UPDATE: This post has been read 299 times as of August 13, at 11:30 pm. But only one Santa Ana Council candidate has been forthright enough to answer the questions posed below. Remember that on Election Day – if candidates don’t want to tell us where they stand on the issues that matter then they don’t deserve our votes!
Santa Ana City Council candidates usually run on pithy slogans and empty posturing – but as our city continues to struggle with budget issues, having essentially kicked the budget can down the road, it is time for our Council candidates to face the music – and tell us what they think about the issues we face in our city today.
I am challenging our Council candidates to answer these questions, right here on this blog. Take note voters – the candidates who choose not to answer don’t deserve your votes, period.
Readers – if you would like to pose any additional questions please submit them as comments to this post. Let’s see which candidates actually are going to be transparent about what they stand for. Here are my questions:
Let’s see which council candidates are actually willing to tell us where they stand on these and other issues. If they refuse to do so that will be very telling indeed.
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Too many loaded questions.
There are a few I would like to see asked at the debates on 9-12 @ RSCC boardroom at 7pm and 9-27 at council chambers at 7pm
And too many lame candidates who won't tell US where they stand on the issues that matter.
More people read this blog in a few hours than will attend those forums.
If they don't answer any questions on this blog they don't deserve our votes!? Pedroza you obviously think way too much of yourself and this blog.
If not here then where? No one else is going to ask the tough questions.
It's rather interesting that your questions are EXTREMELY leading toward one answer. This leads to answers being swayed in one direction.
Candidates may answer in whatever way they want to.
Admin wants to outsource union jobs to "out-of-towners" but not allow for outsourcing usage of his lawn bowling plot. NIMBY.
P.S. The Church of Santora is the most righteous, progressive, ethical and humane church in town. It is not a business cult or antiquated mythical/mystical fear monger's cauldron. So get your facts correct.
Well Fiala I don't think many voters in town care about what a racist old coot has to say. When you are ready to ask me substantative questions that have to do with education then I will be happy to answer your queries.
My son Joey graduated with they highest GPA in the district and he is now excelling at UCLA. In fact all of my kids are excellent students. So, as usual, you are misinformed and racist.
I also know many great parents who are immigrants and who are doing a fantastic job raising their kids.
Your problem is that you deal in generalities. That is unfair to the people of this city. They are individuals and should be judged as such.
Your hatred blinds you and makes you an unpleasant grouch.
As I have always stated, I am more than willing express my stance on issues without hesitation. I know that all of the city council members, and most of the candidates, read this blog so I would hope they would answer the questions also to let their positions be known. I'm sure most of them won't. Here is where I stand:
1. Will you vote to raise taxes, assessments or support new bond measures (property taxes)?
No. We need to bring businesses to our city, with business taxes from sales. Not tax the middle class residents more.
2. Do you support continuing the unethical PBID tax that takes money away from some Downtown Santa Ana businesses so other businesses can market themselves at their expense?
That is a loaded question because there is no doubt that the resurgence of our downtown coincided with PBID cleaning up and advertising the area. I do understand that some businesses do not benefit from it. Due to campaign donations, our Council can't get a quorum to vote on it, which is why I am not taking campaign donations, to avoid such issues. My solution is to have all of the taxed businesses vote on whether they want to continue the PBID or not. A simple majority of the responses will give us our answer.
3. Do you support outsourcing more city jobs to save money or would you prefer to save union jobs that overpay city workers?
I do not support outsourcing city jobs, especially while we are donating money from the general fund to the Bowers Museum. By the way, not all city employees are overpaid, we have many employees earning $10 to $12
an hour.
4. Will you vote to allow public funds to continue to be spent supporting Com-Link and the Neighborhood Associations – even though that money could be better spent on our libraries, parks and youth programs?
No. Our budget is currently about $1.5 million in the red, even though it has been portrayed as being balanced for the upcoming election. We need to first build an emergency fund, and fund our public safety, parks and school programs before other non essential programs.
5. Will you consider other uses for the Santiago Park Lawn Bowling Center, which is used by perhaps three Santa Ana residents and a plethora of residents from other cities, such as Anaheim and Garden Grove?
Yes, we need to take full advantage of our current facilities. We need a facility to have leisure classes in Ward 3. Our current one is on the border with Garden Grove and does not properly serve Ward 3 residents.
6. Do you support the completion of the Santa Ana creek bike trail that is being opposed by NIMBYs in Fisher Park and Floral Park?
Yes, we need more bike trails in our city.
