Santa Ana Merchants Protest Loss From Trolley Construction – Orange County Registry

On a typical day, the 80 small businesses on 4th Street in downtown Santa Ana bustle with diners and shoppers.

But on Wednesday, the bustle didn’t happen.

“It looks like a ghost town now,” says business owner Ana Laura Padilla.

Last week, Padilla and other merchants learned – without warning, they said – that the historic street where they make their living would be closed for construction at least through the end of the summer.

Line 4 will in turn be fitted with rail for the OC Tram, which will run 4.1 miles from Santa Ana to Garden Grove.

Dozens of business owners staged a protest Wednesday, February 9, demanding financial assistance and other forms of relief from the Orange County Transportation Authority (OCTA) and the City of Santa Ana. Business owners claim both organizations gave ill-considered responses to their recent calls and emails

Standing in the middle of a freshly dug trench, protesters had been trying to shut down construction work all morning.

Orange County Supervisor Katrina Foley, who sits on the OCTA board, joins them at 6 a.m

Apparently, their efforts got the attention they were looking for. By Wednesday afternoon, city and OCTA officials had gathered to walk the affected businesses.

Padilla, the event organizer, said construction dust and noise prevent customers from coming to her restaurant, Perla Mexican Cuisine.

She also owns a tax return business, Themis Multiservices. She says the business has also seen a huge drop in customers, largely because parking has become difficult and confusing.

“Imagine noisy machines in the background when I’m trying to talk to clients about taxes,” says Padilla. “It’s been a nightmare.”

Padilla and her neighbors are demanding better signage to advertise that their business is still open.

Delilah Snell, the owner of Alta Baja cafe and market, says her business offers 70% off Fridays and 30% on weekends. The store offers specialty products including a wide selection of Mexican wines.

“My whole place smells of tar, which is not very appetizing,” Snell said. “And, because of COVID, we keep our doors and windows open.”

Snell said that the OCTA in 2020 has been doing some minor construction on the street over the course of several weeks to begin laying the groundwork for the railroad.

“I know they’ll be back, but I think the next wave will be like the first,” Snell said. “I didn’t realize that the whole street would be torn down.

“Currently, because of the pandemic, some businesses on 4th Street are barely functioning,” she added.

Unlike most of the other affected streets, 4th Street – one of the oldest business centers in Orange County – has only two lanes. And Santa Ana Councilman David Penaloza noted “other avenues are wide enough to open half the lanes.”

Penaloza said that the OCTA did not communicate strongly enough with business owners prior to the closure of Fourth Street.

“We knew for three years it was going to happen eventually. But I think the resentment comes from the fact that there was no immediate warning of what the exact date would be,” Penaloza said. “Suddenly, (the construction) was at the front door of the merchants.”

But OCTA spokesman Eric Carpenter said the agency keeps Santa Ana merchants informed about the electric vehicle’s construction schedule.

“In early January, OCTA went to businesses (Fourth Street) and handed out flyers to inform them about the work,” Carpenter wrote in an email. “The last week of January, we also took a walk with the community to warn them that work would begin next week. We have informed businesses that this work will be done since we started construction (in 2019). ”

Foley concurs that the agency “has done a lot of outreach.”

“I’m not sure if there’s enough notice,” she said. “The question is: What are we going to do to help these businesses now that their streets are literally closed?”

Santa Ana Mayor Vicente Sarmiento said the city “would like to hear suggestions that are reasonable and workable.”

“I don’t think there is a silver bullet,” said Sarmiento. “But there are ways to make the situation more bearable.” For example, the OCTA might consider a mirrored team working 16 hours a day to get the job done in half the time, he said.

Whether free parking or reduced business license fees, Penaloza said the city shouldn’t pick up the whole tab.

“The OCTA needs to reimburse us,” he said. “This is a district-led project. I hope the city does not bear all the costs to ease the hardship. “

Santa Ana City Council Approved OC Tramway in 2014, said that the train would promote economic development. Merchants were dividing to see if cars on the street were on Fourth Street.

Originally scheduled for completion this year, The project encountered a number of difficulties – including the discovery of contaminated land and unmarked utilities – that has raised prices and pushed the projected opening to 2024. The budget cost of the electric vehicle project is currently $509 million.

“I’m not sure if it’s worth the money,” Penaloza said.

However, Foley says that once the dust clears, electric vehicles will revitalize the business communities of Santa Ana and Garden Grove.

“It will help move people while reducing our carbon footprint,” says Foley. “This is a project for the future, not a project for today.”