Correspondence - #2 - Laserfiche WebLink

Home Browse Search

May 24, 2021 Honorable Mayor and City Councilmembers, I am writing to you as a Santa Ana native and leader of Pacific Park/Eastside neighborhood where the Cypress Fire Station is located. I grew up in this neighborhood and know there is a huge need for a community center that ties our residents to Santa Ana’s history and provides them access to technology. The Cypress Fire Station has the potential to make a huge positive impact on South Main. Right now there’s a great deal of blight and human suffering taking place on Cypress that’s spilling over onto Main. A community center would transform the area into a place where young and old can go to access History, Technology, Arts and Culture in a safe and healthy environment. Today you should have received a compilation of my previous letters and proposals, so I won’t rehash info that has already been presented. New Updates:  Tim Rush has been contacted and agreed to support postponement. As a significant historic restoration advocate in Santa Ana, Mr Rush sees the wisdom in not rushing into a sale at this time, given that the money to be gained is so small in comparison to the value this property could still hold for the City.  We have a proposal on the table for an Artists Residency by the artist George Yepes. An Artists Residency would help secure the property while providing a community benefit. Thus the City wouldn’t have to spend $17,000 a month on security.  A coalition of residents and leaders from a variety of neighborhoods support the Cypress Fire Station being taken off the surplus property list and transformed into a History, Arts, & Technology Center. These include folks from Pacific Park/Eastside, Henninger Park, Wilshire Square, Madison Park, French Park, Barrio Logan, Lacy, Casa Bonita, Artisia Pilar, Delhi, and many more.  An on-site PAALS program might help to fund operations. I’d also like to add that if security spent on the building totals over a million dollars, as I have heard, then the selling price for the building should be at least 1 million. Please vote to retain an important historical asset, the oldest and first firehouse in the City of Santa Ana. Take it off the surplus property list and adapt this fabulous structure into a public beacon for learning. With great respect, --- Sandra “Pocha” Pena Sarmiento Santa Ana Native, Neighborhood Leader Pacific Park/Eastside, Santa Ana