One of the first things that Santa Ana mayoral candidate David Benavides said at this week’s candidate forum was “I have a question for you. Are you okay with the status quo?,” according to the O.C. Register.
That is laughable! Benavides was groomed for office by the man he is now trying to take down, Mayor Miguel Pulido. And he has spent the last six years voting lockstep with him on just about everything.
Consider what Benavides did the last time term limits came up. We didn’t get mayoral term limits in that instance, instead we got Measure D – which extended the Council terms by four more years! It was a complete bait and switch.
Now have a look at this Benavides quote, from the same debate:
“When someone has been in office for a quarter of a century,” Benavides said, “there is a grip hold that the person is able to have on the city, on our operations, and when there are creative new solutions that are brought forward, they are not taken up…”
Wow. Am I reading that right? Is Benavides saying that Pulido made him do it? Or not do it? Does Pulido have some sort of Jedi powers?
The truth is that every single Council Member played ball with Pulido and former City Manager Dave Ream because it benefited them to do so. It got them plum commission appointments and other perks we may never hear of. And now these guys would have us believe that they represent some kind of revolution? It reminds me of that classic Who song, with the refrain “meet the new boss, same as the old boss…”
If you are ready to not be fooled again then you need to look past Benavides and his Council allies. There is no change to be found there.
Here is how the Voice of OC cited the Benavides hypocrisy:
“There’s an individual who holds us back,” Benavides replied, saying that Pulido’s far-reaching but narrow-minded authority has blocked new ideas and projects. The council majority has accused Pulido of ignoring their will and exercising undue influence over the city bureaucracy.
Pulido has always had exactly ONE VOTE. He didn’t force Benavides and his boys to do anything! They went along willingly and now they want the power for themselves.
The only revolution in town for many years has been the one I started when I began the Orange Juice blog back in 2003. For the next 5/6 years I went after the City Council with gusto – and helped toss the worst of them, and their Usual Suspect allies, out.
In 2009 I met with Alfredo Amezcua and started this blog to help him in his mayoral campaign. I wasn’t too keen on the idea but like many of you I wanted change. But within a couple of weeks he shifted over to the Usual Suspects and I realized he did not represent any type of change I could believe in.
I have supported Pulido ever since and you know what? He has done a good job, along with our new City Manager Paul Walters, and despite the City Council he has been stuck working with.
I would be open to change now but Benavides isn’t change – he is just more of the same thing, but less competent. I won’t support a downgrade!
Now if you really want change you do have an option – mayoral candidate and retail store manager Miguel Briseno. It is obvious that he is the only candidate running now who is at all about change. Here are a few of the things he said at the debate:
- Briseno brought up the city’s gang problem, saying he will confront gang members. “I am not afraid of talking to them directly,” he said.
- He said that the city should hold quarterly business workshops and encourage Santa Ana residents to start businesses, and entice other businesses to come to the city.
- I am told he also had some idea involving kids drawing motivational posters.
- And my favorite – he went on a campaign bus tour on Sep. 10! Click here to read about that.
Never mind the other mayoral candidates. Lupe Moreno is a one issue candidate. George Collins agrees with her on almost everything. Roy Alvarado isn’t showing up to the debates.
I am sticking with Pulido but if you want change don’t look to Benavides. Go with Briseno and you will get all the change you can handle!
Good point Art. Daviiiiiiiiiiiiiiid and the “new majority” supposedly just grew a pair during the last few weeks and we are supposed to believe they will make changes in Santa Ana? Were are these big bold changes? If they have 4 votes and are such Macho Men (sorry Michele) then why don’t they put their new big bold changes on the ballot this week and show us what kind of changes we can expect with them in control? This is still the gang that couldn’t shoot straight. They voted with Pulido 99.9999 percent of the time and now want us to believe they are for change.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9YZGpuwHaco&feature=relmfu
I want real change and I may just vote for Briseno.
Are the debate videos posted yet? I could not find them.
Seems to be not yet posted, not on the city or Collins u-tube
All of the council members were asked a question about marketing for the city at the debate . Not one of them had the courage to address the most controversial political issue of Santa Ana, that is how to resolve the community conflicts with the PBID and the marketing firm of Downtown Inc. Are the council members interested in solutions or securing financial backers?
P.S. Why is the Gay Neighborhood Assoc. so dependent on Downtown Inc? Why is Downtown Inc. so dependent on the Gay Neighborhood Assoc.
Other special interest groups in town such as the United Artists are interested in “preserving the Arts”. Not in grand designs to dominate all of Downtown.
Your friend Miguel Briseno is going to have to get up to speed on Downtown politics. He did not seem to have a grasp of any of the specifics.
Mateo asked,
” P.S. Why is the Gay Neighborhood Assoc. so dependent on Downtown Inc? Why is Downtown Inc. so dependent on the Gay Neighborhood Assoc. ”
FROM GLBTQ….A ENCYCLOPEDIA OF AGY,LESBIAN,BISEXUAL,TRANSSEXUAL & QUEER CULTURE
Gay Men and Gentrification
While glbtq people in general are participants in gentrification, gay men in particular are often at the vanguard of gentrifying neighborhoods. This is because they tend to have a higher percentage of disposable income and often want to live in urban centers that are tolerant and culturally vibrant.
Many of the neighborhoods that gay men move into and gentrify were previously working-class or poor neighborhoods primarily populated by black residents. These areas often have historic homes that the new residents restore while complaining that the old residents have done little to maintain their own. Examples of locations in the United States that have experienced this sort of gentrification in recent years are Asbury Park, New Jersey; German Village and Clintonville, in Columbus, Ohio; Dupont Circle, in Washington, D. C.; Lakeview (known colloquially as Boys Town), in Chicago; and the Oak Lawns/Cedar Springs area of Dallas.
