Longtime Santa Ana City Commissioners Julie Stroud and Vicky Betancourt are out – both are being replaced this Tuesday night, at the next Santa Ana City Council meeting, according to the posted meeting agenda.
Stroud served on the Santa Ana Parks and Recreation Commission. She was one of two Commissioners on that board who opposed my suggestion that the City of Santa Ana look into creating a dog park. The other, Tish Leon, was dismissed a few months ago after she joined with Stroud in bullying a teenage Commissioner, who then quit the Commission, but outed them in the process.
Stroud was seen by many supporters of Santa Ana Mayor Miguel Pulido, when she was leaving the election night party of failed Mayoral candidate Alfredo Amezcua. I knew then it was unlikely she would be re-appointed to the Parks and Recreation Board.
Stroud is being replaced by Ava Steaffens, the President of Kidworks, a non-profit that serves needy children in Santa Ana. That is a great choice! Steaffens is being appointed by Councilman David Benavides.
Roman Reyna, who is now a member of the SAUSD School Board, was also replaced, on the Housing and Redevelopment Commission, by Laura Morfin, who chaired the now defunct EPIC Commission. Morfin is being appointed by Benavides. And Mayor Pulido is appointing Wendy Tobiska to the Parks and Recreation Board.
Benavides also re-appointed Mario Turner to the Santa Ana Planning Commission, but the big news is Betancourt’s departure from that same body. Betancourt was perhaps the most controversial member of the Santa Ana Planning Commission. Her decisions were often overturned by the Santa Ana City Council. Betancourt is allegedly an atheist, and she reportedly was very tough on any church that had business with the Planning Commission. She is also a major supporter of the Artists Village. None of the current Planning Commissioners are known supporters of the arts, although that doesn’t mean they won’t be supportive of the Artists Village.
Betancourt is one of the owners of Coneybeare, a local temp agency firm. She was also on the board of directors of the Santa Ana Business Bank, which sold its assets at a loss of about 40%, to a bank in Los Angeles, about a year ago.
Sandy Nalle will be replacing Betancourt on the Planning Commission. Nalle works for CB Richard Ellis, a commercial real estate company. He has a Juris Doctorate and he ran against Bustamante back in 2004, when he got over 40% of the vote. Bustamante won that election, with 59% of the vote. Nalle was supported by Pulido, and it is Pulido who is now putting him on the Planning Commission.
According to his company’s website, Nalle is an expert in large property sales and governmental relations, Mr. Nalle’s transactions vary from 400,000 square foot industrial leases to 100 acre land acquisitions and development projects. Additionally, he has thirty years of extensive experience with Mexican commercial, legal and real estate matters including fideicomiso organization.
Nalle was also a Captain in the U.S. Marine Corps.
With Betancourt’s exit there are now no women on the Planning Commission. She is also an environmentalist – and again, to my knowledge, none of the remaining Planning Commissioners are environmental extremists.
It should be noted that Nalle lives in Ward 3 – as do all of the Planning Commissioners except for Sean Mill, who lives in Ward 6.
Hello Mr. Pedroza, you state here that “None of the current planning commissioners are known supporters of the arts, but that does not mean that they will be not be supporters of the Artists Village.”
Personally, I find no reason why any planning commissioners would not be interested in the themes of art or an “Artists Village” as a means to increase the real estate value and outward appeal of not just that particular neighborhood but for the reputation of the city as a whole. I have so many friends that are of the opinion that if it were not for an “Artists Village”, they would basically have no reason or interest to come to Santa Ana at all. If planning commissioners are interested in empirical evidence. Maybe some agency can conduct a poll for them. They can ask people throughout Southern California something like: “What would be a reason why you or your family would be interested in visiting Downtown Santa Ana?” So many people already have an answer to that.
I think Mateo that it would be a great idea to invite the Planning Commission to your next Art Walk.
I was at the Artists Village on Saturday, to watch my friend Vern play the piano, and I can attest that there were a lot of folks there visiting the galleries and having lunch. It was a great scene.
What I meant in my article is that there are no Planning Commissioners, as far as I know, who have Betancourt’s passion for the arts movement. Let’s see how this plays out.
BTW, you can see who is on the commission at this link: http://www.ci.santa-ana.ca.us/coc/documents/current_members.pdf.
With Vicky gone who will carry Don Cribb’s water on the Planning Commission?
Good riddance to her and Cribb’s filthy shadow lingering over the commission.
How ironic that she would complain about others that have been appointed only to see herself as the one getting removed.
Art, the artists village supporters probably should invite the Planning Commission to the next artwalk. Who do we contact? What’s the procedure for that?
Call the City Clerk. She will be able to help.
It would be neat to host a Commission meeting at the Village.
“the now defunct EPIC Commission”……. Hmmm
When it did defunct?…… recently?
Oh no, quite some time ago.
Next time listen to me!
I was the only position an because of it Martinez got pissed at me. She even did not apologized, saying you were right Stan.
Well, I am visionary.
If it would be my way then, there would not be any gang problem in Santa Ana today.
Here is my brief from 4 years ago!
http://ocsatire.com/council/gangs02.pdf
Ava Steaffens is an inspired appointment.