City Fires Member of Redevelopment Panel : Ousted Commissioner Helped Form Group That Seeks to Recall All Seven on Santa Ana Council

The Santa Ana City Council, embroiled in controversy over redevelopment, has ousted a member of the Redevelopment Commission who helped organize a group that wants to recall the entire seven-member council.

Sal Mendoza, a member of SAMSON (Santa Ana Merged Society of Neighbors), was ousted on a 4-0 vote.

Meanwhile, a spokesman for SAMSON, a coalition of groups opposed to various council actions, said Wednesday that the new organization would begin its effort to recall the council before Friday.

SAMSON first announced its intentions Saturday, and spokesman Jim Lowman said then that notices of intent to recall would be served to each council member Monday. But the group decided to delay that action in order to have an attorney draw up the necessary documents before filing them with the city clerk, Lowman said. He said SAMSON is “definitely not” backing out of the recall attempt, which would require 10,500 signatures of registered voters for each council member to force a special recall election.

Council Retaliates

But before any signatures could be gathered, the City Council retaliated against SAMSON’s recall move by firing Mendoza Tuesday. Mayor Daniel E. Griset, Councilman Dan Young and Councilwoman Patricia McGuigan were absent.

On Wednesday, Griset said that within the next two days he also planned to talk to another SAMSON member, Pete Major, who serves on three city commissions--Building Improvement, Housing Element and Uniform Code Appeals.

Major said Wednesday that he would be taking petitions door to door in the recall campaign.

In response, Griset said, “I am sympathetic to replacing commissioners who are seeking to end my service on the council.” But Griset, who appointed Major to all three commissions, said, “I have not made a decision on the matter.”

Mendoza, who was appointed to the Redevelopment Commission in June, 1984, by Vice Mayor P. Lee Johnson, said: “Conflict is healthy. I believe that it refines ideas and concepts so that everyone affected by an issue has some input.”

Mendoza said he didn’t know Johnson well when the councilman offered him the position. “To me, he was just another politician.”

Johnson, who introduced the motion Tuesday to remove Mendoza and replace him with retired city employee Tom Hammill, said he took the action because of Mendoza’s involvement in the recall and a pair of lawsuits challenging downtown redevelopment projects.

“His statement to the press that we lack leadership was the final straw,” he said. “Obviously, one of our failures was his appointment.”

Johnson said he also wants Major removed from his posts, although he said he probably will not initiate that action. “It’s my feeling that he should (be removed),” he said. “Why put somebody in there who wants to fight everything you do?”

Major said any action to oust him from the commissions would not affect his activity in SAMSON. “The City Council is reacting exactly the way we said they would,” he said. “When someone objects to a council policy, they fire him.”

Contract Revoked

In another action Tuesday, City Manager Robert C. Bobb announced that the city was revoking a $143,000 contract with Heritage Orange County, a historical preservationist group that recently joined in a lawsuit against the city. The suit seeks to prevent construction of 194 condominiums on the site of a former Pacific Electric “Red Car” train depot, southwest of the intersection of 4th and French streets.

Groups involved in SAMSON include:

- The Firemen’s Benevolent Assn., representing all non-administration employees of the Fire Department, which has filed a lawsuit against Bobb. The firemen are protesting what they call “morale-wrecking tactics” by the city administration that they say have built up over several years.

- Save Our Stadium, a group opposed to the city’s plans to demolish Santa Ana Stadium at Civic Center Drive and Flower Street to clear the way for Westdome, a proposed 20,500-seat sports arena.

- Concerned Residents of Santa Ana, who have filed a lawsuit challenging the city’s North-Central Traffic Plan, which is designed to reduce the number of commuters traveling through a neighborhood northeast of the intersection of 17th and Bristol streets.

- Friends and Neighbors of Centennial Park, residents battling a plan to build a new stadium in Centennial Park to replace the downtown Santa Ana Stadium.