New Santa Ana | Tag Archives: parks and recreation commission

Should Benavides have appointed his girlfriend and his daughter to City Commissions?

Posted on April 1, 2015 by Art Pedroza Posted in Civic Affairs, David Benavides, Santa Ana 14 Comments

Santa Ana’s City Council Members are supposed to nominate City Commissioners who represent their Wards – and hopefully these are Commissioners who can actually contribute something to our city’s well being.

However questions are being raised about how Santa Ana Councilman David Benavides is going about making his appointments. We have already written extensively about his support for Santa Ana Planning Commissioner Phil Bacerra, who was a paid consultant to Downtown Santa Ana’s bars and restaurants when Benavides tabbed him for the Planning Commission.

But get this – apparently Benavides appointed his alleged girlfriend, Erika Carranza, to the Santa Ana Parks and Recreation Commission, which you can read about here. Can you say “conflict of interest?” Continue reading→

Who is Kenneth K. Nguyen?

Posted on May 13, 2012 by Art Pedroza Posted in 2012 Elections, Education, Fountain Valley, Orange County, Politics, Santa Ana, Vietnamese 10 Comments

Who is Kenneth K. Nguyen? He is one of several candidates for the Orange County Board of Education, Area One, in the June primary. But what do we really know about him?

We know he serves on the Santa Ana Parks and Recreation Commission, which he listed as his occupation on his ballot statement. And he appears to have been the owner of a company called Keynet Corp., in Fountain Valley. Continue reading→

Stroud and Betancourt to be replaced as Santa Ana City Commissioners on Tuesday

Posted on January 17, 2011 by Art Pedroza Posted in Carlos Bustamante, Civic Affairs, David Benavides, Development, Miguel Pulido, Parks and Recreation, Santa Ana, Women 10 Comments

Longtime Santa Ana City Commissioners Julie Stroud and Vicky Betancourt are out – both are being replaced this Tuesday night, at the next Santa Ana City Council meeting, according to the posted meeting agenda.

Stroud served on the Santa Ana Parks and Recreation Commission. She was one of two Commissioners on that board who opposed my suggestion that the City of Santa Ana look into creating a dog park. The other, Tish Leon, was dismissed a few months ago after she joined with Stroud in bullying a teenage Commissioner, who then quit the Commission, but outed them in the process.

Stroud was seen by many supporters of Santa Ana Mayor Miguel Pulido, when she was leaving the election night party of failed Mayoral candidate Alfredo Amezcua. I knew then it was unlikely she would be re-appointed to the Parks and Recreation Board.

Stroud is being replaced by Ava Steaffens, the President of Kidworks, a non-profit that serves needy children in Santa Ana. That is a great choice! Steaffens is being appointed by Councilman David Benavides.

Roman Reyna, who is now a member of the SAUSD School Board, was also replaced, on the Housing and Redevelopment Commission, by Laura Morfin, who chaired the now defunct EPIC Commission. Morfin is being appointed by Benavides. And Mayor Pulido is appointing Wendy Tobiska to the Parks and Recreation Board.

Benavides also re-appointed Mario Turner to the Santa Ana Planning Commission, but the big news is Betancourt’s departure from that same body. Betancourt was perhaps the most controversial member of the Santa Ana Planning Commission. Her decisions were often overturned by the Santa Ana City Council. Betancourt is allegedly an atheist, and she reportedly was very tough on any church that had business with the Planning Commission. She is also a major supporter of the Artists Village. None of the current Planning Commissioners are known supporters of the arts, although that doesn’t mean they won’t be supportive of the Artists Village.

Betancourt is one of the owners of Coneybeare, a local temp agency firm. She was also on the board of directors of the Santa Ana Business Bank, which sold its assets at a loss of about 40%, to a bank in Los Angeles, about a year ago.

Sandy Nalle will be replacing Betancourt on the Planning Commission. Nalle works for CB Richard Ellis, a commercial real estate company. He has a Juris Doctorate and he ran against Bustamante back in 2004, when he got over 40% of the vote. Bustamante won that election, with 59% of the vote. Nalle was supported by Pulido, and it is Pulido who is now putting him on the Planning Commission.

