Tonight Santa Ana Councilman Carlos Bustamante FINALLY showed up to a meeting of the Park Santiago Neighborhood Association. I have never seen him show up at any of our meetings. But this year he is running for reelection.
Bustamante brought with him Jim Ross, who is the head of the Santa Ana Public Works department, and Dave Ream, who is our City Manager. There was some other fellow there from Public Works as well, but I did not get his name. And we had three police detectives there too.
I am not sure why exactly Bustamante was there – except of course that he is running for reelection. He did not have an agenda as to what he wanted to talk about. When it became clear that he had nothing to say the association president decided to let the attendees ask questions. And we did.
The issue of crime came up. Bustamante said that crime has dropped by over 30%. But he did admit that violent crime has ticked up a bit. He had no ideas whatsoever about how to reduce crime.
Someone asked him if he still supports the Bisno luxury condo tower. He hemmed and hawed and said the project was still going forward. But he did not affirm if he is supporting it. Of course he is! The developer, Robert Bisno, is one of his contributors.
Bustamante was also asked why the city delayed the installation of Quiet Zone train crossings in our neighborhood. He did not say – but he did say that the project is finally proceeding.
Then, just like that, he was off and out of there, but he did stop to smooch with Ream.
The police officers said that we have had 9 burglaries in our neighborhood in the past six months. They said that was a 15% increase from last year. They said that was not a big increase. I think the people who were robbed would beg to differ.
Someone asked about the theft of catalytic converters. Apparently that is a big problem in Santa Ana. Guess what? The cops don’t count these thefts. They have no idea how many converters have been stolen. So much for that drop in crime. Almost everyone at the meeting knew someone who has had their converter stolen. Why doesn’t the city make it illegal for junk and part yards to buy parts without proof of ownership?
The last big point of contention tonight was a proposed traffic light to be installed at Fairhaven and Lincoln. The residents don’t want this light. Ross said it was being installed for safety reasons. The other public works guy said that the city did not have time to poll the residents about it. Really? A poll could be conducted using robo-calls in two days. But of course the city managers really have no interest in finding what we want, do they?
I also met a young man tonight who wondered why in the world the city does not have any BMX parks. Good question. Apparently the police harass kids who try to do BMX riding over at Park Santiago, where there are a bunch of dirt mounds, nearby the new nature center. Why doesn’t the city build a BMX track there? These kids have nowhere else to go – they are not allowed to do BMX tricks in the city’s skateboard parks.
Our meeting was also attended by Gregory Barraza, who is running for the Santa Ana Unified School District’s Board of Education. He said he is the only qualified candidate, as he is a teacher and has been an administrator. But when someone asked him if he supports school vouchers he tripped over his tongue. I asked him to send me an article about his campaign and we will post it here when I get it.
It was a good meeting tonight. Our neighbors had a chance to see why I am running for the City Council. Our city administrators and Council Members lie and obfuscate at every opportunity. Our ward needs a Councilman who will stand for us – not for the developers and the City managers.
i have a business in the area and we have been tagged in the past month. we have also had our outdoor furniture stolen 2 different times in the past week.
things like this have not happened in this area for almost 2 years, but are happening more and more.
this is like a reverse Thoreau.
just as an outsider, but involved person, seeing Bustamante only during election time is pretty lame…how are you going to know about your community without being there? Mr. Ream has even visited my business at least…B-man lives in the area and has not even set foot inside and our business is getting calls from other cities in OC to move out of SA….you would think he cared if we stayed.
I noticed Barazza’s signs at the mouth of Floral Park yesterday afternoon; that was the first I ever heard of Mr. Barraza running….kind of late in promoting, huh?
I’m stunned that the SAPD aren’t counting catalytic converter thefts as a crime; those doing the crime are making BIG BUCKS as the catalytics are lined with platinum. Just ‘google’ the issue and all sorts of epidemic crime statistics come up. How lame our local law enforcement agency is; let this problem become an epidemic in South County and watch the OC Sheriff’s conduct a sweep just like the one they recently conducted earlier this week.
Again…as I have whined in other blogs it is our civic DUTY to finally scream our voices and vote these lamos out.
Keoniana,
Oh I am not endorsing him. But I have given all of the SAUSD school board candidates the opportunity to present their story to our readers. That is a service to my readers, not to the candidates.
Barraza is allied with Mark McLaughlin, which for me is a no go.
Lastly, amen to your final statement! We definitely need to vote these lamos out…
I was involved with the Parkwood, Meredith and Portola neighborhood issue with the new Buffalo Wild Wings Sports Bar. Residents adjacent to this development had, and still do have, concerns about the effect this development will have on the neighborhood.
Calls were made to SA Councilman Carlos Bustamante to become involved in this issue and to work with the residents and BWW. He did not return calls. He left the residents high and dry.
To his credit, Councilman David Benavides, along with Roman Reyna, did show up and worked with the residents concerning this issue. This is Bustamante’s Ward and he was a “no-show” AWOL.
Art, you misunderstood my statement regarding Barraza; it seems like his campaign is off to a late start in promotional area……I did not mean to make it sound like you are in any way shape or form endorsing him.
Keoniana,
Thanks for the clarification! I am voting for Irene Ibarra, Valerie Amezcua, and either Gloria Alvarado or Roman Reyna. I am not voting for Richardson, Hernandez or Aguinaga. Or Barraza for that matter.
It’s funny isn’t it, when those running for office, show up around election time, for NA meetings, which are supposed to be non political meetings regarding the neighborhoods. Not political stumps for those seeking office.
Were the THREE detectives there to investigate something or just to protect Carlos and Dave, or where they there for some sort of presentation? THREE highly paid detectives, on the clock, for one NA meeting, now that’s efficiency, Santa Ana style. No doubt they were directed from a higher pay grade, to be there, since I’m sure they would much rather be out doing something productive than political babysitting services.
I cannot think of a more qualified person than Irene Ibarra. Our family has our support 100%. Unfortunately none of the other candidates have peaked my attention.
Our best to you as well in the upcoming election, Art.
Oops…typo on the last note I left. I meant to say that our family supports Ms. Ibarra 100%.