The US is building a pier off Gaza to bring in humanitarian aid. Here’s how it would work

• May 2, 2024

By LOLITA C. BALDOR (Associated Press)

WASHINGTON (AP) — The U.S. and allies are scrambling to pull together a complex system that will move tons of humanitarian aid into Gaza by sea. Nearly two months after President Joe Biden gave the order, U.S. Army and Navy troops are assembling a large floating platform several miles off the Gaza coast that will be the launching pad for deliveries.

But any eventual aid distribution — which could start as soon as early May — will rely on a complicated logistical and security plan with many moving parts and details that are not yet finalized.

The relief is desperately needed, with the U.N. saying people in Gaza are on the brink of famine. But there are still widespread security concerns. And some aid groups say that with so much more needed, the focus should instead be on pushing Israel to ease obstacles to the delivery of aid on land routes.

Setting up the system is expected to cost at least $320 million, the Pentagon said Monday. Here’s how it will work:

IT ALL STARTS IN CYPRUS

Humanitarian aid bound for Gaza through the maritime route will be delivered by air or sea to Cyprus, an island at the eastern edge of the Mediterranean Sea.

Cyprus Foreign Minister Constantinos Kombos has said the aid will undergo security checks at Larnaca port. Using that one departure point will address Israel’s security concerns that all cargo be inspected to ensure that nothing is loaded on ships that Hamas could use against Israeli troops. Hamas has been designated as a terrorist organization by the United States, Canada and the European Union.

The screening will be strict and comprehensive, including the use of mobile X-ray machines, according to a Cyprus government official who spoke on condition of anonymity to publicly disclose details about the security operation. The process will involve Cypriot customs, Israeli teams, the U.S. and the United Nations Office for Project Services.

An American military official said the U.S. has set up a coordination cell in Cyprus to work with the government there, the U.S. Agency for International Development and other agencies and partners. The group will focus on coordinating the collection and inspection of the aid, said the official, who also spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss operation details.

THEN TO THE FLOATING PLATFORM

Once the pallets of aid are inspected, they will be loaded onto ships — mainly commercial vessels — and taken about 200 miles to the large floating pier being built by the U.S. military off the Gaza coast.

There, the pallets will be transferred onto trucks that in turn will be loaded onto two types of smaller Army boats — Logistic Support Vessels, or LSVs, and Landing Craft Utility boats, LCUs. The U.S. military official said the LSVs can hold 15 trucks each and the LCUs about five.

The Army boats will then shuttle the trucks from the pier to a floating causeway, which will be several miles away and anchored into the beach by Israeli Defense Forces.

Since Biden has made clear that no U.S. forces will step foot in Gaza, the troops doing the construction and driving and crewing the boats will be housed and fed on other ships offshore near the large floating pier.

The British Royal Navy support ship RFA Cardigan Bay will provide accommodations for hundreds of U.S. sailors and soldiers working to establish the pier. Another contracted ship will also be used for housing, but officials did not identify it.

SMALL BOATS TO THE CAUSEWAY

The small Army boats will sail to the two-lane, 550-meter (1,800-foot) causeway.

The U.S. military official said an American Army engineering unit has teamed up with an Israeli engineering unit in recent weeks to practice the installation of the causeway, training on an Israeli beach just up the coast. The U.K. Hydrographic Office also has worked with the U.S. and the Israeli military to analyze the shoreline and prepare for the final installation.

U.S. vessels will push the floating causeway into place, shoving it into the shoreline, where the Israeli Defense Forces will be ready to secure it.

Trucks loaded with the pallets of aid will drive off the Army boats onto the causeway and down to a secure area on land where they will drop off the aid and immediately turn around and return to the boats. The trucks will repeat that loop over and over, and they will be confined to that limited route to maintain security.

They will be driven by personnel from another country, but U.S. officials have declined to say which one.

DISTRIBUTION TO AID AGENCIES AND CIVILIANS

Aid groups will collect the supplies for distribution on shore, at a port facility built by the Israelis just southwest of Gaza City. Officials say they expect about 90 truckloads of aid a day initially and that it will quickly grow to about 150 a day.

The U.N. is working with USAID to set up the logistics hub on the beach.

There will be three zones at the port: one controlled by the Israelis where aid from the pier will be dropped off, another where the aid will be transferred and a third where Palestinian drivers contracted by the U.N. will wait to pick up the aid before taking it to distribution points.

