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SANTA ANA'S PROPERTY BASED IMPROVEMENT DISTRICT including the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development, as well as tax- exempt bonds. While the original intent appeared to be an effort to preserve the area's Hispanic and cultural identity, subsequent efforts began to erode the very proposition that was supposed to preserve this "redevelopment" area. By 2006 and 2007, actions by the city and the developers were perceived as efforts to "gentrify" the downtown area in what one newspaper reporter referred to as an "obvious effort to replace the city's Mexican themed atmosphere with something more in keeping with a yuppie clientele." Additional planning proposals included efforts to change the housing and business identities of the downtown area with the addition of new apartment and condominium projects. Some citizens saw this as a "Forced Gentrification Plan" along with other descriptions such as the "Remove the Poor Mexicans from Downtown Santa Ana Plan." I Under any terms or descriptions, the changes being proposed were destined to create a cultural conflict. As explained by the city planners in the "Renaissance Plan", "The community's heritage needs to be celebrated to express and enjoy the important aspect of daily life. Often when communities forget their past they lose their cultural meaning and stand to seriously dilute any future identity."2 In response to the concerns being voiced, by 2008, city officials were making promises to amend their earlier redevelopment plans giving more consideration to the cultural history of the downtown area. But in 2008, the City of Santa Ana initiated a program that offered financial rebates to the business owners in the downtown area to improve the facades of their buildings. The "Fourth Street Fagade Program" allocated one million, two hundred and fifty thousand dollars ($1,250,000) for improvements to building fronts with a supposed limitation of $75,000 per storefront. However, for various reasons, the money went to only three (3) property owners: CM Theater LP (West End Theatre) .......................... $ 63,814.77 Gumm & Livingston Investments (Pacific Building)...... $110,191.00 Fiesta Marketplace Partners (S & A Properties)............ $765,000.00 The vast majority of these rebate dollars went to the same property owners/developers who comprised the majority interest in the "Fiesta Marketplace" entity, i.e. those developers who were the primary interests in changing the culture of the area. These same property owners/developers have, and continue to have, extensive connections to the newly formed non-profit business group called Downtown, Inc. As of this writing, these developers presently serve as the officers and directors of Downtown Inc., the entity the City of Santa Ana chose to manage the proceeds from the special assessment. ' Orange County Register, Dec. 23, 2007 2 Ibid 2011-2012 ORANGE COUNTY GRAND JURY Page 212