Why should Santa Ana Occupy care about affordable housing?  

Their leader is a wealthy lawyer who lives in Brea!

About 40 members of Santa Ana Occupy showed up at Santa Ana’s City Council last night.  Thanks to them the meeting went on until midnight.  In the end the City Council rejected their demand to camp out at night on city property.

That much you know by now – but did you know that the Occupy members also completely failed last night – when they were given an opportunity to help the “99%?”

That’s right.  The City Council finally voted on an ordinance that would force developers to include affordable housing in their residential developments.

My friend Sean Mill was asked by the Santa Ana Planning Agency to speak on behalf of the affordable housing measure.  Unlike the Occupiers, who sat on their hands, Mill got up and gave an impassioned speech – pointing out how far the City Council has come since the old days, when Republicans dominated the Council and you weren’t allowed to say “affordable housing” at City Hall.

Mill then pointed out the obvious – that the building industry must be OK with the measure since no one from the BIA – the Building Industry Association – was there to oppose the proposed ordinance.

At NO TIME did the Occupiers speak up even when Santa Ana Mayor Pro Tem Claudia Alvarez went nuts and denounced the ordinance, saying that since the BIA was not there, the Council could not proceed.  Luckily Council Members Vince Sarmiento, David Benavides and Sal Tinajero, as well as Michele Martinez, all pounced on Alvarez.  Sarmiento in particular completely destroyed her lame argument.

In the end the only ding dong who voted against the ordinance was disgraced Councilman Carlos Bustamante – who apparently will continue to stick to his Republican playbook as he finishes what will surely be his final term on the City Council.

The Occupiers had a chance to stand up for working families.  They had a chance to say that they too support affordable housing.  They had a chance to rip the developers.  Instead they sat on their hands and SAID NOTHING.

As I have said from the start, these folks might have their hearts in the right place, but they don’t know the issues in my city, they have no clue about much of anything, and their revolution is actually pretty lame.

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.
Art Pedroza

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.

View Comments

  • [You might want to talk to some wise friend about the meaning and implications of the following phrase: “with reckless disregard of whether it was false or not.”].... Hmmmmm

    If I would be Art I would ban you forum this forum based on your wanton, willful and capricious violation of the rules of this forum with the actual malice.

    Art do you want to continue in this set up crapola by Diamond?

  • Bob Emerald, I don't know who you are, or why you think you think you know what schools my kids attend, but I am going to ignore you. Cheers.

    Art, you seem not to understand or care for personal privacy and dignity at all -- except, perhaps, where you are concerned. I'll bear that in mind.

    I did some research on your assertions against the person in question. "Voted against including gay history in school textbooks" -- looks to me like you're leaving out some context. Did he vote against particular available textbooks on the grounds that they included gay history?

    "He solicited endorsements from Prop. 8 supporters." Wow. Welcome to politics, Art. Do you think that one only seeks endorsements from those with whom completely agrees? Do you think that your Santa Ana political favorites could (or would want to) pass judgment by such a standard? Want to find out? But wait -- if they did so, does that make them hypocrites, or does it actually make them gay?

    "He is unmarried and doesn’t appear to have a girlfriend. What’s up with that Greg? Can you explain that?"

    And there we go. That's you being you, the Drudge wannabe of OC. So long, Art. Keep reading OJB, Art, but don't call Vern crying about what you see.

    • So you're ok with politicians who are anti-gay and who hang out with gay bashers, even if they might be closeted gays themselves? Wow. I think such politicians are completely reprehensible.

      And you won't find someone more supportive of gay rights than me. I fully support gay marriage, gay adoption, etc. I don't however support hypocrites.

  • So it took Greg a half hour to respond to this critisism, But five days, no TEN days to respond to Dan's JEW baiting comment.

    Greg, You are either extremely lucky or another Liberal OC LIAR........

    You expect ANYONE TO BELIEVE that you did not see or read any of the thirteen posts calling you out for your silence on Dan Chmileiwinski's JEW bashing,but you type a 220+ response in tirty minutes here.

    Thats BULLSHIT, You like your crony Dan and Chris are seeds (like seeds from Monsanto) engineered to help you, not the common good you pretend.

    IT IS NEARLY IMPOSSIBLE TO BELIEVE THAT YOU GOT THIS IN 22 MINUTES, BUT IT TOOK TWO WEEKS TO REPLY.

    Another LOC LIAR.

  • "the guy I wrote about voted against including gay history in school textbooks. Did you know that? And he solicited endorsements from Prop. 8 supporters. But he is unmarried and doesn’t appear to have a girlfriend. What’s up with that Greg? Can you explain that?"

    Yet admin's own wife was for Prop 8 and his friend Sean Mill is unmarked and doesn't appear to have a girlfriend either. Can you explain that admin?

    • Yet I had a No on 8 sign on my lawn that year - I may not be able to change my wife's mind but I did what I could to defeat that awful measure.

      As for Sean, I can attest that he has no problems with the ladies. He definitely enjoys being single.

  • So I am just catching up here.

    Is Jordan Brandman gay?

    I don't know, I don't care, but I think it's a fair question, considering he is on a school board and has no kids.

    I don't think Rob Richard is gay (looks can be decieving!) but, I have long railed on about childless politico's who are upward mobile serving on school boards.

    So I think someone should flat ask out Jordan if he is Homosexcual.

    End Of Story. Yes or No.

    • Richardson got married recently.

      As for Brandman, if he is gay it would be great for him to come out. He could be a real role model to young people struggling with their sexuality, particularly as he is a School Board Trustee. But if he comes out, will his gay-bashing Republican friends still invite him to their parties?

  • Rob's been married to Vivian for a long time, at least I think he's still married, back in the nineties my kids went to St. Joe's and we often saw him pandering for council votes with her there.

    I am pretty sure they started a CFM chapter there.

    I think it's gross that despite having no kids he runs roughshod over a dysfuntional district.

    If he is gay, Brandman should run with it, but thats his choice as to whether he wants to admit it. But, it's a fair question. Someone should ask.

    The thing is, nobody's going to ask that question. Certainly not the LOC, which is truly ironic.

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