Melding Old and New

The textbooks trumpet America as a land of immigrants, which it is. The waves of immigration continue today across the country. In Orange County, the effects can be seen most easily in Santa Ana. Like much of the rest of the United States, the immigrants now come from south of the border, not from Europe. How the city and the county adjust can prove a model for Southern California.

Santa Ana has about 310,000 residents, nearly 70% of them Latino. Researchers say that’s the largest percentage of Latinos of any big city in Southern California. The new residents come for a better life. And also like those before them, they often bring their own culture, which can clash jarringly with customs they find here.

Many immigrants distrust banks in Mexico and bring that wariness with them. Thus in downtown Santa Ana now there are dozens of check cashing businesses. They provide a service to people who have paychecks but no identification or Social Security card. Without the identification, they cannot open bank accounts. But the storefront operations take the checks and hand over the dollars, after deducting a fee.

Last week the City Council put restrictions on new check-cashing establishments. Any new ones must be at least 1,000 feet from existing ones and must undergo reviews, possibly annually, and repeated inspections. The changes take effect next month. Opponents of the new rules say they hurt immigrants, who do work others will not do and who are entitled to see a better life here than at home. Backers say clustering the storefronts hurts the city’s image, giving it the look of a down-at-the-heels town.

The backers have a good argument. Putting dozens of check-cashing businesses cheek by jowl does put people off. The city needs to ensure that it does provide services for all residents and visitors, including immigrants, and a ban on all check cashing businesses clearly would be wrong. But it’s easy to see why city officials want some planning control.

The city has skated on much thinner ice in its periodic attempts to run the pushcart vendors out of downtown. They too cater largely to immigrants and have been opposed for reasons of image and by merchants concerned they are stealing business. But a Superior Court judge halted at least temporarily the attempt to remove all the pushcarts. The judge ruled that the boundaries the City Council set were “arbitrary and discriminatory.” The key target was 4th Street, where carts would have been barred; yet they would have been allowed around the Civic Center.

While the city has had success in luring companies to the modern high-rise office towers near its southern border on Main Street, it has a tough job ahead in trying to redevelop some areas of appalling poverty. The city stands to receive $100 million in federal funds and promises to add more than $2 billion worth of private and public programs to make life better for its less well-off residents. Business development is needed; health care for the poor has to be expanded. Youth sports leagues can give youngsters good outlets.

The federal government designated areas of the city an urban empowerment zone to help it reduce unemployment and poverty, low education and poor access to programs like health care and child care. The assistance should help Santa Ana make adjustment easier for newcomers. For long-time residents, the newcomers can provide a source of energy, new ideas and enthusiasm. Melding old and new, exposing members of different communities to a diversity of customs and experiences, can benefit the city and offer a model to other communities in Southern California.