When Luis Miguel Ortiz Haro got the boot as the Mexican Consul in Santa Ana, Mexican President Felipe Calderon replaced him with a former Ambassador, Carlos Rodriguez y Quezada. Haro’s former deputy Consul, Miguel Herrara, with whom Haro often clashed, was retained by Quezada.
Now the OC Weekly has revealed that the community activism favored by Haro has been replaced by a new agenda. Quezada has made it obvious that he doesn’t give a damn about his people. Instead his agenda is “promoting high culture and rubbing elbows with local politicians than in helping their brethren in need,” according to Daffodil Altan’s post in the OC Weekly’s Navel Gazing blog.
What a perfect fit for Santa Ana Mayor Miguel Pulido! He ought to get along just fine with Quezada. Pulido loves to support the arts and high society. Santa Ana has only one library, but Pulido gives the elitist Bowers Museum $2 million every year. And Pulido was all too happy to close down the downtown OCTA bus depot – while pushing for a ridiculously expensive light rail system to ferry rich lawyers from the Santa Ana train depot to the Courthouse.
When I searched for a picture of Quezada, I found the one posted above, which features Pulido’s sidekick, Vince Sarmiento, and Quezada gazing intently at each other. That figures! Quezada and our elitist City Council will get along just swell…
Art,
I must strongly disagree with your assessment of Vince Sarmiento. Vince is anything but elitest. He is quite accessible and very down to earth.
I in fact see Vince as the future of this city. He is bright, articulate and a heckuva good guy. I have a feeling that he will be the one replacing Miguel in the Mayor’s office or at least I hope he is.
to be clear,The Downtown Santa Ana Bus Terminal has been on the chopping block ever since the Reagan Court House was built. But of course,you need something to pile on to Pulido.I find it important that your readers got the real reason.
Rick,
And Pulido has been in office for over 20 years, so what is your point?
Sean,
I agree that Sarmiento is being groomed to replace Pulido. In fact I think this will happen in two years.
Sarmiento seems like an elitist to me. He has not been in office long. Now that he has been elected to a four year term we can see what he is made of.
Art,
You really need to give the guy a chance. I think that you should try and sit down with him and have a conversation.
He is anything but an elitest.
He is really focused on making Santa Ana a better place and tackling the serious issues we face.
While some in the community have been hounding him with their pathological distortions of reality and made up stories about an evil boogeyman, Vince has made it clear that he wants to focus on making Santa Ana a better place.
I think you will be a supporter once you sit down and talk to him.
My point is, Everything that goes away can’t be the fault of one man, if you know anything about how the system works.
Sean,
Don’t worry. I have seen how impossible it is to replace Team Pulido. All I can do is blog about them and that is what I will do.
I would be happy to meet with Mr. Sarmiento should he be at all interested, but I think he and the rest of Team Pulido have their hands full right now with our city’s massive budget deficit and the growing crime and violence in our city.
I do hope that Sarmiento turns out to be a man of the people.
Rick,
You are right. If anything our City Manager, Dave Ream, deserves even more of the credit for our city’s problems. Why he has not been fired yet is a mystery to me…
Art: Actually, it was my colleague, Daffodil Altan, who wrote the post, but gracias for linking to it!
Gustavo,
Oops! Sorry Daffodil! I hope we send you quite a few readers as Daffodil did a great job on this story.
and HE has nothing to do with the County’s Bus Terminal closer. Happy Holidays
Rick,
You do realize that a developer allied with Pulido will be building a new project at that terminal?
Art,
Hello my friend. It has been a while since I have posted on the blog, but I wanted to interject on this conversation regarding Vince Sarmiento. I find him to be a stand up guy. He has always been available to speak with me, in fact I have called upon him in several occasions, and has always been accessible.
I hope Vince is the future of Santa Ana, along with Michele, and other incoming officers. For now, Vince receives a passing grade from me, and his credential continue to motivate me.
Luis,
I hope you are right. At the very least he can’t be any worse than Pulido.
But don’t forget that Sarmiento, along with Pulido, lied to the voters this year by claiming that crime is going down in Santa Ana – and incredibly that “Santa Ana is one of the safest cities in Orange County.”
Honestly Luis, does ANYONE believe that claim? It worries me when politicians lie in order to get elected.
Art,
I dont believe you sre naive enough not to realize that all politicians lie and alter numbers to suit their needs. I am sure you have not met a politician to has been completely honest. Unfortunately, it is just part of life.
What matters is what they do when they are in office, not necessarily what they promise. Otherwise, you will be overburden with dissapointments.
