Trail to Nowhere© Hits Embarrassing Snag
On Tuesday the seemingly inevitable rubber stamp of the Trail to Nowhere© contract award didn’t happen. That’s thanks to the presentation of facts that were deliberately being obscured by City Staff in an incompetent agenda report.
Public speaker Joshua Ferguson raised the issue of the increased City cost that FFFF raised, here; and noted that the phrase “increase in scope” was marvelously uninformative.
When the “Consent Calendar” finally rolled around, Councilman Nick Dunlap, to his credit, pulled the item for discussion. Once again Mr. Ferguson unloaded on the lack of transparency, and the failure to describe why the City cost had doubled. He also correctly observed the likelihood of more and more costs as the project was being built. Fullerton Engineer has already expertly shared the likelihood of that, here, when he predicted an eventual City borne cost increase of $800,000. At $630,000 we’re getting there real fast, and a shovel hasn’t even broken the contaminated soil yet.
Then Dunlap took over.
He was demonstrably upset that the item was on the Consent Calendar in the first place, and noted, correctly, that the additional money had to come from somewhere else. Dunlap referred to a transfer from the General Fund; that’s not what the staff report said. The staff report referred to a Park Dwelling Fund transfer, as FFFF has noted. It really doesn’t matter. We already saw that next years CIP only identified a few Park Dwelling Fund projects for a total of $250,000. So where is the additional $300,000 coming from, and what is it displacing? Excellent questions.
City Manager Eric Levitt volunteered to answer Dunlap’s questions in “two minutes,” a promise that would almost certainly never have happened in two minutes or with coherency. To his credit, Dunlap smelled a wagon load of bullshit coming down the road, and demanded a continuance.
A few of the usual suspects popped up to demand immediate approval of the Trail to Nowhere© construction contract. Poor Egleth Nuncio, claimed her health had been impaired advocating for the trail and picking up broken glass on the right-of-way, the latter a claim so preposterous that I’m surprised nobody burst out laughing. But maybe it happened during the infamous Skaksia Kennedy photo op.
But trees, right? Before waddling off in a huff, she promised a vast turn out on May 20th, which should be a fun rehash of uninformed nonsense as her overlord Ahmad Zahra mobilizes another cry-and-cry session from Fullerton Boohoo.
Finally the Council voted 3-2 to continue the item until May 20th meeting. Once again staff misled the Council by implying that a May 20th meeting was needed to secure the bid within the required 60 day window to hold a public bid. No one thought to inquire about that, because the bid took place on April 22, meaning that there’s another whole month after May 20th in which the contractor has to honor his bid. Zahra and Charles voted no, neither giving a rat’s ass about the escalating cost of this boondoggle.
Of course the Friends know that the real reason for the desperation of the May 20th date; it’s because the City is already so far behind in its Trail to Nowhere© project milestone obligations that the completion date is already impossible to make, and that not even the State of California can look the other way forever.
The State will look the other way forever. That agency who doled out the money with no oversight is now completely complicit in the fraud. They got conned but can’t ever admit it.
You are right. The City already missed the principal deadlines by almost a year and nobody from Sacramento said a word. Everybody is in the same sinking dingy.
Hey, maybe they’re FINALLY catching on to the years-long incompetence, obfuscation, and all the outright lies.
How come Fullerton’s public health advocates are so, um, unhealthy looking?
Good question.
Oh, the humanity! It’s absolutely tragic that the city hasn’t built a bespoke trail for these individuals to stroll along. I mean, who can possibly expect them to walk on existing streets or sidewalks like everyone else? That would be far too taxing. No, no, they require a specially constructed trail with a concrete sidewalk, complete with a red carpet and a personalized welcome mat. Only then will they deign to engage in the arduous and exhausting activity of walking.
It’s not like walking is something that people have been doing for centuries on their own two feet, without the need for a fancy trail. Nope, these individuals are clearly exceptional and require a customized infrastructure to support their unique brand of laziness. I mean, who needs personal motivation or a sense of adventure when you can have a concrete sidewalk and a trail all to yourself?
And let’s be real, the city’s failure to provide this trail is basically a human rights violation. I mean, what’s next? Expecting people to breathe air that isn’t precisely calibrated to their individual preferences? It’s a travesty, really. The city should be ashamed of itself for not catering to the every whim of these “trail-deprived” individuals.
A Phase 2 trail in south Fullerton is a Human Right. It doesn’t matter if it doesn’t connect to anything, won’t be used, and will just become a drug infested eyesore – like Phase I to which it doesn’t even connect.
We need to give our Latino underlings a “good thing.” It’s their choice not to use it. We bestowed it upon them.
A lush trail with bountiful shade from ample tree canopy for overheating Latina mothers and their greenery deprived ninos must happen because it makes liberals feel better about themselves. Why question the location, which has seen more dead people than actual trail walkers? Why question the money being spent when we can’t fix potholes in this city? I get that Zahra gets off on snapping selfies at ribbon cuttings, and Shana is too dumb and way too emotional to risk being smart, but why would anyone else with half a brain want this?
Maybe it’s time for a new city manager.
Bingo!
Why do you make fun of me? I thought I looked très beau speaking at the mic.
It wasn’t belle.
I think the $300,000 was deliberately excluded from other park planning and the CIP plan because it was already being programmed by staff in expectation of easy Council approval of the trail and no questions asked.
There is some serious misfeasance going on with this whole disaster. I think delays may have to do with that soils testing done last August per Edgar Rosales. For some reason it took a year to produce a simple landscape plan that should have been done in 4 weeks.
I get the feeling Eglet hasn’t waddled the whole ROW, or Charles, of Jaramillo. If they really had they’d know the truth. Ot maybe they’re just that dumb.