After the pandemic, a streetcar project and a debate over what kind of shops are welcome in downtown Santa Ana, City Council members voted unanimously Tuesday to end a business improvement system that taxes and promotes the area’s merchants.
The protest against Downtown, Inc., the economic interest group that controls the area—and the system it runs, known as the Downtown Business Improvement District—politically mobilized La Cuatro’s remaining Latino remnants to a degree not seen in years.
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For years, the argument has been that Downtown, Inc. neglects smaller Latin American companies in its promotional materials compared to the nightlife and fine dining scene.
“Last year, construction and financial difficulties brought us all together,” said Ginette Sanchez, a Latina merchant in the area and one of two speakers Tuesday night who supported dissolving the business district.
“That was the eye-opening moment when we realized that not only had the Business Improvement District not helped us, but we had been paying to be neglected, ignored, abused and cheated for all those years.”
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This is the claim made by representatives of Downtown, Inc. denied at previous meetings, pointing to publicly available information about stakeholder meetings, while some of their supporters in the area’s business community promised to simplify the organizations’ operational structure.
Although no one from Downtown Inc., or their supporters, spoke against the repeal of the district on Tuesday.
The vote was unanimous, with little or no discussion among City Council members, who last considered the issue in December.
The second and final procedural vote is expected at the next regular council meeting on February 7.
The story goes back at least a decade, when a wave of small business owners first protested taxes collected by Downtown Inc., a downtown business interest group tasked with promoting the area.
Critics, however, saw a connection between the group and demographic changes in the area, and argued that the tax primarily benefited downtown nightlife, while the Hispanic footprint faded.
The opposition prompted city officials to hit the reset button in 2013, cutting tax rates and sharing the revenue with a newly created group called the Santa Ana Business Council, run as a branch of Downtown Inc., that would do more Latino store promotions.
However, more than 10 years later, things have come full circle.
“We’re here tonight to make sure you bury (the district),” Sanchez said in public comments Tuesday. “And stay vigilant to make sure this abuse never happens again.”