By: Jim Walker, Candidate for Santa Ana City Council, Ward 1
Good Morning SA.
What a night – last night at the Com-Link Candidate’s Forum. So much to say and so little time to say it. For my part, I found it most difficult to talk about what I believe needed to be said, only to realize there was no time to say it.
So we were left with impressions and not much content.
This is exactly my frustration with the current way politics is done in Santa Ana. Furthermore, I strongly believe we can change this for the better, as never before, due to better technologies and ever greater incentives to do so.
My main point is that regardless of who ever gets elected (myself or anyone else), politics will for the most part remain the same until that time that a sufficient number of people get involved with the true oversight of government that only “the people” can provide.
Many of us for many long years have been building the foundations of just such participation. And yes, it has been frustrating and disappointing at times, but it has also had it moments of justification.
The Artist Village, neighborhood improvements, new programs and such have been accomplished. Even the Forum last night, thanks to the Board of Com-Link, League of Women’s Voters and Santa Ana City Staff, was an important advancement over what had been prior to the Com-Link Candidate Forums. Kudos to all those people who worked to help better inform the citizens of Santa Ana.
Yet I would imagine that what keeps many of us going is not just what we have done but rather what we could do.
There is so much that I know we could do better, but let me say now – for the brevity sake of this post, that the best thing I believe we could do at this time is to launch what I am calling the “Squeaky Wheel Initiative”.
This action would address what every politician holds most dear at this time of the year. Something I do not believe every voter appreciates as much as do politicians.
That which politicians hold most dear is “High Propensity Voters”. It is these High Propensity Voters and the precincts/neighborhoods they live in that will be catered to in the next few weeks and courted in the years between elections.
AS SUCH, the lesson for all of us citizens (especially those community organizer types) should be, for the sake of our neighborhood, to do every thing possible to achieve the goal of 100% Voter Turnout by election day.
While I might be a bit biased, what we need to do is not just get votes for our favored candidates but to get people to vote – period!
This goal is a lot more achievable then many might think. Candidates have this information on who is registered to vote and where they live. We all know that, but what we need to do as American citizens (and not so much as Association members)is to compliment the efforts of the candidates to incentivize our registered neighbors to be sure to vote come the election or otherwise – withdraw their registration!
Many people may not appreciate something until they nolonger have it.
So why not impress upon our neighbors what is at stake for their neighborhood if they fail to vote.
“High Propensity Voters” is a low percentage of all those people registered to vote and an even more tragically low percentage of those citizens eligible to be registered to vote, if they were so inclined.
The upside of this downside is that there are a relatively few number of people we need to contact to change a low voter turn out precinct/neighborhood into a high voter turn out precinct/neighborhood.
The answers are out there, and so is all the data and maps to make this happen.
This is just the first step towards what I call “Community Oriented Government” or “COG”.
May I suggest those who love their community and their country consider “engaging” the machine, become a vital and driving force within the machine and start taking this fully engaged machine we call Santa Ana in the direction we all want it to go.
UPDATE:
George Collins has loaded the entire audio of this meeting on his website, at this link. Thanks George!
It could have been better if Ms. Alvarez was a little more well-mannered.
Jim, keep beating the COG drum and get people to see that this is where their solution lies. Unfortunately we have had it much better than our parents or their parents before them and so we grow complacent. We accept what we get and are for the most part satisfied with only a few irritants and those are far away from our cozy home and family when we finally get off work.
So how can we be expected to go to stupid meetings night after night when all there is is talk and no action? Its only when we have had it up to here or our cozy home and family is threatened that we become willing to forgo our meager comforts and engage in the often frustrating, sometimes exhilerating and always long process of COG, COP, Labor Union, Neighborhood Association, Planning Commission, City Council, School Boardor whatever vehicle seems best suited to correcting the problem affecting our home and family.
Unfortunately these work best when people are constantly involved and engaged and the tendency to leave them until we have a problem means that they don’t work very well due to lack of participation. Hopefully things have gotten bad enough in Santa Ana that all these organizations will have lots of involvement from their constituents and that the involvement won’t go away or be appeased by a minor improvement or the satisfaction of our individual issue.
The old labor canard “When the people lead the leaders follow” can be true IF the people will consistently provide the leadership the leaders need to do the right thing. Individual action will continue to get us appeasement not reform.
Jim you are right in a lot of things, but in the Com Link candidates forum the lack of respect and lack of ethics from Claudia alvarez showed that it is imperative to take most of the “experienced” city council, includes the Mayor OUT!!!!. Vote fort Collins as a Mayor , and as city council :Walker, Pedroza and Lisann!!!!!!!!. Lets get RID OF :”podrido”Pulido, Alvarez, Sarmiento and Bustamante!!!!.