We tip our hat to Councilman Vince Sarmiento for coming through on his Kumbaya Summit on cultural diversity. The press release below came in this evening and we post it for your review. But the City of Santa Ana will play host to a County-wide forum on “cultural diversity” and Mayor Pro Tem Claudia Alvarez is your hostess for the evening.
Here’s the press release, typos and all:
City of Santa Ana Host “Agent of Change” Community Forum on Cultural Diversity
SANTA ANA, Calif. (October 13, 2011) – Mayor Pro Tem Claudia Alvarez, in conjunction with the City of Santa Ana, is hosting a Community Forum on Cultural Diversity and Conflict Resolution, on Thursday, October 27, 2011. The Community Forum will be held at the Santa Ana Police Community Room from 10:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. The purpose of the forum is to explore how diverse communities can resolve conflict in a culturally sensitive manner.
Claudia Alvarez stated: “I’m pleased to see our diverse community working together to achieve better ways to communicate effectively in a culturally sensitive manner.”
A cross-section of community leaders has been invited to ensure full representation at the forum. his forum will focus on the Jewish – Latino experience as it relates to their shared history and common desire to promote social justice and economic prosperity. Additionally, we are pleased to confirm the participation of the American Jewish Committee, Anti-Defamation League, Latino-Jewish Coalition and Orange County Human Relations Commission. The Community Forum will consist of the following three components and will be moderated by Michele Ruiz of the Latino Jewish Coalition:
Jewish/Latino Communities – The Latino-Jewish Coalition
Historical perspective of Jewish and Latino communities working together to overcome discrimination and to promote social justice and economic prosperity.
Commonalities/Shared Experiences – Rusty Kennedy/Orange County Human Relations Commission
A lunch exercise to develop trust among forum participants by sharing commonalities based on our respective families’ immigrant experience.
Conflict Resolution – TBD
Practical solutions for resolving conflict.
Further media inquiries should be directed to the City of Santa Ana Public Information Officer Jose Gonzalez.
We have to applaud Councilman Sarmiento here for making this happen. He’s right that this is needed. Perhaps the councilman can arrange to have Villa Park Council member Deborah Pauly attend. How about San Juan Capistrano’s Derek Reeve and his dog, Muhammad? Marilyn Davenport, I’m sure Claudia can squeeze you in. Dean Grose, come on down. The Councilman kept his word here on the event in spite of all the major problems Santa Ana is facing. And Sarmiento is right — it’s a needed event. But the time of the day is going to make this a poorly attended meeting.
It’s not lost on us that “Practical Solutions for Resolving Conflict” is a TBD here. I’m sure it’s either a distraction or an amazing joke. It’s going to be interesting to see how Alvarez treats the event. After skating any meaningful punishment for anti-Semitic remarks and accusations of ethnic cleansing, she labeled the incident “a distraction” at the next council meeting and referred to Downtown Inc.’s annual report as “an amazing joke.” The schuttlebutt around Santa Ana is the termed out Alvarez plans to ride her wave of populism with the downtown business community to launch a bid for Mayor against Miguel Pulido; but that’s only schuttlebutt.
Now what’s the over/under on how many people the event actually attracts? 10AM to 2PM in the middle of the day?
Are they serving lunch?
Claudia Alvarez hosting a community forum on cultural sensitivity? Really?
That’s basically the equivalent of having Kinde Durkee host a forum on campaign finance.
Would Vince and Claudia think SanTanna was diverse if 80 percent og the population were white? What about Vietnamese? She’s a bigot
What a load of horse s**t.
Cultural Diversity? this is like the 99% is resolving a conflict with Wall Street executives