LOCAL ELECTIONS / SANTA ANA CITY COUNCIL : Key Questions Set Aside in Mayoral Race

The 13 City Council candidates in the Nov. 3 election answered questions Wednesday on issues ranging from controlling homelessness to improving neighborhoods, but the two mayoral candidates were not asked about gangs, one of the city’s most pressing problems.

In a forum that allowed candidates to be given the questions nine days in advance, the two neighborhood associations sponsoring the event determined that the mayoral candidates would not be questioned about their plans to reduce gangs.

Mayor Daniel H. Young and his challenger, Councilman John Acosta, were also not asked about the city’s $26-million-a-year trash hauling contract that has never been rebid in its 30 year history. The trash contract is currently under renegotiation and is receiving increasing public scrutiny.

“We wanted to do the more global issues that face everyone in the city as a whole,” said Michele Morrisey, one of the forum’s organizers and a supporter of Young’s reelection campaign. On the gang issue, she added, “their positions on gangs has been well publicized. . . . Acosta has been quite an advocate for gang intervention.”

But Young and Acosta did discuss the trash issue in their closing statements. Referring to campaign contributions that have been made by the trash hauler to Young and his political allies, Acosta said: “Let’s put this contract out to bid instead of being in bed with the people who are funding their campaigns.”

But the mayor claimed to have a memo written by Acosta to city staff that did not insist on competitive bidding but instead urged a reduction in trash fees and that the city “sign up with Great Western (Reclamation) again.”

Both the trash and gang issues were discussed by the 11 other candidates vying for three council seats being vacated by incumbents because of the city’s term-limit law.

Using the trash issue, Ward 1 candidate Ted R. Moreno began what would be an evening-long barrage of attacks by some candidates against the slate endorsed by the mayor. Moreno claimed the trash contract would have been approved automatically if opponents had not raised it as an issue.

Ward 3 candidate Lisa Mills was also attacked by opponent J. Michael Patterson, who claimed that Mills may have violated state laws when she used the phones of her employer, the Orange County Transportation Authority, for her campaign. But Mills said afterward that she reimbursed the OCTA for phone calls she expected to receive, adding that she conducted all campaign business at home.

The issue of ethnic diversity also came up during the discussion by the Ward 3 candidates when they were asked how neighborhood associations could reach out to the Latino community. Two thirds of Santa Ana’s population is Latino.

While candidates said residents should reach out to minorities, candidate Fran M. Williams said she found it interesting that the question was even being asked. The real question, she said, should be “what will the Hispanics do to bring others in.” She added that unless more minorities are involved at City Hall and in home owner associations, “We won’t have Hispanics or any other (minority) group actively involved in the decision making of our city.”

On other issues, Ward 5 candidates Zeke Hernandez and Sean Mill agreed that the City Council members should be elected from district rather than citywide. They contended district elections would reduce campaigns funded by special interests, however, Harry K. Yamamoto and Thomas E. Lutz strongly disagreed. Lutz said he wanted council members to be responsive to all the citizens of Santa Ana, not just to one district.