Part II: Is the “Trail to Nowhere” Poisoned?
It could be. Last post I described how the the UP Park was contaminated and shut down for remediation just after $2 million were sunk into building a park. Nobody in the City bothered to do an Environmental Analysis.
I asked, rhetorically, whether the rest of the long UP right-of-way had been subsequently tested for toxins in light of the fact that trichloroethylene (TCE) had been detected on the property at 311 South Highland Avenue, a property adjacent to the proposed Trail to Nowhere. It seems that some years ago the Hughes Corporation used the solvent to clean up the circuit boards they made at this location, and the EPA still regards it as an active site.
A little digging uncovered the fact that ground zero seems to be the west end of the property where testing has been periodically done in the area of a likely dump site for the nasty TCE toxin. Apparently there are several monitoring wells located in the yellow areas circled in red in the image below.
Please note the proximity to the Trail to Nowhere of the wells in the lower left. 15 feet? 10 feet? 5ft? Surely somebody in the Parks or Engineering Departments gave thought to this when the Trail to Nowhere concept was developed; when the grant application was made; even when the proposed project budget was laid out. No? If not, why not? How could they not have known? The EPA has recognized this as a site of TCE ground water contamination where a toxic plume is heading southward – under the proposed trail.
At this point questions are starting to pile up. Questions that may have uncomfortable answers.
We are fortunate that Messrs. Dunlap, Jung and Whitaker have put the kibosh on the silly and wasteful Trail to Nowhere proposal for other common sensical reasons. And yet there remains the problem about lack of disclosure to our elected officials in their decision making process, and perhaps even in the grant application itself.
Looks like they took the stuff to the back of the property to store it (or dump it).
And yes, those testing wells are only a few feet from the dismal trail to wherever.
I really have to wonder about the rest of the so-called “trail.” If you look at the Google satellite images you can see a metal finishing business, an asphalt batch plant, one place with a bunch of holding tanks and numerous mom and pop auto repair and tire businesses, all along either side.
I have zero idea why anybody would put a rec trail thought this wasteland but I sure can see the need for environmental analysis. This should have begun before the City bought this property and definitely after the park was closed because of contamination.
We should know if the due-diligence was ever done, and if it wasn’t, why.
That’s a good point. I will do a post about the nasty businesses surrounding the Trail to Nowhere. Businesses that would have made it, well, unappealing at best. At worst? No one knows.
Because according to JRH, if someone offers you someone else’s money, “you fucking take it”. The same perverse, sick logic JRH espouses is the reason this country is going the route of the Holy Roman Empire.
The holy roman empire, FFS. Get serious.
We had an opportunity to receive outside funding to realize a Class 1 Bicycle trail long proposed as part of our Bicycle Master Plan.
The money WILL be spent either way… in our city or somewhere else.
By incompetently turning away the funds after it was awarded, effectively just sends it to another city.
It’s certainly incompetent, but I’m not sure that is how Rome fell.
It will be BETTER spent somewhere else. Obviously. And well done by the three thinking councilmen.
Your anger has blinded you from rational thought. Or maybe you really know FFFF is on to something and that makes you even madder.
We like trichloroethylene. Dr. Schwartman says it’s good for my teeth.
Disinformation warfare… Manufacture a reality by JAQ’ing off (Just Asking Questions).
But hey maybe you cracked the case. There are a few businesses that back up to the long proposed UP Trail. Lol. Not a “trail to nowhere” as you persist in falsely framing it… more disinformation warfare). But actually a class 1 trail as long established in the Bicycle Master Plan and then knifed by council majority after significant resources were expended lining up funding.
“We are fortunate that Messrs. Dunlap, Jung and Whitaker have put the kibosh on the silly and wasteful Trail to Nowhere proposal for other common sensical reasons.”
Actually for no reason that makes any sense, at all. Firmly established. No one in Fullerton can be counted as “fortunate” they made such a poor decision.
Sad. You don’t care if people got poisoned. Real liberal humanitarian!
You seem very angry. May I respectfully suggest anger management?
Haha. I just recommended that.
JRH is a very angry elf. He may be beyond the help of psychotherapy.
I’ve been reading this blog for a long time. These guys usually start by asking a question when they already know the answer. It won’t be good.
Picked up on that? Good!
Yeah they do that.
Except that in this case MP said he didn’t know. Which makes it speculation.
It’s either speculation or MP lied when they said they didn’t know.
It’s speculation as to whether the City performed its due diligence before spending public money on real estate. We know they didn’t do it on the UP Park end of the Trail to Nowhere. That’s a fact.
Whether the Trail to Nowhere is contaminated is unknown. However, we know that 311 S. Highland is the site of TCE contamination. That’s a fact. It runs adjacent to the Trail to Nowhere for the better part of 500 feet. That’s another relevant fact. Toxins in the earth are motile in the groundwater. That’s another fact.
The facts are piling up, Hoogie. Soon we will know whether the City did or did not perform its responsibility to the public. And depending upon the record of testing we will know if the ground under the Trail to Nowhere is polluted, which will be one more reason to celebrate the demise of the idiot, staff/Zahra-driven scheme.
The class 1 trail was driven by long established, voted on city plans and then gotten to the point of funding by the responsible commission. Please catch up with the facts.
Take a closer look at that “plan” Hoogmeister. See if the “trail” makes any sense east of Harbor. Ahahaha.
