What a difference. The Irvine City Council tonight considered opening three new libraries. Councilwoman Christina Shea said that “The city needs more libraries because of the population growth in the city,” according to the O.C. Register.
Meanwhile in Santa Ana, city officials announced the expenditure of one million dollars for an anteater exhibit at the Santa Ana Zoo. And we still have only one library, which is closed, of course, on Sundays, when thousands of kids in the city are trying to do their homework for Monday’s classes. Nice.
Guess which city most folks WANT to live in? If you guessed “Santa Ana,” congratulations, you have no clue.
The fact is, Santa Ana is vastly under served by its one library, and the City Council knows it, as does Santa Ana Mayor Miguel Pulido. I guess they don’t care. So we should not be surprised by the recent explosion in gang violence in Santa Ana. You get what you pay for, or in this case don’t pay for.
yippeee. So you say you want another library for homeless people to sleep in? Santa Ana is a city of illiterate peasants. Do you really think they go to the library??
As usual, Art misrepresents the facts here.
Santa Ana owns the main library downtown and the Newhope branch. Last year, through a partnership with the school district, more libraries were made available as the city paid the school district to make school libraries publicly accesible.
Add to that all of the other schools that have libraries and internet access available for the school age kids , and all of the afterschool programs that have books available and the number of options citywide isn’t looking as bad as Art states.
Is it enough for a city the size of Santa Ana? No, and no amount of libraries will ever be enough, but through creative partnerships with other municipal agencies and the private sector, books and media are available to Santa Ana’s youth and others.
Art continues to lie about Santa Ana only having one library to suit some warped personal agenda. It simply isn’t true.
#2,
You are the one lying. Do you think Irvine would consider the Newhope learning center, which is what it is called on the Santa Ana library website, to be a full fledged library? I don’t think so.
And Irvine does not consider its school libraries to be public libraries. Do you know why? Because they are not!
I actually came up with the school library sharing idea while serving on a committee for Michele Martinez. It was NEVER meant as the final solution to Santa Ana’s library problem. It was a STOPGAP measure.
We are vastly under served by our one library. And it is CLOSED on Sundays. Ridiculous!
Did you know that the City of Bakersfield, with half the population of Santa Ana, has SIX public libraries?
There is a reason Santa Ana is in the straits it is in. Our City Council simply does not even try to meet the needs of our residents. All of our neighboring cities have at least three libraries. Santa Ana is a total embarrassment.
Golly, if the city website says it, it must be true!
The Newhope Branch Library (as the actual sign on the building says) is a real library with books and everything.
The former McFadden Branch Library which is now a learning center and the home of the SAPD PAL afterschool program is no longer a library because it was not used by the community often enough to financially justify keeping it open. Maybe you aren’t the right person to be speaking about what that community “wants”.
You say the city simply isn’t even trying to do anything to meet the needs of the residents, but the fact that they tried to think outside the box and open the school libraries to the public proves that’s a lie.
It must be a good idea, since you are now trying to take credit for coming up with it. In truth, it was Sal Tinajero, not Michelle, on the council who made it happen.
Santa Ana had 3 libraries and closed one, but reopened it as a public benefit afterschool facility with learning resources. They also opened school libraries to the public.
Clearly the city is doing something, and moving in the right direction.
Important differences between Irvine and Santa Ana residents – the people who live in Irvine are literate, and many who live in Santa Ana are not. The people who live in Irvine value education as evidenced by the low school drop out rate; the school drop out rate of those who live in Santa Ana shows that different values are at play. Few young people get shot in Irvine, whereas in Santa Ana shooting seems to be an organized recreational activity. Much different cultures with equally differnt values makes comparing these two cities meaningless except for the rather hopeless atmosphere the residents of Santa Ana cultivate.
#5,
You are an ignorant fool. Get exposed to more of the world or maybe just what surrounds you.
The primary difference between communities is economics and governmental negect in developemnet of communities.
All cultures value education and prosperity. Some communities are just ahead of the game more than others.
Fools like you that influence others delay the progress of community developement. This is the difference between Irvine, or better, Anaheim and Santa Ana.
art lomeli
Well # 6, my retort to you is (1) your are in a state of denial about the demographics and accompanying values of the residents of Santa Ana as illustrated by their behavior, including school attendance of their children, and (2) your implication that government attention or neglect is to blame for the salvation or woes of the residents of a municipality is the rhetoric of a big government liberal who, in spite of the evidence, believes that government is the root of all solutions. Next you’ll be lamenting that Larry Agran is not the Mayor of Santa Ana as that would solve everything. Get real.
Care to predict how many shootings and stabbings in Santa Ana in the next 30 days? I’ll predict 5 that will be reported in the press, but there will be more that will not get media coverage. That would make it a slow month —
#5
#5,
I believe your premise is that Santa Ana hispanics are entirely to blame for the state the city is in. Is this correct?
Is this true only for Santa Ana Hispanics?
Do you believe this is true for any city with the same demographics as Santa Ana?
Anaheim has the same demographics as Santa Ana. Why is it they don’t have the same problems Santa Ana has? Could it be better government management?
I am a registerd Republican not a big government liberal.
You offer no evidence other than Santa Ana’s problems and Santa Ana’s demographics. Your simple mind puts these two together and you come up with a simplistic opinion.
art lomeli
Lets play a little game of What If.
Lets say there are two identical libraries with the same number of sq footage, resources, books, bathrooms, etc etc etc.
One is placed in the middle of Santa Ana while the other is placed in the middle of Irvine.
Which library will have more people taking advantage of all a library has to offer? Which library will have more patrons? Which library will have less vandalism?
Problem is most kids in Santa Ana can’t or won’t read. Alot of junior high kids read at 3rd grade level.
#9,10 – I believe you are the same person.
What if, the library gets built in Santa Ana and people take advantage of it?
Is your argument based on your belief that Santa Ana Hispanics have a genic intelect defficiency compared to Irvine Hispanics and other Irvine residents?
Your arguments and beliefs are those of a racist.
Possibly people like you are the ones pressuring Santa Ana decision makers on reasons ( those you heve sated – racist) to neglect services to this community.
art lomeli