Voice of OC (https://voiceofoc.org/tag/jose-solorio/)
It has cost Santa Ana roughly $24 million out of the public purse to settle legal claims and lawsuits against the police department over the last decade, according to official data.
A complaint filed with state regulators against Councilman Jose Solorio alleges he’s using a ballot measure committee to get around contribution limits.
A year during which three other City Council seats plus the mayor’s are up for election will, after November, determine who has the power at City Hall.
Hundreds of public comments on spending pushed the Tuesday meeting into Wednesday.
Public speakers were unanimous in their calls to move money away from police and reinvest in youth, park and community programs.
What happens today could set the stage for the November general election, and impact the future of Santa Ana politics. If voters want Iglesias out, they’ll have three different replacement candidates, all backed by different people, to choose from.
The potential repeal of the rent freeze — which lasts through May 31 — prompted uproar across Santa Ana as soon as it was scheduled for a discussion.
City Council members on Tuesday night voted to repeal their initial approval of 2525, a much-contested apartments project in north Santa Ana, and authorized a request by developer Mike Harrah to add up to 415 apartments to his tower at One Broadway Plaza, which has been in development for at least 15 years.
Council members Vicente Sarmiento and David Penaloza have flipped on the project, forming a clear majority against the controversial apartments as a decision makes its way to council members’ desks on whether or not to turn the project over to voters – or rescind their original vote entirely.
After city staff said the council didn’t have the legal authority to rescind or suspend the sales tax increase, which voters approved in 2018, council members David Penaloza and Phil Bacerra criticized Iglesias for bringing up the issue.