(Picture Courtesy of the O.C. Register)
Santa Ana “City officials have begun meeting with private developers to talk about building as many as 200 homes on a swath of mostly empty land the city owns near downtown. They envision an entirely new neighborhood built on dozens of lots the city has bought and cleared over the past decade. The city paid nearly $18.5 million for those lots, records show, but will likely give at least some of them to the developers to keep the homes built there affordable,” according to the O.C. Register.
This action borders on the illegal. Those lots were acquired using federal grants for affordable housing. The City of Santa Ana is essentially relocating people they don’t want in the area to the west side of the city, and using these properties as they please.
To rub salt in the wound, they are going to give away some of these lots, to developers, allegedly to build affordable housing. Do YOU truste the Pulido bunch to get any of this right?
These are the same idiots that gave us the One Broadway Plaza tower fiasco! The same dunces who built expensive condos at the City Place only to see them sold at auction for a fraction of their original cost. The same ding dongs who built expensive condo towers in the south of the city – only to see them get rented out when no one would buy them.
Now I am supposed to believe that this bunch is going to do something right this time? Why would we ever believe that, with their track record?
And it is awful to read about the poor home owners who were tossed out to make way for this development. This is what happened in Chavez Ravine – but this time it is a Council full of Mexican immigrants DOING IT TO THEIR OWN PEOPLE!
“The city now envisions a mix of ground-floor shops and for-sale homes and apartments with a “range of affordability” built on 48 of the city-owned lots, according to its guidelines for the Station District. Those lots add up to a little less than 7 acres of prime land, and the city wants between 20 and 30 homes per acre – around 200 homes in all.”
“A range of affordability?” They used affordable housing grants to buy this land! The new homes should ALL be affordable, period! This shell game is ridiculous and unlawful!
IF they move rich white people into these homes, who is going to protect them? Santa Ana leads the County in violent crime, according to the FBI. We can’t afford to hire more cops and the ones we have are over-burdened. This can only end badly.
This district is not far from where Santa Ana Councilwoman was robbed two years ago while walking to a meeting. Her purse and the police badge she was given was never found. Not far from this distrct, two homeless men stole all the historical brass markers off a slew of buildings last year. And countless homicides and shootings have taken place all around that area, for years.
Moving a bunch of gentrified folks into that area can only end badly. And why would they want to come here in the first place? We have the highest property taxes in the county. We have the highest water rates. We have the most expensive business license fees of any city in the county, by far. And we have the most corrupt Mayor and City Council in the history of Orange County. Who the Hell would want to move here?
Shame on Pulido and City Manager Dave Ream. Their disastrous “vision” continues to ruin lives in Santa Ana. But one of their developer buddies is going to strike it rich. The developers being considered are “Creative Housing Associates and Mercy Housing; Related California and Griffin Realty Corp.; Archstone, Orange Housing Development Corp. and C&C Development; and Stratus Development, Urban West and Jamboree Housing with Heart Inc.”
“These are the same idiots that gave us the One Broadway Plaza tower fiasco!”…… correct Pedroza.
However, you have forgot to mention that these idiots are 7 Latinos on the city council who gave the final approval to any of that.
Now Pedroza, you are at fork. You must decide whether or not you will continue pushing Latinos at all cause or push the capable people.
Until then, you got what you have been preying for!
Again! I am the only force in the Santa Ana who can reshuffle the deck…. why? Because I consider holding any political office as a service rather than career so I do not need to build any quid pro quo alliances which leads inevitably to a corruption.
If I would get elected as SA Mayor, I would fix the city and Get The Hell Out Of Here!
All of your favorites like Correa just hopping from one term limit to another. You should know that such behavior leads to the problems which you are describing above.
Are the voters of Santa Ana dunces for approving One Broadway Plaza? The referenda for that project failed.
#2 fair question. I don’t know how long you’ve been in town, however the pro One Broadway Tower campaign tugged at the Latino voter by telling them this project would provide park space and a plaza for them to congregate; a former school board member jumped on the bandwagon touting the benefits to OCHSA students – they would have a place to eat and linger by the pool. They also captured union support by claiming the building would use local union workers. And there was the pervasive group of local activists ( Alfredo Amezcua, Ruben Martinez, Brian Bist, Mike Metzler, Mike Seeley) that slobbered at the thought of “eliminating” the brown residents of Willard by bringing in the Fortune 500 companies the developer promised. And if you were against this project you were tagged a CAVEMEN by the resident Pulido Puppets. And let’s not forget the money that flowed into the yes on Measure C campaign and the firemen and police associations walking the precints with their propaganda.
The project is and will always be a bad idea for that part of town. You don’t build a 37-story tower on a two lane road.
Fiala,
#3 is correct. The individuals he mentions and others were responsible for the voters approving One Broadway Plaza. The voters were composed of all races including Czechs.