7. Do you support efforts by a few artists and Occupy activists to keep new churches out of Downtown Santa Ana? No
8. Do you support Prop. 215, the California ballot measure that made medical marijuana legal and will you work to make medical marijuana clinics legal in Santa Ana?
No, I will work with our Code Enforcement to keep marijuana clinics out of Santa Ana.
9. Do you support looking into whether or the not the Orange County Sheriff might be able to save us money by running our police department?
Not at this point. Our community is better served by having our own police department. We first need to get our fiscal house in order.
10. Do you support hiring a new Chief of Police so that our City Manager won’t have a conflict of interest?
We are a big city, we need a separate Police Chief and City Manager. These are highly demanding positions that require that persons full attention.
11. Will you oppose red light cameras and work to remove them from our city?
I can't say yes or no on this because I don't know the costs involved.
12. Will you support opening our public libraries later during the week, in the afternoon, so they can stay open on Sundays – allowing our children to have somewhere to go on weekends to do their homework?
I would actually like to see the hours extended overall, not just have the libraries opening later. Staffing is the primary issue, and how much we budget for staff in our budget.
13. Do you support the concept of City Council members picking City Commissioners who actually live in their wards so, for example, commissions won’t be dominated by residents of ward 3?
Commissioners should live in the ward they represent, but a more qualified candidate may live in another ward. The discretion should remain with the council member.
14. Will you appoint city commissioners who openly express anti-immigrant or anti-Mexican views?
No, why would I. There is always a vetting process.
15. Will you vote to support the construction of high rise buildings in areas that currently lack such structures?
Not unless we have businesses lined up to fill the buildings. Why build it if you can't fill it?
16. Will you lower pet license fees to reflect fees charged by surrounding cities and the County of Orange?
Yes, we chould be competitive.
17. Will you support lowering business license and planning fees to reflect fees charged by surrounding cities?
Yes, we have to remain competative. My goal is to work in a partnership with the Santa Ana Chamber of Commerce to bring jobs to our city. Their expertise is what will help make us successful.
18. Do you support taking the car allowance away from Council Members and making them use their own cars or take the bus to get to city meetings? No.
19. Do you support appointing qualified residents to regional commissions and boards, such as the OCTA Board, and local water and sanitation boards, instead of padding City Council Members’ pay by always
appointing them to these bodies?
No, elected decision makers need to attend and provide input at these commissions and boards.
20. Do you think we are doing enough to help our homeless residents?
Yes, Santa Ana is doing more than our far share. I believe majority of the homeless persons in our city are not residents. They come here, or are dropped off here, because we have the shelters and non profits that provide food and other programs to the homeless. Other cities do not allow these shelter and programs in their cities and we get stuck with all the homeless people. That needs to change.
For more information on my campaign and the issues I stand for, visit me on Facebook at ShaneBarrows2012 or at http://www.shanebarrows.com.
Thank you Shane for taking the time to provide these thoughtful answers! I have found over my many years in politics that we will never find politicians we agree with all of the time. We need elected officials who will be open with us about where they stand and who will act in the best interests of our people. Your answers show that you have what it takes to lead this city, in these difficult times.
I admire Mr. Barrows for answering the questions and he moves up on my list of possible candidates I might vote for and I hope he does well. The sad fact is though that the candidates with the least chance of winning are always the ones calling for debates and answering questions from any and all who will listen to them. (I hope I'm wrong about Mr. Barrows and I hope he can get a lot of votes without spending any money)
Look at the recent 69th Assembly race. This is an elected office where the winner makes laws that really do impact our lives and yet the candidates never had even one debate and never answered any list of question from Santa Ana News or any other blog. I still admire you Art for asking the questions. Happy birthday and I hope you and your family have a great breakfast! Try the Steak and eggs! It's really tasty and I'm happy you are helping a local Santa Ana eatery.
Thanks! We had a great breakfast. Norm's employs a lot of our residents here in Santa Ana and is located right on 17th and Main.
Then we played tennis at Santiago Park and had a great time even though it was blazing hot...
I hope more candidates take the time to answer these questions. Karina Onofre in particular needs to step up as I am fairly certain that her opponent, Roman Reyna, won't.
Art, In Ward 5 Reyna lists his ballot designation as:
"Santa Ana Unified School District
Board of Trustees"
Wouldn't that be the title if the entire School Board was running for the Ward 5 seat?
Yes. He appears to have botched his ballot designation.
Another good post.
It would be nice if the current councilmembers would answer all of these questions as well. Why don't you ask them to?