Anaheim Observer Civic affairs in OC's largest city.

The Anaheim Union High School District is contracting with Anaheim Elementary School District Trustee Jose Paolo Magcalas to train 50 AUSHD teachers in Ethnic Studies “pedagogy.” It was Magcalas who brought Ethnic Studies to the AUSHD in 2015 when he was a U.S. History teacher at Loara High School. Magcalas and AUSHD’s progressive Superintendent Michael Matsuda are friends and political ...

For decades, Dwelling Place Church (formerly Vineyard Church) in Anaheim has been engaged in the work of providing food for families in need.  They were one of the first churches to work with the Second Harvest Food Bank – a relationship that goes back to 1984. In 2021 alone, Dwelling Place distributed 1,807,547 pounds of food from Second Harvest to ...

A squalid West Anaheim motel that was a locus of human trafficking, prostitution, illegal drug use, and criminality has been shut down by city authorities, who described conditions at the Covered Wagon Motel as “inhumane” and “deplorable.” A team of about 20 city officials descended on the Covered Wagon on March 29. The officials came from various city departments: Planning ...

WonderCon returned Anaheim today for the first time since 2019 as an in-person event. The popular fan show is one of the largest comic conventions on the West Coast, famous for attendees cosplaying as their favorite superheroes, sci-fi, fantasy or anime characters, will be at the Anaheim Convention Center today through Sunday, April 3. Attendees come from all over the ...

Speaking to an online meeting of the Anaheim Democrats Club this January, Anaheim Mayoral hopeful Ashleigh Aitken did not rule out imposing a gate tax if she is elected, telling the Democrat activist group that a gate tax is something the city should look at and not talked off the table as Anaheim recovers from the pandemic. According to a ...

OC Superior Court Judge Craig Griffin has ordered 2nd Supervisor District hopeful Vince Sarmiento to delete from his candidate statement a passage boasting of his endorsement by the Democratic Party of Orange County. The judge ruled it violates long-standing state law against candidate statements including the candidate’s partisan affiliation or activity. Sarmiento it the mayor of Santa Ana and considered ...

The Sheraton Park Hotel, one of the hospitality icons of the Anaheim Resort, officially commemorated its re-opening with a ribbon-cutting ceremony and celebration on Tuesday after a multi-million renovation. The Anaheim High School marching band was assembled in the grand ballroom to energize the event, and were followed by a welcome from General Manager Ian Gee. Mayor Harry Sidhu and ...

The knives are out at the Anaheim Democratic Club. Club President Jorge Gavino – a close political ally of another club member, Councilman Jose F. Moreno – is pushing for the expulsion of council gadflies Jeannine and Mike Robbins. Earlier today, Mrs. Robbins posted about the proposed defenestration on her Facebook page, reproducing the resign-or-be-expelled e-mail sent to her by ...

A judge has issued a preliminary ruling against a local gadfly group’s Brown Act lawsuit seeking to void a deal in which Angel’s owner Arte Moreno would buy the stadium stile and keep the team in Anaheim until 2050. Judge David Hoffer unequivocally ruled against the People’s Homeless Task Force’s contention that the deal violated the Brown Act, stating that ...

Things are moving quickly in Assembly District 68 as incumbent Tom Daly announces his retirement and the candidate filing deadline approaches: Anaheim Councilman Avelino Valencia has announced he is running in the heavily-Democrat AD68 with the backing of Daly, Rep. Lou Correa, Assembly Speaker Anthony Rendon and other Democratic leaders. “I’m running for State Assembly because Orange County deserves an ...