Councilwoman Gloria Ma’ae appears to be on her way to defeating her progressive Democratic challenger, Carlos Leon, and securing a full four-year term representing District 2 on the Anaheim City Council. As of midnight last night, Ma’ae was leading progressive activist Carlos Leon by 388 votes, 53.38% to 46.62%. Councilwoman Ma’ae was in front from the first vote tabulation report, ...

Anaheim Resort union interests have dumped another $150,000 into their independent expenditure campaigns supporting Ashleigh Aitken for mayor and Al Jabbar and Carlos Leon for city council.  All three candidates are Democrats. The $150,000 came from UNITE-HERE Local 11, a militantly progressive union that primarily represents hotel workers. $100,000 went into an IE committee supporting Aitken and Leon, and the ...

Resort unions are ratcheting up their effort to elect their political allies to the Anaheim City Council, pouring at least $125,000 into independent expenditure committees. On September 22, the United Food and Commercial Workers Local 324 contributed $125,000 to an IE committee called “Helping Working Families Get Ahead in Support of Aitken for Mayor and Leon for Council 2022, Sponsored ...

UNITE-HERE Local 11, the militant hospitality workers union, is circulating an initiative to impose a series of costly labor rules – including a $25 an hour minimum wage – on Anaheim hotels and event venues. Buried in the initiative is language exempting hotels and event centers from these mandates if they agree to unionize. Obviously, the numerous Garden Grove hotels ...

A coalition of Resort unions, led by a militantly left-wing hotel workers union focused on imposing a $25 minimum wage on Anaheim hotels and event venues, has launched an independent expenditure (IE) campaign to elect Anaheim mayoral candidate Ashleigh Aitken and council candidates Carlos Leon (District 2) and Al Jabbar (District 2). All three Democrats are part of a candidate ...

One of the claims made by proponents of district elections used to make is they would spur greater political competition and encourage more residents to run for council. So far, there are barely enough candidates in each of Anaheim’s council districts to hold an election. In Districts 2 and 3, only two candidates qualified in each district. The filing deadline ...

Cleaning up Beach Boulevard is going to get harder, thanks to legislation signed into law by Governor Gavin Newsom this week, making it legal to loiter in order to solicit or engage in prostitution. Actually soliciting or engaging in prostitution remains illegal for now, but law enforcement is being deprived of a valuable tool in combating the street prostitution that ...

In January of 2022, the City of Anaheim will launch an ambitious, comprehensive campaign to revitalize it’s section of Beach Boulevard in West Anaheim, which runs from Lincoln Avenue south to Ball Road. City staff presented to the city council during a public workshop on Tuesday. There will be an immediate focus on proactive code enforcement and crime prevention, paralleling ...

Beach Boulevard’s journey has been long and varied: from the epitome of booming post-war Orange County, dotted with Googie architecture motor lodges, before entering a long-slide into seediness and decay. If rhetoric alone could deliver economic development and urban renewal, Beach Boulevard would have been cleaned up long ago. West Anaheim residents have heard years of promises by city officials ...

The Anaheim City Council voted tonight voted to appoint long-time resident and neighborhood advocate Gloria Sahagun Ma’ae to represent council District 2, filling the vacancy by former Councilman Jordan Brandman’s resignation in August. She will be sworn in at the September 28 council meeting. Ma’ae has lived in west Anaheim for 42 years, and has a long track-record of leadership ...