In January, the Santa Ana City Council approved a new events permit policy. The Council voted to waive facility use permit fees in City parks for recognized neighborhood associations. Neighborhood associations will work with City staff to utilize City-owned facilities and/or City-owned or controlled public properties for meetings or special events. Other fees may apply, depending on the event. I hope this will make it easier for our many neighborhood groups to have fun events that help bring the community together.

On January 31, 2022 DMS Landscape started a Santiago Creek clean-up from Flower Street to the I-5 freeway. Reminder notices were sent to 15 property owners whose property crosses the creek if they were interested in having their property cleaned up at the same time. Since the City is not responsible for clean-up of private property, they were to contract with DMS directly. Three property owners contacted DMS. One property owner wanted a dead branch removed, another requested a small tree sapling removed, and the third was not interested due to cost. Here are before and after pictures:

Before

After

The Santiago Gashouse renovation project is nearly half done, I wanted to assure you that things are progressing! During construction, a water main broke and flooded the work site. To continue construction, the project was redesigned to relocate the utilities and raise the grade. With the redesign, there is an opportunity to add a new playground area, slides, and install electrical infrastructure to provide lighting for the parking lot.

There are several more updates coming to Santiago Park, as well, including:

A new exhibit that will showcase giant river otters swimming through a waterfall while monkeys play above is coming to the Santa Ana Zoo at Prentice Park. The Zoo had a ceremonial groundbreaking Friday, January 14, for the giant river otter habitat and primate trails renovation and expansion at the Amazon’s Edge exhibit.

The $6.6 million project is the most complex that the Zoo has undertaken and will bring new life and an immersive experience for guests and animals alike. It is expected to open in summer 2023. The project is the first phase of the Zoo’s Master Plan for further development and is made possible by $6 million in parks improvement funds from the Parks, Recreation, and Community Services Agency and $600,000 from the Friends of the Santa Ana Zoo in the form of grants and donations.

Did you know you can enter your neighborhood block improvements to win the Neighborhood Block Transformation Contest? Property improvements must be for community beautification with a focus on the parkway areas. Send both your neighborhood block before- and after-improvement pictures by May 20, 2022, for a chance to win two award-recognition signs and a $100 gift card!

Scholarship Prep broke ground in November on their first ground-up campus, set to serve Santa Ana students in grades transitional kindergarten (TK) through third grade. Scholarship Prep is a TK-8 public charter school that provides scholarship pathways for students through rigorous academics, intensive athletics and arts programs.

Thanks to careful financial planning during the pandemic, the City of Santa Ana has an additional $42 million available in its budget for one-time spending. In December, the City Council had to decide how to spend some surplus in the budget, and after many community conversations, I pushed hard and advocated for more street lighting and more street repairs.

The one-time spending was approved in January and the money will be spent on:

Thank you for reaching out and letting me know what you wanted to see funded.

At the June 3, 2021, meeting, I proposed that the Council should do something to curb anti-Semitic hate. On Jan. 18, the Council adopted a resolution condemning the recent rise in anti-Semitic violence and harassment targeting Jewish people, and standing in solidarity with those affected by antisemitism. I do not stand for hate or discrimination based on race, religion, gender, or any other means.

I had the great privilege of helping Larry Gonzales unveil his beautiful art piece on Saturday, Jan. 22. The 14-foot sculpture is titled “Coyotl/Coyote,” made of welded steel and a concrete base.

Inspired by the Nahuatl poetry of the Aztec ruler Nezahualcoyotl, hence, flowers in the “tongue” representing “flowery words” or “poetry.” The sculpture’s imagery takes inspiration from Indigenous Aztec and Nahuatl people and language that include words we still use today. The howling animal is considered sacred among many native people and has played central roles in their storytelling, legends, and ceremonies for millennia. The plaque includes two poems by Nezahualcoyotl translated into English, Spanish, and Nahuatl, “A Memory That I Leave,” and “The Mockingbird.”

The plaque also has a tribute to David Vazquez, a Santa Ana resident who devoted his life to preserving, translating, and teaching his native Nahuatl language and culture at the Episcopal Church of the Messiah in Santa Ana. He passed away in January 2021.

The Nahuatl hieroglyphics on the plaque were developed by Mr. Vazquez. The language of the local Tongva tribe, which once occupied Santa Ana, belongs in the same root family as the Nahuatl language, which was widely spoken in the central Mexico region for hundreds of years prior to European arrival.

The celebration was made possible by the collaboration between the City, local residents and coalitions, and Santa Ana Unified School District.

In our January Council meeting, I presented a proclamation to Gerardo Mouet for his years of outstanding service and contributions to the community, received by his wife on his behalf. Born and raised in Mexico, Mr. Mouet came to the United States as a young man and started working for the City of Santa Ana in 1990. He worked his way up to eventually become the Executive Director of the Parks, Recreation, and Community Services Agency.