The angry elf strikes out!
Angry elf.
Don’t worry, the incompetent city staffers are long gone or will be anyday now) and no one will ever be held accountable.
True.
What staffer? What incompetence? For doing or not doing what exactly?
All this speculation and wanton indictments without any facts… how would you like it if someone did that to you?
What staff? We’re working on that. More than happy to name names of the irresponsible.
Wanton indictments? Of dear me, how serious we are!
Seems like a chicken / egg problem. Checking soil samples is a project expense. It costs money. But the project didn’t actually start because it was pending on council approval and funding.
So you’re looking to blame someone for a hypothetical failure to check that probably would have happened later anyway.
Depends on what the grant application required but it seems illogical to require the project to start before the grant is made.
We’ll find out if it’s hypothetical.
Whether it can be a failure before a project starts is the first question.
Burp.
J.R., have you ever heard of a thing called a Phase 1 Study?
I am not an environmental or construction lawyer nor do I claim to be.
Let’s pretend you are so you can regale me with your expertise with exactly which phase a project would be in when you do a “phase 1 study.”
John – I’m manage a restaurant, but have met many business people who own real estate. From my experience in talking with folks who frequent the restaurant have told me that every prudent commercial real estate Buyer does a thing called “due diligence”. The first thing any half way intelligent person, company, or corporation does when purchasing land or a building is a Phase 1 environmental study. It locates any nearby properties that have been identified as having polluted the ground with some sort of contaminants.
Not sure what your point is. Are you saying they would have done a study and didn’t or that they did and then failed to disclose it.
Very different things and neither are a given.
No, you aren’t those things. You are a brainwashed boohoo fighting a rearguard battle for boneheaded (at best) or prevaricating bureaucrats in City hall – cuz that’s your mission.
I’m fighting against a caustic attitude of absolute contempt for the public sector, yeah. Deal with it.
You already lost, Ahab.
Angry elfs like JRH just like to fight. They need no cause.
So you’re saying because there was no money for testing it was okay not to do it before the grant?
This is a trick question, Einstein.
I think it’s normal not to go inventing reasons not to do something that the city tasked you with doing.
Does that include lying on an official State grant application? Just say yes or no.
Of course not. But again no facts to that end at hand. We’ll see I guess. But one point: lying has specific meaning that is lost on most people.
Angry Elf has spoken.
Alice Loya, the lying architect of the Trail to Nowhere. Duh.
I hope nobody in City Hall tries to claim ignorance if this trail to nowhere is contaminated. The Engineering Department would have had to issue permits for any well drilling and would have been well-apprised of the previously detected contamination.
Because tis was part of the OC Water District basin lawsuit everyone should have given thought to testing the trail.
What well drilling?
And would contamination discovered before construction even be relevant?
It would be a cost to remediate the hypothetical toxins But it isn’t clear to me whether that’s relevant to seeking a grant or go/no go on the project. And I don’t know that it would be a cost assigned to this (hypothetical) project’s budget.
Of course it’s relevant.
As a matter of fact, the California Natural Resources Agency requires disclosure of environmental contamination on its grant application process.
The DTSC and EPA have already identified contamination of TCE at the adjacent address and has indicated an offsite plume. It’s all on the record.
It looks like the City may have falsified its application. I only say may have because I haven’t seen the actual application.
Anyway, the pertinent bureaucrat has probably already retired so it’s all good.
Haven’t seen it. Yet.
And what the fuck is a “trail to nowhere?” Oh yeah, a disinformation tactic to frame manufacture a preferred public sentiment.
It doesn’t go anyplace. It’s a little baby trail orphan.
A trail that doesn’t go anyplace.
Except the proposed trail does connnect between two actual parks with a class 1 trail.
Got it?
Someone you don’t know who they are falsified an application you haven’t seen with information you don’t know if they had. And you propose this hypothetically relevant theory on the basis of records that certainly exist about a different but certainly adjacent parcel of land.
I’m hypothetically on the edge of my seat!
So what’s the next hypothesis, that the no vote was a coverup of a hypothetically falsified grant application?
I have a feeling FFFF already knows the answers and is just playing with you, elf.
So then you are calling Peabody a liar because he explicitly stated that he doesn’t know.
Johnny Know It All is triggered by emotional truths not facts. Pay no attention to the fact that the vote was to reallocate the grant funding to another more sensible project…say opening the park the trail shares its namesake with. That’s boring and doesn’t grab headlines in the Kennedy family journal. But that’s government Johnny Know It All: boring. Kind of like your life because instead of doing your job well, it’s always lazier to comment on the job of others right Johnny? I await your comments because you can’t stop checking FFFF 10-20 times a day.
Already addressed. The vote was to kill the trail, the mention of maybe for something else was utter bullshit and every knows it. The grant is for the trail, that’s it. It’s not just going to move to something else, that’s not how it works.
And council majority even voted down any discussion of whether magically moving the grant to some other unspecified project (lol).
Get serious.
Voted down discussion of whether moving funds to another unspecified project was a real prospect.
Johnny Know It All baited into commenting because he is obviously insecure of his manhood. Big baby must make comment. His entire identity is being bitchy on the blog. Can’t help himself. What a joke!
So you’re a master baiter?
No, that’s you, wood worker.
Johnny hard at work on his wood.
Soft wood.