Smilin' all the way to the bank

Have you ever wondered how we got ourselves into this financial crisis? In California and in Fullerton we have an out of control public employee pension crisis – a crisis where thousands of retired public employee end up receiving mammoth retirement payouts, in some cases tens of thousands more than they ever made while they were actually working.

Well, one candidate for Fullerton City Council is a posterboy for this system run amok, and his name is Patrick McKinley.  Before the next time you cast your ballot, check to see that the person your are voting for is not a retired government worker that would be making any decisions affecting out of control public employee retirement pensions.

The Wishing Well Apartments. Someone's wish just came true.

For those interested in obscure Fullerton history, Louis Valasquez lived in the Wishing Well apartments at 466 West Valencia Dr. while serving as the Mayor of Fullerton in 1979.

Those more curious about modern-day Redevelopment Agency boondoggles, may be interested to learn that this past week the Fullerton City Council voted to sell the Agency owned Wishing Well Apartments to an out of town “developer” for $100.

The Fullerton Redevelopment Agency purchased the ol’ Wishing Well for $1,993,433 and paid an additional $60,930 to kick out (relocate) all the tenants that resided in the 16 unit building. On top of that the Agency is going to give the out-of-towners an additional $184,347 to “rehab” the apartments, provided the developer rents the apartments to low income tenants. Here in Orange County “low income” is 50% of the median income – which for a family of 3 is $70,890. This means that people that make around $35,445 will be living in the Brand Spanking New Wishing Well. I’ll bet ya the previous tenants made less than $35,445 per year. So in reality the city kicked out the poor folks in order to replace them with richer poor folks.

Now that’s not very good is it?

And if the units were so dilapidated, why didn’t City Code Enforcement simply cite the landlord and require the units to be standard units?

I think I’ll do a follow-up post and focus on code enforcement failures under Don Bankhead’s and Dick Jones’s years of “leadership.”

303 West Commonwealth

221 Years ago, an angry Parisian mob stormed The Bastille – traditional home for political prisoners and symbol of the hated Ancien Regime. It was empty, but that’s beside the point.

Time for youth and vigor...

Our Bastille is not empty. And while I admonish a more reasoned revolution that doesn’t end in a Reign of Terror, a dictatorship, and an emperor, I do believe it is appropriate to recognize that our own ancient regime in Fullerton is starting to look a lot like the decrepit and dysfunctional Bourbon dynasty en France.

Hell, it's only been 200 years. We just need a little more time...

And so: salut, and bon voyage, etc.

Welcome to Downtown Fullerton

Surely not the businesses that don’t sell booze.

Last year a few downtown Fullerton property and business owners lobbied the City Council to impose an tax assessment on downtown Fullerton. The purpose of this “Business Improvement District” was to raise money to clean up the mess introduced into Downtown by the numerous booze joints and illegal dance clubs.

The first step was predictable: hire yourself a “consultant” who will tell you what you want to hear. But the price tag was too steep and the promoters couldn’t get a clear majority of the Council to go along.

But apparently now Councilwoman Sharon Quirk-Silva has changed her mind about hiring a consultant to meet and greet and spread the BID propaganda.

The direction here is all too clear: build up some momentum toward the idea and then rely on the self-interested parties to vote their interest and hope that the other property owners don’t catch on.

Well I think this stinks. Why should all the downtown property owners pay to fix the problems caused by the bar owners and their out-of-control customers, not to mention a City policy that has enabled all these problems? And let’s not forget – former police chief and council candidate Patrick McKinley who liked to look the other way.

And why should the taxpayers keep footing the bill?

As quickly as you can, Grasshopper, snatch the park from its owners...

When it’s Fullerton’s Hillcrest Park, of course. Then it’s a resource of a different kind: an opportunity for City Staff to play upon the sentimentality of Fullerton’s park and history lovers to destroy the very resource that is ostensibly being saved.

They did it 15 years ago and they are doing it again.

I went to Saturday’s latest public meeting to “save the park” and witnessed something quite remarkable. Just like last time the City staff has employed a consultant to remake the park in its own desired form, replete with new facilities it can market or operate, while ignoring the true needs of the old girl.