During his tenure with the Parks department, he helped add 10 new parks, support joint-use projects, and enhanced engagement with the community. He dedicated his time to projects enhancing the quality of life for Santa Ana residents, and for that, we are eternally grateful! Thank you for all you’ve done, Mr. Mouet!

There’s a new little library in town, and I’m so happy it’s in Ward 3! Many thanks to Open Hands of Hope and Dynamite Book club for helping to restore/paint a new little library for Ward 3 resident Tay Ashton. Mabury Park is happy to welcome another little library. Take a book, leave a book.

In January, I spent a morning with our Quality of Life Team, Caltrans, CityNet, Santa Ana’s sanitation team, and Orange Police Department. This multi-agency partnership was a request I made last year due to the ongoing issues in Ward 3.

We started at Hart Park and made our way to Fisher Park. Along the way, we cleaned up the creek and painted over the graffiti. Caltrans will return to re-paint under the 5 freeway underpass (nearest Broadway). At the end of the month, another Creek clean-up will take place, and I’ll make sure to keep you updated via email.

I want to thank Santa Police Sgt. Montiel for helping bring all agencies together. Together, we can all do our part to help keep Santa Ana beautiful.

The MainPlace Mall is reinventing itself to keep it up with the times. Last month, I joined in the groundbreaking of the first piece of the Mall’s transformation, the Paloma apartments. We are so excited for everything this entire project will bring to Santa Ana, including 656 multifamily units, a concert venue with 4,000-person capacity, 140,000 square feet of office space, and 492,000 square feet of small shop space and two large department stores.

MainPlace Mall is an important economic asset for our city, and I’m happy to see the owner, Centennial, investing in the future of our community. Additionally, a greater supply of housing will have a positive effect on our City, potentially helping to bring down the overall cost of rent and putting a roof over more families’ heads.

There is something you can do to help stop the rise in catalytic converter thefts! It’s hard to trace stolen car parts, but you can have your vehicle’s license plate or vehicle identification number (VIN) etched into the catalytic converter. Having your license plate number etched into the converter not only deters criminals from stealing it, but also will allow you to be reunited with this very expensive car part should the thief be caught. ExperTec, on Talbert Avenue in Huntington Beach, is offering free catalytic converter etchings on the first and third Saturday of each month, from 10 a.m. to noon, to those who make an appointment by calling (714) 848-9222.

Recently, a thread on NextDoor caught my attention. Teenagers were going door-to-door selling things like chocolate, coupon books, and magazines claiming to be from Santa Ana High School. One staff member from SAHS posted that the school doesn’t have any fundraisers going on where students will go door-to-door, and others commented that these teenagers were from LA scamming for money.

There was also a recent Facebook post from the Riverside County Sheriff's department talking about panhandlers, and how some cases were even tied to human trafficking. While some cases of panhandling may be legitimate, the Riverside County Sheriff had some advice: “Please don’t make it rain in the intersections. Donate to a reputable charity or organization that will ensure your donations go to the cause you intend it to go to.”

The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) shares four signs something is a scam:

Is a student that you don’t know trying to sell you something? Ask the student who the faculty member in charge is and tell them you will support their cause once you can verify it with the school. Reach out to the faculty member in charge via the school’s directory, which is usually posted on the district’s website. After you’ve contacted the faculty member in charge and they’ve verified it, the faculty member can provide you with details of how to support the cause.

NEVER provide your personal or financial information in response to a request that you didn’t expect. Legitimate organizations won’t call, email, or text to ask for your personal information, like your Social Security, bank account, or credit card numbers.

If you get an email or text message from a company you do business with and you think it’s real, it’s still best not to click on any links. Instead, contact them using a website you know is trustworthy, or look up their phone number. Don’t call a number they gave you or the number from your caller ID.

Resist the pressure to act immediately. Legitimate businesses will give you time to make a decision. Anyone who pressures you to pay or give them your personal information is likely a scammer.

The State of California is providing grants for homeowners who are behind on their mortgages due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Information on eligibility requirements and how to apply are now available at CaMortgageRelief.org.

The FCC has launched a long-term program to help low-income residents afford internet access. Eligible participants will get a discount of up to $30 per month for internet services. Households must meet at least one of the following eligibility criteria:

The Orange County Workforce Development Board has been awarded $3.9 million in California Microbusiness COVID-19 Relief Grant Program funding to support underserved microbusinesses and entrepreneurs impacted by COVID-19. Small businesses and entrepreneurs throughout the county will be able to apply for payments of $2,500 from Feb. 14 through March 15, 2022. This includes businesses owned by women, minorities, veterans, individuals without documentation, individuals with limited English proficiency, and business owners located in low wealth communities.

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