Half of Councilman David Benavides’ Commission appointees live in Ward 3. He represents Ward 4.
David Benavides is one of three Santa Ana Council members up for re-election this November. He represents Ward 4, which is highlighted in red in the Ward Map shown above. I found it shocking that he appointed Julie Stroud to the Santa Ana Parks and Recreation Commission, given her longstanding animus for immigrants, so I thought I would review who else he has appointed to our City Commissions.
- Housing and Redevelopment Commission – Benavides has not appointed anyone to this important commission. There are two other vacancies as well.
- Environmental and Traffic Advisory Committee – Benavides appointed Don Cribb, who lives in Park Santiago, which is not in Benavides’ ward. Cribb lives in Ward 3.
- Planning Commission – Benavides appointed Mario Turner. He does not live in Benavides’ ward, but he is a good choice for this Commission, having previously served on the Housing and Redevelopment Commission. He lives in the Park Santiago Neighborhood, which is in Ward 3.
- Parks and Rec Commission – as mentioned above, Benavides appointed Julie Stroud. She does not live in his ward. Like Cribb and Turner, she lives in Ward 3, which is represented by Councilman Carlos Bustamante.
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Sean & Art: Are you serious? Don Cribbs is still around? I wish you would write another post about him. He’s quite an interesting fellow. Here’s what I have learned about him talking to some store owners near my shop in downtown S.A.
1) He has not worked for at least 20 years and yet maintains two homes. (He claims to repair old furniture for a living but no one has ever seen him fix anything and one woman I spoke to who used to socialize with him says some of his own furniture is in need of repair.)One house is in Park Santiago that looks abandoned yet Cribb seems to sleep there some. The other is in West Hollywood and I was not able to talk to anyone who has visited him there.
2) He posed for nude drawings by artist David Hockney.
3) He was involved with the start of the Arts Village.
4) He has the ear of several of the current council members who fear him and his power in the Arts community.
5) He was the mascot at Valley High school when he attended there and dressed in a Falcon costume.
6) He attends art openings and other city events to partake of the free food and snacks.
7) He is best friends with City Manager Cindy Nelson and they are often seen together at Southern California events.
Please post about Mr. Cribbs and tell us how he got so much power. Thank you O.J. for all the great articles. You are my #1 source for politcal news in Central O.C.
Downtowner,
Thank you! Cribb by the way lives on my street. His house is a wreck. He is hardly ever there.
So what exactly is the point you’re trying to make here? I’m not a fan of any particular council member, but I am wondering why has Benavides has suddenly become a focus of your attention. This post would have been much more effective if you’d compared his appointments to those of the other council members.
Marie,
Why is that? We know in looking at Benavides’ appointments that he appears to have a problem appointing residents of his own ward to the various city commissions. And we know he is up for re-election. I will let the residents decide if he is worth re-electing.
As for why I took a look at Benavides’ appointments, that has to do with my recent meeting with the Santa Ana Parks and Rec Commission. I found Benavides’ appointee, Julie Stroud, to be rude and condescending and clearly not interested in doing what is right for our residents.
I then wondered if all of his appointments lived outside of his ward, as Stroud does. Lo and behold, half of them live in Bustamante’s ward.
“This post would have been much more effective if you’d compared his appointments to those of the other council members.”
Art…Why not print all of them ese?
wachale carnal,
It takes time! I will work on that over the weekend. I am going to focus in particular on the Council Members who are up for reelection.
Muchas Gracias!
wachale carnal,
The post is up at the New Santa Ana blog, at http://newsantaana.com/2010/03/26/mayor-miguel-pulido-has-only-appointed-two-latinos-to-our-city-commissions/.
It turns out that Pulido has only appointed two Latinos to our seven City Commissions.
Great info Art. It would be nice to know ages too. We have the youngest city in CA but how many on commissions are 18-25?
younger is better,
Thanks! Not sure about the ages. I don’t know all of the commissioners. I do agree that our Commissioners should be more representative of the people who live in this city.
There doesn’t exactly seem to be a large pool of QUALIFIED citizens chomping at the bit to serve on city Commissions. So to that extent, all of the Councilmember’s hands may be somewhat tied. Young people would be fine, but the key is “qualified”. For example; while the city truly has some architectural gems (mostly residential), one drive through the city and it’s clear that the city’s architectural standards are quite low. There are some profoundly hideous buildings in this city. It’s pretty obvious that past Planning Commissions and Councils have accepted buildings they shouldn’t have.
Young, old, middle-aged…it’s all good. Just make sure they can promote the highest standards for their respective Commission. I’d say MANY of the current and past Councilmembers have failed to appoint citizens that can meet that goal.
Now that building were mentioned.
How many Public Libraries does Santa Ana have?
Art…useless post trying to create controversy where there isn’t any. Remember that Santa Ana City Council elections are citywide…not ward specific. So it makes sense that appointees would be city wide also and not simply reflect the ward of the counciperson.
Curious,
The city charter dictates that the majority of each councilmembers board and commission appointees must come from within the ward they are elected to represent.
However while this may not be controversial to you, the clear violation of the city’s code of ethics by Parks and Rec Commissioner Julie Stroud is. Councilmember Benevides should act immediately and remove her.