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development, and for civic pride. Every sign matters. Every sidewalk view matters. And when we <br /> treat our public spaces with less care than we do our living rooms, we invite not just clutter, but <br /> decline. <br /> Now, I can already hear the well-meaning argument: "This helps small businesses." Let me be <br /> perfectly clear—I love small businesses. I frequent them. I argue in their defense at cocktail <br /> parties. But helping our small businesses shouldn't come at the cost of our sidewalks. There are <br /> far better tools at your disposal: grants for better permanent signage, fagade improvement <br /> programs, city-sponsored wayfinding systems. Empower merchants, yes. But don't do it by <br /> turning our streetscape into a sandwich board circus. <br /> Some will argue aesthetics are just "nice-to-haves." But in Santa Ana, they are essential. <br /> Particularly with the sunsetting of Measure X on the horizon, we are a city that must compete— <br /> to attract investment, support small business, draw regional visitors, and make people proud to <br /> live here. And people—residents, customers, and entrepreneurs alike—choose places that feel <br /> taken care of. Where the visual environment communicates a sense of order, ambition, and <br /> community pride. <br /> Good aesthetics are not accidental. They are the result of intentional policy and standards. We <br /> cannot preach revitalization while rolling back the very tools that protect and shape a high- <br /> quality public realm. We cannot ask residents to clean up their front yards while authorizing <br /> businesses to scatter sidewalk signs up and down our blocks. <br /> And then there's enforcement. Who, pray tell, is going to monitor these signs? Decide if they're <br /> in the "designated" areas? Check if they're up to code? If they're placed properly? Code <br /> Enforcement is already operating like an overworked triage nurse. Let's not give them a city full <br /> of tripping hazards to manage. <br /> In closing, I ask you: what kind of city do we want to be? One that leans into its history, its <br /> culture, and its potential? Or one that gives up on its streetscapes, one folding sign at a time? <br /> Santa Ana deserves clean sidewalks. It deserves beauty. And it deserves better than Ms. Lopez's <br /> requested ordinance. <br /> With all due respect, and a healthy dose of civic affection, <br /> P ; e� ra�� <br />