But this time the ludicrousness of the whole operation became apparent immediately. A representative of the landscape architect hired to foist the exploitative plan informed us all what was wrong with Hillcrest Park. It has bad chi. And all these years we just thought it was neglect by the parks and police departments. Chi. Hmm.

So what’s the solution to clean up the chi and get things all aligned, nice and proper?

A restaurant, for one thing, down by the duck pond; and a new park entrance; new retaining walls along the Brea Creek and an abandonment of the interior roadways might just get that troublesome chi back in balance, we were informed.

Ye Gods! Chi. What’s next, park feng shui?

Use the Force, Luke...

I don’t know how much we’re paying these yahoos to further destroy our park, but I’ll bet it’s a lot. And I’ll also bet that Redevelopment money is picking up at least part of the tab. And ultimately the only way to pay to comprehensively destroy this historic resouce is to use big piles of Redevelopment money to do it. Redevelopment destroying historic resources. That’s not a new theme.

Hillcrest Park is on the National Register of Historic places but nobody seems to treat it like it were. Only last year the City embarked on massive alterations to the north slope of the park without review by the Landmarks Commission.

Well, good luck Hillcrest. And in the meantime may the chi be with you.

Fullerton Councilman F/ Richard “Dick” Jones really is in a class all by himself when it comes to blog fodder. Enjoy this clip in which the mental rambler Jones transforms body art recipients into “patients.” And don’t forget to contemplate upon the folks like Ed Royce who keep promoting this guy.

Click here to view the embedded video.

FEBRUARY UPDATE: I spoke yesterday with the officer in question who has stated unequivocally that an incident did in fact occur, and that Councilman Jones has mischaracterized his innocence. The officer has been instructed by City Human Resources Department to avoid further communication with us.

We all know that Christmas parties are notorious for bad behavior on the part of some of the participants. When you are an elected official maybe you believe you can get away with some extracurricular activity without reproach. And maybe you are a just a bigger target for nasty accusations that aren’t true.

Jones Denies Story

Which is the case with Councilman F. Richard “Dick” Jones?

We have been informed by separate sources, both in the Fullerton PD and in City Hall, that Jones slapped a female Fullerton police detective on her buttocks at a police union Christmas Party on December 18th at the Summit House restaurant; and that the physical assault was followed up with a dismissive slur regarding Dick’s perception of the officer’s sexual orientation.

Yesterday we sent Dick Jones an e-mail asking him to respond to this allegations. Here is what he said:

I just learned of this allegation this weekend. This is completely untrue and I have no idea why or how this rumor was started. People who know me, know I would do no such thing to anyone. Thank you for asking me. Such an accusation is very upsetting as there is no truth to it!

So now we have an accusation and a denial, and as yet no response from the officer in question. So the real question is why anybody in the Fullerton PD would attempt what would evidently be a smear on Jones? That’s a good question and one we will be pursuing.

In any case, difficulties arise, including the possibility of a cover-up of this alleged incident within both City Hall, as well as in the ranks of the police union itself. Apart from the issue of a typical hush-up for a politician, there remains the subject of other parties who may have a stake in making sure that news of the alleged incident doesn’t get out. The City Manager is a close personal friend of Mr. Jones, and would certainly render any investigation problematic. Meanwhile, the police union is apparently in the process of bargaining a new agreement and may very well be in need of Jones’ vote.

If true, the incident would certainly center on the behavior of Jones, of course; and also the rights of the officer in question who may be feeling pressure from her bosses and also from her union brethren to let the matter go – at least for now.

Alternatively we are confronted with the possibility that someone within the Fullerton Police Department has concocted and sold a story in order to make Jones look bad. But what for? Who knows? In any case, the timing may be poor. Angering a potential vote during labor negotiations is probably not the best idea.

We’ll stay on top of this as best we can. Particularly to make sure that this situation doesn’t end up playing a part in a labor agreement negotiation.

This was at the very tail end of the urban renewal era of social engineering that gutted old neighborhoods and districts across the land only to see the creation of bureaucrat-planned ghost towns and vast housing projects that nobody wanted to live in.

Although the downtown area was pretty much left to its own devices in the 70s, the 80s saw a new and noxious interest in re-inventing the area according to the whims of the Redevelopment manager and whatever cookie-cutter standardization idiocy was emanating from central planning workshops. Anybody remember the embarrassing concrete trestles?