Once gay communities are established in gentrified neighborhoods, however, there is a significant chance of a further wave of gentrification that transforms the neighborhoods from gay centers to high-cost trend centers. As this happens, low-to-middle income gay men, as well as lesbians (who tend to have lower incomes than gay men, as women in general have lower average incomes than men), are priced out of the neighborhood. New wealthy heterosexual residents then replace gay bookstores with high-end boutiques, gay performance spaces with mainstream movie theaters, and political action centers with entrepreneurial startups.
This “second wave” gentrification may also work to control the presence of gay nightclubs and bars, as well as glbtq youth who come into the neighborhoods in the evening and on weekends. Particularly vulnerable are transgender youth, who come to these neighborhoods for safety or to make money as prostitutes or entertainers. As wealthy gay male and lesbian couples, emboldened by recent court decisions and legislative actions in favor of domestic partnerships and adoption, try to create gay neighborhoods strong in “family values,” the less mainstream glbtq population may be marginalized in the very neighborhoods that they helped to create and fortify.
Hey carpetbagger,
You are boring. Same nonsense over and over. The information comes from a source, if you have a problem with the content take it up with them.
Otherwise go back under the rock you live under in whatever city you live in. Not Santa Ana. As you have no identity we can’t know so you are not from Santa Ana therefore you are a hypocrite.
It is apparent you are the one out of touch. You only criticise a response from a question by Mateo. You offer no substitute answer to his question, because you are out touch????……. because you neither live, work or have a business in Santa Ana. You simply are a hired attack dog.
I live in West Floral Park. Jack Ass.
Have for almost twenty years. Lived nearby for some more.
The only rock I know is the one Emily Benavides threw through the window when she found out her “Beloved” Christian husband had sex (unprotected) with a young women he worked with.
I work for me and the people. I am proud to say I help F&%k up Julio Perez carpetbagging campaign engineered by the unions and thier agent Greg Diamond.
I am equally proud to be defending the people of Santa Ana locally by keeping your union whore, and LIAR David Benavides out of the mayors seat.
I am registered Democrat, I have voted that way more often than not.
Why would you support a man who LIES?
If you call Emily Benavides and ask her, call her at work, thats what I did. Call her and ask, she’ll be HONEST and tell you the guy is a dirtbag. He RUINED his family.
And you want the voters of Santa Ana to rely on an old man with a failing dental practice, who lives twenty miles away as a voice. GO HOME!
OUT OF TOUCH is the crazy old man who still believes it’s OK to mistreat women. Do you go to Newsong too?
Stop blaming Mayor Pulido. It wasn’t him. It was the Devil.
The Devil made them do it!
So can someone tell me what Vince, David and the gang of 4 will do now that they have control of the Council? Can’t wait to see them cure the ills of Santa Ana!
No word defending me over at my friends site.
My boss has abandoned me and Alicia is on the rag.
Anybody have a place to crash? I think I am gonna miss the bus.
COME ON MAN DELTACO, I hElPed you out bro. Remember the Bourbon….Come on Dan, I’m getting better. Give the brother a break.
Is this what it feels like to be homeless…. wow, I never realized…Hey theres a guy he might give a ride home if i gave him………….
GOTTA GO
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Lomeli, I was surprised by your response.
You gave a nice historic description/explanation for a lot of traditional gentrification models. But you failed to address the specific Power motives and mechanisms of the political relationship of the INC.ers and the Gays. I thought that you of all people would be more hip to the agenda. Not because you are Gay. (I have no knowledge of that as being true), but rather because you of all people have spent a considerable amount of time fighting the White Male gentrification construct.
Mateo,
You asked a question of why the association between Downtown Inc. and the Gay community.
I gave a source expalining a process by those interested in gentrification. Wether those manipulated understand their role is questionable.
The article ends with the end scenario of them beign excluded along with those they were knowingly or not manipulated to exclude.
Artists colonies are manipulated in the same manner by those looking ahead with development plans.
The Gay community and Artist community need to understand this and protect themselves from the intended developer’s desired end result.
WHAT I AM SAYING IS PROTECT YOURSELVES BY EMBRASING ALL SURROUNDING COMMUNITIES IN SOLIDARITY TO FIGHT EXCLUSSION. IF NOT ALL WILL BE EXCLUDED EXCEPT THE DEVELOPER’S CHOICE. YOU NEED EACH OTHER IN ORDER TO SURVIVE.
Developers,racists and bibots need goups like yours in order to start the gentrification they desire. They can not upfront do it.
Many of us say develope our surrounding downtown Hispanic community not try to eliminate or marginilize it. Artists and the Gay community can help.
Lomeli, you have the support of most of the artistic community at the base level in sharing your gentrification concerns.
But that only returns us to the original question. Why is the Gay community so dependent on Downtown inc? and vice versa. Why is the Gay Political (activist)Community so willing to overlook the injustices of the PBID?
I do not have a clear answer. only theories.
mateo,
Thanks for the support. The UCI School of Law has accepted to take the majority property owner’s case.
They feel like us and the majority artists community ….”the injustices of the PBID”.
The gay community willingness to overlook the undemocratic and unconstitutional PBID I hope is just ignorance. Maybe driven by it’s leadership only concerned with self interest and not understanding the particulars of possible self destruction, as presented above, if we all don’t unify for mutual survival. Not a clear answer as I do not have it, just my opinion. They do.
We all need to organise. Get me contacts so we can plan it out.