Santa Ana News

“The Orange Unified School District board Tuesday night approved the hiring of Renae Dreier as the new superintendent,” according to the O.C. Register. Dreier was in charge of a school district in Greeley, Colorado. She will be paid $250,000 a year for the next three years.

“Dreier has a doctorate in educational leadership from USC and a master’s degree in history from San Francisco State University.” Compare her education to that of Santa Ana Unified School District Superintendent Jane Russo, who does not have a doctorate in education but is paid at least as much as Dreier, if not more. And Russo’s SAUSD web page doesn’t disclose anything about her education.

Clearly the Orange Unified School District conducted a REAL national search for their new Superintendent. The SAUSD went through the motions a couple of years ago only to hire Russo, who has been an assistant under former Superintendent Al Mijares.

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Political events in Sacramento are usually laughable, but get a load of the latest misadventure involving Assemblyman Jose Solorio, “Assemblyman Jose Solorio (D-Anaheim), Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger and other state legislators welcomed several Central Valley mayors and hundreds of California farm workers to the Capitol steps yesterday. The rally’s focus was to urge legislators to let voters decide on a water bond proposal.”

Farm workers? Oh sure, that will really motivate the voters to pass another bond and put our state further in debt. And check out what Solorio, who is a vegetarian, had to say at this staged event, “Did you know it takes 700 gallons of water to make a cheeseburger?” I suppose if that burger included an entire cow that might be remotely true, but give me a break! How much water does Solorio waste washing his humongous pompadour everyday?

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Pajaritos are reporting that Santa Ana Housing & Redevelopment Commissioner Lynette Verino (pictured above, second from left, next to Councilwoman and Mayoral candidate Michele Martinez) is considering running for the seat on the Rancho Santiago Community College District’s Board of Trustees that incumbent Trustee Al Amezcua is vacating in November.

Verino previously ran unsuccessfully for the Santa Ana City Council against Clowncilwoman “Crazy” Claudia Alvarez back in 2004. Verino came in third in that race, behind Roman Reyna, with 8,656 votes, according to Smart Voter. Reyna had 10,720 votes. Alvarez came in first with 26,503 votes.

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Al Amezcua is walking away from power. But why? Apparently he is not going to run for reelection to the Rancho Santiago Community College District Board - he has withdrawn his campaign filing papers.

He says that he wants new leadership in Santa Ana, which sounds like baloney. He also has been bragging lately about running for Mayor of Santa Ana in two years. I guess that is off the table too.

Did this blog hound Al out of office? You have to wonder. Politicians like him have enjoyed power for years in Santa Ana without anyone going after them or their misdeeds. But Al and his fellow Rancho trustees have provided ample fodder for the Orange Juice over the last five years. Here are just a few of the stories that we published about Al and the Rancho board:

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“Laguna Beach, long a gay-friendly community, followed Los Angeles’ lead as one of the first cities to reject a ballot measure that would ban same-sex marriage,” according to the L.A. Times.

What about the City of Santa Ana? Our City Council is almost majority Democrat. There is only one Republican on our City Council - lame Clowncilman Carlos Bustamante. Why hasn’t Mayor Miguel Pulido asked his fellow Clowncil Members to do what Laguna Beach just did?

Could it be that Pulido is staying away from this issue because his buddy Bustamante won’t support it? And what about Clowncilman David Benavides? He graduated from Biola University and used to be a minister. Perhaps Benavides is not too happy about gay marriage?

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SANTA ANA, Calif. - A Santa Ana teenager has been arrested for allegedly raping a 9-year-old boy with a toy light saber.

SANTA ANA, Calif. - A member of a domestic terrorist group has been sentenced to 12 years in prison for planning to attack military facilities in Los Angeles.

“Wachovia headlined the series of dismal earnings reports yesterday, saying it would lay off 6,350 employees and leave 4,400 more positions unfilled while posting a record $8.86 billion loss in the second quarter,” according to the Washington Post. Uh-oh!

In retrospect you have to wonder what Al Amezcua, the Bustamante twins, Mike Metzler, Victoria Betancourt and the other oddballs on the board of the Santa Ana Business Bank were thinking when they opened a new bank - right before all the banks started tanking.

I wonder if they were planning on putting public bond money in their bank? Amezcua was the co-chair for Measure G, the latest property tax increase from the crooked folks at the Santa Ana Unified School District. He is running his daughter Valerie for the SAUSD school board in November. And I am told that the SAUSD will be putting yet another bond on the ballot in November too.

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I have not read about ANY carjackings anywhere in Orange County - except for downtown Orange County, where “Police are looking for a group of people who they said carjacked two Anaheim men early Sunday morning near the Piccolo Night Club on First Street, Santa Ana police Cmdr. James Schnabl said,” according to the O.C. Register.