According to his company’s website, Nalle is an expert in large property sales and governmental relations, Mr. Nalle’s transactions vary from 400,000 square foot industrial leases to 100 acre land acquisitions and development projects. Additionally, he has thirty years of extensive experience with Mexican commercial, legal and real estate matters including fideicomiso organization.

Nalle was also a Captain in the U.S. Marine Corps.

With Betancourt’s exit there are now no women on the Planning Commission. She is also an environmentalist – and again, to my knowledge, none of the remaining Planning Commissioners are environmental extremists.

It should be noted that Nalle lives in Ward 3 – as do all of the Planning Commissioners except for Sean Mill, who lives in Ward 6.

Rogue bully Commissioners Leon and Stroud put in their place by a fellow Commissioner

Posted on July 28, 2010 by Art Pedroza Posted in Civic Affairs, immigration, Latinos, mexico, Santa Ana, Youth Activities Leave a comment

Commissioner Tish Leon, feeling a disturbance in the force…

I was able to attend the Santa Ana Parks and Recreation Commission meeting tonight. Our reader, Rob Cook, showed up too.

I half expected the rogue bully commissioners, Tish Leon and Julie Stroud, to skip out on the meeting, but there they were. Commissioners Max Madrid and Kenneth Nguyen were there as well.

There weren’t many items on the agenda. They whipped through it quickly and then came the time for public comments. Cook spoke first. He addressed a number of items. He also stated that he supported Minuteman Lupe Moreno, who was honored last week by Santa Ana Councilman David Benavides.

Commissioner Julie Stroud

Then it was my turn. I first thanked Gerardo Mouet and the Commissioners who joined him in removing the agenda item from tonight’s meeting that was originally going to result in Moreno receiving an award from the Commission. For the record, Leon and Stroud placed that item on calendar in the first place.

Then I picked up the agenda and asked those in attendance to look at the front page, under Student Representative, where the word “Vacant” appears. I told them that I had spoken to the young man that Leon and Stroud hounded until he quit the Commission. He told me that they were angry because he would not support their candidate, Thomas Gordon, for Ward 6 on the Santa Ana City Council. And both Leon and Stroud demanded that the high school student stop reading my blogs and de-friend me on Facebook.

I called on Leon and Stroud to do us all a favor and resign.

Commissioners Max Madrid and Kenneth Nguyen

Then came the surprise of the evening. Madrid stood up and spoke not as a Commissioner but as a member of the public. He lambasted Leon and Stroud, saying that he has known the former Student Commissioner for years – and reminding us all that the young man is only 16 years of age. Madrid asked for an item to be placed on the next agenda – a full investigation of what Leon and Stroud did to the former Student Commissioner.

Stroud interrupted him at the end to blurt out, “Did you call us?”

I then asked, as I was leaving, if it was standard for Commissioners to berate members of the public during public comments.

It should be noted that Leon, who Chairs the Commission, received a loud phone call during the meeting. She texted a response. I later received a text message from a disturbed fellow who blogs elsewhere, asking me how the meeting was going. I was not surprised to find him in cahoots with the likes of Leon and Stroud.

One of our readers sent us what Leon’s response to all this was on Facebook:

“I know that when you are in the public eye, one should expect to be attacked & criticized, but really!!??!!”

That was her status update, and then there followed a thread of comments…then she went on to update it with this when someone asked her if she was being bullied…

“Big time, they are the local bully’s of a blog…”

She ended the thread of comments with:

“thanks everyone, it was a tough day & meeting. I’m done & the sun will come out tomorrow….lalala”

Our reader found it ironic that the bully would call us the bullies, when she was the BIG bully that terrorized the student commissioner in the first place!

Leon and Stroud should not gloat for long. I am fairly certain that one or both will be removed shortly. Santa Ana Mayor Miguel Pulido is surely still sore at Stroud’s husband, Glen, for leading a fraudulent investigation of the Santa Ana City Council, by the O.C. Grand Jury. I cannot imagine he will be sad to see another Stroud tossed off a City Commission.

