Another Nail in Pringle’s High Speed Rail Coffin?

Always get your picture taken in front of a flag. They won't notice your hand in their pocket.

The Voice of OC is reporting that the Feds are finally getting tired of Anaheim Soon-to-be-ex-Mayor-for-Hire Curt Pringle’s misdirection of High Speed Rail priorities to feather his own Anaheim nest.

It appears that the Feds have suddenly realized that they require that the initial track be laid in the Central Valley – not in a stretch of territory already covered by existing rail and commuter lines, and where a high speed rail line makes virtually no sense.

Good to see the US Gov’t get one right.

In other news, the HSR hired a former Parsons Brinkerhoff executive to be project manager. Hmm. That’s a tentacle that may need to be lopped off.

Gee, we told it to stop.

And finally, more good news: the new Guv is said to intensely dislike Pringle’s HSR shennanigans.We know he got our letter.

So maybe soon Pringle will be off the HSR board althogether. And that would make for an early Christmas.

Against All Odds

Here’s Fullerton Council candidate Jesse La Tour, standing on the corner of Chapman and Harbor yesterday pitching his handmade campaign for Fullerton City Council. Click and enjoy.

Well, that’s pretty damn cool if you ask me: a guy having fun standing up for himself. His ideas? Debatable. But you’ve gotta love the stripped down simplicity of the whole thing: no IEs, no union or repuglican support. This guy would be a hundred times better than the empty sack Bankhead or the hollow log McKinley.

So here’s to you JLT! Thanks for the effort.

Like Father, Like Son? Sign Thief May Already Be on Probation… for Food Poisoning!

There’s an old adage that goes: the apple never falls far from the tree.

Remember when we traced the “No McKinley” sign thief’s white van back to Roland Chi’s supermarket in Garden Grove?

Tomorrow's Special in the dumpster?

Well, multiple sources have identified the photo below of the Fullerton sign thief as a close family friend of Roland Chi; very close, in fact. These people have identified the miscreant as Roland Chi’s own father, Jong Sik Chi, who is also the co-owner of Roland’s filthy Garden Grove market.

Busted. Again.

Well, that would explain an awful lot. Like the use of the family vehicle to commit another crime. Could it really be true?

If so, Chi senior may have wandered out onto thin legal ice.

See, according to the court documents linked below, the Elder Mr. Chi can hardly afford to be breaking the law. Senior Chi is still on probation for the 2009 AR Supermarket food poisoning incident, and the first condition of his plea agreement specifically commands him to Violate no law(s), or else.

Read the plea agreement

Presumably that would include petty theft and vandalism. In fact, according to an amateur translation of this court document, violating the terms of his probation could put him back on the hook for 2.5 years in prison!

Roland Chi’s entire campaign operation seems to built upon chronic and congenital dishonesty, disregard for the law, and criminal activity. There seems to be no connection between the Roland Chi Family and anybody’s standard of ethics.

You just couldn’t make this stuff up if you tried.

Back to The Bat Cave!

Biff. Zap. Wham. Take that Roland!

When I was just a young Peabody there was a show on TV called “Batman.” It was campy and stupid and highly entertaining.

One thing I never quite understood, though, was how come nobody ever followed the Batmobile back to the Bat Cave – you know, just to find out who Batman really was.

Holy Tainted Shrimp, Batman, how'd they find us?

Fortunately, at least one Friend in Fullerton showed more curiosity and initiative than any of the incredibly stupid denizens of Gotham City.

A couple of days ago we reported The Case of the Missing No McKinley Signs, a case that we predicted would be a real brain teaser for Fullerton’s versions of Chief O’Hara and Commissioner Gordon. Remember the little man and his white van? Click on the image below and check out the license plate.

We told you to hide your tags, genius...

Well, now observe the image below, captured outside Roland Chi’s AR Market in Garden Grove, where all those people got food poisoning and behind which they barfed their guts out; and where Roland Chi ignored all those inspection failure notices and was finally rung up by the DA. Here’s some of their impressive fleet of rolling stock. Click on this picture, and note the license plate number on the van.

Meanwhile back at Stately Wayne Manor...