Aid agencies, however, say this maritime corridor isn’t enough to meet the needs in Gaza and must be just one part of a broader Israeli effort to improve sustainable, land-based deliveries of aid to avert famine.

The groups, the U.N., the U.S. and other governments have pointed to Israel’s aid restrictions and its failure to safeguard humanitarian workers as reasons for the reduction in food shipments through land crossings, although they credit Israel with making some improvements recently.

U.S. Gaza envoy David Satterfield said last week that only about 200 trucks a day were getting into Gaza, far short of the 500 that international aid organizations say are needed.

SECURITY ONSHORE AND OFF

A key concern is security — both from militants and the Israeli military, which has been criticized for its killing of aid workers.

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Sonali Korde, a USAID official, said key agreements for security and handling the aid deliveries are still being negotiated. Those include how Israeli forces will operate in Gaza to ensure that aid workers are not harmed.

Aid groups have been shaken by the Israeli airstrike that killed seven World Central Kitchen aid workers on April 1 as they traveled in clearly marked vehicles on a delivery mission authorized by Israel.

And there has already been one mortar attack at the site by militants, reflecting the ongoing threats from Hamas, which has said it would reject the presence of any non-Palestinians in Gaza.

U.S. and Israeli officials have declined to provide specifics on the security. But the U.S. military official said it will be far more robust when deliveries begin than it is now. And there will be daily assessments of the force protection needs there.

The IDF will handle security on the shore, and the U.S. military will provide its own security for the Army and Navy forces offshore.

Associated Press reporters Menelaos Hadjicostis in Nicosia, Cyprus, and Ellen Knickmeyer in Washington contributed.

​ Orange County Register 

Santa Anita horse racing consensus picks for Friday, May 3, 2024

• May 2, 2024

The consensus box of Del Mar picks comes from handicappers Bob Mieszerski, Art Wilson, Eddie Wilson and Kevin Modesti. Here are the picks for thoroughbred races on Friday, May 3, 2024.

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​ Orange County Register 

‘What have we done?’ Lawyer describes shock at possible role in Trump’s 2016 victory

• May 2, 2024

By MICHAEL R. SISAK, PHILIP MARCELO, ERIC TUCKER and JAKE OFFENHARTZ

NEW YORK — A lawyer who negotiated a pair of hush money deals at the center of Donald Trump’s criminal trial recalled Thursday his “gallows humor” reaction to Trump’s 2016 election victory and the realization that his hidden-hand efforts might have contributed to the win.

“What have we done?” the attorney Keith Davidson texted the then-editor of the National Enquirer, which had buried stories of extramarital sexual encounters to prevent them surfacing in the final days of the bitterly contested presidential race. “Oh my god,” came the response from Dylan Howard.

“There was an understanding that our efforts may have in some way — strike that — our activities may have in some way assisted the presidential campaign of Donald Trump,” Davidson told jurors.

The testimony from Davidson was designed to directly connect the hush money payments to Trump’s presidential ambitions and to bolster prosecutors’ argument that the case is about interference in the 2016 election rather than simply sex and money. Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg has sought to establish that link not just to secure a conviction but also to persuade the public of the significance of the case, which may be the only one of four Trump prosecutions to reach trial this year.

“This is sort of gallows humor. It was on election night as the results were coming in,” Davidson explained. “There was sort of surprise among the broadcasters and others that Mr. Trump was leading in the polls, and there was a growing sense that folks were about ready to call the election.”

Davidson is seen as a vital building block for the prosecution’s case that Trump and his allies schemed to bury unflattering stories in the run-up to the 2016 presidential election. He represented both porn actor Stormy Daniels and Playboy model Karen McDougal in negotiations that resulted in the rights to their claims of sexual encounters with Trump being purchased and then squelched in exchange for money, a tabloid industry practice known as “catch-and-kill.”

He is one of multiple key players testifying in advance of Michael Cohen, the star prosecution witness and Trump’s former lawyer and personal fixer whom Davidson has depicted as determined to protect Trump at all costs.

Trump’s lawyers sought to blunt the potential harm of Davidson’s testimony by getting him to acknowledge that he never had any interactions with Trump — only Cohen. In fact, Davidson said, he had never been in the same room as Trump until his testimony.

