Ironic Twist to “Euclid Commons”; City Wants To Make A Deal With Disabled Housing Foe

2. CONFERENCE WITH REAL PROPERTY NEGOTIATOR

Property: 626 & 700 S. Euclid Street
Agency Negotiator: Rob Zur Schmiede
Negotiating Parties: Paul Kott, Pierre J. Nicolas Trust
Under Negotiations: Price and terms

Affordable housing, like politics apparently makes for strange bedfellows. Take the case of Euclid Commons, a proposed affordable housing site that the City wants to buy. The agent for the owner is none other than Paul Kott, an Anaheim realtor and apparently a giant NIMBY, to boot.

About three years ago the City of Anaheim proposed a housing development for disabled folks near Kott’s offices on Lincoln Avenue, a pretty worthy goal you would think. But guess who marshaled neighborhood opposition that caused the city council back down? That’s right, Paul Kott.

Money does funny things to people...
Money does funny things to people...

Lest anyone think we make this stuff up, we thoughtfully provide a link to the LA Times article from 2006, here.

And speaking of money, here’s the money quote:

“Residents of the neighborhood, called Westmont, said a letter from real estate agent Paul Kott alerted them to the city’s plans for the vacant lot at Wilshire Avenue and Pearl Street. Kott, whose office is a few hundred yards from the site, wrote in his letter that “parolees, child molesters and mentally ill” could soon live nearby.”

Hey, Fullerton CC, nice guys you want to do business with!

16 Replies to “Ironic Twist to “Euclid Commons”; City Wants To Make A Deal With Disabled Housing Foe”

  1. Was it Paul Kott’s ol’ buddy–Mayor John Seymour–who led the Anaheim Redevelopment Agency total destruction of our downtown? Or was it an earlier Kott?

    Does anyone in Fullerton remember the old Fox Anaheim, SQR Store, PickWick or Valencia Hotels?

    1. I remember them. Anaheim decided that old was bad and destroyed most of their historic downtown. Fullerton likes to pretend that we are not like Anaheim.

      Lest you think we are safe from that kind of thinking entirely, remember that several old commercial properties on the SE corner of Malden and Amerige are slated for demolition to make way for the awful Amerige Court project.

      1. Matt, those buildings are old but they are not historic. The new project will be new and beautiful. The Council passed it unanimously, including Pam Keller and Sharon Quirk-Silva. They wouldn’t have done that unless they were looking out for the best interests of all of us.

        Look forward!

        1. Star Star,

          Those buildings are as historic as any other storefront on Wilshire or Harbor, and they are certainly better looking than the buildings across the street on the NE corner of Amerige and Malden (with apologies to the businesses there). The garage is made of cast block, not a modern material. Do you see it anywhere else in Fullerton except the porches of craftsman bungalows? Why tear down what you can’t ever replace when there is no need? Others may not value what we have, but I do.

          Please take a walk over there and imagine any of them as a dressed up cafe and you will see that they are no different than the others, or, better yet, the functioning businesses that most of them are. If RDA thinks they look bad, then why not give them a nice loan like they do everyone else?

          I’m not sure why you point out that council members Keller and Quirk-Silva voted for the project, as if they were any more or less likely to approve an RDA or any other development. I would point out that Shawn Nelson recused himself from the vote, so your unanimous description needs to be qualified.

          If you think the new project will be anything but a monstrous run of the mill pastiche of retread styles built of cheap materials then you haven’t looked at the plans for it and you haven’t looked at what the developer has already built in Tustin. (Or, for that matter, you haven’t looked at any of the other garbage built by RDA downtown.) If you have, then I can only say that pity those who have no taste. You are missing out on life.

          I will repeat for your benefit, since you seem not to have absorbed it the first time I wrote it: It is not wise to look forward without understanding the past.

  2. Janus, how appropriate. Me thinks that the Pierre Nicholas estate has tax problems, and is looking for a sucker buyer at the City. Last time I checked the RDA was focused on Highland/Richman/Valencia area. Why would they want to turn commercial frontage into affordable housing????????

  3. Does affordable housing pay any property tax? I understand it’s subsidized but they do pay some tax right?

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