The Freudian Slip in Santa Ana's Re-Renaissance Plan


Just printed out the massive environmental impact report on SanTana's Transit Zoning Code, the euphemistic name for city staffer's supposed replacement for their controversial Renaissance Specific Plan, a replacement so laughable it'll forever be known on this blog as the Re-Renaissance Plan–but I digress. The environmental impact report for Mayor Don Papi Pulido's latest gentrification scheme? So filled with outright lies, laughable assertions, and worrisome points that I flipped through the thousand-plus pages at random thrice and found nuggets that should outrage those fine community activists at SACReD (Santa Ana Collaborative for Responsible Development) once they get around to reading this infernal blog.

Discussed in this post isn't one of more scandalous discoveries but is illustrative of the ruse the Don Papi is trying to pull. SanTana planners and councilmembers have made a big deal of how they dropped the Renaissance Plan and went back to the drawing board due to grumbles from residents, to make themselves seem like benevolent masters. “In response to community concerns regarding the scope of the SARSP itself, the Specific Plan was tabled,” reads part of the EIR's project description.

Really? Maybe the city should've told this to one the firms hired to write part of the EIR.

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Included in the EIR is a traffic study prepared by KOA Corporation of Orange. Even though SanTana planners publicly announced the end of the Renaissance Plan last year, the study–dated Jan. 26 of this year–is called the “Santa Ana Specific Plan Traffic Study.” A letter by KOA VP Min Zhou, P.E. (Gustavo note: what's a P.E. in the world of self-important professional designations?) states it's a revised report to take into account the minor changes planners say won't make their Re-Renaissance Plan a gentrifying machine. But Zhou lets the gato out of the bag with this: “The Renaissance Specific Plan proposes a variety of land use policies and circulation improvements and allows considerable density in some of the Planning Areas with mixed-use characteristics for most of the areas.” The report goes on to refer to the Transit Zoning Code as the Renaissance Plan over the course of more than 300 pages.

As Art Pedroza of the wonderfully libelous Orange Juice would write: “Ruh-roh!” Freudian slip, or inadvertent exposé? I report: you deride…

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