Week in Review : MAJOR EVENTS, IMAGES AND PEOPLE IN ORANGE COUNTY NEWS. : CITIES : Housing Code Backed by Santa Ana Council
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The policy at Santa Ana City Hall is to crack down on overcrowding in apartments. The city’s code requires a home with at least 70 square feet of floor space for two occupants and an additional 50 square feet for each additional occupant.
That law, Latino activists say, is aimed directly at Latino families, which in Santa Ana tend to be large but unable to afford large accommodations. Because of the enforcement drive, about 150 such families face eviction, one spokesman said. Last January, a Superior Court upheld such an eviction.
Last week, the protest went to the City Council chambers, where a series of Latino children asked the council to let them be. “I don’t want to leave my school and friends,” a 7-year-old said.
“We would like to live in a big house with a lot of room, but we don’t have the money,” a 14-year-old said.
But they received little sympathy. One speaker from the audience said that at the beginning of the meeting few of the Latinos seemed able to recite the Pledge of Allegiance. The city is “not a sanctuary for illegal aliens,” he said.
Councilman Robert W. Luxembourger stated the sentiment of the council: “I’m going to support the code enforcement right to the hilt.” As the more than 400 Latinos filed out of the chambers, there were scattered shouts of “Go home!” and “Go back to Mexico!” from the audience.
“There are no wetbacks here,” Jennie Casamina responded. “I want you to know we’re all citizens.”
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