Poll: Should DTSA be a Wellness District or a Drinking District?

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• f*ck those paisa , migrate workers, they cause nothing but troubles and and anchor babies, santa ana is on the map for some awesome boutique , culinary experience and night life, good times and if someone get pop for dui , they should cough up the $$$$ EAST END FOR LIFE!!!!

  • Have you tried the poutine at Stockyard - 4th St. Market? - not true French Canadian poutine - but it is excellent.

  • I see the Downton, Inc., crowd hasn't lost any of its racism, which proves again that this is not about business: it's about people who hate Mexicans (and can't spell). If your idea of progress is laughably-inflated prices for small portions, drug deals in the open, ambulances picking up drunks from the Yost, the Santa Ana budget sucked dry by the constant police patrols and Kim Pham, then I guess you would be for a drinking district. And if you're arguing that DUI's are ok for people who can afford the fine, then you are a walking advertisement AGAINST 4th St Market, Playground, and other new joints that turn downtown Santa Ana into a nightly Bro's n' Ho's party.

    • It's not Downton - it is Downtown - idiot.

      • Hey, MacDoof, it's clearly a Downton Abbey reference, indicating that Playground (for The Rich) patrons and Yosties see themselves as entitled gentry and see everybody else as their servants. I guess you DTI bros don't watch much PBS, do you? Thanks for proving my point again. Wellness District: 2. Drinking District: 0

• Why does it have to be all about Latino? Dont we have enough taquerias, bridal shops, cheap clothing stores, and herbal places in downtown? Yes we do and for years it didnt attract people from other cities and didnt bring any money. SA has no vision and instead of moving with the times are stuck with outdated ideas.

  • No one wants it to be only Latino but the gentrifiers are anti Latino.

  • It's a false choice. It can be inclusive, but it isn't bt design. Liquor liceses are given out like candy w/o regard to impacts on the families that live nearby. Latino merchants are displaced and not a peep from the City Manager or Council. Downtown Santa Ana just copied other hipster locations and added nothing innovative while wiping out it's past. It's a shame.

  • You are sadly mistaken with your claim that it didn't bring in any money. The family version of Fourth Street was right behind the auto center and Mainplace when it came to tax dollars in the city war chest.

    Your claim is one put forth by the Anglo gentrifiers in order to discount the power of the Latino owned stores and their consumers.

    • That was in the past Trini - never to return.

• Health and Wellness does not exclude Drinking and Entertainment, a brilliant nightlife with many things to do, make for an exciting downtown environment. There is nothing wrong with drinking and I personally love a nice Summation, Pinot Noir, or a good Portofino after a meal. I believe activity based programming is important to making the engagements in our downtown memorable. I noticed the Theater group has come back to 4th Street near Crave which is Exciting. It would be wonderful if the building on the Plaza by the Gypsy den were turned into a Dance Hall like JC Fandango, or Atomic Ballroom, this is how with all the young people in the area couples can meet. We need more spaces for youth, internet cafes where on a Friday night they can do homework and get non-alchoholic drinks. We need gaming places which I think is in the works in the old Ramona Building. Also getting a great music scene going downtown would be a wonderful thing. There are so many wonderful Ideas and balanced environments create safe environments and a respect for place which is not shared by visitors if they believe the area is just for partying and so the excess leaves the streets, neighborhoods and downtown filled with trash, vomit and a multitude of sins which the businesses must clean up or hear about in the paper in the morning. Bussing in Fraternity and Sorority groups to party downtown is a failure in marketing and having a good entertainment product to sell, not a success.

  • So you are okay with selling booze until 4 am?

    • I am not in favor of alcohol being served after 2:00 AM in DTSA.

    • Don't be so narrow-minded Mr. Editor.

      • I try not to be but it was not that long ago that drunken stooges kicked a young Vietnamese girl to death in DTSA. I am sick and tired of the Drinking District and am not happy that Bustamante's restaurant appears to be flouting their CUP by apparently selling booze until 4 am.

