What is a sign of things to come is on the agenda for this Tuesday, which you can read HEREÂ and click on Council Agenda. On the Consent Calendar is an item to remove the Ward 2 Historic Resources Commissioner, who is Jeff Dickman. No reason is given and according to Mr. Dickman, he was not even given the option to resign. I have known Jeff for years and I can attest to the man’s character. He is a shining example of how Commissioner’s should behave. He is one who respects differences of opinion and is one of the few people in this city you can have a disagreement with and have a good discussion.
He is definitely not the type of person to send threatening text messages to Santa Ana residents threatening to send gang members to their house.
So what has he done. It’s hard to tell.
As usual, the Santa Ana City Council is demonstrating their contempt for the public they are supposed to serve by holding this vote at a “Study Session” meeting that will not be televised live. Remember people, they had promised not to vote on ANY items during these “Study Session” meetings. Next they are refusing to explain their reasoning for removing Jeff. We simply want to know, what has Jeff done?
A possible explanation is his involvement in a lawsuit to save several historical properties in the so-called Station District. You can read more about that victory over the city HERE. I think this explains it all. The Santa Ana City Council hates nothing more than city residents standing in the way of “their vision” for Santa Ana, which is pretty screwed up. Jeff is being punished for his disloyalty to the city and all commissioners who are not kissing Claudia Alvarez and Miguel Pulido’s rings are slowly being pushed out.
One has to wonder if the City Council have taken lessons from the Latin American School of Government. Recently, a respected community activist, Joe Yanez, was railroaded from being appointed to the Housing and Redevelopment Commission because he would not sign a loyalty oath that he would not endorse Alfredo Amezcua for Mayor later this year. People like Joe Yanez and Jeff Dickman are the type of people we need in city government. But Councilmembers Alvarez and Martinez nearly blocked a resignation by a Planning Commissioner who sent threatening texts to a city resident that he would send gang members to his house. A Commissioner who was given chance after chance to clean up his act, while Jeff has not been given the courtesy of a phone call. What has happened here is political retribution of the worst kind.
It is a shame that Santa Ana has come down to this kind of blatant corruption. The least Michele Martinez could have done is to ask Jeff Dickman to resign instead of subjecting him to the kind of humiliation that a former Planning Commissioner deserved. This behavior only goes to show just how much in the wrong direction this city is going. Tomorrow night is the Council meeting at the Police Station off of Civic Center Blvd. I encourage all those who read this to attend and make your feelings heard about this outrage.
Council has been hosing the Historic Commish all year. First they suspended them for having the audacity to question Harrah’s rape and pillage of the Twist-Basler house. Then when they reconvened they were told that those issues were no longer under the Commission’s oversight, and if they wanted to take action they would have to seek remedy through the non-profits that the Commissioners belong to as civilians. So when Dickman does that very thing he is told to do by staff, he gets screwed again. Throw in the Council’s decision to punish the preservation community by cranking Mills Act filing fees by 10 times the previous amount, and those most impacted are Santa Ana’s working poor, who had been able to get some relief from property taxes, but are now priced out of the Mills Act program. The only good thing about Santa Ana City Council is that they make Anaheim’s look good. Sorry, guys, you are going to have to clean house of all of them if you want your city back. I feel for you on this, your Council sucks.
I am hearing so many stories recently about weird shenanigans going on with the Santa Ana commissions. How long has this been going on, or is this just business as usual? I’m not sure if I want to know, but maybe we need to ask these questions.
Dateline 1984:
Ingsoc is a masterfully complex system of psychological control that compels the forgetting of rebellious thought in order to love Big Brother and The Party (SA City Council) for the purpose of political control and power.
junior
From Council agenda tonight Tue. Jan. 19th 5:30 pm SAPD Community Rm.:
BOARDS / COMMISSIONS
13A REMOVAL OF WARD 2 COMMISSION MEMBER (Jeff Dickman) FROM THE HISTORIC RESOURCES COMMISSION – Clerk of the Council Office
Pursuant to Santa Ana Charter Section 901, a board or commission member (Jeff Dickman) may be removed by the City Council by the affirmative votes of a majority of the Council.
RECOMMENDED ACTION: Remove the Ward 2 representative (Jeff Dickman) from the Historic Resources Commission.
Jeff Dickman is standing up for the residents of Santa Ana – he is doing the job he was appointed to do. The council has and will continue to bulldoze the historic character of our City. They will give that up in a mad rush to benefit developers – in spite of the desires of many residents.
Jeff supports a revitalization of Santa Ana which retains it’s character, charm and history. As Claudio said – people like Jeff Dickman are the type of people we need in city government.
This is disgusting. The City has managed to gut the ability of the Historic Resorces Commission to carry out their mission to actually safeguard Santa Ana’s historic resources. The City has already severely limited the number of structures allowed on the Historic Register this year, raised the Mills Act fees sky-high, and removed all the real preservationists from the Commission. I know Jeff well, and he is one of those rare, honest individuals who truly want to improve the City for the benefit of the residents themselves; and he is willing to do the grassroots work to accomplish this. Because he has been doing his job and questioning authority when he was stopped from doing it, he has been a thorn in the side of the City, along with the rest of the preservationists. This is retaliation, pure and simple.
will there be a discussion or a just a vote in mass with the rest of the junk?
cook,
There should be an opportunity for Public Comments on agenda items such as this at the start of the Council meeting.
We should all let the City Council know how we feel about this injustice.
http://www.ci.santa-ana.ca.us/coc/documents/Agenda.pdf
A vote to remove Jeff Dickman, or any other resident serving as a commissioner, without good reason, is nothing more than a slap in the face to every Santa Ana resident.
With elections right around the corner, this vote, as well as all past and future commissioner removals should and will be remembered.
When y’all host a historic home tour to raise money for a pro-preservation candidate in Santa Ana, let me know, I am happy to help, and i can bring friends. The whole preservation community throughout the County is angry about this.
And to add insult to injury, Miguel Pulido and Sal Tinajero both have not found the time or need to appoint members to the historic commission.
Who can save the Banana Republic?
Are people going to speak on this Third World form of government?
Third World because of examples of…..coercion in the Yanez case, mention at the liberal blog and authoritative government in the case of Dickman.
We live in a Democracy. We should not support, condone or participate in this form of government.
We have the solution. Vote out those that oppose the will of the City’s residents.
Those that do not exercise their vote have no right to complain. Those that vote for Pulido need to wake up. The city’s quality of life is reduced by Pulidos divisive third world politics, in use, for economic and political manipulation.
Based on previous election results, the people of Santa Ana keep electing the same folks back into office and by wide margins. Frankly, the list of challenging candidates often presented are even worse than those elected they seek to replace. Since Santa Ana is largely Democratic, better Democrats should step up to challenge the status quo.
Dan,
Would you settle for better Republicans?