He also said that he was unfamiliar with the Trump Organization’s record-keeping practices and that any impressions he had of Trump himself came through others.

“I had no personal interactions with Donald Trump. It either came from my clients, Mr. Cohen or some other source, but certainly not him,” Davidson said.

The line of questioning from Trump attorney Emil Bove appeared intended to underscore the defense’s points that Trump was removed from the negotiations — that Cohen was handling the hush-money matters on his own — and that his testimony isn’t relevant to the charges, which allege Trump falsified business records by logging reimbursement payments to Cohen as legal fees.

Earlier Thursday, jurors viewed a confidential agreement requiring Daniels to keep quiet about her claims that she had a tryst with the married Trump a decade earlier. The agreement, dated less than two weeks before the 2016 presidential election, called for her to receive $130,000 in exchange for her silence.

The money was paid by Cohen, and the agreement referred to both Trump and Daniels with pseudonyms: David Dennison and Peggy Peterson.

“It is understood and agreed that the true name and identity of the person referred to as ‘DAVID DENNISON’ in the Settlement Agreement is Donald Trump,” the document stated, with Trump’s name written in by hand.

While testifying Thursday, Davidson also recalled Cohen ranting to him about Trump in a phone conversation about a month after the 2016 election, complaining that he had been passed over for a job in the new administration and that Trump had not reimbursed him for the Daniels payment.

He also said that Cohen told him that he and Trump were “very upset” when The Wall Street Journal published an article that exposed a separate $150,000 National Enquirer arrangement with McDougal, who has said she and Trump had an affair, just days before the election.

“He wanted to know who the source of the article was, why someone would be the source of this type of article. He was upset by the timing,” Davidson said of Cohen. “He stated his boss was very upset, and he threatened to sue Karen McDougal.”

Trump has denied relationships with either woman and any wrongdoing in the case.

Before the start of testimony, prosecutors requested $1,000 fines for each of four comments by Trump that they say violated a judge’s gag order barring him from attacking witnesses, jurors and others closely connected to the case. Such a penalty would be on top of a $9,000 fine that Judge Juan M. Merchan imposed Tuesday related to nine separate violations that he found.

“The defendant is talking about witnesses and the jury in this case, one right here outside this door,” prosecutor Christopher Conroy said. “This is the most critical time, the time the proceeding has to be protected.”

“His statements are corrosive to this proceeding and the fair administration of justice,” Conroy added.

Trump’s lawyer Todd Blanche countered that Trump’s candidacy and the massive media attention he receives have made it impossible for him not to be asked about, or comment on, the trial.

“He can’t just say ‘no comment’ repeatedly. He’s running for president,” Blanche said.

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Merchan did not immediately rule on the request for fresh sanctions, though he indicated he was not particularly concerned about one of the four statements flagged by prosecutors.

Yet the mere prospect of further punishment underscored the challenges Trump the presidential candidate faces in adjusting to the role of criminal defendant subject to rigid courtroom protocol that he does not control. It also remains to be seen whether any rebuke from the court will lead Trump to adjust his behavior given the campaign trail benefit he believes he derives from painting the case as politically motivated.

The trial, now in its second week of testimony, has exposed the underbelly of tabloid journalism practices and the protections, for a price, afforded to Trump during his successful run for president in 2016.

After the $130,000 payment was made to Daniels, Trump’s company reimbursed Cohen and logged the payments to him as legal expenses, prosecutors have said in charging the former president with 34 felony counts of falsifying business records — a charge punishable by up to four years in prison.

​ Orange County Register 

Will California hobble the US railroad industry?

• May 2, 2024

American federalism is struggling. Federal rules are an overwhelming presence in every state government, and some states, due to their size or other leverage, can impose their own policies on much or all of the country. The problem has been made clearer by an under-the-radar plan to phase out diesel locomotives in California. If the federal government provides the state with a helping hand, it would bring nationwide repercussions for a vital, overlooked industry.

Various industry and advocacy groups are lining up against California’s costly measure, calling on the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to deny a waiver needed to fully implement it. In the past month, more than 30 leading conservative organizations and individuals, hundreds of state and local chambers of commerce, and the U.S. agricultural sector have pleaded with the EPA to help stop this piece of extremism from escaping one coastal state.

