H.Trash & Kentucky Fried Blight
As much as we love our neighborhood and Santa Ana, living here is not without its bumps in the road. In this case the road is one of our entries, Washington at Bristol Street. More years ago than we can remember, a drunk driver jumped the curb and plowed into the H. Salt Esquire Fish and Chips causing major damage to the front of the building. It was boarded up and the owners said they would have to wait for the insurance settlement to reopen. The settlement came and went and the owners have abandoned their plans.
Fast forward many years to the present and there it sits in all it's derelict glory. A few years ago someone did some soil remediation work (there used to be a gas station on the property) but that's it. The fence around the property fills up with posters at election time.
The property is for sale but a buyer isn't likely because the Bristol Street widening project will probably eventually aquire the property and tear down whatever's there. Unfortunately that won't happen until 2011 or so. Apparently the city has to wait for funding of the 3rd phase of the project to do aquisitions.
In 2007 the Kentucky Fried Chicken across Washington closed the doors and slipped out of town, painting the building grey in the process. Homeless people have been living in the So Calif Edison space adjacent. 
This is one of the two major entries into Washington Square and it looks like a gateway to a run-down slum instead of the entry to one of the city's crown jewel neighborhoods. Solving the blight problem in a timely manner is a subject that comes up at every board meeting and every WSNA General Meeting. The Association has met with city officials on numerous occasions but seems to be getting nowhere fast. Possibly the mayor and city council members should drive down Washington on their way to City Hall. Elections are coming up in the Fall and now might be the time to get some promises from our civic leaders. (webmaster's editorial comment)
July 2008 Update
After several meetings with the City Attorney's office, working up the chain, we appear to be stuck on a course of action regarding the H. Salt property. WSNA reps had a meeting with Community Preservation staff about the H. Salt and KFC properties, as well as the property at the southwest corner of Bristol & Civic Center Drive on Monday, April 28th. We were advised that with regard to the H. Salt property, the City Attorney's office was not inclined to pursue drafting an ordinance that would give the City the power to declare a property a nuisance if vacant more than six months, although many cities in the United States have adopted such an ordinance to deal with the problems similar to ours.
The City Attorney's office wants Community Preservation to work with tools that are currently on the books, which, in our opinion, are outdated and don't deal with the current vacant property situation in the City.
Community Preservation will therefore undertake to post the property with a Notice & Order to determine if the property is structurally unsound and, if so, tear down the property at the expense of the property owner. The status of soil mitigation is unknown at this time, although the equipment has been removed, but not the barrels.
The City will put up screening on the perimeter fence or the H. Salt property. The KFC property will be patrolled for vagrants and graffiti control but no fencing will be installed at this time as this would just be another venue for the posting of political campaign signs! The fencing and screening of the property will be addressed after the November election.
--The Washington Square Neighborhood Association Action Committee
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