Santa Ana's top news & views blog

Santa Ana's top news & views blog

Category Archives: Sal Tinajero

Would you hire the Santa Ana political candidates you are voting for?

Posted on by Posted in 2018 elections, Angie Rosario Cano, Art Pedroza, Cecilia Aguinaga, Cecilia Iglesias, Civic Affairs, David Penaloza, Education, John Palacio, Jose Solorio, Juan Villegas, Michele Martinez, Miguel Pulido, Nelida Mendoza-Yanez, Paul Gonzales, Phil Bacerra, Roman Reyna, Sal Tinajero, Santa Ana, SAUSD Leave a comment

As voters we sometimes fail to recognize that electing someone to represent us on any elective body, such as the Santa Ana City Council or the Santa Ana Unified School District’s Board of Education, is similar to hiring someone to work for us. We are entrusting these candidates to do right by the community.

But if you were hiring someone to work for you, would you consider the folks who are running for local office in Santa Ana this year? In that case what factors would you weigh in trying to determine who to support for local offices? Continue reading→

Why did Roman Reyna skip the most important Planning Commission meeting of the year?

Posted on by Posted in 2018 elections, Beatriz Mendoza, Civic Affairs, Development, Ken Nguyen, Lynette Verino, Mark McLoughlin, Phil Bacerra, Planning, Raul Godinez, Real Estate, Ryan Ogulnick, Sal Tinajero, Santa Ana Leave a comment

I spent two hours at last night’s Santa Ana Planning Commission meeting as an agenda item regarding setting a special meeting on Nov. 5 to approve the notorious 2525 Main St. Apartment development was deliberated.

The residents of Santa Ana prevailed even though three of the Planning Commissioners were absent. The Commissioners that were there, including Ken Nguyen, Beatriz Mendoza, Lynette Verino and Chairman Mark McLoughlin, agreed with the residents that there was no good reason to move up the schedule for approval of this project – not when the Planning Commission has yet to fully review the EIR and the many comments submitted by the public. Continue reading→

Tinajero and his City Council cabal have killed Santa Ana’s Sunshine Ordinance

Posted on by Posted in 2018 elections, Civic Affairs, Crime, Development, Michele Martinez, Paul Gonzales, Planning, Politics, Roman Reyna, Ryan Ogulnick, Sal Tinajero, Santa Ana Leave a comment

Sal Tinajero

At this Monday night’s Santa Ana Planning Commission meeting (10/22), the Planning Commissioners will be discussing and possibly voting on having a special meeting on Nov. 5th to determine the outcome of the 2525 Main Residential Apartment Development.

The final EIR (Environmental Impact Review) is scheduled for public review on Friday October 26, 2018.  Residents are then given 10 days (until Nov. 5th) to evaluate the final EIR to see if their draft EIR comments were addressed.  If the Planning Commission chooses to have their special meeting on Nov. 5 what this means is that they will have zero time to read our responses! It also means they will have had only 10 days to review the 3,500 pages of the EIR. Remember that Roman Reyna, who is carpetbagging as a City Council candidate this year in Ward 4, is on the Planning Commission. Can you see him reading 3,500 pages of any document, let alone an EIR? Continue reading→

A developer is meddling in the Santa Ana City Council elections in order to build a controversial apartment complex

Posted on by Posted in 2018 elections, Civic Affairs, David Benavides, Development, Elections, Miguel Pulido, Paul Gonzales, Phil Bacerra, Planning, Politics, Roman Reyna, Ryan Ogulnick, Sal Tinajero, Santa Ana 1 Comment

2525 N Main St. Development

What would a developer be willing to do to recoup a $17 million investment? Ryan Ogulnick is that developer – and he has apparently spent a small fortune this year backing mayoral candidate Sal Tinajero and his cabal so he can continue to control the Santa Ana City Council – and get his controversial 2525 Main St. apartments built.

The 2525 Main St. project, at 84 dwelling units per acre, would be over twice the density of any project in Santa Ana that is next to single family homes.  This completely ignores one goal of Santa Ana’s General Plan: “Preserve and improve the character and integrity of existing neighborhoods,” according to the Voice of OC. Continue reading→

Don’t let Santa Ana’s cop haters win in this year’s General Election

Posted on by Posted in 2018 elections, Angie Rosario Cano, Art Pedroza, Benjamin Vazquez, Crime, David Penaloza, Irma Macias, John Palacio, Miguel Pulido, Mike Gonzalez, Mirna Velasquez, Nelida Mendoza-Yanez, Paul Gonzales, Politics, Sal Tinajero, Sandra Pena, Santa Ana, SAUSD, Valerie Amezcua 4 Comments

I was at an SAUSD school board forum last week and was shocked when some of the boorish radicals in the audience booed when they heard that I got a contribution from the Santa Ana Police Officers Association. Most folks in Santa Ana don’t hate the police. But a small, very vocal minority does. And they are backing a slate of candidates that we need to steer clear of.