Yes, folks, we have a match!

And yes, FPD, you can go ahead and take the credit for the bust. This one’s on FFFF! Will you be wanting a receipt?

“Job Killer” Nelson Kills Job: Sidhu’s

Old Hide and Seek Sidhu is getting pretty desperate. His squalid excuse for a campaign started putting up signs proclaiming that 4th District Supervisor Supervisor Shawn Nelson is a “job killer.” Of course they ripped off Bushala’s format, but imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, as they say.

WTF?

Of course nobody is supposed to know that Sidhu can’t name a single job Nelson has ever killed; and that apart from a few chicken flippin’ jobs at his El Pollo Loco in Glen Avon, some campaign prostitutes, and the dude who cleans out his peacock cage, Sidhu has never created any.

No, Harry. Assclown is not a job.

Oops, sorry. Nelson did kill one potential job – Harry Sidhu’s attempt to be a County Supervisor!

Comic Genius – Another Priceless Sidhu Moment

DOUBLE UPDATE: While searching the dark corners of our FFFF blog-vault, deep in the basement of the Fox Fullerton, I just came across this gem: a video moment so pure and wonderful that it must be shared again. And again. Until we can safely say that Hairball Sidhu’s political “career” is over, once and for all.

UPDATE: I came across this earlier post today as I was thinking about “The Joke’s on You” post. This really is too good not to show yet again. Will we see a repeat performance by the Sidhu clan in the waning days of this year’s campaign? Don’t bet against it. Sidhu has an almost limitless capacity for clownish behavior.

Although we don’t get many glimpses of Hide and Seek Sidhu these days, video clips of his performances do exist. And some, like the one I share here, reveal a man who has seemingly missed his calling in life. Instead of a fast food operator and a political aspirant, Sidhu really belongs on a vaudeville stage someplace.

Let me tell you, I renounce negative campaigning. Until I run again. And again. And again.

Here’s a priceless youtube clip starring  Sidhu at that golden moment two years ago when Sidhu lost his nerve and started shredding his mailers in his campaign against Mimi Walters for State  Senate. It’s brilliant comic performance art, and as usual he drags in his family to perform as extras in his hilarious political theater. Watch them dutifully shred his hit pieces against Walters as he introduces his rag tag collection of political allies – just about the only people who showed up (oh yes, I see you Bill Taormina!).

By the way, this clownishly hypocritical gesture didn’t help Sidhu at all. He was thoroughly pummeled and lost every precinct in Anaheim.

Video courtesy of our pals at Red County.

Pringle’s Perplexing Pitch for Public Prosperity

An HSR project? Capital idea! Let's get down to brass tax...



If anyone had any doubt about the validity of a high-speed rail project in California, all they need to do is read a succinct editorial by Steve Forbes in the online edition of Forbes magazine.

Typically we think of high-speed rail projects as a local affair, but Forbes demonstrates that it’s really a not-so-original template for the grabbing of public money, and can happen just about anywhere. The ratio of dollars spent compared to the percentage of the public who would actually end up using such services is dramatically out of proportion.

Is this Anaheim Stadium?

Forbes points out that high-speed rail projects are a relatively risk-free ticket for politicians to further their careers, fleecing the taxpayers big-time in the process. The fact that the proposed line from Anaheim to San Francisco would cost an estimated $43 billion should be enough to make any sane person think twice, and perhaps even lose a little sleep, but apparently Mr. Pringle is immune to such basic human contemplation.

What? Me worry? Are you kidding?

This sort of shenanigans on such a grand scale would never occur in the free market, it’s only under the guise of government serving the public good that such perverse misuse of public funds could take place legally. Just what planet is he from, anyway?

HSR? Hah! What we should really be considering is a transporter!

So Why Did Rackauckas Endorse Roland Chi After Criminally Charging Him?

Your guess is as good as mine.

The charges leveled by the OC DA Tony Rackauckas against Roland Chi were as long as your arm, and stemmed from the tsunami of flagrant and persistent health code violations at a Garden Grove market. The case appears to have finally culminated in a plea agreement reached last April.

The dining experience was not world class...

