Author: The Fullerton Harpoon

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.

Our new friend, sweet young Elijah Manassero, has written a letter to selected Fullerton City Councilmembers and FFFF got a copy. This communication is very is ignorant and confrontational; and if the writer thinks it is going to persuade through reason or threat, he’s sadly mistaken.

The topic is the Bushala lease revision at the Santa Fe Depot that would be expanded to include the abandonned loading dock area. Here’s what tender, innocent Elijah had to say to Councilman Nick Dunlap:

Dear City Council,

I’m writing to express deep concern about the lease agreement approved for Mr. Tony Bushala. The terms are lopsided, irresponsible, and betray the values you claim to uphold: fiscal responsibility, transparency, and local control.

Worse, they come in the context of political donations from the very party benefitting. This is a breach of public trust.

⸻

Councilmember Dunlap,
With your background in commercial real estate, you know how bad this deal is.

Section 10 of the agreement allows Bushala to assign or sublease the lease to any entity controlled by George, Tony, or Salma Bushala, including shell companies. This eliminates oversight, obstructs transparency, and gives one political donor unchecked long-term control over public property.

Even more troubling: the lease includes rent credits that discount the already-low rent by up to 75%. That means Bushala can pay pennies on the dollar and then turn around and sublease to a third party at market rate, pocketing the profit with little obligation to improve the property. The City receives nothing from this resale.

You know this isn’t standard in municipal leases. Cities typically reserve the right to renegotiate when property is flipped for private gain. That clause is missing. The power to cancel a lease or require public bidding? Gone. That’s not fiscal responsibility. It’s a giveaway.

This lease is also next to the development, The Tracks at Fullerton Station, which makes the low rent and numerous benefits even more egregious. Mr. Bushala can lock-in a low payment now, before major development takes place which will raise the value of the surrounding area.

You say you believe in local control. But locking the public out of a city-owned property next to a major transit hub until 2060, while giving control to a donor network, is the opposite of local control. It’s donor control.

Ah, poor, sweet boy. Completely uninformed; and he doesn’t let ignorance interfere with the enthusiastic gush of opinion. Elijah wants to come across as knowledgeable and yet shows his political motivations at every misstatement. He’s obviously Ahamad Zahra’s latest toy, and he shows it.

It’s a bad deal because Elijah was told it was.

1. The term “shell company” nonsense is rolled out for sensational and perjorative effect. Really the object here is to secure and expedite future assignment rights for the leasee, acceptable to the landlord, too. There is nothing illicit or objectionabl about this; it’s not uncommon.
2. Excitable young Elijah’s next objection (he’s even more troubled!) is a “rent credit” of 75% – lowering the rent even more. Poor, sad Elijah. He’s referring to the construction rent credit that offsets rent by applying the contruction cost to rent over a long time. But the poor boy misunsterdands (or pretends to). The 75% figure refers to the qualifying amout of the credit – 75% of the construction cost – agreed to by the City. Construction rent credits are not rare, in fact they are used all the time, althought young Manassero doesn’t know anything about it. At the end of the lease the owner gets a built facility, in this case commercial/retail space in the otherwise useless loading dock. And, by the way, how does this impressionable sprout know what’s “standard” in any sort of lease?
3. Newly blossomed Elijah seems to think that something is being “flipped” and a “resale” is going on. Oh, well, how can you even respond to nonsense like that?
4. Finally! The young bud mentions “The Tracks at Fullerton Station” a project that will make the Bushala’s “low rent” even more “irresponsible”egregious.” How, Elijah doesn’t say. And he doesn’t mention that “The Track” developers are convicted conmen, have missed all of their required milestones, and are embroiled in a lawsuit with the heirs and assigns of the original mastermind, Craig Hostert. And Elijah isn’t done omitting facts, probably because Zahra never told the eager youngster: “The Tracks” (that Zahra voted for) amounted to a fantastic giveaway, entitling property that increased in value geometrically and was concurrently sold (by Zahra, again) for 6 cents on the dollar: a real giveaway. Naturally, the land involved was never offered to the public in the form of a developers RFQ. Finally, if “The Tracks” ever happens I’ll fly with callow Elijah to the moon on gossamer wings.
5. Our puerile interlocutor wraps up by asserting that the lease will somehow “lock out” the public from a city-owned property. I have no idea what this means. We could guess what Elijah means, or what he thinks he means, but really, why bother?

