Return to the Pinewood Stairs
Follow us back, gentle Friends, as we revisit the construction horror show known as The Pinewood Stairs. It’s been a year-and-a-half since we frightened you with the design and construction fiasco of the Pinewood Stairs at Hillcrest Park.
FFFF photo documented the sorry project even before the embarrassing party the city threw for itself since the contractor had failed to secure the contruction site – even though there were obvious safety issues.
In that sad saga we showed images of the many deficiencies and manifest failures by a small army of designers, city staff, contract construction managers, contractors, city inspectors, and of course, a city council woefully derelict in its duty to the public. We also shared the attempts by City Hall and its amen choir in the community to pretend that everything was just peachy.
And so we ventured out on a proactive foot patrol to see what effect the intervening eighteen months may have had on this dismal boondoggle. What we found was not shocking, for our sense of shock at the ineptitude of our City’s park and engineering departments dissipated years ago.
The structure is noticeably creaking, treads are wobbly and handrails are coming loose. This barely two-year old ramshackle pile of lumber is showing unmistakable signs of decrepitude and neglect. Its creators have moved on to new ventures.
What did we find?
Uncorrected code violations like tread width? Check.
Failed irrigation? Check.
Uncontrolled erosion? Check.
Risk management potential? Check.
No correction of substandard design and construction? Check.
New maintenance problems? Check.
And this:
And of course:
All askew:
But Jennifer Fitzgerald is really excited.
Defectively designed. Each council member can be named as joint tortfeasors in claims surely to hit COF.
And then they would vote to use public money to pay any liability.
Hugo really let us down on this one. And everything else.
There’s absolutely no way an actual homeowner would reward that kind of “craftsmanship” with a check, yet it’s good enough for Fitzgerald. Why should the rest of us have to pay for and swallow that kind of crap?
Give the fire guys a raise!! They are the lowest paid in the state!!
Raise taxes to fix the roads, then hire these guys to do the work.
$1.6 million pissed away by Fitzgerald and Flory and Hoppe.
But who’s counting?
If these people had any shame (they don’t) they’d have climbed up to the top of this pile of crap and jumped off.
I went out there the other day. It really is an eyesore from top to bottom. Rickety steps, broken rails, dead weeds everywhere. But this is Fullerton with no-fault government.
Meanwhile, the city is proclaiming from the hilltops that they’re having meetings to fix the roads.
“We have the worst roads in Orange County! Come see how we can fix the problem.”
These are the geniuses in office. FFFF reports on it two years ago https://www.fullertonsfuture.org/2017/official-fullerton-worst-roads-orange-county/ and maybe the city will get to it five years later.
You have liars promoting future liars on City Council. This city is an absolute disgrace.
This site is pure entertainment. Post after post of how inept the city is, how corrupt the government is and how greedy and horrible all city employees are. You call for transparency, but except for Josh, you hide behind a made-up name and a keyboard. It takes no courage whatsoever to complain about EVERYTHING, make judgments about things you think you know, and slam people you don’t even know when you can do it anonymously.
If you want some credibility, put your name on it, or better yet, run for city council and help make the changes you think will help the city.
I’m sure this post will elicit several negative comments based on the history of posting opposing viewpoints. This site has posted home addresses of people they don’t like in the past. To answer the question before it is posed, that is the reason I won’t use my real name.
Haha. Under your skin? Work off some of that hate climbing the Pinewood Stairs. But you’d better move quickly. They won’t be there much longer.
And P.S.: I want my $1.6 million back.
Run for office and take it back
And how would he/she do that? The money is wasted forever. Only the cost of tearing down the mess is still out there.
So you, Mr. Chickenshit, won’t use your name bwecause of possible intimidation, but yo want the authors of these posts to do it as they confront Cit y Hall with its unlimited, taxpayer funded legal resources and a corrupt praetorian guard with badges and guns.
Try harder.
You can’t defend the Pinewood stairs to nowhere, can you? Argue with the pictures, numbnuts, not the name of the author.
There’s a great idea.
Put your name on it so the City can sue you.
You first.
Done with your rant about people not using their real names hiding behind their keyboards “STEP UP”. You definitely win entertainment of the day! LOL!
This site has not posted the home address of people it doesn’t like in the past.
What a bunch of fucking rubbish. Keep reading, asshole.
“It takes no courage whatsoever to complain about EVERYTHING”
Dear Moron:
This is not a post about everything. It’s a post about the city doing nothing about crappy construction to one of its preferred vendors.
Must be really easy to excuse blatant incompetence and fiscal negligence by tossing out baseless accusations from behind the veil of anonymity.
Can’t say I blame you. I wouldn’t my parents and teachers knowing I grew up to be a fool either.
Kettle, meet pot: “put your name on it, or better yet, run for city council ”
Thank you very much “Ms. Step U. Up”
Josh did run for office but he didn’t promise the government unions anything so, of course he could not win. That’s how the system doesn’t work, Step up yours.
If that’s true how do you explain Whitaker and Seabourn getting elected?
Whitaker only got elected because Tony B destroyed Roland Chi and that other idiot – the fat lawyer with the little piggy eyes.
Sebourn only got elected because of the 2012 recall.
In other words two flukes.
Of course the “designer” never understood the reality of exercise equipment. Enough people have bee kicking that closure strip of perforated metal to fatigue it past the breaking point in only 2 years.
I repeat my earlier prophesy: in seven years, closed off; in ten years demolished. I only regret maybe being to conservative in those estimates.
Must have been chinzy metal. Either that or it was already fatigued. In any case, the taxpayer gets screwed twice!
The hillside is either barren or weed infested. The erosion is just a reminder of the 60 years of neglect Hillcrest Park has suffered at the hands of its custodians.
Soon new projects will be proposed.
Wow, is this what our city officials consider high quality work ? And, it cost how much! No wonder Fullerton roads are mess! We must have gotten the back street , under the table, special just for you honey bargain deal. Scary to think who they’ll one day , maybe, in the wayyyyyyyyyyy future hire to fix our roads.
Fitzgerald plans to run for re-election in District 1 next year. Let’s consider her record:
1. Works as a government lobbyist and refuses to name her clients.
2. Runs cover for all the illegal activity of bar owners like Popoff and the Florentine mob.
3. Let the roads become the worst in Orange County
4. Was complicit in giving Wild Ride Felz a get out of jail card.
5. Orchestrated the return of Flory to the City Council
6. Lied to voters and the public many times about the budget being balanced.
7. Ignored all the construction fiascoes tied to a campaign contributor – Griffin Structures
8. Has done nothing to curb the Culture of Corruption in the FPD.
9. Takes a council salary AFTER she told the voters she wouldn’t.
etc., etc.
Well i guess I’ll have to do a post – as unsavory as the subject matter is.
God bless my city and Damn it’s leaders to hell