Santa Ana Parks and Rec Commission to honor Minuteman Lupe Moreno again on Wednesday

Posted on July 27, 2010 by Art Pedroza Posted in Civic Affairs, Civil Rights, immigration, Latinos, mexico, Racism, Republican Party, Santa Ana, Youth Activities Leave a comment

Time to let Santa Ana Parks and Rec Chair Tish Leon know how we feel about her bullying

If you are as upset as I am at the bullying behavior of Santa Ana Parks and Recreation Commissioners Tish Leon and Julie Stroud, who terrorized a Student Commissioner so badly that he quit their Commission, here is your chance to let your voice be heard.

The next Santa Ana Parks and Recreation Commission meeting is on Wednesday, July 28, at 5:30 pm, at the Santa Ana Main Library, in Room A, located at 26 Civic Center Plaza. Click here to read the meeting agenda. The public will have an opportunity to comment at this meeting.

Unbelievably, the agenda includes yet another honor to be bestowed upon Minuteman and former OC GOP Central Committee Member Lupe Moreno. She took over not only this year’s Santa Ana Independence Day event, but also she is now the head of the Friends of the Santa Ana Library. And the Santa Ana Parks and Rec Commission will be bestowing yet another award on her in that capacity, for “Special Service to the Community.” Click here to see proof that Moreno is indeed the President of the Friends of the Library.

You may recall that Councilman David Benavides honored Moreno and her Minutemen at the last Santa Ana City Council meeting, much to the chagrin of his Council colleagues, who lambasted Benavides. That scandal ended up in the pages of both the OC Weekly and the O.C. Register.

So you will have two items to speak out about on Wednesday. I urge you to ask Leon and Stroud to resign, in light of what they did to their former student commissioner, and I also recommend that our residents speak out about this latest honor being given to Moreno. For shame! Extremist Minutemen should not be receiving honors in our city!

UPDATE: Victory!

I received this note early today, from Santa Ana Parks and Recreation Agency Director Gerardo Mouet:

Earlier this week, I spoke to several members of the Board of Recreation and Parks on an individual basis and all expressed their preference to pull this item from their Board agenda. This agenda item has been pulled and the Friends of the Library have been notified. The Board of Recreation and Parks agenda is being revised and when posted on the web later today, it will not have the Special Service to the Community Presentation to the Friends of the Library.

Let me know if you have any questions.

Keep in mind the fact that I just stumbled across this scandal yesterday and the Commission meets tonight. I made sure to save the original agenda on my own server, just in case.

I am thrilled that Mouet and his Commissioners have stopped Leon and Stroud in their tracks.

I did speak to a Commissioner, who asked to remain anonymous. He assured me that the list of honorees was submitted to the Commission by Leon – and Stroud. They would not allow the other Commissioners to change that list, even after some of them complained. Bullies! For now they have been thwarted but the only real solution will be for the City Council to dismiss these rogue Commissioners with the greatest haste.

Were bully Commissioners carrying water for Council candidate Thomas Gordon?

Posted on July 27, 2010 by Art Pedroza Posted in Elections, Politics, Racism, Republican Party, Santa Ana, Youth Activities 1 Comment

When I spoke today with the honor student who was chased off the Santa Ana Parks and Recreation Commission by his fellow Commissioners, Julie Stroud and Tish Leon, he reminded me that I forgot an important detail in my previous post.

The main reason that Leon and Stroud went after this young man was because he refused to support their friend, part-time Santa Ana resident Thomas Gordon, for Ward 6 on the Santa Ana City Council. Now keep in mind that the student commissioner was appointed by the incumbent in Ward 6, Sal Tinajero.

Why they expected this young man to back Gordon is a real mystery. The student commissioner supports my proposal to build a dog park in Santa Ana. Leon and Stroud oppose that idea – as does Gordon. It is ironic since Gordon, who maintains a second home in Denver, Colorado, has told me in the past how much he enjoys taking his dog, which he flies with him to Denver, to the many dog parks available in the Denver suburbs.

