Here’s A Sore Subject
It looks like our City Council is all set to discuss the topic of outside dining on Tuesday. Again.
It seems like only yesterday that the council handed over a public sidewalk to the Florentine Mob under the guise of an outdoor dining lease. The ink wasn’t even dry when Florentine started erecting a permanent, enclosed structure on our sidewalk! The Fullerton Shadow wrote all about it, here.
In 2007 the City gave the whole idea of outdoor dining permits second thought. But now with this gosh darn recession a-lingering the subject is cropping up again.
Well, somebody better go to this meeting to make sure no more public property is given away. After all “Dick” Jones and Don Bankhead chose to look the other way before, just to protect their incompetent staff. And Pat McKinley’s got lots of friends downtown, right?
What was the alleged public benefit of this piece of garbage?
I can help with that.
It was deemed “pro business.” Just like every other ‘pug scam.
Well of course they’re gong to give something away. This is Redevelopment Land and they can.
I can hear HeeHaw now: this is STIM-U-LUS!
Time to give a lecture to the Three Grandpas that free market works.
If the three Grandpas don’t like outdoor dining, then there is always indoor dining and let people enjoy the outdoors ambiance!
Geez…old farts are difficult to deal with.
You missed the point Mr. A. The City might GIVE a private property owner extra PUBLIC space for customer dining.
Is it much different than a city vacating a portion of a right-of-way for a Big-Box? Not really…
#4, man your right the ambiance of a nice meal 36″ away from HARBOR BLVD. now that’s trendy and young.
You are right, the outdoor dining wave has hit OC, let’s hit Roscoes “Median Strip Cafe”.
Old people may be trying on your young nerves, but, listen and learn something.
Give it away. Give it all away.
“Council Member Bankhead stated for the past fifteen years an effort had been made to promote the downtown area and the remodel asaesthetically pleasing and had improved the appearance of the downtown.”
“Council Member Wilson … complimented staff on the presentation and stated this project was a great addition to the downtown.”
“Mayor Clesceri … apologized to the Florentine family for the turmoil of the last six months thanked staff for the chronology of the project and noted the end result was an improvement to the downtown.”
Man, you really like to rub it in.
The Fullerton Model:
Let’s call a disaster a victory! Nobody’s paying attention anyway!
Sore subject is right! Wilson and Clesceri really ****** us in the *** on that one.
Yes, those two were quite a luverly pair weren’t they?
Two stunning examples of mediocre brains and weak character propped up by oversized ambition.
Is there a demonstrated need for outdoor dining, or is this just an other way to sell more drinks? Can the restaurants lease the space?
Ah! Finally we see the true aesthetic perspicacity of Fullertonians!
And what do we call that architectural style, students?
Fuster Cluck Revival.
Florentine probably realized that nobody wanted to eat his crappy food while sucking down fumes 5 feet from one of Fullerton’s busiest intersections.
Florentine’s in fact started as an “encroachment” for a “patio” presented by the engineering department in tandem with an encroachment for St. Jude’s–both the same item number on the council agenda one day in May. 30 days later, Paul Dudley gave permission for “addition to building” on an outdoor dining form from redevelopment department. Florentines also cut down two city trees on a Sunday morning in order to make the sidewalk meet minimum standards.
That was the start of AG (Anything Goes) zoning downtown which was followed by Dudley putting forth an ordinance to remove conditional use permits and parking requirements for “restaurants” in December 2002. Part of a scheme by Fullerton Downtown Business Association to make Fullerton a “fun place” (check out those kiosk type signs). Which costs us over a million and a half $$ every year now.
“What fools we Fullertonians be!”
Everyone thinks we wouldn’t have done such a thing if we weren’t making money thru sales tax.
Then S. Quirk promoted Pat Robeson’s takeover of more public space on Wilshire so he could have a pizza restaurant. “If we do it for one, we should do it for all,” she said.
And for Amerige Court, we are going to actually PAY the developer to take over public space –giving us an ugly parking structure in the middle of town in return for two parking lots and 5.5 million $$. Brilliant plan! That was a Dudley plan (he paid for the rendering presented to council in closed session) to get parking for the bars. I mean, restaurants.
No doubt about it. Dudley was the biggest disaster for Fullerton since….Terry Galvan!
But Dudley was the right man for the job: arrogant, incompetent, hyper-sensitive, and oh, did I mention arrogant?
P.S. That jerk-off Dudley is a proud member of our $100,000 pension club. In his case, however, paying him to do nothing is a lot cheaper than paying him to destroy Fullerton.
The fact is Dudley hated Fullerton and the people in it. He tolerated the ones like the Florentines, and the developers who kissed his ass and bought him lunch. Oh, and Jan Flory, too who was his personality soul mate.
I have heard that Dudley is a candidate for the now vacant Director of Redevelopment position. Anyone know if this is true?
I’ve heard that, too. He’s great buds with HeeHaw, and guess whose signs he had in his yard last fall?
Hey, he could pull down $240K a year and really fuck thing up but good this time around. Stucco and brick veneer for everybody and free land for developers.
#15 Feronia, can you or anyone point to that $1.5 million number that everyone quotes everywhere? I see it in every blog but never see it linked to.
Is Dudley still on Dick Hamm’s payroll or has that dumb-ass project finally died? Has anyone seen the two together at the Summit House lately?