Pulido Lobbies for Urban Aid to Santa Ana

Even before President Clinton took the oath of office Wednesday, Santa Ana already was standing in line for its share of urban aid dollars, lobbying for continuation of the anti-crime Weed and Seed program begun during the Bush Administration.

Following a brief discussion this week with Housing and Urban Development Secretary-designate Henry G. Cisneros, Mayor Pro Tem Miguel A. Pulido Jr. said Santa Ana must begin to prepare immediately its best case for why it should receive the federal aid--particularly as the competition tightens for shrinking federal dollars.

Not only will cities have to work hard to earn the money, Pulido said, but they will also have to show it is being used well.

“They also want to see improvements from what that money is doing within a six-to-eight-week period,” Pulido added. “It’s a double-edged sword. (Cisneros) is saying, ‘Be very careful because I don’t want you to come to me and say you really have something and then two months later it didn’t work.’ So we have to iron out all the wrinkles.”

Pulido, one of two Democrats on the seven-member council, spoke to Cisneros and his aide in Washington during a workshop sponsored by the U.S. Conference of Mayors that was held Tuesday amid the inaugural week festivities.

While the highly publicized Weed and Seed program has been touted as a success, it was designed to fund only those projects related to law enforcement to “weed out” crime. The “seed” portion--which was to include jobs training, English as a Second Language classes and other social services--was not funded.

In addition to the second phase of the anti-crime program, Pulido said the Bristol Corridor redevelopment project and the planned monorail may be eligible for additional money under the new rules being developed by the Clinton Administration.

Pulido said Cisneros intends to hold a series of meetings beginning in the first weeks of the new administration with individual delegations from cities seeking funding. Part of the focus will be on programs that further jobs creation, Pulido said.

Although the pressure is on to reduce the federal deficit, Pulido said incoming federal officials are hoping to create a pool of dollars by drawing on the funds of existing federal programs scattered throughout several agencies, such as HUD and the Department of Labor. Plans also call for the “freeing up” of Community Development Block Grant money so that they may be used for jobs training, he added.