An alert Friend calling him/herself Vic Tayback noticed that our hapless DA, just a few short months later, has lent his name to the Chi Fullerton Council campaign as an endorser! Wow, that’s setting the bar pretty low, even for Rackauckas, and of course not only makes you wonder what T-Rack’s endorsement is worth, but also to contemplate the composition of the man’s moral fiber – if any exists.

Jesus, it's not like he actually killed anybody...

Rack has been criticized in the past for his inability or unwillingness to pursue political corruption in OC – like Harry  Siduh’s blatant perjury. Now it appears he is willing to endorse just about any kind of misfeasance.

And Now for Nothing Really Different: Yellowing Observer Bemoans Loss of Fox Block Boondoggle

Dive! Dive!

The folks who write stuff for the Fullerton Observer are either really dumb, or really….

Aw, Hell I can stop right there.

Here’s a bit from page 5 of the recent edition of the bird cage liner noting the reconstruction of the McDonald’s outlet on Chapman and noting that the Council’s failure to blow six million bucks to move it a couple hundred feet has caused the Fox Block project to go belly up and implies that somehow this put the renovation of the Fox Theater in jeopardy.

Wrong! The council finally acted responsibly last summer when they pulled the plug on an emergent disaster of their own creation. And wrong about the “renovation” bullshit, too. Notice how the Observer casually insinuates the idea of “renovation” into the “Fox Block.” Apart from the theater there is nothing to renovate, of course. But the two things were never tied together – except to manipulate the under intelligent.

The whole monstrosity was tied to the Fox Theater restoration to tap into the emotional support for that and gin up support for another downtown monstrosity of corporate welfare. Of course the crew of the S.S. Observer is devoted to the idea that keeping Redevelopment bureaucrats and parasites employed is job one, and common sense be damned.

What? I can't hear you.

Added to the unintentional high-larity is the writer’s assertion that the developer “spent hours” designing a new Mickey D’s that matched the FHS architecture. Well, he may very well have spent a few hours. The product looked like it.

Instead of bewailing the loss of a sure-fire failure, the Observer should be asking what sort of accountability is going to be demanded of the idiots who cooked up the Fox Block mess in the first place – bureaucrats and electeds, alike.

Where Was Roland Chi Three Short Years Ago?

Proud to call Fullerton home. Said the same thing about Garden Grove two years ago.

Living in Garden Grove, apparently.

Okay, first things first. Never heard of Roland Chi, before? There’s probably a real good reason for that. The Fullerton City Council candidate running to replace Supervisor Shawn Nelson has lived in Fullerton for less than three years. At most. Here’s a snippet from the minutes of the Garden Grove City Council that was thinking about a replacement for Janet Nguyen:

April 16, 2007: It was moved by Mayor Dalton, seconded by Council Member Nguyen, that Roland Chi be appointed to fill the vacancy on the City Council. Council Member Nguyen spoke about Roland Chi’s many achievements at a relatively young age, including the Garden Grove Farmer’s Market. Council Member Broadwater moved a substitute motion to appoint Steve Jones to fill the vacancy on the City Council. Council Member Nguyen seconded the motion. Council Member Rosen commented that Mr. Chi is too young, needing real life experience that comes with age.

As Roland coyly puts it on his own website: During this time, he was appointed to a city planning commission and later chosen by his peers to serve as Chairman.

Well that’s pretty sneaky, not informing his readers that he never served on Fullerton’s Planning Commission. It was in another city, and less than three years ago.

But Roland’s a real climber alright, and has recently joined up in the right Fullerton Rotarian/Chamber crews. But will it make up for no real accomplishment?

Hmm. A candidate pops up out of nowhere looking for a political future.

I love you all...

And who does this remind you of? How about Julie Sa, who popped up like a weed in 1992, bought the election, embarrassed the City for eight years, and who finally pulled out in 2000 when it was discovered that she was actually living in Chino Hills?

Well, Hell, anybody can legally run for office in Fullerton so long as they actually live here; but has the political process become so cynical that some guy with almost no history of residency here is willing to put his name on the ballot alongside people who have served the community for years?

Just some food for thought.