Santa Ana Leaders Take a Walk Along Redevelopment Site

City Council members strolled four miles along Bristol Street on Saturday for a firsthand view of the thoroughfare to see if it needs major redevelopment.

Such a project would raze entire blocks as well as rejuvenate blighted areas.

Along the way they heard mixed reviews of the plan, which is designed to clean up one of the city’s toughest crime and drug neighborhoods.

The potential redevelopment area runs from the Santiago Creek bridge near Memory Lane south to Central Avenue. It would involve 783 acres along and near Bristol Street. The plan has been criticized by members of a monitoring group who say that many residents could lose their homes if the city redevelops the area. A separate project would widen Bristol.

Three of the seven council members--Miguel A. Pulido, Ron May and Richards L. Norton--along with staff aides and a police escort, marched for about three hours. They stopped occasionally to talk to business owners and residents, who were divided in their opinions. In the past, City Council members have been tight-lipped about whether they would support redevelopment.

Bristol Street has deteriorated recently, said Pulido, who initiated the walking tour. Pulido is familiar with redevelopment--his family fought City Hall in 1983 when its muffler shop was threatened by a redevelopment project on 1st Street.

Notoriously congested during peak traffic hours, Bristol Street bisects the city and is lined with a smorgasbord of houses and mom-and-pop shops.

If the city declares the area a redevelopment zone, Santa Ana will be allowed to funnel incremental taxes from improved properties back into the project to revitalize the area, said project manager Patrician Nunn.

The money also could be used to widen the street, said Joyce Amerson, manager of the street-widening project. The city wants to add two lanes at a cost of $45 million to $73 million.

“Every day, it’s (Bristol) bumper-to-bumper traffic. It’s carrying cars beyond its capacity,” Amerson said.

But such redevelopment is unfair to homeowners who would have to move, said V.L. (Hank) McGowan, a member of the resident advisory group whose home would be affected by the redevelopment plan.

“I’ve owned my house for 13 years. It’s paid and it’s mine. Now, all of a sudden, the city can take the house right from under me,” McGowan said.

Homeowner Gregory Rhodes said the plan is “lousy.” His house in the 300 block of Bristol probably would be razed, Rhodes said.

“I feel like I’m getting shafted,” Rhodes said. “I know they are trying to upgrade the area. But it’s a giant impact on me.”

The city would be required by state law to relocate people affected by the redevelopment and to pay fair market prices for their homes, Nunn said.

Bristol Street should be redeveloped but not in a way that jeopardizes people’s livelihoods, Councilman Norton said.

Redevelopment would be hard on smaller businesses, said Charles Krueger, owner of Santana Florist near 1st Street. But Krueger said he welcomes the change because the area has been besieged by petty crime and traffic woes.

“Not everybody wants to see the older buildings go down. It’s a hardship for many of us businessmen. But if they can make the street better, it might be worth the sacrifices,” Krueger said.

Opponents of the plan say the redevelopment is “nonsense.” Private developers should take care of redeveloping areas, said Jim Lowman, who heads the advisory group.

On Tuesday, the City Council--acting as the redevelopment agency--will hold a public hearing onthe redevelopment and street-widening projects. A vote is scheduled in November.