Who you will be voting for in November for the Santa Ana City Council and the SAUSD School Board

When I spoke with Santa Ana Mayor Miguel Pulido earlier this week he was not yet sure if he was going to run for what will be his last two-year term. Since them Pulido has indeed pulled papers and he will be on the November 6 ballot. He will face off against termed-out Santa Ana City Councilman Sal Tinajero, who has been garnering a lot of media attention of late due to his leadership of the SAUSD Debate Team. The path for Tinajero was cleared when his colleague, Mayor Pro Tem Michele Martinez, opted to not run for Mayor after all. She too is terming out from the Santa Ana City Council.

No question about it – the Tinajero versus Pulido race will be the big contest in the General Election. But the race for Santa Ana’s Ward 2 will also be sure to garner a lot of attention as no less than six candidates have pulled papers. Here are the Ward 2 candidates:

• Alfonso Ceja-Villa – an Affordable Housing Coordinator (No ballot Statement)
• Paul Gonzalez –  A Financial Services Manager (Ballot Statement)
• Miguel “Mike” Gonzalez – Public Safety Consultant (Ballot Statement)
• Irma Macias – Community Volunteer (Ballot Statement)
• Sandra Pena Sarmiento (AKA Pocha Pena) – Teacher/Arts Commissioner (Ballot Statement) Note – she is Santa Ana City Councilman Vince Sarmiento’s cousin
• David Penaloza – Engineer/Educator (Ballot Statement)

While six candidates are in the mix for Ward 2 only two candidates filed for Ward 4:

• Roman Reyna – Santa Ana Planning Commissioner – (Ballot Statement) Note – apparently Reyna filed new voter registrations at as many as four addresses before he finally found one in Ward 4. He is a former Santa Ana City Councilman who used to represent Ward 5.
• Phil Bacerra – Small Business Owner (Ballot Statement) Note – Bacerra previously served on the Santa Ana Planning Commission. 

Over in Ward 6 there are three ladies running, including two school board members, but no male candidates:

• Cecilia “Ceci” Iglesias – Governing Board Member, Santa Ana Unified School District (Ballot Statement)
• Nelida Mendoza – College Board Member/Teacher (Ballot Statement)
• Mirna Velasquez – Businesswoman/Educator (Ballot Statement)

Remember – all of these folks are running for the Santa Ana City Council event though the City of Santa Ana is teetering on the edge of bankruptcy! They are brave souls indeed.

There are four candidates running for the Santa Ana School Board, including your New Santa Ana editor:

• John Palacio – incumbent (Qualified) Note: Palacio has been on the SAUSD School Board for 20 years – there are no term limits on the SAUSD School Board. Palacio has zero presence on Social Media, to our knowledge. He is a political consultant.
• Valerie Amecua – incumbent (Qualifed) – Amezcua retired from the Orange County Probation Department last year
• Cecilia Aguinaga – Realtor/Businessowner/Parent (Qualified)
• Angie Cano – Santa Ana Businesswoman/Economist (Qualified)
• Art Pedroza – Educator/Parent (Qualified) – Pedroza has 15 years experience teaching at Cerritos College. He also is a Sr. Risk Control Consultant for a global insurance carrier. And Pedroza is the editor of the New Santa Ana Blog. Pedroza and his wife of 31 years, Camille, raised four kids who all attended Santa Ana public schools.

We will also be voting on several ballot measures:

• Measure X – Sal Tinajero wrote a ballot measure that will raise our city sales taxes – if voters approve this.
• Measure I – John Palacio and Valerie Amezcua teamed up for the SAUSD’s third bond measure – which will increase our property taxes yet again (keep in mind the fact that we are also paying for two Rancho Santiago Community College District bond measures). (Click here for the argument against this measure)
• Measure AA – This measure will change our City Council elections from an at-large system to a ward-specific system.
• Measure Z – The City Charter Modernization and Update of Administrative Provisions. This measure asks: “Shall the Charter be amended to: modernize and remove outdated language to reflect changes or conflicts in the City or State law concerning gifts and campaign contributions and designated City funds; create consistency in the Municipal Code regarding boards or commissions; and move the qualifications for the Finance Director to the Municipal Code?” You can read more about it here. There is no public opposition to this measure.
• Measure Y – A business license tax on Marijuana and Commercial Cannabis. This measure will enact both a gross square footage tax of between 25 cents to $35.00 and a gross receipts tax rate up to 10% for cultivating, manufacturing, distributing, selling or testing cannabis and related products to raise between $8 to $12 million to fund public safety, parks, youth and senior services, among other general City services. There is no public opposition to this measure.

Art Pedroza Editor

Our Editor, Art Pedroza, worked at the O.C. Register and the OC Weekly and studied journalism at CSUF and UCI. He has lived in Santa Ana for over 30 years and has served on several city and county commissions. When he is not writing or editing Pedroza specializes in risk control and occupational safety. He also teaches part time at Cerritos College and CSUF. Pedroza has an MBA from Keller University.

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