have always been a rather large bone of contention. Trying
to find out what is going on at City Hall seems to be the
toughest find of all. Who owns what? What areas are being
redeveloped? What new developer has raised the spectre of
high rise in residential neighborhoods? Who is who in the
zoo?
OK, now we are not citizens of Santa Ana. We do like the
Mayor Pulido, Miquel.... however, because he seems like a
nice guy and he has actually responded to our concerns as
transients...traversing through his bailiwick! What has us
concerned is his lack of true understanding regarding "full
disclosure" and "forthcoming elected government". Here in
Newport Beach, we are no strangers to the "filtered and
occluded government". For years, a seeming blackout existed.
Uncannily, in the recent few years......activism has raised
the action on the political table and we finally have a
digital signal from City Hall...reporting each City Council
meeting with clarity - finally. They held on to the terrible
analogue video (which you couldn't see well) and the awful
sad analogue sound ( which you couldn't hear very well!)
They did everything in their power to make watching the
events at City Hall....miserable. Luckily, a couple of years
ago....Newport Beach got with the program...and offered City
Council Meetings available on the Internet....from the City
website! Then we finally got our new digital cameras......my
goodness what could be next?
At any rate, whether Mayor Pulido wants his meetings with
Spanish sub-titles, three dimensional Game Boy additions,
or Inter-active public voting messages.....the time has come!
The recent meeting of the Santa Ana City Council couldn't
even net a Second to Council persons Martinez request for
televising all City Council Meetings. The Mayor then
compromised by saying only ONE of the TWO meeting could be
televised! His quick reaction that Government Officials
"get too nervous on TV"....and that "most work is done
behind closed doors" is a crack up. What that means is:
"We have some terrible actors here...that are going to let
the cat out of the bag....and I will have no control!"
Welcome to the Digital World Mr. Mayor! There are no
more 25 cent haircuts or 30 cent a gallon gasoline either!
Most larger cities like Los Angeles, offer School Board
Meetings and even Sub-Committee Meetings like the Federal
Mandate for Oversight of the LAPD on Television....to the
Public. Many Cities offer full Planning Commission Meetings
too! It is time to get with the program Mr. Mayor and get
on board the Digital Express to New Open Government. Yes,
you will get more letters to answer. Yes, you will get
more people showing up at City Council meetings. Yes, you
will have more and more people asking to serve on various
City Committees and Commissions. Yes, the "GadFlys" will
circle the building every meeting and you will have to
deal with them in a gentle fashion! Yes, it is all going
to be quite "inconvenient" - but you gotta do it - and you
need to do it bigtime! No cheap dates!
Mr. Mayor, time to step up to the plate and get ahead of
that curve rather than trying to hit from behind the curve!
Your community needs meetings that include both sub-titles
in Spanish with signage for the hearing impaired! You need
to contact those big time and monied supporters of yours
and have them given you a political hand to make your City
....a Free Wi-Fi Zone, available City Council meetings all
archived on the City Website and make sure that the Planning
Commission meetings wind up being televised as well - and
Archived, of course!
How many people does the City of Santa Ana serve again?
340 to 350,000 thousand citizens you say? And you don't
offer televised and open government? Come on now....even
Newport Beach televises it's meetings. How about Huntington
Beach..yep! How about Laguna Beach....for many, many, many
years! Probably, before TV!!!
Buenas Dias to the digital age Mayor Pulido!
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