Commentary : Future for Santa Ana Looks Bright

As I clean out the desk and bookshelves filled with 2 1/2 years’ worth of ideas and action, my mind eases into contemplation. When I became city manager, Santa Ana was perceived by many as a blighted, overcrowded slum. At that time, the City Council was ready to re-set the city’s course. And that’s what we’ve done.

We’ve ambushed crime from several angles at once. Just to mention a few programs, Santa Ana’s police foot patrols have put officers back on the streets, resulting in a 38% drop in burglaries in 1985 and a 50% decrease in incidences of public drunkenness downtown and in prostitution and robbery in selected foot-patrol target areas.

Santa Ana also said “enough” to drug-related crime with its Swat/H.Y.P.E.S. task force. Since it began in October, 1985, Swat/H.Y.P.E.S. teams have arrested more than 1,500 suspects in drug-related and violent crimes. In cooperation with the city’s community preservation department, they’ve shut down 15 bars and 120 drug-operation sites. The message to criminals is clear and serious: Stay out of Santa Ana.

Santa Ana’s Fire Department has made tremendous strides by taking a pragmatic approach to protecting citizens in critical danger. The civilianization of the Emergency Medical Services Division has cut overall costs while improving paramedic service. In nine out of 10 calls for service, the response takes eight minutes or less, and more than 99% of all calls for medical help are met with a paramedic unit.

Whether you live here or not, you may have noticed Santa Ana is starting to look a lot cleaner. The city has doubled its street-sweeping efforts and is working on a plan to protect the residential character of neighborhoods. Santa Ana also is the first city in the county to become affiliated with the Keep America Beautiful program.

After years of neglect, many residential areas of the city had degenerated into unhealthful conditions. Seeing the need for immediate action, the city launched a serious community preservation program to crack down on unsafe, unsanitary housing conditions. As a result of tougher standards, coupled with financial incentives, slumlords have begun to clean up their properties.

All these efforts at neighborhood improvement should attract a variety of residents to Santa Ana and eventually lead to a more balanced economic base. They should also help to develop new areas that will attract middle-income residents, while maintaining a commitment to quality low-income housing.

That same commitment to quality should also guide Santa Ana in all its economic development projects. Its positive, comprehensive push for development must remain strong.

Yet I urge city leaders to always weigh each project carefully against the actual payback to the community. They should continue to exercise great caution in the politically delicate area of eminent domain.

Santa Ana already has begun to position itself as a key business leader in the county. With new programs such as the pioneering business enterprise center, the business retention program, the job linkages program and the numerous financial incentives for small businesses, this city is building for itself a name that is associated with progressive business activity. Its foreign trade zone association will put the city at the center of international trade in Orange County. Through continued progress in economic development and proposed tight budget policies, I predict Santa Ana will soon become one of the wealthiest cities in Orange County.

Santa Ana’s also building a vast cultural wealth. Solid foundations like the plan to rebuild the Bowers Museum and master plans for both the library system and the zoo will hold up for generations as these institutions mature. Major special events such as Toys on Parade and award-winning city float entries in the Rose Parade will continue to bring this diverse community together in a positive setting. The proud heritage of residents of all backgrounds should continue to be honored in celebrations such as Cinco de Mayo, the Vietnamese Tet and Black History month.

All this reflection compels me to offer a little advice to the city’s leadership as I step down from the helm. Each of these building blocks require hard realism to make them work. To think that the city’s problems will float along in peace is a myth nobody can afford to buy.

The city has only begun to acknowledge its unique ethnic makeup and all its ramifications. It needs to operate on the basis of that knowledge through such bold actions as the establishment of a local Mexican Consulate. Santa Ana should take the lead in meeting the needs of its residents and the growing numbers of Mexican nationals throughout the county.

Ethnic minorities should beware of single-issue extremists trying to divert their attention with relatively trivial issues, such as how the mayor is elected. Instead, they should concentrate on their only real link to the governmental power structure: fair representation.

Building on the solid foundation already in place, the council’s greatest challenge is to truly understand and strive to represent this unique, multi-ethnic community. In turn, the key challenge facing the new manager is to understand where the City Council, as the community’s elected leaders, wants Santa Ana to go. This requires checking back periodically with all the council members to make sure that goals are still shared, still make sense, and always show steady progress toward reality.