The Battle for Cinco de Mayo

May 4, 2018| FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contact information 714-244-9167

WHO: Protégé Santa Ana Coalition

WHEN: Saturday, May 5, 2018 @ 6:30pm  

WHERE:     4307 N Spurgeon St, Santa Ana, Ca 92701

 

WHY:   To expose the corruption between the City of Santa Ana, Downtown Inc and Santa Ana Business Council in pushing out Cinco de Mayo festival, a tradition of Santa Ana for 18 years

We requested documents from the city of Santa Ana that exposed :

1. Downtown Inc and Santa Ana Business Council (SABC) made a decision to eliminate Cinco de Mayo Festival after 18 years of tradition.
2. Downtown Inc and SABC pulled permits for their own Cinco de Mayo festival after they decided to eliminate the event.
3. The City of Santa Ana staff, Santa Ana Business Council and Downtown Inc decided to “delay” the announcement of the “elimination” of Cinco de Mayo festival.
4. The City of Santa Ana allows organizations to make decisions of the city without public input. Speed bumps get more public input and discussion.
5. The City of Santa Ana allows Downtown Inc and Santa Ana Business Council decides for all Santa Ana residents what is “best” for the entire city of Santa Ana.
6. Downtown Inc and Santa Ana Business Council have a problem with Mexican festivals in Downtown but not their East End festivals or OC Block Party.

Español: 

Solicitamos documentos de la ciudad de Santa Ana que confirma que:

1) Downtown Inc y el Consejo Empresarial de Santa Ana (SABC) tomaron la decisión de eliminar el Festival Cinco de Mayo después de 18 años de tradición.

2) Downtown Inc y SABC retiraron los permisos para su propio festival de Cinco de Mayo después de que decidieron eliminar el evento.

3) El personal de la Ciudad de Santa Ana, SABC y Downtown Inc decidieron “retrasar” el anuncio de la “eliminación” del festival de Cinco de Mayo.

4) La Ciudad de Santa Ana le permite a estas organizaciones tomar decisiones de la ciudad sin la participación del público. Los baches de velocidad obtienen más participación pública y discusión.

5) La Ciudad de Santa Ana permite Downtown Inc y SABC decide para todos los residentes de Santa Ana qué es lo “mejor” para toda la ciudad de Santa Ana.

6) Downtown Inc y el Consejo Empresarial de Santa Ana tienen un problema con los festivales Mexicanos en la cuatro, pero no en sus festivales de East End o OC Block Party.

¡SANTANA NO SÉ VENDE! SE AMA Y SE DEFIENDE!

 

Protege Press Release Cinco de Mayo.docx (1)

Why is Gentrification a Woman’s Issue?

If you are seeing this, You came across our name somewhere and you actually took the time to look us up!We would like you to take these points into consideration for women’s marches going on nation wide on January 20th, 2018.

Why is Gentrification a Woman’s Issue?

Gentrification is where Race, Class and Gender Intersect and must be recognized as a intersectional feminist issue!

• Women are the most vulnerable in this process of violent systemic displacement.
• Women are 50% of head household left to grapple with the increase rates and at the same time are the ones to get low pay wages.
• For many women who are constantly moving their families one place to another are left vulnerable and lacking vital resources.
• Women are being evicted and displaced in increasing numbers across the United States as you read this!
• Statistical evidence indicates that inner urban areas in general contain more women than men, many living in poor and disadvantaged households including lone elderly women and lone mothers with children.
• Gentrification involves the oppression, marginalization, displacement of vulnerable populations, particularly women and children who are often already are negatively impacted by the effects of classism, sexism, and racism.
• As former residents are pushed out, so are the children attending local schools, which disturbs their learning process.
• Neighbors that people once relied on move out, and services that were beneficial to the community are replaced.

DO NOT BE PART OF THE PROBLEM! DON’T SUPPORT GENTRIFICATION! 

Organizing Against Gentrification Outside of the Nonprofit World: ¡El Pueblo Dice Basta Downtown Inc!

Protege Santa Ana – Against Gentrification is a grassroots volunteer collective that emerged in response to the urgent need for critical organizing against the displacement of long-time residents of Santa Ana. The fight against gentrification requires a critical and direct action community movement.  Protege Santa Ana strongly believes that a well-informed, self determined community can achieve unimaginable realities when we are committed to transparent, honest, grassroots organizing. This fight in Santa Ana has been waging for well over three decades.  As detailed in a recently published book by Dr. Erualdo Gonzalez, professor of urban planning at Cal State Fullerton, our community  has a rich history of  organizing movements against projects that displace.  These movements against gentrification have included a diversity of strategies and have been led by both grassroots and nonprofit organizations.  Recently this fight has been led by local nonprofits, utilizing  funding from private institutions  such as the California Endowment. We acknowledge that the work of nonprofits has at times been beneficial to our communities, however, we also recognize how the work and achievements of nonprofit organizing is limited by the level of corruption and bureaucracy among public officials.

Despite having an all Latino, Democratic city council, local politicians continue to pave the way for development that dismisses and ignores the immediate needs of residents, tenants and long-time business owners. Time and time again we see the city council and planning department support housing developments the majority of residents cannot afford to rent.  We have witnessed the assurance of  “small businesses” that cater to upper middle class predominately white people and not all of our communities.  We have observed the constant fiscal support of  increased policing that threaten communities of color and working class people in Santa Ana. We also see the complicity of artists, key stakeholders, politicians, realtors, developers and investors in building a Santa Ana that is driven by big capital and special interests. So what will it take for Santa Ana residents to live in conditions that provide equity, support and justice? How can we support renters and marginalized residents in a time of rampant racial and economic violence?