Railroads may not be something most Americans, whose attention is on their own cars and roads, think about often. But rail is the most basic infrastructure of interstate commerce, accounting for around 40% of long-distance ton-miles. It’s also fairly clean, accounting for less than 1% of total U.S. emissions. Private companies, like Union Pacific in the West or CSX in the East, pay for their infrastructure and equipment. These facts haven’t stopped the regulatory power grab.

Most importantly, the California Air Resources Board regulation would have all freight trains operate in zero-emission configuration by 2035. At the end of the decade, the state is mandating the retirement of diesel locomotives 23 years or older, despite typically useful lives of over 40 years. Starting in 2030, new passenger locomotives must operate with zero emissions, with new engines for long-haul freight trains following by 2035. It limits locomotive idling and increases reporting requirements.

Given the interstate nature of railway operations, California needs the EPA to grant a waiver. If the agency agrees, the policy will inevitably affect the entire continental United States.

The kicker is that no technology exists today to enable railroads to comply with California’s diktat, rendering the whole exercise fanciful at best.

The Wall Street Journal’s editorial board explained last November that while Wabtec Corp. has introduced a pioneering advance in rail technology with the launch of the world’s first battery-powered locomotive, the dream of a freight train fully powered by batteries remains elusive. The challenges of substituting diesel with batteries — primarily due to batteries’ substantial weight and volume — make it an impractical solution for long-haul trains. Additionally, the risk of battery overheating and potential explosions, which can emit harmful gases, is a significant safety concern. As the editorial noted, “Even if the technology for zero-emission locomotives eventually arrives, railroads will have to test them over many years to guarantee their safety.”

The cost-benefit analysis is woefully unfavorable to the forced displacement of diesel locomotives. To “help” the transition, beginning in 2026, CARB will force all railroads operating in California to deposit dollars into an escrow account managed by the state and frozen for the explicit pursuit of the green agenda. For large railroads, this figure will be a staggering $1.6 billion per year, whereas some smaller railroads will pay up to $5 million.

Many of these smaller companies have signaled that they will simply go out of business. For the large railroads, the requirement will lock up about 20% of annual spending, money typically used for maintenance and safety improvements.

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Transportation is the largest source of U.S. emissions, yet railroads’ contribution amounts to not much more than a rounding error. The industry cites its efficiency improvements over time, allowing railroads today to move a ton of freight more than 500 miles on a single gallon of diesel. Its expensive machines, which last between 30 to 50 years and are retrofitted throughout their life cycles, are about 75% more efficient than long-haul trucks that carry a comparative amount of freight.

As Patricia Patnode of the Competitive Enterprise Institute, which signed the aforementioned letter to the EPA, recently remarked, “Rather than abolish diesel trains, CARB should stand in awe of these marvels of energy-efficient transportation.”

President Joe Biden talks a lot about trains, but his actions since taking office have consistently punished the private companies we should value far more than state-supported Amtrak. In this case, EPA Administrator Michael Regan and the White House need not think too hard. They should wait for reality to catch up before imposing on the rest of us one state’s demands and ambitions.

Veronique de Rugy is the George Gibbs Chair in Political Economy and a senior research fellow at the Mercatus Center at George Mason University.

​ Orange County Register 

Gudetama Cafe, dedicated to Sanrio’s lazy egg character, opening in Buena Park

• May 2, 2024

Drenched in the yellow hue of its yolky animated hero, Gudetama Cafe, based on Sanrio’s lazy egg character, will open its doors in Buena Park on Saturday, May 4.

While the menu has yet to be revealed for the upcoming Buena Park location, Gudetama Cafe’s international locations serve salad, soups, sandwiches and, of course, eggs — many of which come with Gudetama’s face somewhere on the meal.

The new eatery’s interiors will feature branded walls and counters with yellow tables and seating for guests. Murals of cartoon bacon, egg and Gudetama characters wrap around the walls, with an appearance of the titular hero saying “Can I go now?” on the bathroom door. A lethargic Gudetama uttering “meh” can be found painted on the building’s facade.

SEE ALSO: 15 Southern California coffee shops with creative, quirky themes

A portmanteau of the Japanese words for lazy (gude gude) and egg (tamago), Gudetama, created by Sanrio in 2013, is just that: an anthropomorphic, lethargic egg. Initially created for the adolescent market — similar to other characters in the Sanrio-verse like Hello Kitty or Keroppi — teens and adults took to the eggy cartoon. Small wonder as Gudetama has come to represent a identifiable feeling of existential malaise in an era of overstimulation.