At the moment, given the current situation of the council, I am not sure Vince can be judged as a bad guy. He does not control the council, and if you want to survive you have to listen to the Godfather whether you like to or not. Vince is smart and calculating, I would expect changes.
Luis,
Let us hope you are right my friend. This city is quickly approaching critical mass. This is why I think Pulido will leave in two years. He cannot be having much fun right now.
Have a great Christmas and let’s pray that our local leaders will finally start doing what is right for the people of our city.
“He is really focused on making Santa Ana a better place and tackling the serious issues we face.”
…so say Mill
Well as far as I can tell is that Sarmiento has not “tackled” one single issue. Perhaps you can enlighten us all and educate us on any real issue he has “tackled”.
There seems to be a general consensus that he is a nice guy and eloquent but then again so was Solorio. What what his legacy other than renaming a park on Fifth street?
Luis says Sarmiento is “smart and calculating” and that worries me.
Perhaps Sarmiento is positioning himself to be mayor, my question is for what purpose? To enrich himself? Catapult to higher office? Nothing he has done so far indicates he is “working for a better Santa Ana”
Sarmineto has literally been handed a chance but has disappointed so far. The only person I see actually trying to better SA is Ms. Martinez, though she isn’t as “nice” or “eloquent” as Mr. Sarmiento, her actions put her way in front of the pack to lead SA into a better tomorrow.
Both Luis and Sean have been wrong in their positive assessment of one Mr. Tinajero, I hope for the betterment of Santa Ana they are not mistaken on Mr. Sarmiento.
Art,
I believe that the council has a good nucleus with Sal, Vince and Claudia. I trust that they will take a much larger role in the direction of the city and I cautiously optimistic that Miguel will turn to these folks for advice and help in directing the city in these trying times.
Michele Martinez adds an energy and compassion that is sorely needed and I am confident that everyone can put this past election behind them and work together.
We must not allow these folks to lose focus. I have spoken to most of them and I know they are determined to make the tough decisions necessary to get our city back on track.
There are some folks that are creating diversions and raising a ruckus with their pathological lies and distortions, however we need to make sure that these shenanigans don’t cause the council to lose focus.
We must also be willing to offer our support. These are tough times and our elected officials need us to do our part as well. Constantly attacking them without being constructive won’t help, nor will the never ending phone calls by the pathological ones telling them lie after lie about commissioners and community members.
I believe that we have a good nucleus on the council. Lets help them make the decisions necessary to save Santa Ana.
“Sarmiento seems like an elitist to me.”
Seems? Based on what? Second-hand information from pajaritos with an axe to grind?
We already know that you think Sarmiento isn’t “mexican” enough to serve the city well, and so your opinion is already highly tainted by your own racial bias.
Vince isn’t “Mexican” enough. He is of Bolivian decent.
“You do realize that a developer allied with Pulido will be building a new project at that terminal?”
…ok
I think we are missing the whole issue between the connection of the two. When the last consulate departed it left a void for a voice of the undocumented people of Santa Ana. Regardless of federal citizenship they are still citizens of our community and have no voice in local politics or protection in local politics. Pulido see’s this issue of undocumented citizens of Santa Ana as a federal issue. Other cities like San Francisco view all of its inhabitants as their responsibility.
I would like to know how Sarmiento and other local politicians view all its inhabitants and their responsibilities to them. Pulido has already let it be known that he is not their leader, political, cultural or moral.
The bottom line is that the Mexican government’s prority is not to help the thousands of emigres who sent back millions of dollars. They pulled Ortiz Haro out and put in his place a man who has decided not to do the same outreach. While ending Ortiz Haro’s diplomatic career, the government supports a man who has treated his employees poorly and alienated immigrants who were finally taking action to improve their community in the United States. Whether we are Mexicans or not, we all lose because these are our neighbors. They have less support and the same problems and the current consul isn’t doing what he should to support them.
#23 Why don’t these emigre’s take those millions of dollars and form an organization to help themselves? They don’t need the government’s help if they have those kinds of resources.
What did the last consul really do for Mexico, US, and the people? The only thing he did was to take bribes, money and help himself. Proof is he does not even hold a job now and left a real mess for the new guy. From his resume this guy has been doing the real deal in real conflict places. No one likes change and no one likes to see their cash cow go. It was time someone cleaned house and focused on the real issues and not work on days where the mexican people came and bribed the consul on visit days. No wonder they are upset. The problem is starts there and there is where the problem needs to be fixed. Looks like he is just starting to do that.
js