Santa Ana : Ambassador Ball Aid Dropped From Budget
The Ambassador’s Ball, a highlight of the city’s social calendar since 1982, whose special guests have included Tony Bennett, Gerald Ford and Sammy Davis Jr., is too expensive and will no longer be given municipal funds, City Council members have agreed.
The Santa Ana Chamber of Commerce, which is requesting about $80,000 in city funds for the November event, should raise the necessary funds, several council members said Monday. “The Chamber of Commerce is going to have to be able to handle this thing without any help from city coffers,” Councilman Dan Young said.
Councilman Wilson Hart, a former Chamber of Commerce president, said the event managed to break even in 1982 but has lost steadily since then. “It’s a good idea that got off the track somewhere along the line,” he said.
Vice Mayor P. Lee Johnson said he doesn’t support the proposal to remove funding for the ball from the city’s 1986-87 budget, arguing that the affair, along with an ill-fated summer music festival, were two “top-drawer” events that the city should have continued to support.
In the past, revenues from the event have been used to reimburse the city, Deputy City Manager Jan Perkins said.
Start your day right
Sign up for Essential California for news, features and recommendations from the L.A. Times and beyond in your inbox six days a week.
You may occasionally receive promotional content from the Los Angeles Times.
