July 23, 2008
Santa Ana: Opening a bank now? Something’s not right.
The Orange Juice Blog had a post yesterday that I just love the title of “Was this a good time to open the Santa Ana Business Bank?” The author Art Pedroza wonders why when banks are going down, there’s a group opening a new bank in Santa Ana. And that’s Santa Ana! The OC city with probably the most despair from the housing market crash. According to the Santa Ana Business Bank, they’re legit and ready to serve Santa Ana businesses:
“Santa Ana Business Bank was organized by a group of local leaders. Our founders include entrepreneurs and professionals from many fields including real estate, legal, health, and accounting. Our Board of Directors is composed of prominent civic and business leaders and our management team is highly experienced and committed to operational efficiency. . .
We take great pride in calling Santa Ana home and opening our doors for business. We are ready to help your business grow.”
However, in a time when Santa Ana’s economy is anything but booming, you have to question how this makes sense. And, after reading Pedroza’s commentary, I’m a little suspicious of the whole operation. Is it really just a place to put the public’s money and make a quick buck? I’m outraged at the thought of other’s capitalizing on the public’s money this way. Pedroza writes:
“I wonder if they were planning on putting public bond money in their bank? Amezcua was the co-chair for Measure G, the latest property tax increase from the crooked folks at the Santa Ana Unified School District. He is running his daughter Valerie for the SAUSD school board in November. And I am told that the SAUSD will be putting yet another bond on the ballot in November too.
Amezcua himself will be pimping for two new bond measures being put on the ballot by the Rancho Santiago Community College District, where he serves as a board member. They passed a bond a few years ago but Al and company spent most of the money on the Santiago campus and the Carona Sheriff Training Facility - they ignored Santa Ana College for the most part. Then they didn’t fire the Santa Ana College president after she got caught building a secret shower in her office and after she got caught having fire alarms turned off rather than fixing the fire alarm system.
But I digress. The Santa Ana City Clowncil is also going after millions of dollars in OCTA funding for a streetcar system that will link the lame Santa Ana downtown with the lame Garden Grove downtown. And where will that money be kept? Hmmm…. Sure enough the guy whose engineering company is involved with the streetcar plan, George Pla, is also a board member of the Santa Ana Business Bank.
What gives? Are these people really that confident that they can pull the wool over everyone’s eyes? Or are they prototypical dumb criminals who will eventually get caught red-handed? Who knows? But we do know this - right now is a bad time to be in the banking business.”
Seems like enough corruption ready to be scripted into a made-for-TV movie. What Santa Ana really needs is less of these hooligans and more leaders that actually care about the welfare of the City and its citizens (not their pocketbooks!).
A Look at a Life Ruined by Debt | Redfin Orange County Sweet Digs said:
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July 24, 2008 8:36 AM
REHound said:
Anyone who might find these happenings odd is completely unaware of how things are done, even today, in the Old Country, Mexico.
Citizens of Mexico are resigned to a system that favors “community leaders” and “prominent citizens.” The average citizen shrugs and is happy enough to be left alone.
Is it any wonder that Santa Ana, the most racially homogeneous city in Orange county, would be the silla of such shenanigans?
July 25, 2008 2:52 PM
Julie Lance said:
Can’t confirm that Santa Ana is the most racially homogeneous city in OC, but here’s info from wikipedia.org:
“76.1% Latino/Hispanic 12.2% White 1.7% Black 8.8% Asian 1.2% Native American Median age is 26.5 making it lower than the national average. Median family income is 40,000 dollars compared to Orange County’s 72,000 median income and the national median income of 52,000. 50% of residents in Santa Ana are rental tenants. In the more populus neighborhoods there are approximately 17 persons per residential lot based on a 2006 informal economy report.”
July 25, 2008 3:18 PM
rla said:
You have absolutely no evidence that the owners of this bank are doing anything unethical. It’s really none of your business (or mine) whether now is a good time to start a bank. If you’re going to pull information from another blog, at least critically analyze their assertions.
Thanks, REHound, for reminding us that we shouldn’t expect anything more from those darn Mexicans. It’s in their blood.
July 25, 2008 11:07 PM
Julie Lance said:
Thanks for the comments. However, I still think it’s a crazy time to be starting bank… even if you’ve already got the funds lined up.
July 26, 2008 6:22 PM
Julie Lance said:
I also want to mention that there’s a way of making a point without having to use racial derogatory comments.
July 29, 2008 7:48 AM