Sean Mill recently scored a direct hit when he wrote about how the Santa Ana Chamber of Commerce was planning to hold a business expo…in Orange instead of in Santa Ana. The O.C. Register has now picked up the story. Here are a few choice excerpts:
“It’s an Orange County expo, not a Santa Ana expo,” the chamber’s chief operating officer, Vince Brantley, explained.
The chamber itself wants to attract interest from throughout the county, he added. It’s “more of a regional organization,” he said. “We’re not tied to Santa Ana in terms of what we do or who we’re trying to attract.”
The chamber expects at least 300 people to attend. Earlier this year, it asked major venues to submit bids showing how they would handle that many people, and at what cost. The DoubleTree in Orange won the bid.
Brantley said he did not know whether two venues in Santa Ana with the space to accommodate the expo
Doug Irving is a good reporter, so why he did this story without citing ustedes is bizarre. Nevertheless, great job by you guys yet again!
Absolutely incredible. This is yet another example of the OJ scooping the local media. My story about the Chivas stadium deal at Willowick also scooped the Register by several days.
I am just glad that I am so irrelevant and nobody reads this blog or listens to what we have to say.
Mr. Brantley, the Santa Ana Chamber is tied to Santa Ana in terms of what the Chamber does and who the Chamber is trying to attract!
The fact that you do not even know whether Bowers or the Doubletree submitted bids just shows that you were looking to host a Santa Ana Chamber event outside of Santa Ana.
Everybody knew that the City should not be contributing to the Chamber, but now I am wondering why Santa Ana businesses contribute to a chamber of commerce that is intent on promoting commerce at venues outside of Santa Ana.
The South Main Street Business group could do everything the Chamber does..better!
Looks like even the chamber believes they could do better if it wasn’t for that pesky Santa Ana address.
Why does the organization even exist, except to promote Santa Ana and support it’s businesses?
I’m a Santa Ana Chamber of Commerce member for several years, and I frankly don’t see what the chamber is doing for me anymore. Their support for local small businesses has been degrading over the years. Instead, they engage in planning issues like supporting huge housing projects, teaching English to people who may not even legally have a job here, play local politics, and suck up to and provide free promotion for certain businesses, while doing little or nothing to support local small businesses like mine.
Maybe they should just dump the Santa Ana name, dissolve the organization and become the Orange County Chamber of Commerce, and get the charade over with.
#5, do you think the rest of Orange County would want anything to do with those who are running the Santa Ana Chamber?
Maybe I don’t get how a chamber of commerce works but, theoretically, isn’t the idea to get the 300 attendees to come from all around to visit your city?
How is having the expo in another city benefitting Santa Ana and fulfilling the mission of the Santa Ana chamber?
How does an OC expo help Santa Ana businesses? I think the businesses that contribute to the Santa Ana Chamber are not getting what they pay into it. What benefits are there to being involved with the Santa Ana Chamber???