2010 – 2011 Comlink Board
Unless you’ve been in a coma or under a rock somewhere you are well aware of the fiscal crisis facing our community. Municipalities are being asked to do more with less and tough decisions need to be made as to where budget cuts should take place. According to our acting City Manager, Paul Walters, the City of Santa Ana is even considering outsourcing a number of services, including fire dispatch, the public library and even the Santa Ana Zoo.
Of course the last area we should cut is public safety (even though we do need to make sure our cops and firemen aren’t getting sweetheart deals), but there are areas of the budget that should be cut in order to save during this fiscal crisis. One of those area’s city officials should cut immediately is the funding for neighborhood associations and Comlink.
In the city of Los Angeles where they are facing monumental budget shortfalls, Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa and the city council made huge cuts to the funding of the city’s 89 “neighborhood councils”. In February of 2009, Villaraigosa merged that city’s version of Santa Ana’s Community Development Agency Housing and Neighborhood Development Division, entitled the Department of Neighborhood Empowerment, into another city agency. The merger saved an estimated $2 million for Los Angeles.
In Santa Ana, according to figures provided to me by the City Manager’s office, we could save over $716,000 by eliminating the public funding of neighborhood associations. Taxpayers are spending almost $90,ooo alone on postage and printing to promote the neighborhood associations and their umbrella group Comlink. I don’t see how we can justify such expenditures for organizations that represent such a small percentage of our residents.
To make matters worse, Com Link and the Neighborhood Associations don’t even represent the people of Santa Ana. They pretend to but at most they represent less than 1% of our city’s residents.
Check out the partisan registration of the current Com Link Board Members:
The 69th Assembly district includes most of Santa Ana and parts of Anaheim, Garden Grove and Orange. It traditionally has been a Democratic seat, but that hasn’t discouraged Republican candidate Robert Hammond from taking another shot at it. Hammond lost in the 2010 general election to the incumbent Solorio, who took 65 percent of the vote.
Robert Hammond, a Santa Ana resident, was at the Yost Theater on Thursday evening, attending a meeting of the city’s Communication Linkage Forum, an umbrella group for neighborhood associations.
That’s right. Republican Assembly candidate Bob Hammond knew where to go to find other Republicans…
I thought Republicans were supposed to be all about privatizing and outsourcing – so why are THESE Republicans continuing to exploit the people of the City of Santa Ana – robbing us to pay for their meetings? And that is not all – the Neighborhood Associations don’t pay for their permits – when they have Wine Walks and Concerts they get their permits for free. Do you think that families who hold events like quinceañeras get such favors? And the Neighborhood Associations also get to use the City’s bandstand for free too.
I am all for outsourcing too – and it is time to outsource and privatize Com Link and the Santa Ana Neighborhood Associations. No other city in Orange County subsidizes their Neighborhood Associations – we are $30 million dollars in debt and yet for some damn reason we are spending almost a million dollars a year on these Republican yahoos – in a city dominated by Democrats and Decline to State voters. That needs to stop now!
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You did not reply to my comment that if your plan is instituted only those who can afford to pay will a voice in how their city is operated. This time give me a direct answer to a direct question - if you are so capable.
Is that how you want it - the people with money will the only ones with access to their city government?
silly junior if the neighborhood associations want to allow poor people to join for free that's up to them.
"The City of Anaheim subsidizes and works closely with their Neighborhood Associations."
junior/Mike,
The City of Anaheim also has a great revenue generator in Disneyland and the resort area. We don't have such a luxury here in Santa Ana.
We are facing a huge budget crisis and we must look to cut across the board. If outsourcing police and fire services are on the table why shouldn't the funding of NA's and Comlink be as well.
Please tell me what benefits most of our residents get from the NA's and Comlink. The overwhelming majority of our residents do not belong to these groups and yet are forced to pay for them.
".. if the neighborhood associations want to allow poor people to join for free that’s up to them."
"Right" Admin. - and then you would be hammering the self funded NA's if they chose not subsidize the poor.
"Please tell me what benefits most of our residents get from the NA’s and Comlink."
The NA's benefit all Santa Ana residents and businesses - they:
Facilitate cooperation between residents, apartment owners, schools, businesses, religious organizations, non-profit agencies and City departments to improve and strengthen neighborhoods.
Provide a point of contact to assist residents in resolving neighborhood issues.
Provide guidance to Santa Ana's neighborhoods wishing to organize and to improve the quality of life within their neighborhoods.
Fosters and builds leadership within neighborhoods.
Provide information and resources to residents, helping them become effective problem solvers.
Fosters the building of neighborhood community, identity and pride.
Encourages residents to become involved in the decision-making process.
Coordinates and enables residents' involvement in the community.
Coordinates efforts between City departments, which address improved neighborhood livability.
The above borrowed heavily from the City of Anaheim website - but the same applies to Santa Ana's Neighborhood Associations.
"Hiding these expenditures is dishonest and not at all transparent."
These are management costs. And it is kind of funny that the city management has assigned a substantial part of its costs to little sub groups like NA’s and Com-link to hide its true cost.
Most other cities do not play the accounting shell game.
Look at the last 5 balanced budgets, none were balanced because all borrowed from the reserves. Another form of the “shell game” being played.
The city need to stop screwing around. They need to call in Jose and Lou (and other state rep’s who represent the city) and tell them in no uncertain terms, “to fix the broken system”
junior/Mike,
You do not need to belong to a neighborhood association to have all those things. I have all of that and I don't belong to an NA.
The associations can have all this without public subsidies/welfare.
Are you saying that these groups can only exist if they keep getting public subsidies/welfare?
If that's the case how strong are they?
I am not saying that cost cutting measures cannot apply to the NAs. I would suggest email communication and notification of meetings to reduce mailing and postage costs, but you would counter that would leave out (disenfrancize) residents without access to the internet.
What cost cutting measures would Admin & Mill suggest? Or are you both for elimination of any direct interaction between the City and the NAs - which is impossible. If there is intereaction there will be associated costs.
What the hell do you want?
We want the NAs to fend for themselves.
"They need to call in Jose and Lou (and other state rep’s who represent the city) and tell them in no uncertain terms, “to fix the broken system”"....... Hmmmmm
Call Jose and Lou, how about calling Dr. Jack Kevorkian, cook?
Jose and Lou, both affirmative action idiots, are direct cause of the crises.
"We want the NAs to fend for themselves."
Do you want the NAs to interact with City officials and staff on some level? If so, to what extent?
Any interaction with City staff will generate associated costs.
Would you allow those associated costs for staff and official interaction with the NAs?
I don't think we need to itemize phone calls and emails. What I don't want to see is City staffers having to host it attend NA meetings.
No one at city hall should be spending forty hours a week on these NAs.
"Call Jose and Lou, how about calling Dr. Jack Kevorkian, cook?
Jose and Lou, both affirmative action idiots, are direct cause of the crises. "
.............
I think Kevorkian is dead.