We do  not claim to have all the answers, but we are certain the current state of development is not serving needs of the people . We maintain that pandering to public officials by traditional, pacifist methods will not help us achieve what we need.  Much like the historic movements against gentrification in Santa Ana’s past, the current fight is one that must be fought with greater militancy and direction action. Santa Ana community members, including those who have accepted leadership positions with community-based agencies, must take a more bold stance against the “revitalizing” of our neighborhoods. Protege admires the resiliency of the people of El Paso, Texas, for example,  that are currently fighting the demolition of El Duranguito after city officials ignored the injunction that prohibited its destruction. We also admire the tactics of our friends in Boyle Heights that steadily encourage residents to boycott the art galleries that have begun to displace tenants. The determination and the love for their communities is admirable. This is why as a collective, we fully support all residents and tenants across the nation actively fighting for rent control and tenants rights, we support the low-income residents all over the country resisting landlord harassment and evictions.

But what can we do in Santa Ana? For Renters Week of Action, Protege Santa Ana asks for the support from all residents, activists and organizations that we demand that Downtown Inc. leave our community completely. Downtown Inc. is a 501c3 nonprofit who since it’s inception has been a catalyst for displacement in our community. In the last decade, Downtown Inc. has co-opted social justice language for grants to create “healthier communities.” They have partnered up with the Santa Ana Unified School District to showcase the talent of our youth in the city but oddly enough do not seem to care about the economic disparities these students experience due to the gentrification they are responsible for. What is more interesting is the reactions of members of Downtown Inc. like Madeleine Spencer who have consistently denied complicity. Just recently Downtown Inc. has proposed to the city’s business council the termination of long time festivals like Fiestas Patrias and the Cinco de Mayo festivities once again demonstrating clearly to our communities that our culture means nothing unless it is making them money. It is necessary that not only we demand accountability from Downtown Inc. and its members, but that we encourage everyone who is affiliated or partnered with them to think twice about working with a group that puts the needs of our communities last and promotes a business-driven “hipster haven” like they’ve so proudly claimed on their website. Let’s join forces this Renter’s Week of Action so that we start prioritizing rent control and develop tenant’s rights in Santa Ana so that together we can build a solid foundation to confront unjust evictions and declare boldly that housing is a human right. FUERA DOWNTOWN INC.

An Open Letter to Downtown Inc. and the Downtown Business District: Leave Our Hoods Alone

An Open Letter to Downtown Inc., its partners, affiliates and accomplices:

It has been brought to our knowledge as a concerned community that your efforts to destroy our neighborhoods through unjust development and displacement have essentially ended in the downtown area and have made their way through other parts of the city. We are here to remind you that these violent tactics of ethnic cleansing are a constant reminder to us that the colonial project is in full effect. Poor communities of color, especially those living at the intersections of being queer/trans, undocumented, disabled or homeless are heavily impacted by the destructive forces of gentrification. As residents, we have confronted your efforts knowingly and unknowingly through numerous ways of resistance and the bottom line is and always will be – gentrification is modern day colonialism.

Your collaborations with the school district earlier this year, for your culturally appropriating event “Boca de Oro” are a clear indication of your neoliberal attempts at justifying the disasters of gentrification. Our children are not tokens; using them to humanize and mask the racial violence that comes with displacement is shameful and demonstrates what measures you’re willing to take to sell our communities to investors. Events like “Boca de Oro” are strategies you have orchestrated by stealing our cultures and selling them to millennial, mostly white, upper and middle class people of neighboring cities. Needless to say, gentrification without a doubt also performs the act of white washing our art and traditions.

Like hundreds of urban cities across the country experiencing displacement, police violence is also evident on our streets. The killing of Steve Salgado in January proves what we’ve always known, the police exists only to protect private property, uphold the gentry and sustain capitalism and white supremacy. Steve was murdered by the SAPD blocks from downtown and it would be safe to say that Downtown Inc. was complicit in his murder. Our people have seen this far too often and we are done. To gentrify Santa Ana is to comply in the genocide of working class people of color in our city.

We are no longer looking into engaging in “civil discourse” with Downtown Inc. or anyone involved with your entity. We do not want to meet half way with those that have taken it upon themselves to profit off of our land, resources and cultures. We do not wish to collaborate or “work together” with an entity that is supportive of the police or any other law enforcement agency that continue to terrorize our people.

Let this be a clear message to you and your partners that until you put an end to the state sanctioned violence that is displacement; you are the enemy. It is time to recognize that Santa Ana has large issues and that the needs of our community must be prioritized, not the desires of outside investors.

• Stop endorsing policies that criminalize youth of color.
• Stop co-opting politically conscious language for grant money.
• Do not use youth as tools to justify your capitalist endeavors.
• Stop promoting the idea that gentrification is inevitable and that your goal is to support local businesses, we know these things are not true.

 

The demands of the community are continuously evolving but we know that to put an end to unjust development is essential to Santa Ana. We need to be able to live free from fear the increased policing that comes from building businesses that appeal and cater to the rich. Our people are organizing and we are going to win and until you have not ended these injustices, you are the enemy.

¡Santa Ana No Se Vende, Se Ama y Se Defiende!

Protege Santa Ana

We are the community! We will not be Policed, Priced ot Pushed Out!