Thursday, May 8, 2008

The pressure got to them

I'm afraid the pressure got to the council.
I ain't blogged in a while cuz I aint got nothin to talk about other than how disappointed I am. The politicians realized that their voters had much more "modest" community standards than the cities they were trying to model the plan after... so they finally just gave up and said fuck it. They get to protect their jobs and downtown remains as it is. I could just about spit.

The problem folks always run into when they trying to improve a community is that the people already there usually like it the way it is. Its a place to hide for them. You show them fancy restaurants and boutiques and they think they being run out. They think theres no place for them in a place like that. Its what I like to call a community-wide inferiority complex. The problem is that the people it largely appeals to are not currently living here. (myself excluded)
Educated Whites, Blacks, Asians and Latinos with money to spend would say, "Now theres a community with everything I want, I think I'll raise my family there." And they would live and work and shop right here in downtown Santa Ana. What I'm sayin here is "The council gave up cuz they all trying to appease the wrong people... and that just don't make no kinda sense to me.

I would have been OK with an overlay plan since going after the business owners and rezoning the housing at the same time was too much to bite off. Like I say, you gotta fight money with money. Its not a perfect solution, longtime business owners wont like being told they cant be noisy and messy and all, but I say let them stay. Except for Ware of course. (That bitch got to go!) But the others can stay... and without the industrial business owners working against the plan- it could have a real shot. If they could just get that train station mini mall put in than everything else would fill in naturally... They just need to start is all. Just start. then just you wait and see how fast things take off. In the mean time, with property values in the can. This is a great chance for the city to buy up land, clear it, and then sell it cheap to the developer with the best "downtown style" plan.

And I looked into my idea of selling pies after the rezoning went through (if it had gone through) and anyhow, I think it looked fine. Pass the RSP and you all invited to my house for pie.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

I was clicking on blog links off of the Orange Juice and came across your blog. It is beautiful and well written.

I'm over in HB so I only know a little about the RSP and mostly from the OC Weekly so even that is somewhat slanted. I thought you made your points very well and I agreed with everything you said.

I was a teenager in Montana when Dr. King was assinated and participated in civil rights marches. One of the things I am proudest of is being a tiny part of the change from then to now. Your story about your father brought tears to my eyes. Thank you.

Your children are lucky to have you as are we who get to read your words. Please continue writing.

Two Fisted Mama said...

You so sweet!

I'll write up somethin new real soon.

About Me

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The good lord blessed me with 5 wonderful kids. They are my life and my strength and I don't tolerate nobody messin with my kids. I am one two fisted mama bear that you dont wanna mess with! I've lived in Santa Ana all my life and I've seen it change from pretty good to bad to worse, and now that we finally got a plan to fix things some scared people wanna screw it all up. Well I say we got nowhere to go but up. Im tired of the crime. I'm tired of the drugs.This town is my home and I aint never leaving it- but that dont mean that I like what its become. I like nice things same as anybody. How come we cant have a nice downtown like that Orange Circle up there? Or that downtown fullerton? We're more historic, been around longer, got more tax dollars to spend than any of those places. Why not build us a downtown like it says up there on that water tower? I say its time to PIMP THIS HOOD.