Inside Gudetama Cafe opening Saturday, May 4 in Buena Park. (Photo courtesy of Gudetama Cafe)

Gudetama, gender-free because it is unfertilized, can only be seen or heard by people who feel listless. Soy sauce is its preferred food, which is one of the few things that can make it motivated.

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“Our fate is to be eaten, I think,” said the famous yolk in the “Gudetama: An Eggcellent Adventure” show on Netflix.

The Buena Park cafe opening marks Gudetama Cafe’s first foray into Southern California, joining other Sanrio-themed eateries like the Hello Kitty Cafe location in Irvine and the Hello Kitty Cafe truck in Los Angeles. Gudetama Cafes have appeared in Japan, the U.K. and Singapore.

Gudetama Cafe takes over the former Grange Hall space inside the Buena Park Place shopping center.

Find it: 8340 La Palma Ave, Buena Park

​ Orange County Register 

Housing approved for two aging commercial properties in Newport Beach near John Wayne Airport

• May 2, 2024

Two older commercial buildings near John Wayne Airport are set to be torn down, and developers plan to turn them into condominiums and apartments with a percentage of each set for affordable housing.

The Newport Beach City Council recently approved the proposals, voting to override the Orange County Airport Land Use Commission determination earlier this month that the projects were “inconsistent” with the land-use plan in the airport zone.

In January, the commission found that “aircraft noise” would be incompatible with the welfare of inhabitants, saying the airport zones are set up to “support the continued use and operation of an airport by establishing compatibility and safety standards to promote navigational safety and reduce potential safety hazards for persons living, working or recreating near JWA.”

In 2006, the City Council approved development of up to 2,200 housing units in the airport area in an update to the city’s general plan. The applicants asked the City Council to change the zoning for the two commercial building properties from office mixed-use to residential and are using some of the 2,200 units for their project, said Seimone Jurjis, assistant city manager.

The projects – at 1401 Quail St. to be built by Intracorp Homes and at 1400 Bristol St. to be built by the Picerne Group – were previously approved by the city’s Planning Commission in the fall.

At the Quail Street property, the developer plans to build 67 condominiums, eight of which are set to be affordable housing. The development includes a 146-space parking structure.

Another 229 apartments, with 23 affordable units, are planned for the Bristol Street property. That development will connect via a pedestrian bridge to another nearby Picerne property also being developed at 1300 Bristol St. that was approved by the council last year. A 422-space parking structure will accompany the project.

The 2,200 units are almost all exhausted with approved projects. To meet new state housing mandates to plan for 4,845 housing units to meet future needs in California, city officials have identified the West Newport Mesa, Dover-Westcliff, Newport Center and Coyote Canyon areas, along with the airport area, as places for additional development. The city has identified the opportunity for an additional 2,577 units in the airport area.

The airport commission will review the planning for the 2,577 units in the airport area and some others proposed for Newport Center on May 16 and the City Council is expected to discuss the housing opportunities on July 23. In November, Newport Beach voters will have an opportunity to make their voices heard about the housing plan under a city law that requires a vote if more than 100 units are added to an area.

Jurjis said the airport commission could find the uses “incompatible,” but the city could again override because the ability is granted by state law.

The city attorney has found no extra liability for the city by allowing the developments in the airport area despite the airport commission’s concerns, he said.

“The city is in a tough spot. Where do you put what the state wants? At the same time, the office market is getting soft. Property owners are reconsidering what to do with their properties,” he said.

“If a developer has affordable housing in its project, cities have little chance in voting that down,” Jurjis said. “It’s in the city’s best interest to approve where the housing will go. If we don’t, we lose local control.”

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​ Orange County Register 

Angels’ Mickey Moniak looks to take advantage of opportunity provided by Mike Trout’s injury

• May 2, 2024

CLEVELAND — The door is open for Mickey Moniak.

When Mike Trout went down with a torn meniscus, Moniak became the Angels’ primary center fielder, at least against right-handed pitchers.

After struggling in limited playing time for much of the first month, Moniak is going to get an extended chance to show if he can repeat what he did last year.

“I just didn’t feel my best,” Moniak said, referring to the start of the season, “but over the last week, definitely feel like I’m back where I need to be and ready to go.”

When Moniak’s thoughts about his progress were relayed to Manager Ron Washington, he smiled.

