By now we are all used to the fact that our City, Santa Ana, has a horrible budget mess.  They owe the State of California over fifty million dollars and with the police union contract coming up we figure to sink into an even larger budget mess.

But now I am hearing that the budget problems may extend to some of Santa Ana’s vendors.  I met tonight with a local business owner who is owed thousands of dollars for services he provided last September to MX Live, the event promoters who run Santa Ana’s Cinco de Mayo and Fiestas Patrias events.  He showed me the invoices and his emails to the folks at MX Live and to the City of Santa Ana.  He is afraid to mention his name as he knows that will kill his chances of working at these events but I sympathize with what he is going through.

It just isn’t right.  MX Live surely must be making hundreds of thousands of dollars off of these events.  They are supposed to pay their vendors within forty five days.  That does not appear to be happening.

This is all pretty bizarre.  According to their website, MX Live is “the leading Latin entertainment booking agency in the U.S. It is a joint venture with Seitrack and Crack Producciones which are the most important talent and event management companies in Latin America in collaboration with CCG Inc, a U.S. based concert event production company. Our powerhouse portfolio includes GRAMMY award nominees and winners, radio and album chart toppers, as well as proven concert performers within the Latin entertainment world. MXLIVE Entertainment is the largest Spanish Pop-Rock Agency in the country making it a one-stop agency for advertisers, corporate partners, and national and independent concert promoters wanting to target the U.S. Hispanic population. Through its concerts, festivals and special events, MXLIVE Entertainment connects with this important and lucrative segment of the population to help your business grow.”

So why can’t these guys, apparently, pay their vendors on time?

And why is the City of Santa Ana doing business with an event promoter that is not, reportedly, meeting their obligations?

How did these guys win the city contract in the first place?  Was this put out to bid?  I will have to get a hold of the contract and the City Council minutes to see how all this went down in the first place.  I am hearing that the guys at MX Live have been very tight with one of the Santa Ana Council Members.

You have to wonder if they are going to be able to get it together by next month.  Cinco de Mayo is coming up quickly…