This is turning out to be a rough Christmas for Santa Ana Mayor Miguel Pulido and his crooked Council cabal. Jennifer Delson, of the L.A. Times, wrote a terrific article in today’s paper outing Pulido and company for their ridiculous aversion to making ALL the City Council meetings available on T.V. and the Internet. Here are a few excerpts from Delson’s article:
In an age when new technology has provided access to increasing amounts of information, the Santa Ana City Council has decided that certain things are not fit for viewing — some of its own meetings.
Mayor Miguel Pulido will allow only one of the two monthly meetings to be broadcast, making Santa Ana the largest city in the state that doesn’t televise all its meetings.
At the Dec. 3 meeting, no council member would second a motion requiring that all meetings be televised on the public access channel and be available on the city’s website for at least five years.
“You have to ask why every other council is doing this and we aren’t,” said Councilwoman Michele Martinez, who offered the motion. “There’s a perception that this council wants to run closed-door meetings.”
Pulido said at the meeting that he preferred to limit viewing because cameras made some council members nervous.”
The best job in many cases involves learning off-camera in an informal setting,” Pulido said.
Arguing that elected officials can’t speak in public doesn’t make sense, said Tracy Westen, chief executive of the Center for Governmental Studies in Los Angeles and chairman of the Municipal Access Policy Board, which oversees the Los Angeles city government channel. “These are people who want to be in the public domain.”
The decision on televised meetings comes as the council has discouraged city commissioners from posting their opinions on blogs and has unseated a commissioner critical of the city government.
All meetings are streamed live on the city’s website but are not archived, so the only way to view one belatedly is to check out a DVD at one of Santa Ana’s downtown or Newhope libraries or to pay $5 for a copy .
This is not the first time Santa Ana has limited access to its council meetings. All meetings were shown on cable beginning in 1981, and that continued for 20 years, when they were cut back to one per month. The city again televised all meetings from February 2007 through September, until Pulido decided one was enough.
“In my experience, I haven’t heard of a city that has cut back on their meeting coverage,” said Robin Gee, a board member of the California and Nevada chapter of the National Assn. of Telecommunications Officers and Advisors.
Covering meetings is “considered a standard practice because of public perception. It asks why are you choosing some meetings and not others.”
In addition, one meeting a month since October has been held away from City Council chambers, sometimes in the same building but in a different room with no microphones.
The meetings are held in different places “to confuse people, and there’s no signage,” Martinez said.
“I’ve asked why these meetings aren’t in the council chambers. The mayor said it wasn’t an informal setting and we can’t work closely with staff.”
Councilman David Benavides said the untelevised sessions are often discussions of issues without votes. “There is some value to the argument that off-camera . . . allows for a workshop setting that might allow for more relaxed discussion. I don’t think they should be off-camera all the time, though.”
Councilwoman Claudia Alvarez said at the Dec. 3 meeting that despite two years of study by the council’s technology committee, the city had not been able to figure out how to place meetings on the Web for on-demand viewing.
Curt Pringle, mayor of neighboring Anaheim, said his city began offering streaming video last year.
Gustavo Arellano also jumped on Pulido and company on the O.C. Weekly’s Navel Gazing Blog:
LAME. LAME. LAME. Hey, Pudillo el Caudillo: at least make the excuse your city can’t afford the technology like councilmember Claudia Alvarez did. And then remember a council member is a PUBLIC official, not the First Presidency.
Until Delson publishes an article stating that the SanTana City Council will televise ALL its meetings, the Weekly will record all meetings and upload them to our website. It’s not particularly groundbreaking: former city council candidate George Collins has done this for a while on his website. However, I challenge anyone who cares about open government to attend and record SanTana City Council meetings until Papi Pulido reverses himself. Camcorders of Orange County, unite!
So there you go…once again Pulido and his bunch have screwed up and ended up blasted all over the media! What a great early Christmas present for the people of Santa Ana. Thank you Jennifer and Gustavo. Thanks also to Steven Greenhut at the O.C. Register for his article regarding Pulido’s lame Renaissance Plan.
Nice to see the snowball growing!
Merry Christmas everyone!