Now think about this for a moment. Leon and Stroud bullied a decent teenager who was trying to contribute to our social fabric here in Santa Ana because they were, essentially, campaigning for Gordon. That is so wrong I am taken aback.

Of course they both also complained that the student commissioner was an avid reader of my blogs and a friend of mine on Facebook, but the bigger issue, clearly, is that Leon and Stroud are using the power that has been granted to them as City Commissioners not in service of our people but rather to advance their political allies. No matter how you slice that, it is just wrong.

Stroud, Leon and Gordon are often seen sitting together at Santa Ana City Council meetings, along with other Usual Suspects in their fraternity.

Gordon was recently re-elected to the OC GOP Central Committee, in the 69th Assembly District. His nomination papers were signed by Lupe Moreno, a Minuteman and member of the CCIR, a known hate group. He also signed her nomination papers, as she too ran for the Central Committee. Gordon came in fourth, out of six candidates. Moreno lost.

Gordon previously ran for Mayor of Santa Ana. He also assisted carpetbagger Harry Sidhu’s ill-fated Supervisorial campaign. And Gordon collected signatures for Sidhu’s race for the same OC GOP Central Committee, even though he does not live in the 69th Assembly District. Sidhu, like Moreno, lost.

Leon also lost, badly, coming in last in 2006, when she ran for Ward 2 on the Santa Ana City Council. She is rumored to have borrowed forty grand on her house, for her failed campaign. The winner in that election, Michele Martinez, graciously appointed Leon to the Santa Ana Parks and Recreation Commission. Martinez is now said to be leaning towards dismissing Leon in the near future.

Santa Ana Parks and Rec Commissioner Ken Nguyen honored at Council Meeting

Posted on July 6, 2010 by Art Pedroza Posted in Civic Affairs, Politics, Sal Tinajero, Santa Ana, Vietnamese, Vince Sarmiento Leave a comment

Santa Ana Parks and Recreation Commissioner Kenneth Nguyen

Santa Ana Parks and Recreation Commissioner Kenneth Nguyen was honored by Councilman Vince Sarmiento and his peers on the City Council tonight for being elected to serve in External Affairs with a Vietnamese community organization. According to Sarmiento, this organization held a vote and 18,000 members cast ballots, and Nguyen was one of the officers elected to represent his community.

Sarmiento proposed tonight that Nguyen also act as an ambassador for our city, to his community. Sarmiento noted that Nguyen has helped to bring a lot of businesses to our city.

Councilman Sal Tinajero

Councilman Sal Tinajero seconded the motion and he also took the opportunity to praise Nguyen, as did Mayor Miguel Pulido, who expressed a lot of confidence in Nguyen.

Nguyen said that Little Saigon actually started in Santa Ana in 1978. He said the first Viet supermarket was built here in town as was the first Budhist Temple, which later moved to Westminster.

Councilman Vince Sarmiento

Nguyen also said that a 5 ton jade Buddha statue will be displayed at Santa Ana’s only temple, in October.

Here is the agenda item in question:

EXPAND BOARD OF RECREATION AND PARKS DUTIES

RECOMMENDED ACTION: Pursuant to Charter Section 908(a) direct the Board of Recreation and Parks to undertake a continuing effort to expand the City’s cultural partnership with the Vietnamese-American Community in Santa Ana and Southern California, and request Commissioner Ken Nguyen, in his role as a Board Member, to head that effort as Ambassador to the Vietnamese-American Community on behalf of the Board and the City.

Parks and Recreation Commissioner Kenneth Nguyen, speaking to the Santa Ana City Council

I recently wrote a post about how the Viet voters in town may well decide who becomes our next Mayor. Tonight’s Council action underscores my premise that Mayor Pulido has a virtual lock on this growing segment of our community.

Sarmiento in fact noted in his comments tonight that there are at least 20,000 Vietnamese residents in town, and he suspects that number will be much higher when the new Census figures are released.