“I personally hope what he told you starts to happen,” Washington said. “I want to see him turn the corner. Whatever his vision is, I want to see him meet that. But you’ve all been watching.”

Washington was suggesting that Moniak isn’t there yet.

He’s hitting .143 with a .400 OPS in 67 plate appearances. He has 21 strikeouts and four walks.

Moniak had a single late in Sunday’s blowout loss to snap his 0-for-21 skid, and he had an RBI single on Tuesday, his first start after Trout’s injury.

When Washington was asked what has to happen for Moniak to become productive, he had a simple answer.

“Make contact,” Washington said. “He’s not making contact. Use the whole field. Be Mickey. Not that Mickey that hit 14 home runs and thinks he’s a home run hitter. The Mickey who, when he got drafted, he was putting the ball all over the place. And then occasionally he’ll catch a home run.”

Moniak was drafted No. 1 overall in 2016, out of La Costa Canyon High in Carlsbad. He never found his major league footing with the Philadelphia Phillies, and he was traded to the Angels in July 2022.

Last season was the first time he got extended playing time in the majors, and he made it count. Moniak hit .280 with 14 home runs and an .802 OPS.

Amid that, he still struck out 113 times and walked nine times, a combination that raised a giant red flag about the sustainability of his success.

Moniak, 25, said he’s tried this season to be better with his swing decisions. It’s probably too early to read much into the numbers, but so far Moniak has cut his chase rate from 44% to 26%. The major league average is 22%.

“I feel like right now I’m swinging at the pitches I should be swinging at,” Moniak said. “I’m just missing them. That’s on me to figure out.”

Moniak said he is once again focused on hitting the ball the way he did before.

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“Just trying to hit line drives over the shortstop, up the middle, stuff I’ve done my whole life,” he said. “It’s gotten me where I am.”

Moniak hit two fly balls to left field on Wednesday, which he said is a good sign. Once he starts barreling more of those, they will be hits instead of outs.

The prospect of regular playing time means Moniak will get plenty of opportunity to find himself.

“Right now the focus is to get the timing back,” Moniak said. “The more at-bats I get, the more I can get back to doing what I do best. … The results aren’t there yet, but it’s a long season. We’ll take it month by month and revisit it in October.”

UP NEXT

Angels (RHP José Soriano, 0-4, 4.76 ERA) at Guardians (RHP Tanner Bibbee, 2-0, 3.45 ERA), Friday, 4:10 p.m. PT, Bally Sports West, 830 AM

​ Orange County Register 

New Santa Ana POA president wants to ‘rebrand’ organization

• May 2, 2024

The Santa Ana Police Officers Association’s new president, John Kachirisky, said he wants to “rebrand” the organization and get the community to see the union in a more “positive light.”

Following the exit of former union leader Gerry Serrano in late July, Kachirisky, who was previously vice president, is filling in to finish the president’s two-year term, which ends in December when elections will be held again.

Under Serrano’s leadership, the POA filed several lawsuits against city administration alleging retaliation, spying and labor code violations, among other complaints. Prior to his departure, Serrano was also in conflict with city leaders over the amount of his pension.

City Hall officials have said the lawsuits, on top of pricey recall elections against city leaders, strained relations and created severe mistrust with the Santa Ana community. Kachirisky says he wants to fix that.

Kachirisky has worked for the Santa Ana Police Department since 2008; he previously spent three years with the California Highway Patrol. He said he’s always been supportive of unions, but got his start in organizing with the Santa Ana POA.

The new union leader said he wants to build a stronger line of communication and trust with the Police Department’s administration and city leaders, adding, “We’re moving forward, turning a page. We’re not looking back to what has happened.”

When he took the position, Kachirisky said former union president Mark Nichols advised him to keep his focus on the members.

“I believe the role that I’m in is to look out for the members, putting the members No. 1. That’s been my focus,” Kachirisky said.

The POA has about 500 members, including unsworn staff. Some members, however, have shared concerns that Kachirisky is a weak replacement for Serrano or shared doubt in his leadership. Others also worry that Kachirisky’s efforts to get along with everyone will be detrimental to the membership.

To that, Kachirisky said his priority is his members.

“Maybe my members think that I’m trying to make everybody happy. It’s not making everybody happy, but it’s bringing everybody to the table to find a solution of where we’re going, what direction we’re going to go,” Kachirisky said.

