Well, Santa Ana was supposed to be the site of the Ninth Annual Grrl Fair today, but according to the OC Weekly, the event was canceled when the event promoter got word from the City of Santa Ana that they would be shut down for lack of a permit.

This event was supposed to feature live music, art, a skate jam and more.

Why did it take so long for the City of Santa Ana to reach out to the promoter?  I know that this blog is read regularly at City Hall.  We wrote about this event back on February 24.  What gives?

I have been complaining for some time that the City of Santa Ana is very difficult to do business in.  This city is in fact the fourth most expensive city to do business, in the entire County of Orange.

Couldn’t our Council Members have intervened?  Or did they even know about this?

Mayor Miguel Pulido charges folks for his help when they run into trouble in town.  Perhaps the Grrl fair promoters couldn’t afford his services?

There are reasons for a city to permit such an event but one has to wonder if there was an effort by the city to help these folks.  I doubt that.

You may recall that last year Pulido forced a Vietnamese art exhibit to close, for similar reasons.  There were complaints about that exhibit from out of town Viet activists because the exhibit included artwork featuring Ho Chi Minh. 

When will the folks at City Hall figure out that they are hurting our city by being so heavy-handed?

This was the fear many of us had when the City of Santa Ana spent a fortune to start the Artists Village.  Our City leaders are for the arts – but only when city planners approve them.  Sanitized, censored, approved art isn’t art at all…

UPDATE: I spoke yesterday to Santa Ana Councilwoman Michele Martinez.  This event would have been in her ward.  She did not know anything about the event.

This underscores part of the problem with city staff.  They often do the least, not the most.  Code Enforcement could have referred the event promoters to Martinez, for help, but they did not.

Martinez has a plan to add an event permit request form to the City of Santa Ana’s website so folks can go through this process quickly, from their computers.

Martinez was surprised that the promoter of the event did not have a permit, but I reminded her that we live in a young city with a lot of folks who simply don’t understand how our local government works.  What we need is city staffers who will take the extra step to serve our residents.

The ball is in Santa Ana Mayor Miguel Pulido’s court.  He needs to get the city administration to understand that their job is to SERVE the people of Santa Ana.