The chief anti-police rabble rouser appears to be failed Socialist Mayoral candidate Benjamin Vasquez. His favored candidates this year include: Continue reading→

The City of Santa Ana has fined a local business for a mess made by a homeless vagrant!

Posted on by Posted in 2018 elections, Crime, homeless, Michele Martinez, Roman Reyna, Sal Tinajero, Santa Ana 1 Comment

Kim Riker moved her company, Rice Drywall Inc., a 45-year-old family business, to Santa Ana from its longtime home in South El Monte back in 2010. She must surely regret that now! The City of Santa Ana has actually fined her business $800 for the mess left outside their walls by a homeless vagrant, according to the O.C. Register.

This is outrageous! It is obvious that the city workers who issued a fine to Rice Drywall, Inc. are completely worthless and should be fired. This ridiculous action also means that we need to ensure that we get new leadership on the City Council. Fortunately several of the incumbents are termed out. One of them, Mayor Pro Tem Michele Martinez, was contacted by Riker – and did not bother to respond to her constituent. Continue reading→

Sal Tinajero’s entire team of City Council candidates is opposing his Measure X sales tax increase

Posted on by Posted in 2018 elections, Ballot Measures, Nelida Mendoza-Yanez, Politics, Roman Reyna, Sal Tinajero, Sandra Pena, Santa Ana, Taxes 2 Comments

Santa Ana City Councilman Sal Tinajero

I attended two Santa Ana City Council candidate forums recently and was astonished to hear every single candidate for the Santa Ana City Council come out publicly against Measure X. Sal Tinajero, who is termed out and is running for Mayor of Santa Ana, is the only candidate still publicly backing Measure X (although he doesn’t mention it on his campaign website).

It is generally a very bad idea for a political candidate to run on a platform based in raising our taxes. Perhaps this is why Tinajero’s City Council candidates – Roman Reyna in Ward 4; Sandra Pocha Pena Sarmiento in Ward 2; and Nelida Mendoza in Ward 6 have all publicly turned their backs on Tinajero’s Measure X.

Measure X, if it passes, will result in Santa Ana having the highest sales tax in Orange County. That will result in several awful consequences: Continue reading→

Why do Santa Ana’s overpaid local politicians keep trying to raise our taxes?

Posted on by Posted in Civic Affairs, John Palacio, Politics, Sal Tinajero, Santa Ana, SAUSD, Valerie Amezcua 2 Comments

If you see a meth addict begging for money outside a McDonald’s and you give him twenty bucks chances are that he will buy one item off the restaurant’s dollar menu and spend the rest of the money on drugs. Local governments act the very same way. No matter how much tax money they take from us they always find a way to blow most of it and then come back to us for more money.

That is precisely what is happening in Santa Ana right now. The Santa Ana Unified School District has already begged us for millions twice before with two previous bond measures. Now they are back with their hat in hand begging for millions more – even though other area school districts are finding ways to improve their facilities without passing bond measures. Continue reading→

Who you will be voting for in November for the Santa Ana City Council and the SAUSD School Board

Posted on by Posted in 2018 elections, Angie Rosario Cano, Art Pedroza, Ballot Measures, Bond Measures, Cecilia Aguinaga, Cecilia Iglesias, Civic Affairs, David Penaloza, Education, Irma Macias, John Palacio, Miguel Pulido, Mirna Velasquez, Nelida Mendoza-Yanez, Paul Gonzalez, Phil Bacerra, Politics, Roman Reyna, Sal Tinajero, Sandra Pena, Santa Ana, SAUSD, Valerie Amezcua 6 Comments

When I spoke with Santa Ana Mayor Miguel Pulido earlier this week he was not yet sure if he was going to run for what will be his last two-year term. Since them Pulido has indeed pulled papers and he will be on the November 6 ballot. He will face off against termed-out Santa Ana City Councilman Sal Tinajero, who has been garnering a lot of media attention of late due to his leadership of the SAUSD Debate Team. The path for Tinajero was cleared when his colleague, Mayor Pro Tem Michele Martinez, opted to not run for Mayor after all. She too is terming out from the Santa Ana City Council.

