Anaheim Mayor Harry Sidhu is proposing this Tuesday to let the Los Angeles Angels out of a bad move this past November when owner Arte Moreno opted out of his stadium lease with nowhere to go. As a result, by this October, taxpayers will be sitting on a $1 billion asset with no restrictions on developing the 150-acre parking lot area around the stadium. Yet a proposal this Tuesday before the Anaheim city council would erase that potential and lock taxpayers into another lopsided, long-term negotiation with the Angels – who are probably leaving for Los Angeles anyway as their recent controversial renaming clearly implies.
Category: Norberto Santana, Jr.
Posted inCountywide, Investigative, Norberto Santana, Jr.
Santana: Santa Ana City Manager In Play Again
Santa Ana city council members have gone through five city managers in two years. The latest, City Manager Raul Godinez II, finds his future at city hall in play with just a little over a year in the job. City council members met this past Friday in secret session to discuss his severance, the latest in top executive severance agreements – which could soon collectively reach near the million dollar mark for Santa Ana taxpayers.
Posted inNorberto Santana, Jr.
Santana: We Made It! Top Issues to Watch in 2019
Thanks to an outpouring of reader support, we exceeded our $75,000 fundraising goal this year and our newsroom enters 2019 on a solid fiscal footing, with renewed vigor to keep Orange County informed and alert on the key issues impacting quality of life from the public dais this next year.
Posted inNorberto Santana, Jr.
Santana: The Best of 2018
The Blue Wave Election and Homelessness led the list of top stories for the Voice of OC team in 2018 along with a host of scrappy, daily enterprise reporting scoops uncovering fraud, waste and abuse across Orange County. Readers can really help spur this kind of reporting this week – as all contributions before Dec. 31 get doubled by a national foundation effort to bolster local nonprofit news.
Posted inCountywide, Investigative, Norberto Santana, Jr.
Santana: Voice of OC Donors Help Young Journalists Fuel Change
Our donors create real impact not only in Orange Country but across the nation, helping pioneer a solid training model for apprentice journalists focused on daily coverage and investigative scoops about fraud, waste and abuse within local civic institutions. Consider joining them and have your donation matched through the end of the year.
Posted inNorberto Santana, Jr.
Santana: OC Democrats Could Face Toughest Election on Their Own Turf
After Orange County’s blue wave this past November, local Democrats face a tough choice in a January election for chair of the local Democratic Party with union leader Ada Briceño running against longtime local elected official Beth Krom. The big question rumbling around OC office hallways and holiday parties is whether the face of the party needs to better match the base?
Posted inAnaheim, Norberto Santana, Jr.
Santana: Anaheim Skirts Police Accountability
Following harassment of a Voice of OC reporter earlier this year, Anaheim’s Police Chief Jorge Cisneros has apologized for the “impact” of the action. Yet due to a state law that shields discussion of police blunders, there’s little that Anaheim’s top cop can say to the public about how missteps are handled. That should say a lot about the future of police relations and funding in California.
Posted inCountywide, Norberto Santana, Jr.
Santana: Welcome to Purple County
On Election Day, President Trump drove unprecedented voter turnout in Orange County, nearly 65 percent of registered voters visited the polls. That hasn’t been seen during a midterm election in Orange County since the 1970s. The results don’t bode well for the GOP but there’s a deeper message here for incumbents: Engage the public or peril.
Posted inNorberto Santana, Jr.
Santana: Veterans Make Elections Possible
As we come out of the election season, and go into another month of tight, tense counts at the local registrar of voters office, Veterans Day offers a chance to stop and reflect on our freedoms as well as those who have sacrificed to ensure our way of life. Today, Orange County’s state fairgrounds in Costa Mesa hosts the annual commemoration where people can visit the Hero’s Hall museum as well as the walk of honor featuring plaques that tell the stories of more than three-dozen war heroes from Orange County.
Posted inNorberto Santana, Jr.
Santana: Could Rivalry Among Vietnamese American, Republican Elected Officials Throw Central OC to Dems?
While congressional races have dominated the media landscape this year, one race in Central Orange County, the 34th State Senate, is more competitive than usual but under the radar. Could rivalries among Vietnamese American Republicans shift the balance of power in Sacramento?