The POA is in negotiations with the city for a contract – the last one expired in January. But Kachirisky also said a priority is filling the nearly 40 Police Department vacancies that are leading to overworked officers and staff.

“I’m more worried about the health of my members because right now our dispatchers can’t take days off. They get forced overtime to stay here,” Kachirisky said. “We have officers that have to stay after hours because there’s not enough personnel. I’m more concerned about getting the support that my members need to be able to provide a service for the community.”

The City Council last summer directed the department to put more focus on arresting publicly intoxicated people. More than 950 hours of overtime were racked up between September and December carrying out that directive, Police Department officials recently reported.

Some city leaders said they would be open to remedying the working relationship between City Hall and the POA, but want to see Kachirisky’s promises in action.

“I think that if the new POA president and the POA as a whole want to truly start new, they should start by dropping the lawsuits that they filed against the city,” Councilmember Jessie Lopez said. “If they really want to start new, they should not resort to the manipulative and coercive tactics that they have in the past and take responsibility for the havoc that they’ve caused in the city.”

Lopez, along with Councilmember Thai Viet Phan, was the focus of a POA-funded recall campaign last year. While the effort targeting Phan failed to garner enough signatures to force a public vote, the effort against Lopez did. She survived the recall vote in November – with 56% of voters supporting her.

Lopez said “abuse of power” and “greed” on the part of the POA have strained the working relationship between the union and city officials.

“For years, they’ve relentlessly pursued massive pay increases, even as the city has struggled to provide essential services for our constituents,” Lopez said. “The city has already been embroiled in numerous lawsuits showcasing a blatant disregard for the financial position that the city is in.”

Lopez described the union’s rebranding as a “PR project” by leaders who are “now trying to salvage their image.”

Councilmember Johnathan Hernandez had similar concerns, saying “the POA has a lot of work to do when it comes to repairing the harm that they’ve done to the community in the process of them trying to obtain political power.”

Kachirisky declined to comment on the POA’s previous actions, but said the union is “moving in a different direction.”

City spokesperson Paul Eakins said five “SAPOA-related cases” have been filed since Serrano’s departure, however the POA is not a plaintiff in those cases. Claudio Gallegos, political director at the Santa Ana POA, said the union is not paying for legal defense in officer-involved cases. It is unclear what city officials meant by “SAPOA-related.”

One lawsuit was filed in September by Kachirisky, who is alleging the Police Department administration denied him a promotion in 2020 and again in 2022 in retaliation because of his “association with the POA/Serrano and the POA’s/Serrano’s ongoing attempts to hold (former Police Chief David) Valentin and his supporters accountable,” according to court documents.

Kachirisky declined to comment on the lawsuit.

The union is in the midst of a lawsuit with a former public relations consultant Ernesto Conde, who was hired by Serrano in 2020. In the suit, the POA alleges that Conde is posting content to the union’s pages without permission and refusing to give up control of the social media channels. In his response to the suit, Conde accused the union of walking back on promises to pay canvassers for their work.

Kachirisky declined to comment on the lawsuit, but said the payment was the responsibility of the Residents for Responsible Leadership, an organization that received funds from the POA for recall efforts.

“As a laborer, I believe everybody should be paid,” Kachirisky said. “This has nothing to do with the Santa Ana Police Officers Association or any entity with Santa Ana.”

But both Lopez and Hernandez said the allegations make them dubious of the POA’s new direction.

Councilmember Benjamin Vazquez also said the allegations are troublesome and he will be keeping an eye on the situation, but is optimistic of brighter days.

“I appreciate him saying that he wasn’t trying to bring the heat to his office like the previous president of the POA,” Vazquez said. “I think that the last president was detrimental to the whole Police Department, and that really brought morale down. Hopefully we can even things out together and make sure that everybody in the city feels respected.”

Mayor Valerie Amezcua, who was endorsed by the POA in 2022 along with Councilmembers Phil Bacerra and David Penaloza, said seeing Kachirisky meet with councilmembers, police leaders and the acting city manager has shown her that he is serious about rebranding the union.

“What I just ask is that they maintain good, positive relationships, as much as possible with the city, the police chief and the police leadership so that the community can benefit, the officers can benefit, and the city as a whole can benefit,” Amezcua said. “When people see that people are working together, attempting to get along, have the same goals, then our community benefits from it.”

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