Make no mistake about it – the City of Santa Ana is flat broke. “City departments from police to parks have once again begun searching their budgets for places to cut as the city stares down a shortfall of as much as $25 million,” according to the O.C. Register.
With that in mind, I met today with Gerardo Mouet, the Director of Santa Ana’s Parks, Recreation and Community Servces Agency, which includes the Santa Ana Zoo and the Santa Ana Public Library. We met to discuss my proposal for a dog park at Santiago Park, but ended up talking about a wide range of issues.
First the good news. Mouet is a very creative administrator, with many years of experience at City Hall. He even served as a deputy to City Manager Dave Ream. So Mouet is not without resources and he has done a lot to improve service to our residents even as he as slashed his agency’s budget to the bone.
Now the bad news. Mouet’s department is down to 77 full time employees. In the year 2004, his department had 142 full time employees! What this means is that his department spends $49 per capita, while cities of comparable size, such as Oakland, spend anywhere from $68 to $102 per capita. And Oakland still employs 204 full time workers in their parks and recreation department.
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Glenn Stroud has a lifetime of experience in city Parks and Recreation work (Santa Ana and Costa Mesa) and we need him working on planning for our city. Do we still have a Parks Board? How can we get Glenn or Julie on it? Art…please use your powers to make this happen. You know important people and can pull the right strings. PLEASE! Our parks need help!
We Need the Strouds,
Julie Stroud has been on the Parks and Rec Board for years. Her term expires this December.
Glen Stroud was a City Commissioner but is so no longer.
Art..Can you help us get Glenn back on a board? He served on the Grand Jury and has a wealth of experience to offer our city.
#3,
I think our city commissions are really not that important. I have proven that you can foster change in this city without serving in an official capacity.
I served two terms on the library board and a year on the redevlopment commission, but I have accomplished far more as a blogger.
My advice to Glen is to not worry about appointments and instead concentrate on finding ways to make Santa Ana a better place to live – and then communicating those ideas to City Hall.
“but I have accomplished far more as a blogger”
That said…not everyone can start a Blog. How about helping Glenn get back on a board? He’s a former member of the Grand Jury and can do more on a board than just calling up city hall with ideas. How often does city hall respond to those calls? They respond to you Art because you have the most read Blog in Orange County and they are afraid of you. You are to the Blog world what John and Ken are to drive time radio.
We need the Strouds,
Thanks for the kind words!
I served with Glen on the Redevelopment Commission. I actually nominated him to serve on the Historic Resources Commission. He did a fine job on both commissions.
It hurts to be dismissed from a Commission. In Glen’s case he finished his term and was not reappointed. That happened to me when I was on the Library Board.
You get over it when you realize that the commissions really don’t matter all that much.
There are many ways for Glen to contribute to our city’s well-being. The key today is to be creative and to consider ways to better serve our people while also saving money.
I don’t know that the folks at City Hall are all that impressed by me, but it is hard to argue with the proposals I have been sending their way. Together we can find a way out of the City’s $25 million dollar nightmare…
“I don’t know that the folks at City Hall are all that impressed by me”
Art, partly it is that you have good ideas and partly it is because they are afraid of your Blog. I know people who know people on the 8th Floor of City hall and they tell me that Jill Arthur and the Executive Management Team all check Orange Juice Blog each day when they get to work often before they check their emails. Your Blog has been the basis for many agenda decisions. They sometimes decide to put items “off camera” in non-televised meetings because of your blog coverage. They will never admit it but the council and the staff live in fear of being profiled on your blog. They don’t care about the other blogs, just yours. As your number continue to increase, so will your power. What you need to do now is make sure you always use your power for the good of the city and its residents. Never underestimate your influence on the Council and Staff. And know you have more than a few friends working in city hall who respect you and your work.