Well, If they get nervous, my suggestion would be, at the next Election, to relieve them of any stress they may be having, by relieving them of their duty and letting them stay home every Council Meeting thereafter. Lather Rinse Repeat.
The whining is loud and continuous, but who’s going to come forward as an alternative?
The newspapers are writing about it now? Oh wow…now there must be at least 17 people who are aware of your concerns!
Rick,
Well said!
Let’s see how many folks show up to Correa’s office on Friday to protest the Renaissance Plan. I have a feeling there will be a full house…
Remember to vote no on Measure D!
Message to Clownia –
The residents of Santa Ana deserve to know the names of the sitting council members on the council’s technology committee.
Not only are Santa Ana council members inept at talking in a public forum, it appears they are equally inept when it comes to technology matters.
Vote No on Measure D/ Feb. 5
Dump Claudia Alvarez
If the Santa Ana City Council is proud of the work taking place on the Renaissance Plan, they should be taking advantage of every opportunity to promote it.
Instead, the City Council is relying on city staff to go into the community and take the heat and then City Council is minimizing their exposure on tv.
By the way, why did the Mayor’s muffler shop and Sarmiento’s properties get excluded from the Renaissance Plan?
What are Sarmiento’s Properties and where are they located?
It is time for that “muffler” shop to go. One would expect that being associated with the Mayor it might be kept up better or operated under strict City codes.
WRONG. the paint is all faded, there is no proper landscaping, employees are paid part of their wages under the table, and to top it all off, they make a bundle of cash whenever ther is a major event on Fourth street towing away the vehicles of unsuspecting visitors because their “no parking” signs are either too small, too faded, have fallen down or missing all together.
It is time for the wrecking ball to take away that eyesore.
Sarmientos properties are on Warner Ave between Sycamore and Broadway. The other one is at the corner of Third Street and Spurgeon (Festival Hall). I would not recommend going inside any of these establishments unless you are looking to engage in nefarious activities. The only exception being when they have a toy giveaway right before Christmas at the Festival Hall.
Maybe the new firm that bought the Yost Theatre (since they are caddy corner to eachother) can also buy this Festival Hall too and include it in their master plan.
#7,8 & 9
Pulido and Sarmiento also own several properties on Lacy Street next to the center.They were excluded because they did not want to lose their existing zoning. The existing zoning maintains their right to air space and the zoning allows commercial and 35 feet height.
Of course they say it is excluded for conflict reasons,but we know that has never been an issue before! City Staff has also said that as soon as the plan is approved section B will apply for a variance, HAH!
5:20 a.m. – No, they were not excluded for the reasons you state. It was so that Sarmiento and Pulido could VOTE. Duh.
So what if Sarmiento and Pulido don’t vote on this plan. Pulido and Franklin did not vote on One Broadway Plaza, but that did not stop the rest of the Council from voting.
#11
The sections were excluded because if they were not excluded they could not vote due to a conflict of interest.
Thank you for making me realize that my statement required clarification.
None the less it still smacks of colusion!!
It’s astonishing that the mayor’s property/ies and Council member Sarmiento properties were purposefully excluded from the RSP. It begs the question .. what do they have to “gain” by excluding their properties from the RSP.
Something smells rotten.
a real LEADER of the people would give up what is honestly an eyesore for the betterment of the people (which it really is, that muffler-shop, on a major street is UGLY! and personally Sarmiento is a great person, but IMPROVE YOUR PROPERTY!). it is not like they have no other means of an income, nor other ways to get by.
one has to think: if you want constituents to believe in something, to know it is the right way to go, then you have t be willing to do it yourself.
i think twice when those who are telling me to do something do not do it themselves. why should any of us believe this is the right thing to approve?
Hey #15,
Your point about Sarmiento being a great person is moot. I’m sure Pulido & Ream are nice people too. Their cordiality has no place in this discussion.
What these three people are lacking is a sense of morality. These three amigas have long since sold themselves out to the highest bidder.
I would much rather have a jerk like Moorlach represent me rather than these three “great persons”.
At least with Moorlach you know he is fighting for the interests of the community and not for self enrichment!