The Santa Ana City Council, acting as the “Community Redevelopment Agency” is “scheduled to select a “master planner” team for their so-called “Station District” lots on Monday,” according to the O.C. Register.
The developer they pick will apparently “draw up plans for a gateway district of shops and homes on the city’s empty lots, which cluster around busy Santa Ana Boulevard.”
Those lots were acquired with money meant to provide affordable housing. Working class families were displaced by the city, sometimes after using the threat of eminent domain. But the city is only using part of the lots for affordable housing.
The city should never have acquired these lots in the first place. But now that they own them every single lot should be used for affordable housing. The city is playing a shell game by dedicating properties on the west side to affordable housing instead of the downtown lots in question.
The city bought all this land without ever having a plan as to how to use it. It was all part of Santa Ana Mayor Miguel Pulido’s gentrification scheme.
While the city was busy buying up this land they closed a library and didn’t open any new parks. And Pulido kept pushing for more luxury condos and townhomes while thousands of our young residents left town for the 909, because of the lack of affordable housing in Santa Ana.
In related news, the Santa Ana City Council will also be voting on the Usual Suspects’ Anti-Graffiti Ordinance on Monday. And they will be voting on an ordinance that will allow City Manager Dave Ream to conduct uniform hearing and appeal procedures without the input of the City Council. They will also be voting to restructure some of the City Commissions. Click here to read the Council’s agenda.
By the way, a pajarito reports that there’s a Mike Harrah owned property near the Bowers Museum that is not only trashed, but the the business owner lives there and holds parties late into the night! I wonder why the city won’t crack down on that? I guess they are too busy working on their “Station District” fiasco…
Its too bad the city sees developer profits as more important than public services.
If the city wants to give away the property for someone else’s profit, then it should give the land to qualified Santa Ana residents so they can build their own house with sweat equity and help from Habitat for Humanity.
Speaking of Mr. Ream. How is it possible that this buffoon was given an enormous raise this year while he’s laying off numerous other city employees who actually provide the people of Santa Ana with critical services. Sounds like a big salary spike for his retirement? The guy can’t even sit through a meeting without falling asleep. He is truly ‘Reaming’ the people of Santa Ana. Pathetic!
#2,
The problem with giving Ream a Golden Parachute is that he will probably forget to pull the rip cord!
All SA citizens need to start attending city council meetings and shoot this new attempt..let me call it future fiasco down.
How many areas of SA need dire attention? face lifts? beautification? Is the new district the fix to this city’s buffer to it’s ugliness? NOT! Aside from an approximate four block radius from the Station..the rest of the area is nothing but BLIGHT!
Inept morons……
Keoniana,
How many City Council meetings have you attended? How involved are you in the process? Have you stood before the council and and voiced your concerns?
“The rest of the area is nothing but BLIGHT!”
The area you so unjustly refer to as BLIGHT,can be explained as many differant things but BLIGHT is not one of them! Please do your homework before you toss around comments that are not true.
The only Blight I see are the vacant,boarded up homes and vacant lots that the City of Santa Ana starting acquiring 5 years ago.
Jaquita: I’ve lived in Santa Ana since 1968; I currently live on Second and Baker Streets; right in the dead center of three well known gang areas. In the early 60’s, the area which I live in how had majority caucasian residents. Now…98% hispanic the majority of the residents renters with multi-families living in single family homes. The majority of the SA central district and Station area is BLIGHT. Here is one of Webster’s definitions of BLIGHT: Something that impairs growth, withers hopes and ambitions, or impedes progress and prosperity. Santa Ana, unfortunately, has many areas that are full of BLIGHT. Other than a few blocks radius of several neighborhood communities and, of course, Floral Park area…the city is in DIRE need of attention. Why spend millions on covering up ugliness that should be attended to first?
For your information, I have sent NUMEROUS EMAILS to all city council members; I am very informed by our COP and neighborhood designated representative, Virginia Avila….so it’s safe to say that I do my homework..and tend to do it well. Don’t like what I say..tough shit!
Keoniana,
I never indicated that I was disagreeing with your position on the inept morons. My concern was with your statement that anything past a four block radius of the Station District was BLIGHT.
I am a one of the founding members of the RSP Citizen Concerns.We are 100 plus members strong and have definitely attended every meeting seminar etc that had to do with RSP. We are residents and landowners within the area that is designated RSP.We do not appreciate nor take lightly your use of the word BLIGHT.
You say you have been a citizen of Santa Ana from 1968 and state that in the early 60’s the area you currentlty reside in at second and baker was predominately Caucasion.I recall in the early sixties that area was not a majority of caucasions,but I do not see any point arguing about that. I agree that the City is in dire need of attention. I just do not see what you intend on accomplishing with throwing barbs at anyone that is not caucasion.
There is so much potential in the downtown and station district. What is wrong with wanting to improve the neighborhoods? Lets face it, many of the surrounding neighborhoods are not in the greatest shape. First things first. The city of Santa Ana needs to crack down on the houses with 3 families living in them and make them clean up the yards. I looked at a house over the weekend and the garage had been converted into a bedroom. These are “single family residences”.
Santa Ana is bad in the same way Coto da coza is bad. There is little to zero diversity in both of the areas. Coto=white people / Santa Ana=mexicans. Variety is the spice of life. Gentrifying Santa Ana will bring in a more diverse population.
Also, how great would a light rail system going from the train station to downtown be. If the area was improved think of all the people in So Cal it would attract.
Keonina…SantaAna isn’t full of BLIGHT, those are PEOPLE!
People you may not see eye to eye with, want to live next to, or even venture into “their” neighborhoods or shops. Heck we’re all here for one reason, to make our lives better, live in an area where we feel comfortable and be able to squeeze out an existence that allows us some modicum happiness.
And jr. don’t get/give any wild ideas about telling people to clean up their yards and move the 3 families out of the one house they are struggling to afford…the last thing needed are more NIMBYS walking through working class neighborhoods in an attempt to “clean” up because they don’t understand why anyone would have a car that JiffyLube can’t service. Let Irvine stay Irvine and don’t tell me what I can and cannot do with the house I’m killing myself to pay the bills on.
As to the Coto vs Santana comment:
jr, if all you can see is tan/brown then yes, there is no diversity in SantaAna but open your eyes man. People from EVERY walk, ethnicity are here and I don’t feel comfortable anywhere else unless it’s similar…Gentrifying (hate that term)this area of SantaAna will only serve to economically evict those much as Spurgeon tried to do by squeezing a small section of the population between two railroad tracks.
Roman,
I don’t think you realize it but we want the same thing in Santa Ana….DIVERSITY. I wish Santa Ana would turn into a melting pot like NYC. In order to have diversity you need to have differences in Culture. Yeah, there are different Latin American cultures there but give me a break. I would love to walk down the street there and see Pakistani, Greek, Indian people…etc.
As for 3 families living in one house. That is just plain against the law. These are “Single family residences” that were not built to hold 12 people.
I am not against poor people but i am against people treating the environment they live in like crap by not taking care of their property.
By the way…i never said anything about tan/brown…i said Mexican. However, i do apologize for that. I should have said Latin American, because there are a lot more than Mexicans living in Santa Ana.
Oh yeah, i despise Irvine. And if you cant afford you mortgage payment you should have not purchased the house. That is your own problem that you created.