No question about it – the Tinajero versus Pulido race will be the big contest in the General Election. But the race for Santa Ana’s Ward 2 will also be sure to garner a lot of attention as no less than six candidates have pulled papers. Here are the Ward 2 candidates: Continue reading→

The Santa Ana City Council’s latest attempt to extend their term limits got punked again

Posted on by Posted in 2018 elections, Ballot Measures, Civic Affairs, David Benavides, Jose Solorio, Miguel Pulido, Politics, Sal Tinajero, Santa Ana, Vince Sarmiento Leave a comment

The Santa Ana City Council Majority

The Santa Ana City Council Majority – which now includes Council Members David Benavides, Jose Solorio, Vince Sarmiento and Sal Tinajero, tried once again yesterday to illegally extend their term limits by trying to place a last-minute district election measure on the June ballot.

They were previously punked by Santa Ana Mayor Miguel Pulido when he refused to sign off on their vote to place the measure on the June ballot. A judge recently forced Pulido to finally sign those papers but the June election ballot submission deadline had already expired.  Continue reading→

An early look at this November’s Santa Ana City Council candidates

Posted on by Posted in 2018 elections, Civic Affairs, David Benavides, David Penaloza, Irma Macias, Laura Kanter, Michele Martinez, Miguel Pulido, Mirna Velasquez, Phil Bacerra, Politics, Sal Tinajero, Sandra Pena, Santa Ana 2 Comments

It looks like the Santa Ana City Council majority will not be able to put a district election measure on the June ballot after all. A judge ruled today that Mayor Miguel Pulido should have signed their paperwork submitting the district election measure to the O.C. Voter Registrar. But it is too late for that measure to make it to the June ballot, according to the O.C. Register.

What this means is that Council Members Michele Martinez, David Benavides and Sal Tinajero are going to term out this November. They will have to be replaced in the November election.

Here are the Santa Ana City Council candidates that I am aware of at the moment: Continue reading→

The Santa Ana City Council majority will sue to illegally extend their term limits

Posted on by Posted in 2018 elections, Civic Affairs, Courts, David Benavides, Jose Solorio, Miguel Pulido, Sal Tinajero, Santa Ana, Vince Sarmiento Leave a comment

The Santa Ana City Council Majority – David Benavides, Sal Tinajero, Vince Sarmiento and Jose Solorio

The Santa Ana City Council majority decided at their last-minute special meeting today to sue Mayor Miguel Pulido for not placing their illegal district election measure on the June Primary Election ballot, according to an inside source.

Apparently our City Attorney, Sonia Carvalho, hired an outside counsel to help her aid the City Council majority, which is currently comprised of Council Members David Benavides, Sal Tinajero, Vince Sarmiento and Jose Solorio, come to this awful decision. Continue reading→

The Santa Ana City Council majority will try again on Monday to illegally extend their term limits

Posted on by Posted in 2018 elections, Civic Affairs, David Benavides, Elections, Jose Solorio, Miguel Pulido, Politics, Sal Tinajero, Santa Ana, Vince Sarmiento 1 Comment

The Santa Ana City Council majority – David Benavides, Vince Sarmiento, Sal Tinajero and Jose Solorio

The four clowns on the current Santa Ana City Council majority are going to try again to illegally place a district election measure on the June Primary Election ballot this Monday, at a last minute special City Council meeting set at 1:30 p.m.

The agenda for this meeting notes that this will be a conference with legal counsel regarding a threat or anticipated/potential litigation. Well that is true as the City Council majority got caught violating the Brown Act last week as they secretly texted each other to discuss the special meeting that was supposed to be held on Friday. Continue reading→

The S.A. City Council majority got caught trying to illegally place a district election measure on the June ballot

Posted on by Posted in 2018 elections, Civic Affairs, David Benavides, Elections, Jose Solorio, Juan Villegas, Michele Martinez, Miguel Pulido, Orange County, Politics, Sal Tinajero, Santa Ana, Vince Sarmiento 1 Comment

The Santa Ana City Council majority proved once again this week that they are a bunch of clowns as their efforts to illegally place a district specific elections measure on the June primary election ballot failed miserably, according to the Voice of OC.

The City Council majority, which included Vince Sarmiento, Sal Tinajero, David Benavides and their new pal Jose Solorio, voted on Tuesday, this week, to place this measure on the June ballot. But they once again underestimated Mayor Miguel Pulido, who proceeded to punk them in royal fashion. Continue reading→

OC Democrats who don’t live in Santa Ana want to bring the needle exchange back to DTSA

Posted on by Posted in Crime, Drugs, Politics, Sal Tinajero, Santa Ana 1 Comment

Should Santa Ana allow the Needle Exchange to operate again in the Civic Center?

Once again, people who do not live in Santa Ana are trying to tell our city what to do. After operating in the Civic Center for 2 years, the Orange County Needle Exchange Program (OCNEP) was denied a permit to continue giving out free needles in the Civic Center every Saturday. In January, the city decided that finding needles in our Civic Center, library, parks, and neighborhoods was a public safety issue, and could no longer allow the program to put resident’s and city worker’s safety at risk. Continue reading→