specific agenda for any particular race, ethnicity, or culture. The city had a much more livable balance. Income profiles were typical, the demographics were comparable to most cities, and Santa Ana was a beautiful, safe, clean, progressive city.This is not true today”.
During the time you refer to the city experienced the following:
1. Was White majority
2. Hispanics, Blacks and other obvious minorities could only own property in certain locations like Delhi and Logan.
3. Had a riot where Chinenese residents were beaten and chased out.
4. A lynching of a black man was held.
5. Hispanics could only use public swimming pools on days Whites were not using the facilities.
6. Hispanics could only attend all Hispanic schools.
7. It was O.K. to beat a Hispanic child for talking in Spanish at school.
Did you remember any of this while you were writing the qoute above?
The problem is not the imbalance as you present it. The imbalance problem is the imbalance in investment in all communities. This is what causes the physical appearance that offends you. I hope it is not the majority residents and their culture that is your concern.
The 90% Hispanic population of the city is primarily responsible for the healthy budget the city enjoys. The budget is just below that of Anaheim’s. Santa Ana is just below Anaheim – the highest tax base in Orange County.
We do not have a “debilitating and destructive imbalance in our demographics and income base”. We have a problem with the management of the budget that creates an appearance of a “debilitating and destructive imbalance in our demographics and income base”. This is an outrage.
Art,
Here is an excellent article that may help you understand
http://www.cp-dr.com/node/1846