True, the old businesses were leaving, put out of business by a new Mall culture. But what was the cure? Specialty retail, standardized street furniture, stamped concrete paving, design guidelines, and a plethora of silliness whose only aim seemed to be to create a roofless mall (an obviously pointless goal) – and provide employment for the Redevelopment manager. Hideous trees were planted that destroyed the sidewalks and on-street parking was removed, spelling final doom for what was left of the downtown businesses, but it was all part of the Master Plan, see? And new Master Plans kept being spit out every five years or so.

And while the City professed an interest in historic preservation, and even took credit for it, historic buildings kept disappearing – either completely or under a wall of brick veneer.

Things weren’t working. A ban on churches and pawn shops and junk yards couldn’t alter the fact that the low rents were pulling in businesses that weren’t “specialty retail.” They were mom and pop second hand stores masquerading as “antique” this and “vintage” that.

Ah! Much had been accomplished, but more work needed to be done. Job security for life!

The FFFF pages are strewn with the ugly history of the late eighties and the nineties when an unaccountable city staff engaged in boondoggle after boondoggle with a complaisant council going along every step of the way, and always taking credit for “revitalizing” downtown Fullerton.

Much had been accomplished, but clearly more work needed to be done.

Huge apartment blocks were approved, giving away millions in profits to favored developers through entitlements and grants. City streets were handed out like Monopoly deeds. The hope was that a captive residential audience would have to patronize downtown business. Synergy was the watchword of the day!

Much had been accomplished, but clearly more work needed to be done.

A new phenomenon was beginning to emerge in the late 90s. The subsidized restaurant. And a  new booze culture was coalescing. Was it policy or accident? Who can say now. But what is inescapable is that for more than a decade the City’s actions and lack of actions had demonstrable effects. And the effects weren’t salutory. The restaurants morphed into bars and the bars morphed into bootleg night clubs and dance halls. The latter weren’t shut down; they were permitted. And then they were subsidized by the taxpayers with free fire water lines.

Every night the downtown area was filling up with drunken out of towners; fights, rapes, a murder. The City Manager wrung his hands. The downtown area was costing over a million dollars a year more to manage than it was bringing in in revenue.

Much had been accomplished, but clearly more work needed to be done.

In the 2000s the merry chase for revitalization continued apace with lustful Redevelopment eyes alighting on a vast Fox Theater project, cynically calculated to leverage popular interest in the Fox Theater. Aha! The anchor project that would make all the other pieces fall into place: success was at hand! Sure, we could move the McDonald’s a couple hundred feet. Six million? No problem! Environmental impacts? No big deal.

Then there is the Amerige Court monster. Aha! The anchor project that would make all the other pieces fall into place: success was at hand! Environmental impacts? No big deal.

And now Redevelopment in downtown Fullerton is 36 years old. Let’s put this in perspective: Fullerton was founded in 1886. And that means for 30% of its life span downtown Fullerton has had Redevelopment. And in 2010 the very sort of business that redevelopment bureaucrats find abhorrent starts up in the very heart of Redevelopment territory. See the irony yet? I do. It’s not about sex, it’s about failure. Oh, well.

Much has been accomplished, but clearly more work needs to be done.

Here is his ‘poneness wringing hands (or finger wiggling?!) about the heart-breaking budget cuts. You wouldn’t think you were dealing with  a conservative, here, would you? Actually he sounds a Hell of a lot like a big gummint Dem; which is basically what he is.

A real conservative would relish taking the opportunity to cut back inflated salaries, bloated pensions, and silly services that are always “popular” with somebody or other. But no. I really believe him when he says how terrible it is to cut the budget.

And here is one of the basic conflicts we at FFFF have with our local Republican leaders who keep backing RINO nitwits like Jones simply because they are registered as Republicans.

Anyway go ahead and enjoy.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Q-S says no to an appointment.

I recently spoke with Councilwoman Sharon Quirk and she is adamant about letting the voters to decide who replaces Shawn Nelson – not the Council.

I couldn’t agree more. I’m against any backroom deal that would simply appoint a compliant candidate who met the jaw-droppingly low standards that have been set for “anointed” candidates in Fullerton’s past.

There is also the possibility that the discussion of appointing a replacement is tied into the need to get three votes on some issue or other before November. Of course we could speculate on that all day.