I showed up to tonight’s South Santa Ana Merchants Association meeting and asked once more if the board members of this organization were going to allow the meeting to be filmed and made available on cable T.V. and the Internet. Once more I was told emphatically “no.” So I joined my fellow City Council challengers outside and we opted not to participate in the meeting.
Why did we do this? Why did Mayoral candidates Michele Martinez, George Collins and Stanley Fiala join me and my fellow Council candidates Lisann Martinez and Jim Walker in not participating in this meeting? We did it for principle. The meeting was open to the public – it was actually announced in the O.C. Register as an invitation to the public to participate. But the association board members opted to exclude most of the people of our city by not allowing video footage to be placed on T.V. and the Internet. In the end only about 20 people showed up.
I asked Maggie Rodriguez, who is this organization’s Treasurer, and Jorge Doffo, who is their President, why we could not film the meeting. They said that their fellow board members felt uncomfortable in front of the camera. Really? But two years ago when Collins filmed their last City Council candidates meeting, no one objected. So what changed in the interim?
They also said no one contacted him. That turned out to be a big lie. Collins DID contact Doffo, repeatedly. Doffo never returned his calls. Collins also emailed Mary Guzman, the association’s Secretary, many times. So yes, he DID try to work this out with them.
Rodriguez was particularly nasty. She said I never went to her meetings. Really? This was the fourth association meeting I have been to. She then said I don’t speak Spanish – but I teach in Spanish for Cerritos College and three other companies. And what the heck does that have to do with the issues at hand?
As I pointed out in my press release about our boycott, by saying no to the cameras they turned their backs on those residents of our city who could not be there. They missed out on some remarkable remarks by Santa Ana Mayor Miguel Pulido and his crooked Council cabal:
- Pulido said he was happy that the meeting was not filmed.
- When Glen Stroud asked Team Pulido (Pulido himself had already left) to explain why they spent $150,000 of our money to hold a special election so that Councilwoman Claudia Alvarez could get four more years on the Council, via the onerous Measure D, no one had a good answer. Councilmen Carlos Bustamante and Vince Sarmiento stammered away – and Alvarez simply had no clue what to say.
- Alvarez boasted that her parents were small business owners. I wonder what they think about the ridiculous fees that Alvarez and her cronies charge for Santa Ana business licenses? We pay over $600 while businesses in the City of Brea pay $50. What’s up with that?
- Pulido and company promised to hang banners in south Santa Ana touting their shopping district. How much is that going to cost – at a time that our city is $28 million in debt? They also promised, essentially, to subisidize the businesses on south Main St. That’s just nuts!
- Carlos Bustamante said that the Renaissance Plan is coming back soon. He and Sarmiento admitted the initial plan had been flawed. And they claimed they were not going to oust anyone from the Logan Barrio. THAT I don’t believe.
- Sarmiento said that there is no room for more parks – funny how they always find more room for $800,000 condos and high rise towers!
- Claudia Alvarez was asked what we can do about the drug problem – she said she could not say! Her response to the issue of the gang killings in our city was that we should focus on other things! She did however brag about the gang injunction and as usual said they have hired a lot of cops, even though in truth we are still far short the number of police officers we should have.
Here’s the kicker – a cop car waited across the street during the entire meeting. After the meeting the cops approached Alvarez and made sure she was OK. How much is it costing taxpayers to provide her with a police escort? Who is going to protect US from HER?
We gave the South Santa Ana Merchants Association an opportunity to reach out to the people of Santa Ana tonight – and they punted. Too bad. I have a feeling that they are less about helping our city and more about stuffing their own pockets. They take pride in dragging the local politicians to their meetings – but tonight the rest of us made a stand for principle. We refused to be played and while we were outside we were interviewed by a reporter from the Excelsior newspaper. We will have our video statements on YouTube by tomorrow. We report to the people of our city – if the SSAMA doesn’t like that, too bad. Tonight we showed them that we are NOT going to be pushed around. And we are NOT going to buy their favor the way Pulido and company do.
You want to know how to help the business community in Santa Ana? Well, let’s take a look at what Pulido and company have done to them:
- Pulido and his Council cabal voted to raise our water rates TWICE in the past year.
- Pulido and company endorsed the fraudulent SAUSD Measure G – a bond measure so bad that Trustee John Palacio said we DIDN’T need it! That’s right – Pulido and his cabal voted to raise our property taxes – just as the global economy went down the toilet.
- Pulido and company decided a few years ago to NOT allow Santa Ana business owners to use our public library for free. Their taxes fill our city coffers but they cannot use our one public library.
- Pulido and his team tried to raise our taxes via the infamous failed Ream Assessment a few years ago.
- Pulido and his crooked henchmen wasted $150,000 of our tax dollars on a bogus special election this year – so they could extend their own Council terms.
- Pulido and company gave away land to Don Crevier, a multi-millionaire, for his luxury car lot. And he was given massive tax breaks.
- Pulido and company gave out a pension spike this summer and vast raises to most city managers and employees this year – even though our city is $28 million in debt!
- And as I noted they vastly overcharge us for business licenses.
So when is SSAMA going to stand up to Pulido and his “Team” and fight them on these issues? My guess? Never.
Art,
Perhaps they did not want the forum to be videotaped by George Collins. Maybe they are aware of how he likes to edit video to falsely imply things or portray situations out of complete context. Collins like to brag about his handywork and post the false and slanderous videos on the internet.
I agree that if an unbiased third party wanted to videotape the event to televise it locally as a public service they should have been granted access. What do they want to hide? It sends a bad message.
However I have no problem whatsoever with them banning Collins from videotaping the event. His track record speaks for itself and he is proud of his false and slanderous video work. Why allow him to do it again?