Nick Dunlap is involved in commercial real estate. As such he knows that the Santa Fe Depot space is highly unique and not in the way typical real estate types use the phrase. The three parts, not counting the loading dock, are comparatively small, noncontiguous areas that are hard to lease; the Bushala’s are also responsible for a share of the maintenance that would otherwise be paid for by the public. The Loading Dock is of no use to anybody but the Bushalas: there is no access to the dock except through their existing leasehold. In other words the rents here are not comparable to other properties downtown and certainly not to any other city leases. Dunlap surely knows all this, even if sweet, young Elijah and the Kennedy Sisters and Zahra don’t.

The public’s trust is not being “breached” as asserted in young Elijah’s attempt to make his rhetoric take flight. It’s actually being tended to in a way that will generate sales and property taxes to the city and to the county.

On Tuesday the Bushala Depot lease agreement was not voted upon. It item was continued until July 15th.

But that didn’t keep a gaggle of Zahra followers from trying to continue the narrative of subsidies and below market rate rent.

Our new friend, tender young thing Elijah Manaserro, local scholar, was there to do just that. And a few other callers in.

My favorite speaker was the itinerant pest Curtis Gamble, whose near homelessness makes him qualified to opine on real estate deals.

When public comments were done, Zahra showed his role as coordinator of the opposition. He wanted comparative market rates, he said; there won’t be any, but okay, fair enough. But then he displayed his fundamental ignorance by including agreements with The Summit Restaurant and the Boys and Girls Club – completely different properties.

The fact is that the Santa Fe Depot doesn’t have any “comps” in Orange County. The historic building is is unique and made up of several disparate areas, each of pretty small space; in other words, hard to rent out. And the Loading Dock, proposed for inclusion in a revised overall lease, is only connected to an area already leased by the Bushalas. Adaptive reuse will require a huge outlay of money to effect structural reinforcement, enclosure and interior finishes. And because there is no place for kitchen or restrooms, it is functionally useless for anybody except the Bushalas who have ten year lease extension options.

Here’s the hypocrisy part. Remember the ill-fate “boutique hotel/monster apartment,” an unsolicited proposal with no RFP, no RFQ, no RF-anything? Do you remember any of Fullerton BooHoo raising Hell about that? Me neither. I do remember that Ahmad Zahra and Shana Charles voted to give con-men Johnny Lu and Larry Liu a $14,000,000 price subsidy on a parcel they upzoned themselves. Talk about short-term memory loss.

Hopefully when this item returns, staff will explain (based on their extensive expertise) the expertise Fullerton Boohoo is always praising – that the deal they negotiated is not a subsidy and that rather than losing money, the deal will bring in tax revenue to the City and to the County; and that letting the Loading Dock fall down doesn’t help anybody – even those taxpayers Zahra and Charles pretend to care so much about.

On tonight’s City Council meeting agenda you’ll see an item about a lease revision at the historic Santa Fe Depot between the City (owner) and the leasee – Bushala Brothers. Inc.

Apparently the Bushala’s have been trying to get a lease on the entire loading dock portion of the Depot for the better part of 10 years while rolling it into an updated lease for the entire building. These efforts seem to have been met with the usual obstructionism from City staff, who in the past seemed happy to stall and temporize.

But mirable dictu, the Age of Miracles isn’t past! A lease has finally been agreed, and the opportunity to see a successful adaptive reuse of the loading dock into a commercially viable space may be at hand.

Happiness all around, right?

Heavens, no! Enter Ahmad Zahra and Fullerton Boohoo. The new running dog for this dog and pony operation is a sweet young thing named Elijah Manassero who writes articles for the Fullerton Observer attacking Tony Bushala and using the phraseology of Zahra and Vivian Jaramillo. Apparently Elijah has taken to social media to proclaim his outrage over the Depot lease.

Crazy deal? Insanity? Really, innocent, young Elijah? That’s what you wanna go with? No “City taxes” are spent on this arrangement and there is no subsidy, ya poor, dumb sap.

Now we may be sure that the “well below market rate” nonsense was fed to him by Zahra or somebody else who knows even less about commercial real estate – like Skaskia Kennedy who is also parroting the idiot “subsidy” line. The fact is that there is no other potential tenant with any interest in the loading dock and never has been.

A tax-paying tenant on the loading dock would increase sales taxes to the City. Having no tenant contributes nothing, a fact that has escaped poor young Elijah and the younger Kennedy Sister.

