On January 31st, the City Manager and Police Chief made a joint statement in response to the Santa Ana Police Department’s (SAPD) request to destroy police records. In their statement, SAPD Chief David Valentin stated that the destruction of police records is a “routine process,” and not a response to
This year began with a new state law, SB 1421, going into effect and giving the public access to exclusive police records of misconduct and internal investigations. In Santa Ana, decades of officers’ use of force, in-custody injuries and the department’s handling of incidents, lay in boxes ready to be
Poet Karla Cordero’s backyard in carlsbad, california holds sugar snap peas, broccoli sprouts, and young to towering sunflowers that greet you as you sit down. Before talking about her book on a cool December morning, Karla gave photographer Arlene Mejorado and I a tour of all the plants she harvested
In the “Blue Wave” that hit Orange County, the District Attorney continues to bleed red, with a bit of sweetness. Republican Todd Spitzer defeated twenty-year incumbent, Tony Rackauckas, who left two decades of political corruption behind him to clean up. The Orange County District Attorney’s (OCDA) office, in Rackauckas’ final
“…Poetry is not a luxury. It is a vital necessity of our existence. It forms the quality of the light within which we predicate our hopes and dreams toward survival and change, first made into language, then into idea, then into more tangible action.” –Audre Lorde The corner of Beach and
Last March, I joined Denise de la Cruz and tallest Mexican in Orange County, Gabriel San Roman, to talk immigration for OC Weekly’s OC Speakly podcast. We were a few months into Trump’s presidency. I remember feeling dazed. By this point Trump had rubber stamped Steve Bannon’s first Muslim Ban,
In 2016, the Santa Ana Police Officers Association (SAPOA) spent over $400,000 that allowed them to place two of their three favored candidates on the Santa Ana City Council, alongside the mayor. This year, they’re already set to outspend themselves; they ended June with $462,000 in the bank, and inched
Cuando llego a casa del trabajo los viernes, mi madre me pide que la lleve al mercado y ella trae sus bolsas reusables y una lista de cosas que necesita. A mi mamá le gusta más el producto de Northgate que cualquier otra tienda y nos dirigimos al local de
When I come home from work on Fridays my mom asks me to take her to el mercado and she brings her reusable shopping bags and a list of things she needs. My mom likes the produce from Northgate more than any other store and we make our way over
At the end of the day, it isn’t where I came from. Maybe home is somewhere I’m going and never have been before. Warsan Shire In the search for a better future for ourselves and our families, there are physical-digital places and people we can turn to already. I want
