Many Deny Backing Tower

To demonstrate neighborhood support for his plan to build a 37-story office building in Santa Ana, developer Michael Harrah submitted more than 1,000 letters to the city from residents extolling it.

“I give my total support to this project in all aspects and encourage 100 percent support,” the identical letters read. “Thank you for the opportunity to share my positive enthusiasm for One Broadway Plaza and the exciting growth ahead for the city of Santa Ana and our future.”

But 35 of 51 signers The Times contacted at random said they didn’t sign the letters, did not understand what they were signing or signed blank pages on which the letter of support later appeared. Several said that they were told the project would be a tourist attraction or that they were never told how tall it would be.

Among the signers were children ages 6, 7, 9 and 13.

Joann Ramirez, vice president of the Santa Ana Historical Society, which opposes the project, said the letters were “an act of desperation.... Why do you need signatures from 6-year-olds?”

Harrah acknowledged that some who signed letters of support were children, but said opponents also used children -- their own -- to speak out against the project at a City Council meeting in March.

But he denied that workers who collected the signatures misled anyone. The letters were shown to residents and their meaning explained, he said.

Allegations that letters were added to blank pages signed by residents are “baloney,” he said.

The tower, which would be Orange County’s tallest building, has sharply divided the city.

Proponents argue that the $86-million project would bring jobs and prestige to a city that is dominated economically by government and services that cater to a large immigrant population.

Critics, including many residents of the nearby French Park neighborhood, contend that the project is out of scale for the neighborhood and would cause traffic jams.

The city does not require letters of support, but Harrah asked his employees to gather signatures starting in February to show that many residents of the area supported his project.

Many people who signed the letter said they were shown a photo of the project area and a computer rendering of the building, cut off at the eighth floor, so they believed that was the tower’s height.

Luz Ayon told a similar story. Ayon, 22, was livid when she learned her signature was supporting a skyscraper just blocks from her Vance Place home. She and her mother, Maria, thought the building was eight stories because of the computer rendering. She said two signature gatherers told her the project would be a tourist attraction.

“We never got an explanation of what this was really about,” Ayon said. “If I had known it was going to be 37 stories of glass, I would have never put my name down. And to think because of me, we could be living with the glare of that building for decades.”

Another resident, 35-year-old Alma Guillen, said she signed a blank piece of paper that did not include the letter that bears her name. She said she was told the project included more play area for her two children.

Juana Guzman, 13, and her sister, Fe Nohemi Guzman, 17, said they knew nothing about the tower but signed the letter because they thought it would be easier than saying no.

Among other names on the letters is that of Carlos Hernandez, 6. Carlos didn’t look up from his action figures Monday to comment on the tower.

The names of two of his siblings, Itzel, 9, and David, 7, and three other family members are also on letters of support, although they said they did not sign them.

Those who collected signatures said they showed residents plans and photos and clearly explained the project.

“This is about jobs; it’s about opportunity. [The signers] were extremely supportive,” said William Beaubeaux, a consultant to Harrah who helped collect the signatures with two Harrah employees and a volunteer, French Park resident Patricia Bustamante.

Bustamante said she let children sign or have someone sign for them.

“Some of the kids were interested. They wanted their names on the letters,” she said.

Bustamante also said some men who were illiterate asked her or family members to sign for them.

The council is scheduled to take a final vote on the tower Monday. Two of the seven council members, Brett Franklin and Mayor Miguel A. Pulido, have recused themselves from the vote, citing conflicts of interest. The state attorney general is determining whether a third council member, Claudia Alvarez, can vote because she received a $3,200 campaign contribution from Harrah last year when she unsuccessfully sought an Assembly seat.