Government Make-work Alive and Well
Fullerton may be on the verge of financial crisis, but let it not be said that creative ways for its employees to stay busy aren’t possible, if you can find “other peoples’ money” to do it. We’ve seen it in spades on the ridiculous Trail to Nowhere, built mostly with money from an unaccountable and irresponsible State agency whose only observable job is to give away money with no answers to questions even checked for truthfulness.
The next silly project in line comes to us courtesy of the State Legislature, again, in the form of AB 1572 that mandates that “non-functional” turf can’t be watered with potable water. Municipalities are first on the hit list, and that includes the formal lawn in front of City Hall. The item is on tomorrows Council meeting agenda.
The City can declare that the City Hall lawn is functional and walk away. Oh, but that won’t do! We have to get rid of the grass and replace it with drought resistant plantings of some sort or other. This strategy scratches the itch of those who feel moral gestures are more important that facts, who love big government mandates, no matter how footling, and those who want city staff to be happy and productive.
The City thoughtfully promulgated a call for ideas from the citizenry in a press release a couple of months ago. Re-imagine the municipal front yard! A blank slate! A blue sky! The world is your oyster! Presumably your idea will save water and respect the ecosystem, etc., etc. Grateful citizens sent in pictures of idyllic succulented and lavendered walkways!
At least one submission had a sense of the ridiculous nature of this nonsense.
A giant Hornet and a giant Titan! Come to think of it, maybe this suggestion was serious, Fullerton being Fullerton.
But there is no money budgeted, alas! What to do? Well a budget transfer from Water Non-Rate Revenue funds can be tapped. I have no idea where this money would even come from, the Water Fund being supplied by rate payers. Another option to pay for the new, giant cactus garden is to apply for, and get, a grant from the Metropolitan Water District, one of those huge, opaque agencies that practically answer to nobody.
I have to wonder what the ultimate savings would be water-wise, and what the existing cost of watering the grass is. The fact that the City uses free water paid for by the rate payers has always been an issue and naturally no facts about the acre foot volume or the cost to the rate payers are included in Tuesday’s staff report. No data will be presented except the results of the survey done to solicit public opinion.
I could make the pitch that the reflecting pool, steps and lawn were part of a neo-formal aesthetic that went along with the 1962 building, but that would be a waste of my time and yours. Somebody has decided that the pool and the grass is offensive to modern sensibility, and provides an opportunity to engage the public in a feel-good Kabuki drama.
I like the one with the big sports mascot statues. Sounds like something Dunlap would go for.
They could theme one of the holes around that giant hockey stick…make it the centerpiece or a tricky mid-course challenge. Imagine putting through a goalie’s legs or banking shots off the blade. It’s quirky, strange, and totally Fullerton.
Heck, it’s no dumber than the “Railroad Museum” idea was at the time, and at least this one has a giant hockey stick already there.
For heaven’s sake don’t they have better things to do? SADLY, NO ONE WILL SPEAK UP FOR THE DO NOTHING OPTION.
Another unfunded state mandate. Quirk hates Fullerton.
You beat me to it. Another Quirk gift to the businesses and local governments of California.
you mean the “trail to nowhere” that people use every single day? that waste of money?
No, they do not — unless you count the homeless and passed-out meth-heads waiting to be resuscitated.
There’s a Trail Cam. The only people who use it are from Tony Bushala’s gym tenant. So there’s that.
Meantime, UP Park is almost always empty. Eglet says it’s because of ICE!!
Harpoon, you basically admit that Bushala’s objections to the Trail was a ruse. He clearly led the council behind the scenes to approve the expenditure of over $3,000,000 just for his own financial gain.
Just wait until they release the part of the Epstein files that reveal Tony’s trips to the island. Tony is an evil genius and we must stop him now!
Yes, it was all part of a brilliant plan to get a tenant a bonus so he could raise their rent. Even if he loses he wins! All Hail Bushala!!
Bushala and Jung ruining Fullerton.
Aw, sweetie. You mad?
Why you mad, bro?
And BTW, the State was promised 105,000 trail users per year. ‘Member?
ya way more than 30 people walk that trail every day
Haha. Then you have 11,000 users 10% of the projected number. We called that an F back inschool.
Who showed Chris Norby how to use AI?
Good question. GOOOOOOOOOO HORNETS!!
Don’t worry. Connor Traut will fix everything for Fullerton once he’s elected Supervisor. He’ll also mandate gender assignment surgery without parental notice for children aged 5 to 15.
I pointed out to the Observer (in a not approved comment), that they would have a hard time having their “protests” out front of city hall if the lawn was gone. Also asked how it felt that Jung was always 10 steps ahead of them.
The post was not approved, obviously.
As was my last one inquiring why Kitty wasn’t mentioned in their last article acusing Jung and Dunlap of putting election signs on public property.
Oh well.
I thought the same thing. You seek rational consistency. You will not find it there.
Anything negative about the doing of Zahra, Thakur, Andre Charles, etc. will be agressively ignored.
Sharon Kennedy didn’t just ignore the Diane Vena/Markowitz scandal, she helped cover it up. Journalism.
Yep. They’re just too stupid to realize Jung isn’t following them, he’s lapped them. But they continue to obsess over him. I would tell the Observer that the true opposite of love is not hate, but indifference. Their hate for Jung still involves focus and investment. They could learn a thing or two from Jung. Now he’s indifferent!
Jung is a superhero!!!
There is a pedophile in the White House and he is using our military to fight Israel’s war. We have bigger things to worry about.
Provoking the entire world to cover up his crimes against children is EVIL!
You’re crazy is showing. Better tuck it in.
Go live in Iran. I’m sure you’ll love it.
I’d rather live in Israel with the trillion dollar US defense department as my special bodyguard.