Accentuate the Positive : Santa Ana’s New Magazine Debuts in 90,000 Homes, Businesses With Boisterous, Pro-City--but Non-Political--Spirit

When Santa Ana City Manager Robert C. Bobb was in Pasadena for the Rose Parade last year, he picked up a copy of Pasadena Today, a magazine with non-controversial articles and an attractive color cover.

That, he decided, is what Santa Ana needs. Something to deliver the message in a slick format without the negative news in the media.

So Santa Ana went out and hired itself a magazine.

In August, the City Council approved a two-year, $300,000 contract with Dayle Thomas, publisher of Pasadena Today and Glendale Today, to produce Santa Ana Magazine. The first issue arrived in the mail at 90,000 residences and businesses last week and, true to the intent, the contents reflected a boisterous, pro-city spirit.

“That’s what we wanted,” Bobb said. “It’s an image-enhancer. It’s an effective marketing vehicle and it’s our opportunity to go in-depth on projects we’re working on.”

Said one local businessman after perusing the first issue: “I guess everything’s going great here.”

The city controls 75% of what goes into the magazine, which includes articles such as “Orange County’s Rising Star, Santa Ana takes the lead.”

And the other 25% isn’t likely to stir much controversy.

There’s a column written by Pyewacket the dog. (“What’s wrong with being ‘in the doghouse’? First you insult us and then you insult our homes. Then you wonder why we bark all the time.”)

And there’s a self-help column titled “Turning Impossible Into I’m Possible” by publisher Thomas, holiday cooking safety tips and a description of the city’s 1986 entry in the Rose Parade.

“My theme has always been to accentuate the positive,” Thomas said. “I will refuse to allow any negative articles in the publication. I personally feel the news media has to produce information on all those things--war, crime, drugs. We simply make people aware of information about what’s happening in the city. We don’t want it to have any kind of political overtones.” One of the salient points of that policy is that no council members will write articles, she said.

Bobb said the $150,000 per year is actually less than the amount the city spent on all its previous publications, and that information is now incorporated into the magazine.

“It’s very unique for a city government to participate in a joint venture with a magazine,” he said. “It’s an experiment to see if we can come up with a more marketable product and perhaps realize a profit.”

Thomas said the first edition came close to paying its way but still lost money. But she hopes to turn a profit by the sixth month. This “isn’t a philanthropy situation for me,” she said.

The city will get 10% of the net revenue in the first two years. “This isn’t a get-rich-quick thing,” Thomas said.

The city’s $150,000 does not cover all costs, but “basically pays for the mailing costs.”

She said the fact that the city finances the publication actually helps it sell. “It gives a certain amount of validity to it and gives me the credibility to go out and sell ads.”

Some residents said they think the city’s control of the magazine might fade after the two-year contract is up and Thomas’ publication is firmly on its feet.

“I think the editorial content will eventually change,” said Michael Metzler, president of the Chamber of Commerce. “I think people would like to see this become a really community-oriented magazine with input from residents and businesses,” including the chamber, he said.

Thomas responded to urgings that the magazine include some Spanish content by adding summaries at the end of each article, such as: “Hola, soy Pyewacket. Soy perrologo y tengo una queja sobre los seres humanos que se toman nuestro nombre en vano . (Hello, I’m Pyewacket. I am a dog and I have a complaint about the human beings who take our name in vain.”)

“We certainly want to be sensitive to the needs of our Spanish-speaking residents,” Bobb said. “But we also want to encourage our community to become more English-speaking.”