Voice of OC (https://voiceofoc.org/tag/santa-ana-streetcar/)
Construction of the Orange County Streetcar has begun in Santa Ana, and it’s forced closures along 4th Street that downtown business owners say plummeted their sales.
The City of Santa Ana could yank money from the promotion of downtown businesses if those companies sue over parking, traffic or other disruptions caused by construction of the OC Streetcar Project that runs through one of the city’s busiest commercial areas.
The Orange County Transportation Authority board voted unanimously Monday to select PGH Wong Engineering to manage the OC Streetcar Project, a 4.15 mile route that would connect Santa Ana and Garden Grove.
Local officials hailed the president’s allocation of $125 million as a major step toward realization of the 4.1-mile streetcar line.
In 2009, the Santa Ana City Council triggered controversy by awarding a consulting contract to Cordoba Corp., even though the firm was the lowest ranked among bidders. In recent weeks, the firm has been quietly excluded from a new consulting contract.
Dozens of businesses along the main proposed route on Fourth Street have signed a petition opposing the path.
Cordoba Corp., awarded a controversial contract to plan the
city’s streetcar project, hired a manager who pleaded guilty to
bribing school officials in Texas.
Since first being elected nearly two decades ago, Mayor Miguel
Pulido has put together a well-oiled political operation in Santa
Ana. But in the year of the Bell scandal, his latest challenger is
banking on the public taking a more skeptical view of the Pulido
machine.