The seven Latino councilmembers did not approve it. Many were not in office when the voters passed the Measure.
Lomely, you are an dullard!
Everything about the 1B project, had to be approved by the city council and planing commission first. Only then people could decide if it will be actually build by way of the ballot.
It was an opposition to the council which collected signatures and put it on the ballot…. and they lost!
The council could kill the entire 1B project right in the outset.
Today, the all city affairs are decided by “Magnificent Seven” Latinas and that is a reason why the city is the worse city in the Orange County – “The Buck Stops There”
I personally support 1B but am against any city funding.
I support publicly open borders but am against any social services to support these who come here illegally by jumping over the fence.
IF the city is using redevelopment funds then relocation is required under CA law. It is also very common and smart (land is the major cost of new housing) to acquire and contribute the land for affordable housing purposes. If done correctly, the result of these efforts could be safe and quality affordable housing for very low, low or moderate income residents.
#6,
It already WAS affordable housing for low income residents. The City gave them the boot. Now Pulido and company want to use the land to build expensive townhomes for rich people.
It is a criminal conspiracy.
Despicable!
What about planing commission?… Art
Fiala,
“Lomely, you are an dullard”
“However, you have forgot to mention that these idiots are 7 Latinos on the city council who gave the final approval to any of that.”
I believe we all have a right to an oipinion as we see it.When responding to you I did not see the need to criticize your intellect.
Individuals with your character are trully STUPID. Never mind your ability to reason and be civil.
You said final approval. The final approval through a vote was necessary for OBP.
You know that council votes are under control. The votes are a reflection of those with the control not by 7 Latinos. It has been the same when there where few latios and no Latinos on the council.
It would be the same with 7 Czechs under the current political power.
“Today, the all city affairs are decided by “Magnificent Seven” Latinas and that is a reason why the city is the worse city in the Orange County – “The Buck Stops There””
You are stupid if you truly believe this. The city has been like this for over 20 years before their where any Latinos on council.
Listen Lomely, I do not want to waste these valuable pages by responding to your Marxist ideology where you consider everyone equal. The fact is that there are smart people and stupid one. You will always blame smart people for stupidity of others. Therefore, no intelligent discussion is possible until you drop your socialistic affirmative action attitude.
Fiala,
You only blow smoke and use over used words and labels.
You offer nothing to society. It is why you were exiled from your country.
You are here as a political refugee the ultimate affermitive action gift. You are stupid to criticize affirmitive action when you take and arrived to this country as a political refugee ahead of many immigrants in line to get here.
Fiala, I believe you took advantage of a socialist affirmitive action!
WHAT A HYPOCRITE!!!!!
“you consider everyone equal”
I consider all humans to be equal don’t you? Them being smart or dumb is irrelevant.
“The fact is that there are smart people and stupid one. You will always blame smart people for stupidity of others.”
Fiala, There are smart people that are stupid -like you.
Oh my—-
“Fiala, There are smart people that are stupid -like you.”
EXACTLY!!!!
Scooby you need some polishing up—
I could not have expressed that better. Fiala you are quite a character–yet you need to sort your thoughts and join a support group. You are smart yet you,Ed Gonzalo, and the rest of you need help.
Just in Time, you are again “tardy”.
“I consider all humans to be equal don’t you?”…. NO Lomely, I do not!
I do not thing that I am equal to Adolf Hitler. Are you?
“Them being smart or dumb is irrelevant”….Hmmm
So should I have done my root canal by a mongoloid?
Maybe instead of giving away the land to developers so they can pocket half the retail price as personal profit. The home stead parcels can be lotto’ed off to qualified low income families who then can contract with Habitat for Humanity, and others to build the new homes.
Criminal conspiracy? Possible I suppose, but reducing land acquisition cost to encourage private sector development and restore a greater property tax base is not a bad policy choice necessarily.
The fiscalization of land use is a reality. Cities either grow or die and you cannot allow properties to simply deteriorate or sit idle and not contribute to the general welfare through ‘best uses’ and maximized property values.
It is good policy generally to turn ‘blighted’ properties into productive uses again which benefit the poor through new quality affordable units and/or the general community through increased property tax revenue and neighborhood revitalization.
Fiala,
““Them being smart or dumb is irrelevant”….Hmmm
So should I have done my root canal by a mongoloid?”
I think you did have this, the bad root canal with the associated apical periodontitis has caused you a degree of dementia.
You make my point again. You are smart and stupid.
Then you also do not agree with this statement the founding fathers of this great Country wrote and the reason this country gave you political refugee status.
The Declaration of Independence: text from Wikipedia.
” We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.
