OC Politics Blog | Category Archives: Westminster

Town hall forum regarding proposal to add toll lanes to the 405 set for 10/29

Posted on October 28, 2013 by Editor Posted in Events, OCTA, Toll Lanes, Westminster Leave a comment

405 Freeway Cities Coalition

FOR MORE INFORMATION: George Urch (714) 464-9125 (Cell)

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: October 28, 2013

405 FREEWAY CITIES COALITION IN ORANGE COUNTY TO HOLD TOWN HALL FORUM THIS TUESDAY, OCTOBER 29, ON OCTA PROPOSAL TO ADD TOLL LANES ON I-405 FREEWAY

Forum Will Offer Opportunity For General Public To Voice Opinion On OCTA’s Proposal To Add Toll Lanes Along I-405 Freeway Between SR-55 And I-605 Freeways In Orange County

WHO: * Panel Made Up Of City Council Members From Each Of The 6 Member Cities Of The 405 Freeway Cities Coalition (Costa Mesa, Fountain Valley, Huntington Beach, Los Alamitos, Seal Beach, and Westminster)

* Remarks From A Wide Variety Of Electeds & Members Of Public Including: Continue reading→

Are we in a golden age of Orange County Mayors?

Posted on May 28, 2013 by Editor Posted in ACC-OC, Association of California Cities -- Orange County, Bruce Broadwater, Bruce Whitaker, California League of Cities, Connie Boardman, Costa Mesa, Curt Pringle, Fullerton, Garden Grove, Huntington Beach, Irvine, Jerry Amante, Jim Righeimer, Keith Curry, Larry Agran, Miguel Pulido, Newport Beach, Orange, Orange County, Santa Ana, Teresa Tita Smith, Tom Tait, Tony Beall, tri ta, Westminster 7 Comments

Fullerton Mayor Bruce Whitaker

Many of Orange County’s longtime Mayors have termed out in recent years – particularly some of those who also were lobbyists or political consulants, or who otherwise appeared to be self-serving, such as Curt Pringle, in Anaheim, Larry Agran, in Irvine, and Jerry Amante, in Tustin. The newer crop of Mayors who have been elected in the last few years include a few that are turning out to be fantastic Mayors.

I would include in the top tier of today’s Mayors Bruce Whitaker, in Fullerton; Tom Tait, in Anaheim; and Steven Choi, in Irvine. All three of them are reliably conservative but they are also compassionate and are leading by example. They are all Republicans as well – and Whitaker leans Libertarian. Continue reading→

You want a gay parade in Orange County? Great. Then you pay for it!

Posted on February 26, 2013 by Editor Posted in Gay Democrats, Gay Rights, LGBT, Vern Nelson, Vietnamese, Westminster 2 Comments

Orange County Gay Parade

Can you believe it? It’s been about a month since this year’s successful Tet Parade was held in Westminster and the O.C. left is still grousing about the fact that militant gay activists were not allowed to participate in it.

Orange Juice blogger Vern Nelson wrote a post today wherein he stated that “Presuming a deadline of MAY 1, which is roughly the time that a homophobe group could conceivably come back to ask for permission to run next year’s parade, they are looking at several options, the first and most essential of which is to add a non-discrimination clause to the city’s Special Events Permit Ordinance Ch 9.61.”

Let me translate that. The militant gay activists want to change the law in Westminster so as to force the city to let them participate in ANY special event. Continue reading→

Republican politicians well represented at the 2013 O.C. Tet Parade

Posted on February 10, 2013 by Editor Posted in Alan Lowenthal, Allan Mansoor, Diana Carey, Dina Nguyen, District Attorney, Garden Grove, Janet Nguyen, Jose Solorio, Ken Nguyen, Little Saigon, Matt Harper, Orange County, Robert Hammond, Santa Ana, Travis Allen, tri ta, Vietnamese, Westminster 16 Comments

In the end, it was much ado about nothing. The gay activists who had spent all week complaining about not being able to participate in the 2013 Tet Parade, which is held in Little Saigon every year and celebrates the Chinese Lunar New Year, did not march in the parade, which the Orange Juice blog reported that they would.

However they did show up to the parade. They set up west of the parade grandstand – I was standing east of the grandstand and never saw them – which means the 90% of the parade attendees who were east of the grandstand also did not see them.

But there were plenty of other politicians there, as seen in our picture slideshow above, including:

Continue reading→

Court stops gay activists from hijacking the Orange County Tet Parade

Posted on February 8, 2013 by Editor Posted in Bao Nguyen, Dina Nguyen, Garden Grove, Gay Democrats, Gay Marriage, Mark Rosen, Orange County, Vietnamese, Westminster 1 Comment

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“A coalition of gay and lesbian groups lost its bid in court Thursday to force the Little Saigon Tet Parade organizers to include the group in this Sunday’s event. Orange County Superior Court Judge Geoffrey T. Glass ruled against granting injunctive relief to the Partnership of Viet Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Organizations,” according to the O.C. Register.

“For three years, LGBT activists have participated in the colorful gathering in Little Saigon, but this year — with the event shifting from city sponsorship to private hands — they have been rebuffed and quietly told to make a “sacrifice” and stay away, members said,” according to the L.A. Times. Continue reading→

Rice’s return means the public employee unions now run Westminster

Posted on December 13, 2012 by Editor Posted in 2012 Elections, Diana Carey, Labor, Margie Rice, Sergio Contreras, tri ta, Tyler Diep, Vietnamese, Westminster 1 Comment

Tri Ta, the 39-year old new Mayor of Westminster, was sworn in on Wednesday night, along with new council members Sergio Contreras and Diana Carey. Predictably they chose to appoint 83-year old Margie Rice as Ta’s replacement on the City Council.

Rice had previously said she was going to retire, but that obviously didn’t last long. She says the city needs her. But the City of Westminster is facing financial uncertainty and earlier this year laid off 67 employees, according to the O.C. Register. All of that happened on Rice’s watch so how exactly is it a good idea to put her back on the City Council? Continue reading→