Over thirty years ago the Bushalas were the only non-subsidy demanding respondent to an RFP by the City of Fullerton to lease and restore the Santa Fe Depot, a fact reflected in the lease value – then and now. The restoration was successfully performed and the building is now on the National Register of Historic Places – an undeniable and rare success story for Fullerton Redevelopment.

More recently, the Bushala’s have donated tens of thousands of dollars in labor and material to help volunteers perform stabilization and repair efforts on the loading dock roof structure that the owner – the Fullerton taxpayers – haven’t had to spend a dime on. More malfeasance, naive Elijah?

It’s way past time to put the loading dock platform to productive use – use that is profitable to the taxpayers pliable young Elijah and Fullerton Boohoo pretend to care so much about.

And tonight’s the time to finally do it.

At the June 3rd Fullerton City Council meeting, George Bushala directly asked Shana Charles something I raised a few weeks back when I discovered that her husband, Andre Charles was paid $4000 by the marijuana workers union that was invested big time in the ill-fated council campaign of Vivian Jaramillo.

Obviously, the issue raises questions about Ms. Charles relationship with the legalized dope lobby.

Her response to Mr. Bushala was pathetic. You’ll have to ask my husband about that, she said cavalierly through her idiot grin.

Hey, wait a minute “Doctor” Charles. California is a community property state, meaning that you benefited from that four grand just as much as your loquacious hubby. Your husband is not a public figure making policy decisions for the people of Fullerton. You are. And why should anybody have to chase down Mr. Charles on his daily rounds?

By the way, will you be showing that $4K on your Form 460, presuming you ever get around to filling it out? Will you declare yourself ineligible to discuss cannabis related issues, as your followers demanded (unnecessarily, it turns out) that Councilwoman Valencia do with regard to campaign donors? If not, why not?

As an aside, my favorite bit of the exchange came when “Dr.” Ahmad Zahra identified the union in question as a grocery store workers organization, as well as a cannabis workers crew. And this outfit isn’t a lobbyist, he proclaimed.

Hmm. Of course we remember that Zahra appointed the OFCW political lobbyist, Derek Smith to the ad hoc Fiscal Sustainability Committee so we know he’s lying about the lobbyist thing; but we also knew he was lying because his lips were moving and noise was coming out.

Why would grocery store workers union give a rat’s ass about a city council election in Fullerton that has almost zero control over their interests? And other than recruiting a few dozen potential union members from dope store workers why would the national union HQ flood $60,000 to Jaramillo’s election? Smart money places the donation of that kind of loot right back to the cannabis lobby itself, bankrolling the effort to elect pro-dope Jaramillo.

Zahra also made a point that it was bad to vilify unions, something nobody had done.

Andre Charles is some sort of political consultant for Democrat politicians and causes. That’s what he tells us on his rather uninformative website. What he does between elections is not mentioned. He is also the President of the North Orange County Democrats, and his name has surfaced in connection with the phony and perjurious Scott Markowitz candidacy in Fullerton last fall.

My current interest with Mr. Charles has to do with his activities in the same election. Why? Because he was paid $4000 by a political action committee sponsored by the United Food and Commercial Workers Local 324 – a union for grocery store employees. You may remember the name of this group: Working Families for Kitty Jaramillo.

“Working Families” worked hard for Jaramillo, funneling $60,000 through the national HQ in Washington to fund their support for Jaramillo. Charles got some of that gravy:

Well, there’s nothing wrong, so far. At least on the surface. He’s a Dem working for Dems and that’s his job, part time or otherwise. It probably seems a little strange that a grocery store worker’s union would be involved in a local, small-time election.

But of course that’s not the whole story. See, Working Families not only represents the guy trimming lettuce in the produce section of your supermarket; they also represent workers trimming another green growing thing, namely cannabis.

The real money motive in marijuana dispensaries comes from the legalized dope cartel itself, not the promise of the union dues of a few dozen workers; even the least cynical person must wonder a little exactly who ponied up that $60,000, laundered through the national HQ.

Anyway, I digress. The real issue here is not the disheveled Charles’s job, day or moonlight. It’s the fact that his better half is none other than Shana Charles, the bloviating and sanctimonious councilmember for District 3.

