Where Was Roland Chi Three Short Years Ago?

Proud to call Fullerton home. Said the same thing about Garden Grove two years ago.

Living in Garden Grove, apparently.

Okay, first things first. Never heard of Roland Chi, before? There’s probably a real good reason for that. The Fullerton City Council candidate running to replace Supervisor Shawn Nelson has lived in Fullerton for less than three years. At most. Here’s a snippet from the minutes of the Garden Grove City Council that was thinking about a replacement for Janet Nguyen:

April 16, 2007: It was moved by Mayor Dalton, seconded by Council Member Nguyen, that Roland Chi be appointed to fill the vacancy on the City Council. Council Member Nguyen spoke about Roland Chi’s many achievements at a relatively young age, including the Garden Grove Farmer’s Market. Council Member Broadwater moved a substitute motion to appoint Steve Jones to fill the vacancy on the City Council. Council Member Nguyen seconded the motion. Council Member Rosen commented that Mr. Chi is too young, needing real life experience that comes with age.

As Roland coyly puts it on his own website: During this time, he was appointed to a city planning commission and later chosen by his peers to serve as Chairman.

Well that’s pretty sneaky, not informing his readers that he never served on Fullerton’s Planning Commission. It was in another city, and less than three years ago.

But Roland’s a real climber alright, and has recently joined up in the right Fullerton Rotarian/Chamber crews. But will it make up for no real accomplishment?

Hmm. A candidate pops up out of nowhere looking for a political future.

I love you all...

And who does this remind you of? How about Julie Sa, who popped up like a weed in 1992, bought the election, embarrassed the City for eight years, and who finally pulled out in 2000 when it was discovered that she was actually living in Chino Hills?

Well, Hell, anybody can legally run for office in Fullerton so long as they actually live here; but has the political process become so cynical that some guy with almost no history of residency here is willing to put his name on the ballot alongside people who have served the community for years?

Just some food for thought.

31 Replies to “Where Was Roland Chi Three Short Years Ago?”

  1. Let’s see. A political opportunist versus a guy like Bruce Whitaker whose been on the front lines for almost twenty years? No constest.

  2. “But will it make up for no real accomplishment?”

    It might, I can’t think of any council members or candidates that have accomplished much.

  3. in your guys opinion, how long do u need to live in the city to be qualified, isnt that pretty subjective, and whos to say not living in the city for 20 years makes you any less qualified as to how to administrate a city? a number from you guys would be great, just so i know

    1. Well, for a starter you have to actually live in Fullerton, so that would exclude your hero Sidhu.

      But seriously. This guy moved to Fullerton and runs for office. According to his bio he’s worked for DeVore in some capacity, probably an intern, and then with the unspeakable Van Tran. Then he pops up in Fullerton all rarin’ to go.

      My point in making this post was not to suggest that long-time residence automatically confers qulaification (nipsey/van); of course it doesn’t. My point was that it takes a lot of gumption bordering on gall to pick up and move to a town for what really appears to be at least somewhat for political reasons.

      Having the creep Van Tran for a political mentor is really no bueno.

    2. I think the point was that Roland Chi is misleading voters. The only qualified candidate is Bruce Whitaker! Too bad no one else seems qualified to get rid of Don dinosaur BankHead.

  4. as Yale geopolitical professor spykman said “geography is destiny”. and chi is destined not to belong to fullerton’s city council because he only has lived in fullerton for 3 years? Please, he is here and if he does lose he will go somewhere else that may buy into him. to be fair, keller of the infamous keller collaborative has been a long-term resident of fullerton so her ideas and actions benefit our town?

    1. Spot on. I think the premise of this article was faulty. What the writer is suggesting, but later rescind in his own comments is that 3 years does not confer resident status.

      If however, you wanted to make a case that he actually had moved her for political gain, then stick to that. But really, you have written this poorly and unconvincingly, with no indication of having done any footwork other than googling.

  5. Remember when Julie Sa moved to North Korea and took up a job offer from tyrannical dictator Kim Jong Il himself?

    Fullerton seems to be some sort of incubator for shameless political opportunists.

  6. Roland Chi did a terrible job running the Main Street Downtown Farmers Market. He brought in vendors that competed directly with the downtown business owners such as selling mexican food on the street right in front of the established, noted Azteca’s Restaurant. He was never available, never attended downtown meetings nor did he return phone calls to address the serious issues concerning the farmers market during the time he was supposed to be responsible. He started it up and disappeared.
    Thankfully, we recently reopened the market with a business friendly, receptive, organized person running the market in Lee Ostendorf.

  7. Now, wait a minute guys, give him a chance. After all, Curt Pringle was a Garden Grove boy who ran for City Council and lost (repeatedly) and then carpetbagged into Anaheim-and look at how well that has turned out for all of us. On second thought….

  8. no one answered my question, how long do you guys think someone needs to live in the city to be qualified? and i said nothing about sidhu, i was just asking a very simple question

      1. He was appointed to the General Plan Advisory Committee to fill a vacancy. To my knowledge, the committee has not met since his appointment. Be sure to ask him what contributions he has made to the General Plan process.

    1. I don’t know, but if they don’t seem to have any specific ideas about what they are going to do they could live here for 50 years & it wouldn’t matter to me.

      1. Do you think he might have done it to appeal to a specific ethnic group of voters, or attract a little of that real estate $$?

  9. What is even weirder is that Nelson seems to have endorsed two different candidate in the same FREAKIN’ race! Who’s advising that guy?

    1. One was supposed to run for the 2 year and the other for the 4 year. The knucklehead candidates chose to but heads. the endorsment thing pissed off alot of big names.

  10. joe, u didnt defend urself, ur just throwing a bunch of insults around, how long do u need to live in the community to be qualified? your system seems really subjective to me, even arrogant.

  11. “Orange County businesswoman Julie Sa has been selected by North Korea’s dictator Kim Jong-il as director of a new free trade zone on his country’s border with China. Ms Sa was born in Korea and has been an extremely successful real estate investor and was also once the Mayor of Fullerton. The previous Director of this Trade Zone met an unfortunate fate when he was charged with financial fraud and given an 18 year prison term. Little is known about why Ms. Sa accepted this position but she has been quoted as saying that the new zone will need four billion dollars in foreign investment each year for five years to get up and running.”

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