SANTA ANA : Residents Oppose Pawnshop Proposal

Dozens of residents upset over a proposed downtown pawnshop say they will urge the City Council at its meeting tonight to reject the plan.

Washington Square residents say the planned 10,000-square-foot shop would attract crime and hurt efforts to revitalize the downtown image. And members of the Sandpointe and Wilshire Square neighborhood associations have also formally opposed the project in letters to council members and appearances before the city’s Planning Commission.

At the general meeting last week of the Washington Square Neighborhood Assn., Councilman Robert L. Richardson told residents that he believes tonight’s scheduled vote on the project will probably be delayed two weeks.

But association president Mike Sasso said that members will appear at the meeting in any case to show their opposition to the plan and appeal to the council to reject it.

On March 9, the Planning Commission narrowly approved the permit for the pawnshop on a 4-3 vote, with Dan Miller, John Casteix, Molly Doughty and Steve Oliver favoring the application and Lisa Mills, Glenn Mondo and Hector Godinez voting against it. The proposed pawnshop, Rio’s Jewelry and Loan Inc., would be at 301 1/2 N. Main Street.

City staff members have recommended that the council approve the permit, with conditions that include an annual review of any problems and a limit of three pawnshops in the downtown area. There are now two other downtown pawnshops, both on the 100 block of East 4th Street.

However, Shelley Ervin, a Washington Square Neighborhood Assn. member, said that limiting the number of pawnshops downtown is an empty gesture.

“We think it’s just a bone that they’re throwing us. We don’t want to see any more pawnshops,” she said. “We don’t care if there’s a cap. Pawnshops obviously are not the ideal things to have in downtown areas.”