I would love to tell you that I got to the bottom of things and all is well but, when it comes to getting information out of the Banana Peel Republic of Santa Ana, it’s never that simple.
I have written numerous times about the failures of the Santa Ana City Council to follow state law and open their meetings to the public. It’s beginning to look like they are more interested in looking stupid, than granting the basic transparency supposedly guaranteed by law.
From the Voice of OC:”Media relations have not been a strong suit of the city of Santa Ana in recent years. In fact, many reporters view city officials as openly hostile to public information and open meeting laws.”The City hired a short-term Public Information officer, but the money ran out June 30th.
Back in March the residents of Costa Mesa were promised by CEO Tom Hatch that communications consultant Bill Lobdell would “create a communications structure that will put Costa Mesa on a path to being the nation’s most transparent government.”
There is a fine line between the responsibility of a government entity to ensure that the public is informed about the facts related to a matter of public business and promoting a political ideology. In Costa Mesa, that line has been dramatically crossed.
This weekend, Voice of OC’s Norberto Santana, Jr. opened up some transparency on Costa Mesa Mayor Monahan’s openness during previous contracting out processes. It seems the most transparent part of Monahan’s record in this area is that he has no problem pushing to give put contracts exclusively to his friends.
Back a few weeks ago, when Santa Ana Assistant City Manager Cindy Nelson announced her retirement, Councilman Sal Tinajero spoke to the Voice of OC about the transition. He described the departures of Nelson and City Attorney James Fletcher as…
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