Here is another roundup of some of the most thought-provoking reader comments of the week. Comments are selected by our editors and subject to editing for grammar, spelling, clarity and length.
Click on each topic’s headline to see the article in question.
The Voice of OC and Register Alliance
Official question: What were the terms and conditions related to the VOC and OC Register agreement-alliance-understanding? Did money change hands? Were there any “hands off” agreements or understandings?
Perhaps I am a cynic or a hopeless case of failure to trust, but this development has left me skeptical and fearing that the Register will pick and choose the lightweight stuff and pass over (as is their practice) anything hard-hitting or critical of the OC power elite.
What is in it for the Register to offend the political elite? Why change now?
What is in it for the VOC if and when only the lightweight stuff gets printed by the Register? That will skew the general impression of the mission and style of the VOC.
And will the VOC be willing to do stories on the Register that may not be flattering? It’s a good question. Just having huge difficulty with believing that this Register association will be of any true benefit for the VOC or the community. Hope to be wrong.
— Insider2
As for arrangements between the VOC and the Orange Lady, folks, I really think that Norberto [Santana Jr., editor-in-chief of Voice of OC] and the gang have built up enough cred right now that no one needs to demand to review the fine points of the agreement between them.
The Register gets better coverage, and the Voice gets bigger readership. That much is fine. If the Register pays them something, that’s even better — so long as it doesn’t pervert the principles that the Voice has espoused and in my opinion demonstrated.
But yeah, it creates the possibility of such distortion, so all I want to hear is Norberto saying, “No way. Will not happen.”
I want to hear that if the Register only wants uncontroversial pieces from the Voice, the Voice will just be satisfied to place fewer pieces with them.
I want to hear that if the Register says, “If you print that story then our agreement is over,” then the Voice says, “Then our agreement will end.”
If Norberto makes that pledge, I think that there’s every reason that all of the sane people here should accept it at face value. He needs to be held to it, sure — as do we all — but I think that there’s every reason to think that he will be.
The opportunity for corruption does not always actually corrupt so long as the person being tempted can turn away money and power without a second thought. My money is on the Voice to be one of those welcome exceptions to the rule.
I presume that you’re willing to bite the hand that you’re lightly holding if need be. If so, then it’s time for you to pledge that publicly. After you do, I can be 100% happy about this, because I know that OC won’t be losing its Voice.
— Greg Diamond
There is fair coverage produced every day in the tell-it-like-it-is Voice of OC, and now the VOC will reach so many more people via the Register.
— Red Head
What a win for VOC — actually the OC Register as well. Voice’s hard-hitting and objective reporting will give the Register some much needed credibility through OC. Although the Register has great ID, its coverage is lacking. Voice will fill the gap.
— Costa2573
This is a content distribution partnership. The Register didn’t buy Voice.
It appears that the Register will run some of the stories that we all have enjoyed so much on this site. This only means that the hard-hitting stuff may or may not appear in the Register, but it will continue to appear here. If the Register does run some of the hard-hitting stuff all the better for the community.
— Truevoice
Through their hard-hitting stories, Voice of OC has continued to pull back the Orange Curtain. Perhaps with the circulation power of the Register, they can tear the it down completely.
— LadeedaLadeeda
Delaying the Ambulance Contracts
More kicking the can down the road, eh? Typical. The supervisors dragged their feet intentionally for some quid pro quo action with the companies that benefit by the delay — and then they claim there’s not enough time to process an orderly transition.
I hope the state rejects their request. This is like the lazy kid at school who spends his spare time playing video games and running the streets with his buddies who claims he didn’t have enough time to do his homework.
A teacher worth his salt should make him stay after school every day until he catches up. And the state should send a letter back to the supes telling them to be responsible and start acting like grownups. Request denied.
— Beelzebub
More time, more money for the supervisors in ambulance campaign contributions.
— Truevoice
Clouds Over the Stadium Report
Woohoo! I’m Voice-of-OC famous!
While the timing on the Legends Hospitality deal was particularly audacious, I can’t say that I’m surprised at all. The Legends website is all about their company being able to offer you the whole package.
CS&L will provide the “study” to justify construction, then they’ll provide you with construction planning and oversight. Next, their sales division will help you line up sponsors and fill your luxury skyboxes. Then their hospitality division will run your food service and merchandising operations.
Each tier of the company is there to move you on to the next tier. Who’d expect CS&L to lose future business for the parent company by coming out with a study that didn’t glowingly recommend expansion? The only surprise here is that Legends gave the game away by jumping to the end too quickly.
— Anaheimer
Anaheimer, expect this little truth nugget to go viral with national coverage before it is over, and you are going to be more than Voice of OC famous. Thank you for catching that, and thank you, [Voice of OC reporters] Adam [Elmahrek] and Nick [Gerda], for the awesome follow-up with the brain trust involved.
— Cynthia Ward
To be perfectly honest, the report was useless in the first place and should never have been trotted out as a justification for anything. It’s 14 pages long, mostly pictures, and half of it talks about all the wonderful feel-good things the Angels add to the community.
And that’s before we found out it was done by the same company that got the stadium concession. How anybody ever thought that report was anything but a cynical joke on the citizenry is beyond me.
— David Zenger
Harsh Discipline in Santa Ana Schools?
God almighty. Santa Ana is the bedrock of county crime, gang warfare, poor performance in our schools, truancy, juvenile delinquency — and these people are calling for less discipline for the kids, not more.
At some point you just have to ask yourself, “Where have all the adults in Santa Ana gone?”
Initially the hand-wringers told us that the kid in Adams Park was “only thinking” about vandalizing the park bench. Now they seemingly concede that the little vandal actually tagged a piece of public property.
Instead of condemning his act, they blame the poor cop, who was just doing what he gets paid for. What was he supposed to do?
Where are the voices of reason? Do they want this kid to end up in state prison? Or maybe this is why the city sucks and is full of crime and disorder — due to all the apologists who live there. I have never witnessed such cavalier disregard for order and civility in all my life. Just disgraceful.
— Beelzebub