Santa Ana Wants To Grab And Destroy The Real Mr. Miyagi's Dojo
It's the sanitized term, "eminent domain," describing the taking of private property for projects supposedly beneficial to the public -- in this case, space for foliage along a roadway. From Tracey Oppenheimer at Reason.tv:
From reason's write-up on YouTube:
Karate legend Fumio Demura has shaped much of the karate culture we are familiar with today. He's trained iconic martial arts stars like Bruce Lee, Chuck Norris, Steven Seagal, and Pat Morita, and has also acted in popular martial arts films.Demura's credits include working as Mr. Miyagi's stunt double in The Karate Kid franchise, Mortal Combat, Rising Sun, and The Island of Dr. Moreau. The Real Miyagi is a soon-to-be-released feature documenting Demura's life. Demura credits his "dojo," or studio, in Santa Ana, California for much of his success.
"A dojo is not just a studio, not just for fighting. It's the development of better human beings," says Demura.
Yet Demura's dojo may not be around for much longer. The City of Santa Ana is planning to acquire his property as well as eight other small businesses as part of the Bristol Street Widening Project. The project has been around since the early 90's, and is just now reaching the phase that threatens these businesses.
"It's just a very slow process," says Santa Ana Mayor Miguel Pulido. "You have to deal with every single homeowner, every single business owner."
Mayor Pulido says that this section of Bristol Street is especially important because it's a major gateway into Santa Ana, and thus requires more lanes in order to ease traffic congestion. However, the businesses believe that the city can indeed widen the streets without acquiring their properties.
The city's current plan allots 30 ft. for landscaping, and those 30 ft. are crucial for the businesses to be able to remain untouched. Christina Rush represents the Bristol Street businesses, and says they can take care of the landscaping themselves.
"We can give you that in our plan, through our landscaping, through architectural elements, outdoor seating," says Rush. "We can achieve what the city wants, that park-like look, while still allowing the businesses to retain their properties."
Rush has met multiple times with city representatives, and expects a resolution or at least more debate at the city council meeting on Jan. 6. She says the businesses have no intention of giving up their properties without a fight.
"I'd like to stay as much as I can, because this is an old house. We fixed it. So hard we were working," says Demura.
I like street trees as much as the next guy, but... to spend millions of dollars on property acquisition to put them in? Seems to me like the business owners have a very sensible plan: the city can pay them for decades to maintain their own landscaping for less than it will cost to take the properties and clear the structures.
BTW: the fact that it takes 20+ years to execute an ordinary street-widening project is something from an Ayn Rand dystopia.
Cousin Dave at January 3, 2014 6:23 AM
Well one that they are doing in Ohio is that you (or groups) can buy park benches that have things like "In memory of John Doe" or "Joe's Landscaping" carved in the wood of the bench seat and then they are put around town. It costs the municipality practically nothing, is advertising if a company or just a nice memorial to remember someone by.
You could probably do something similar with trees or bushes with plaques on the ground/sidewalk.
From the look of the street, the space is there, just it would bee changing some of the easement rules.
Jim P. at January 3, 2014 6:52 AM
Amy Alkon
https://www.advicegoddess.com/archives/2014/01/santa-ana-wants.html#comment-4173329">comment from Jim P.The astonishing (or perhaps not astonishing at all) thing is that the city seems to have little interest in coming to any sort of compromise that will save those businesses. That woman from the optometry shop was reasonable and really terrific in proposing a solution. People in government need to behave as if the decisions they are making are affecting them personally and not just say, "Oh, screw you, your business will have to die for the roadway."
Amy Alkon
at January 3, 2014 7:02 AM
The astonishing (or perhaps not astonishing at all) thing is that the city seems to have little interest in coming to any sort of compromise
It isn't astonishing.
By the time they have gotten to that stage, the city staff responsible for the project have made up their minds that this is what it will be, and they've convinced the elected officials that this is the only way to proceed.
That's the way it is were I live. By the time it comes up for discussion/vote at the city council or county commission, it is already pretty much a done deal. They only way to change it is to get the voting body to vote it down, then work on an alternative.
The staff is unwilling to accept anything else. The only time they've failed recently was in a quest to turn a busy three-lane thoroughfare into a 2 lane bottleneck with a dedicated bike/bus lane.
Fortunately, the state of Florida owned that road, and squashed the city's plans.
I R A Darth Aggie at January 3, 2014 7:36 AM
We like our plan, so you can't keep what's yours. I'm afraid theft by government is here to stay.
MarkD at January 3, 2014 8:44 AM
Since we live in a tattletale society today, there are a lot of people around who believe that the solution to all problems is an application of government force. Of course, they usually only mean their own problems, not anyone else's.
Cousin Dave at January 3, 2014 10:01 AM
Qui Bono or however its spelt.
The city council is insistent on dstroying txable businesses. Usually in cases like this they already have contractor cousins,building supply buddies,big business benfactors already lined up with the kick backs and bribes in hand in order to encourage the land grab legislation.
Keep and eye on this over the next five to ten years and watch the money flow, political contributions, consulting fee offers, and after politics job offers to see how the deal's seamy underside was structured.
John Mandebaum at January 3, 2014 7:12 PM
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