This sentence has been called “one of the best-known sentences in the English language”[2] and “the most potent and consequential words in American history”.[3] The passage has often been used to promote the rights of marginalized groups, and came to represent for many people a moral standard for which the United States should strive. This view was greatly influenced by Abraham Lincoln, who considered the Declaration to be the foundation of his political philosophy,[4] and promoted the idea that the Declaration is a statement of principles through which the United States Constitution should be interpreted.”
Advocate,
The area in question is not blighted economically.
It is blighted in appearance. Neglected in maintenance on purpose so to claim blight and so qualify for state and federal grants to correct the blight. Money which never reaches neighborhoods like this one.
The Downtown area which the area of discussion is produces sales tax for the city just below the sales tax revenue the Main Place Mall does.
Very productive hardly blighted. In Appearance yes, neglected on purpose because it is 90% Hispanic. This fact is used for economic and political manipulation by the leadership in control for the last 20 years.
This city makes me sick. They’re cutting parks and recreation staff and budgets, but can find money for a developer to do a “study”.
They don’t NEED a study, they NEED a REALITY CHECK, right now you can BUY an EXISTING PROPERTY CHEAPER THAN YOU CAN BUILD A NEW ONE! According to Trulia, there are 2,300 houses for sale in SA, 1,800 of them in some stage of foreclosure. This project missed the real estate boom and should be put on hold.
If the city wants to increase revenue it would be better off finishing the Bristol Street project, because NO BUSINESS PERSON in their right mind would come to SA after driving down Bristol. It looks like it belongs in a bombed out third world country, not the MAIN ARTERY of OC’s largest city. Why can’t they use redevelopment funds to FINISH the Bristol St. corridor? How long is this project going to take? I think it’s been 10 years and it’s NOWHERE NEAR DONE!
The people of this city SHOULD be up-in-arms over their Mayor/City Council trying to fund PIE-IN-THE-SKY gentrification projects while CUTTING SERVICES for EXISTING residents.
anonster,
My suggestion to council is that they collectively tell the Mayor and city manager to produce a plan consistant with economic development for all it’s residents which they would support and follow through.
This would then be a Mayor/city manager project. to bring the city in line with it’s neighbor cities.
Success or failure can then be placed on them with the correponding consequences.
Now business is as usual with added fuel of an all Hispanic council accussed of being corrupt.
Strategy is to continue with third world management by the power responsible for the last 20 years while placing blame of blight to the all Hispanic council which has no control.
A few elections back the Mayor supported a anglo council candidate saying publically that this was becase he believes a all Hispanic council would be corrupt.
The mayor and city manager supporters are now cirlulating this message to satge future election strategy against Hispanic council/ Mayor campaigns.
This Hispanic council and future Hispanic candidates need to head them off at the pass.
#3 (sorry to backtrack so far but this is the first I have been on since I posted). I am quite familiar with the entire situation and the entitlements, referndum, and the subsequent vote. Let’s not forget that the ANTI OBP people put this on the ballot. They clearly were “oranized” and funded. So, to suggest that people were duped into voting to approve the project doesn’t carry much weight. Besides, we don’t require an IQ test for voting (and for good reason). If people are duped into voting for soemthing (i.e., “stupid”) then that is a part of the process.
As Franklin said – “Democracy is the worst form of government except all others.” I think truer words were never spoken with respect to ballot box planning. And remember that the ANTI OBP folks were the ones that pursued the ballot box planning in this instance.
Well Pedroza you have again skipped my post where I have cited the history.
Are you trying to rewrite it?
The fact is that same people who wrote the declaration of independence did not believe that blacks are human.
Like it or not!
Your denial of it is same as denial of the Jewish holocaust.
For you only you coward
Stan,
Re #23
I think I may have deleted it by accident. We had a lot of spam in the filter earlier today and I hit delete.. and right before it all was eliminated, I thought I saw a post by you. If not too much trouble, could you please repost?
I am sorry about that. really.
Sorry Red Fox but I do not keep copies.
However, your explanation is well taken.
Thanks for accepting my apology, Stan. That’s very big of you.
I am not sure why your posts land in the spam filter in the first place?
And – – I don’t want you to take this the wrong way – – but you’ve really added a lot of good things to the discussions lately. There has been a shift in your contributions and I am enjoying what you post lately. just wanted to let u know.
Well Red Fox, I am glad to help sink other blogs.
However, I wish that your boss would understand that a profanity is the ultimate satire.
#17 Advocate, The fiscalization of land use is a reality. Cities either grow or die and you cannot allow properties to simply deteriorate or sit idle and not contribute to the general welfare through ‘best uses’ and maximized property values.
This is very unfair to people that have worked and bought properties, the cost of living goes up, COLA’s do not increase enough. Many of these people are just getting by. If the city were to decide to redevelop Floral Park Just think of the tax increases that could be had in the area. Especially Pulido’s house that is an eyesore.
#22 are you ok?
#22 – the voters of Santa Ana placed it on the ballot!