        • Bustamante's Wursthaus is bringing out the worst in Santa Ana. We saw a Yostie frantically asking patrons at Tacos Guadalajara & The Frida, right after last week's farmers market. Minutes later, that same individual was buying DRUGS out in the open in front of La Michoacana ice cream shop on 4th Street FROM a WURSTHAUS employee! It was obvious what was going on and the dealer's black "W" logo employee t-shirt was plain as day. How can folks condone this behavior? I say, bring on the Wellness! It's a better environment for everyone.

        • Ooops, to clarify, the Yostie was asking where he could find an ATM.

• In response to Guadalupe: It is not all about Latino, it is about how to build up a city. One method is by exclusion of what is already there the other is by integration and urban infill. In the urban planning and development industries, infill has been defined as the use of land within a built-up area for further construction, especially as part of a community redevelopment or growth management program or as part of smart growth. This focuses on the reuse and repositioning of obsolete or underutilized buildings and sites. This type of development is essential to renewing blighted neighborhoods and knitting them back together with more prosperous communities. The owner of the Little Sparrow said it well in the recent Townhall meeting when he described how in big Metropolitan cities like New York you see all kinds of businesses on the streets, you can go from Mexico, to Thailand, to Hipster land, to Art, Culture, Dance, Entertainment, Bars, Clubs, Bookstores, Internet Café’s, Coffee Shops, Theater and Fine Dining in a block. All subsist together and the biodiversity of establishments creates excitement and wonder. One group does not need to be eliminated to bring in another.

  • Very well said!!

• Yes actually, In Greece and Big cities throughout Europe establishments are open till dawn, Groups who dance and sing around Santa Ana, who do Bombasa fandango etc. party till dawn as well. It is just that there is dance and song and food. 24 hour food joints at night are amazing and sought after when going out.

  • This is not Europe - it is Santa Ana - no boozin' after 2:00 AM - period! It will never fly here.

    • I agree.

• The California Endowment is the KOCH BROTHERS of the left. The fact they would fund this study is no surprise.

  The study it self should be questioned. While nobody wants a drunken environment, I can't believe any but a few care about bike safety and sustainable pedestrian walkways and bikeways.

  Just make it a safe evironment. We don't need farms just like we don't need $8.00 craft beers.

• The city reps, including the "city manager", should be ashamed of the goings on in down town Santa Ana. We can all wait for a few more killings so that the only people walking the Santa Ana streets will be the people brought in by the "great Planning" by our city reps and the city mgr.
  No body is showing any interest for the community, too bad

• The question posed above was whether it is okay to sell booze until 4am not specific to Santa Ana. The city of Santa Ana is not mature or sophisticated enough city to have liquor sold till 4am so until the maturity and sophistication happens we have to set up step by step the foundations so that this becomes a non-issue in the future.

  • ".. until the maturity and sophistication (of Santa Ana) happens we have to set up step by step the foundations so that this becomes a non-issue in the future."

    The sad thing is that you don't even understand how idiotic your statement is.

    • "Father, is this ok....I mean is it a SIN?"

      "NO, SON, You are a MONARCH, and Monarch's S%^K their priests C@&k's. That's what Mater Dei kid's do, they SERVE FATHER".

      Yeah, those words, taken from a deposition, and defended by diocease and YOU really make you an authority Mike.

      As long as it's other kids, and Mexican's it's OK to RAPE kids, Because WE ARE MATER DEI".

      You are a creep and a misguided old man.

• You sure as hell won't see the name change to Calle Cuatro. That's just stupid. Sorry folks, DTSA has driven right over your hopes and dreams to keep SA a crap hole. What does it take for you to see that nothing is going to stop the forward momentum. Nothing. Ha! And there is a lot more coming this year. Haha.

• They call it a "Wellness District." That is just a euphemism - they really want control. Typical commie crapola lies for control.