One carjacker had a pistol. The other had a shotgun. And a third one was a woman! They pistol-whipped the occupants of the vehicle, which was described as a “gold-colored 2006 Ford F150 pickup with license plate 8D09929.” Now the Santa Ana carjackers are stealing trucks? Do they not know how much it will cost to refuel this vehicle?

Maybe we need to declare martial law and bring in the National Guard?

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There is bad news for Santa Ana Clowncilman Carlos Bustamante. A fantastic candidate has emerged to face off against him in November for Ward 3 on the Santa Ana City Council. Her name is Ana Rebecca “Becky” Valencia-Verdin. She lives in Floral Park, which is even more bad news for Bustamante. Floral Park is where Santa Ana Mayor Miguel Pulido lives - it is the most affluent neighborhood in Santa Ana. It offers a natural power base for Valencia-Verdin.

Her website states that she has “an interest in global social justice, national healthcare, increased awareness in issues of public health affecting women, children, and the elderly,” and that she” has been a key decision-maker and influential latina-woman business leader within numerous wellness organizations and government funded initiatives.”

You have to love the irony of such an accomplished Latina taking on Bustamante, who recently had to resign from two state commissions after he made an outrageous sexist remark at a public meeting, where new Sheriff Sandra Hutchens was appointed.

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The Chair of the Democratic Party of Orange County, Frank Barbaro, has emailed his party members an invitation to fork over their dinero to Santa Ana Clowncilman Vince Sarmiento. Check out what Barbaro has to say about Sarmiento, who was appointed two years ago to replace Jose Solorio, who moved on to the State Assembly:

Vincent Sarmiento was appointed to the Santa Ana City Council in January, 2007. Since then he has taken the lead on important issues of economic development, public safety and city finances. A lawyer and businessman, Vince Sarmiento is exactly the kind of leader Santa Ana needs. He’s an intelligent, well educated professional whose life and family reflect a new model for Santa Ana’s future. In short, he deserves your support. Please join me in supporting one of Orange County’s brightest stars!

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Real estate booms and real estate busts are cyclical in nature. All indications are in that we now have a bubbly bursting of real estate. Bold construction projects like high rise buildings and high density towers are seriously struggling in Irvine, the Inland Empire and various other boom-town real estate areas. Real estate busts happen all over the world and some take many years to resolve.

#1 Broadway Plaza is currently on hold because Michael Harrah cannot secure a 50% occupancy rate going forward - a target rate which would allow construction to begin on his dream towers. Is this contingency necessary? Why not just let the guy build in the middle of Santa Ana and take the natural consequences of probable unsustainable low occupancy and lack of rent receipts? Would it even matter if the place was left completely unoccupied? A lot of action in Santa Ana seems to come in a few days late and about 10 bucks short, so why can’t the guy just power through the bureaucracy and build his dream?

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Dana Parsons compared Santa Ana Clowncilwoman Michele Martinez to Democratic presidential hopeful Barack Obama in his latest column in the L.A. Times. Martinez actually told him that Santa Ana Mayor Miguel Pulido was once her hero. But she was not honest about why she is really running against him.

I have been hearing this week from many sources that Rancho Santiago Community College District Trustee Al Amezcua is actually telling folks that he convinced Martinez to run - and that he doesn’t think she will win. Apparently he wants to be the Mayor - but he is using Martinez to soften Pulido up. Amezcua plans to take Pulido on himself four years from now.

You can see Amezcua in action for yourself in the video clip above, which was shot by Matt/Jubal Cunningham of the Red County Blog. It depicts Amezcua speaking at a meeting of Los Amigos where he was involved in helping Jordan Brandman take out Harald Martin - an effort Martinez publicly supported as well. At the time I thought she was just doing the right thing - but was she just doing as she was told?

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A h, the brashness of youth. The sheer audacity of it. Imagine, the notion that a relatively unknown political figure, just a step or two up from the novice ranks, would dare take on a much more seasoned and ...

Authorities continued today to search for a Garden Grove hospital blood technician who escaped from court just before being convicted of sexually assaulting six women in a maternity ward.

SANTA ANA, Calif. - The public corruption trial for Orange County's ex-sheriff has been delayed by two months.

The OC Register delves deeper into the Steve Rocco for Santa Ana City Council race here, and his quest to unseat one term Councilmember Carlos Bustamante.

According to the story, “both men pulled filing documents on Monday, according to the Clerk of the Council’s Office”

I have heard much grumbling out of Ward 3 with regards to the lack of involvement from Councilmember Bustamante, promises made and promises broken and numerous other concerns.

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SANTA ANA, Calif. - Two men who recently donated blood tested positive for West Nile virus, the first known human cases of the mosquito-borne virus in Orange County this year.

A Mater Dei football player was taken to an emergency room today after a fight with another player at practice left him with a concussion, broken teeth and a broken nose, his father said.