We Get Mail

Well, this wasn’t exactly mail. It was a polemic that seems to have passed through a few hands before it ended up in our Boondoggle In Box. It’s about the notorious “Trail to Nowhere” project, set to break ground Wednesday. It is worth reproducing.

I have edited some of it for the sake of brevity, correct spelling and to protect the anonymity of the author whose permission to reproduce has not been given. The sentiments expressed are worth consideration and reinforce what FFFF writers have been saying all along.

As I watched the City Council meeting on tv recently regarding the Union Pacific Trail  it is becoming noticeable that these meetings are being hijacked by unhinged liberal women, young people from our city colleges, and non-English speaking women needing translators. It is clear that these individuals, many who are being groomed to create the “appearance” of a majority, are not tax paying homeowners. They are demanding that city leaders kowtow to their demands because they are the loudest voices in the room.  

It is unfortunate that Mr Dunlap chose to placate these individuals who had a disrespectful and inappropriate tone towards anyone who disagreed with them. It is appalling to see hundreds of thousands of city dollars, let alone a penny going towards such a ridiculous project as this, when there are so many other more serious issues. Drug dealers, drug addicts, homeless individuals, and criminals on bikes that come into our neighborhoods at night to steal and burglarize properties are the inhabitants of this property where they hang out at night. This is where you can see holes cut in the chain link fence at Independence Park, and many other locations where they leave their bags of possessions stuffed into the bushes. I liken this to Fullerton’s beloved Methadone Clinic that is next to the historic US Post office on Commonwealth that I had to visit when the Sunnycrest post office was temporarily closed. Meth addicts with tattoo tears next to their eyes hanging out at the post office blocking the stairs, and post office access causing fear as they jumped up and pretended to run after customers when they left. Why I have never been back to that post office.

The out and out lies about this being the perfect location for a nature trail is laughable yet disturbing. This location is as far as it gets from a peaceful nature locale. If you enjoy a “nature trail” with a jackhammer going off frequently, note that the BNSF Railway often hauls 60 to 150 cars each time they blow through the city. A person next to you talking are steps away from a roaring rail line – not a relaxing place for a conversation. These trains with up to 100 rail cars  are moving over 125 tons alongside proposed sections of this nature trail with families, and potentially children riding bikes. In addition, many speakers completely lied about this location being “lined with homes.” This location is flanked predominantly on both sides of the railroad with Williamson Ave. and Truslow  where there are solid tightly packed commercial/industrial/service businesses, and an extremely dense amount of the most filthy dirty auto repair businesses in Fullerton most notably on Williamson.

There are security cameras on all sides of Fullerton Ford. These cameras record the truly unbelievable crime taking place on Williamson and nefarious activities coming from the railroad area. Brazen organized crime gangs commit daring thefts at the tracks stealing hundreds of thousands of merchandise recently. A call was made to the Police Dept. of a crime in progress at the trains/rail line. This call to report a  crime was not reported to the “Call for Service” log that is on the Fullerton Police website. If there is a dead body, or crime in the area of the BNSF rail line, or significant organized crime moves the criminal activity onto the street that started at the rail  line, from what I understand these crimes may not be reported at the City Police Dept. When my husband first called, he was told by the police Dept. that these crimes near the rail line are under the jurisdiction of the Sheriff department!  When these crimes go unreported, this information then does not appear in the media. There are many mixed messages on this subject as the information changes depending on what officer you speak to. This creates a significant false sense of safety and security for the public at large, especially when a “nature trail” is built next to such a foul, unsafe environment. 

Last weekend we had to see with our own eyes the area of this proposed trail. As we drove and walked near these businesses along the rail line we noticed it was shockingly dirty, desolate, and trashy, with junk cars and refuse. More garbage, graffiti, empty bottles of alcohol and other disgusting items left on the other side of the fence at Independence Skateboard Park. I am curious if every City Council member walked the entire length of this proposed “nature trail?” Did they feel safe? Did they notice that this section of property along the BNSF Railway is one of the most decrepit, and disgusting areas of Fullerton? 

Our city is broke and we are now adding more long term maintenance costs. Those 176 trees and any bushes will be dead in no time. All sprinklers and water will be quickly abandoned (as in previous projects) and lighting will be broken and not maintained. The trash and garbage laying around our city right now can’t even be cleaned up! This walk along Williamson where there is a mattress, and refuse of all kinds that have been there for 9 months along with trash along the length of that street, at the end of cul de sacs and opposite side on Truslow is a constant. I am all for trees and landscaping, but the city has allowed miles of landscaping median shrubbery along Bastanchury and other areas to die. It was originally created as a “Scenic Corridor,” we now call Bastanchury a trash and weed corridor. Our city cannot maintain the parks we already have. This will be a rogue neglected area of crime that will go unreported because it lies on the BNSF railroad line. 

This sweet benign “perfect” location for this faux “nature” trail is a joke on the citizens of Fullerton. This project is like putting lipstick on a pig. I never use this phrase, but it fits this project perfectly. The public was fleeced by the screeching women at those meetings. The proposed renderings of the project are very misleading. Where I live – The Fullerton Observer is not the mouthpiece or moral majority for the City of  Fullerton.

I am sorry I was not at that meeting, I know this is too little too late.