The Santa Ana City Council and City Manager (Dave Ream) hate this blog so much that last year they actually convened a special meeting to try to figure out how to get rid of the bloggers who had been appointed to several City Commissions. In that meeting they drafted their infamous “Code of Ethics” with the hope that this non-enforceable guideline would at last give them the opportunity to get rid of the bloggers.
Today the Orange Juice bloggers have either been tossed from their City Commissions, or have resigned for various reasons. But the Orange Juice has been reengineered by Sarah Spinosa – and now we are a real juggernaut in Orange County politics. In fact we are now averaging over 1,200 visits to our site every day and almost 3,000 page views daily. We are also currently the top ranked political blog in Orange County, according to Alexa.com. The folks at Santa Ana’s City Hall utterly failed to stop us.
And now I have been invited to speak at the California League of Cities Annual Conference on September 25. I will be participating in a panel presentation entitled “Entering the Blogosphere: Using New Media to Talk to Your Community.” The panel includes as moderator Mike Madrid, the Public Affairs Director of the California League of Cities. Madrid is also a blogger! He is the editor of California City News. Others on the panel include Ventura City Manager Rick Cole, who actually has his own city blog! Imagine that. I can’t see Santa Ana City Manager Dave Ream ever becoming a blogger…
Madrid is a believer in blogs – here is an excerpt from his blog, “Blogging – for better or worse – is a way of life in virtually every city in California. And if it hasn’t come to your city yet, trust me, it ’s on its way.”
I go way back with Madrid. We used to work together conducting Latino outreach for the Republican Party. I have long since quit the party an Madrid now has a great job in Sacramento, with the California League of Cities. He asked me to speak at his conference because mine was the first political blog in Orange County and because I have a long record as an activist and advocate for change in Santa Ana.
Cole is the kind of City Manager I wish we had in Santa Ana! You can read his city blog at this link. And be sure to go to this link for a list of other City Manager blogs. The times they are a changing – except in Santa Ana!
If you are interested in attending the California League of Cities Annual Conference, click here for more information. It wil be held in Long Beach from September 24 to 27.
Hmmmm I wonder is your friend in Sacramento (Madrid) the same friend that comments here under SCR? He does seem to know an awful lot about city issues (including billions in unspent tobacco taxes he and I fought about) Very, very interesting.
Flowerszzz,
Nope. Not even close. Mike is way too busy to be blogging here anonymously.
Hmmm, not so sure I believe ya…we shall see.
** SHAMELESS PLUG ALERT **
If anyone would like to start their own blog, please contact me at purplepagansarah@yahoo.com to set one up!
Special rates for the OJ community. Sometimes higher, sometimes lower. (kidding!)
SMS
Flowerszzz,
You really have no clue what you are talking about. Mike is a very respected pro in Sacramento. He has no time for anon comments. He runs his own blog, which is very popular.
I can tell you this, the guy you are referring to is a policy wonk in the Bay Area. He is also much older than Mike.
Yeah” Dave Weam is even a Mexican hater… he does not like people of color to work up in the eight floor only white Dave Weam and Miguel Are like the evil Empire Dave Weam is Darth Sidious
from star war and miguel is like Dark Helmet from space balls. Screw Dave Weam old dusty old man should be happy that his name is being advertise .. And Art I have a funny picture that represents dave weams personality along with
Miguel.
Well at least I got the policy wonk stuff right anyway. Can’t blame a gal for tryin’:-P
good for you art thats actually pretty cool.
Congrats, Art!
Keep stickin’ it to the Man.
Whoo – hoo !!
Go Art go !!
Mike Tardif
Flowerszzz (Flores)
good try pobrecita……there are lots of policy wonks in California…..
keep purchasing those cigs….Orange County needs you to pay those consumption fees for its public health programs.
Centrist Republicans for Obama/Biden 2008
Congrats Art!
hi flowerzzz,
one could take the position that we, all of us, are policy wonks. at least we should be trying to influence policy. to quote one of the greats(the lorax by dr. seuss)- “unless someone like you cares a whole awful lot, nothing is going to get better. it’s not!”
-galactic squirrel
Art, good news. Thanks for sharing it with the crowd.
SCR – this is what I hear when you talk….
“Blah, Blah, Blah, Blah, blah, blah”….like Charlie Brown when the adults talk.
Squirrel, I dont have an issue with policy wonks in the slightest….this one is just particularly boring and repetitive.
Flowerszzz, girlfriend, let it go! Just an idea.
Art congradulations! I’d like to come see that segment of the conference. Which session are you presenting at? The agenda didnt say.
#17,
Thank you for your support. I am speaking on the 25th at 2:30 during the concurrent sessions.
Should be a lot of fun!
Art, do you consider yrself a community organizer?
and by the way, how many paid bloggers are there on the OJ? So many comments seem to be volleys between those on the payroll…. congrats on your accomplishment.
#20 –
Uh-uh-uh. We don’t kiss and tell! Jubal says we don’t have to.
SMS
rintrah,
Nobody gets “paid” around here. I WISH, I could turn in a expense report for the last weeks travel, meals and lodging to Alaska to find out the real story about our new VP. Much less the medical expenses. Paid…roflmao!!!
Art, Big time congrats! Shows at least those who are looking to that “high visual horizon” have an idea of what they are doing and where it’s all going. That’s a very good thing! I’ll bet you that Ms Palin knows and understands all this too. But more on that in my post later today
LOL, maybe I started that rumor when I wrote “If Crowley can earn his OJ blogger paycheck just copy-pasting George Will, than I can do the same with MoDo…” It is, though, dear Rintrah, an entirely imaginary paycheck.
Congratulations and best of wishes during the conference Art. Please don’t forget to tell about your making a huge difference by exposing the local school district and making the leaders more accountable for their decisions. Those archives are years in the making and you had the good foresight to keep that thread running to help root out the corruption.
Art, are our checks in the mail yet?!