(Photo courtesy of the O.C. Register)
Oh the irony. A Latino gardener, Vincent Virgen, was working in Floral Park this Monday evening, when he noticed that a house on Heliotrope Drive was on fire, according to the O.C. Register. Virgen rushed to save the family in that home!
Floral Park is where Santa Ana Mayor Miguel Pulido lives. That is why so much city money gets spent in Floral Park.
The homes in this neighborhood have the highest values in the city. It is also one of the last bastions of white residents in Santa Ana. If you flip through the pictures that accompany the Register’s article you will see that for yourself.
Latino drivers routinely get pulled over in Floral Park for DWB. For some unknown reason the Floral Park neighborhood is absolutely crawling with cops – even though residents of Central Santa Ana often have to wait for a very long time when they call the SAPD for help.
And Pulido unleashes the Santa Ana firemen in his neighborhood to walk precincts for him and whatever Clowncil candidates or measures he is supporting. So I am sure they were quite familiar with the home that was burning – but it was the lowly Latino gardener who saved the mother and her four kids – not the firemen. They arrived in time to spend 45 minutes battling the blaze, which was due to faulty electrical wiring.
The Register reported that the gardener noticed the fire at 5:15 p.m. and that he woke up the family members. One of the Register’s readers wondered why the family was already in bed at 5:15 p.m. Good question. That is somewhat odd. I wonder why the family did not have functional smoke alarms installed in their home? I am assuming they did not have smoke alarms as they did not notice the fire.
The good news for the family is that generally homeowner’s insurance will cover the cost of fixing the home, replacing the contents and subsidizing alternative living arrangements while the home is repaired.
Kudos to Vincent Virgen for his heroism! Perhaps now the people of Floral Park who aren’t terribly happy about Latinos will now look at them a little differently. One can only hope.
The one who screams fire is the one who started it.
Gracias Vicente, y lo sentimos mucho que hay en este pais pendejos como ese “anon.”
Lowly latino gardener? You are only projecting your own feelings. I’m sure most Floral Park residents are extremely happy to have help with maintaining their beautiful neighborhood. And I doubt any of them refer to such help as “lowly gardeners”.
Perhaps, if your neighborhood got together and invested community time, it could get to the level of Floral Park. If only you thought you were worthy — just think of the possibilities.
My neighbors and I “highly” recommend a great gardener that helps us with all kinds of landscaping. He may haven’t saved us from any fire, but he and his crew has helped reduce a lot of aches and pains.
a couple of my latino friends just tried car jacking an unmarked cop car. doh!
I live in Floral Park and we feel very lucky to have Hosea keep our yard so nice! By the way, his name is Hosea, not Gardner..
by the way, not eveyone that lives here is white.. The last time I saw the mayor, he was still Latino..
I live in Floral Park and we have Hosea to thank for keeping our yard nice and neat!
We call him Hosea, not Gardner..
Floral Park is not all white, the last time I looked the mayor is still Latino..
I was totally offended by the article written. I live in Floral Park and know many of my neighbors. I am not \white\ and neither are many of my multi-ethnic neighbors. I am shocked that the simple task of reporting the heroism of Vincent Virgen and the horrifying experience of a fire in a family home turned into your platform to label me and my neighbors as racist.
#6,
Obviously this article was not addressed to you. The people it was addressed to know who they are.
I have lived in Santa Ana for over 15 years and in that time I have heard plenty of tales about people in your neighborhood who don’t like Latinos. I am glad to hear that over time people like you have come to the forefront.
You probably don’t need to be told this but there are a lot of folks in Santa Ana who demonize Latinos. That is why I ran this story. It is a great example to counter those who hate Latino immigrants – and there are plenty of them.
Did you know by the way that Mayor Pulido, who lives in your neighborhood, openly supported Prop. 187 and he appointed a Minuteman to our Public Library Board?
i find this article ignorant…I’m not white and I live in Floral Park. This is the type of ignorance that fuels racism and creates separation. Do you know this neighborhood raises scholarships for near by schools every year through fund raisers. There are not cops swarming neighborhood …and when they do appear, they are not pulling over Latinos, they are pulling over people that whip thru the streets like it is a raceway.. we don’t get immediate responses to calls. You know, I too can write an unfounded article and say what I want – you have zero credibility in my eyes because all you have written is a fallacy you created in your head (or to use your words – tales) versus reality I see and live every day from these caring neighbors…I see this just a way excuse your hate by “demonizing” the “white” people.
I’m no fan of Mayor Pulido but why does he have to vote a certain way and be told what to do..he has the civic duty to vote based on what is best for the community not his pocket or based on what people think he should do based on race – come on man. I hope you have grown up since you wrote this article.
Note: not sure how you got here, but this 2008 article by “Admin” would have been written by Art Pedroza. You can see how well you think he’s grown up at OCPolitics.com and his NewSantaAna blog.