Let me synopsize: Mr. Charles is the financial beneficiary of four grand in marijuana lobby money to do something to prop up the campaign of Vivian Jaramillo, a vocal cannabis dispensary advocate. And his fellow beneficiary, Mrs. Charles, is in a position to agendize reopening the issue of legalized MJ in Fullerton and using it as a remedy for Fullerton’s budgetary woes. And she would also be able to influence the zoning regulations that make winners and losers in this business, to wit: the dispensary store owners and their immediate residential neighbors.

A few months ago the Kennedy Sisters – who scratch and peck out the Fullerton Observer – made sure to review the fall campaign financial activity of their enemies, Jung, Valencia, and Dunlap. They omitted investigation of the same for their failed darling, Jaramillo.

And they never once addressed the activities of Working Families during or after the election. The silence was deafening. Even if they had they would have glossed over the relationship of marijuana money and the spouse of a councilmember they hold dear.

When the defunct disaster known as Walk on Wilshire was in its oxygen tent, the Observer, Ahmad Zahra, and a few of their running dogs tried real hard to make a legal issue of campaign donors affecting council decisions. Hopefully the same solicitude for public probity will be applied, when appropriate, to Mrs. Charles, who was the direct beneficiary of a big monied interest that poured tens of thousands into a Fullerton political campaign.

A few weeks ago a guy named Matthew Ali wrote a post for the Fullerton Observer about the issue of the prohibition of non-government materials from City property. I wrote about it, here.

Okay, so the Kennedy Sisters found somebody to pitch their usual brand of editorial drivel masquerading as of news – fodder for the sheep that consider the Observer indispensable reading, and nothing new.

But the story doesn’t end there. Let’s let Matthew Ali tell it in his own words, in an email sent to people he talked to in developing his article:

Hello, this is Matthew Ali

If you are receiving this email, it is because you were interviewed for my article that appeared in the early May issue of the Fullerton Observer. First and foremost, I need to apologize for what was published under my byline. The words printed with my name attached were not the same as what I wrote. Multiple things were changed, and those changes were made without my knowledge or consent. Some things were taken out of context and changed into an attack on some of the people I interviewed.

In my estimation, the article as printed is not journalism. Nor is the published version something I can stand by. As of Monday, I have removed myself from the publication and will no longer be contributing to the Observer. This is entirely because of the liberties that were taken with my article. If what was printed read as an attack, that was never my intention.

Attached you will find an earlier draft that more closely aligns with what the article was supposed to be. It’s a bit rough and lacks the benefit of editing. But I am sending this to you without changes so my actual intent and what I wrote can be seen and the difference can be understood.

Again, I apologize for what was published under my name. If any of you have questions or would like to chat about the article, please do not hesitate to reach out.

With warm regards,

Matthew Ali

Who to believe? Pretty easy. Sankia Kennedy has no credibility and has been known to modify submissions to suit her editorial preferences. And this email suggests irresponsible editorial license.

I don’t think we’ll be reading anymore articles or blog posts by Matthew Ali for the Fullerton Observer. Let’s chalk this up to yet another excellent reason why the Fullerton Observer doesn’t belong on City property.

Part 2 of an essay sent in to FFFF.

Caught in a culture war
When self determination and neighborhood
trust are at stake

The End of Single Family Housing Zoning
Shortly after the Eaton Fires, I saw posts on forums where people anticipated rebuilding, “anything but single family housing.” Even though R 1 zoning has been the California dream, it has been phased out, first with the introduction of Accessory Dwelling Units in 2016, then later, Jr-ADUs. ADUs offer a quick way to add housing and gain property taxes, potentially doubling a neighborhood population. However, the utility infrastructure stays the same, while a greater demand is foisted onto first responders. Cities are left to assume the expenses and resource demands of more people. R1 zoning is deemed by the YIMBYs as wasteful and selfish, and limits availability of housing choices. NIMBYs point to a harmonious life of space, predictability and security. But the YIMBY’s weren’t done dismantling R1 zoning, so they introduced a new tactic: SB 9.

The Problematical SB 9

To add more firepower to the ridding of R 1 zoning, YIMBYs backed SB 9 in 2021 to allow lot “splitting” but only in R 1 neighborhoods. Lots must be a minimum of 2400sq ft. They can be divided 60/40 or 50/50 with up to two units on each new lot that meet the setback and height requirements. According to the City of Fullerton, the structures may not be more than 800 sq. ft. For lot splits, one unit must be owner occupied for three years. For two unit projects, all units can be rented. Housing that has been occupied by a tenant for the last 3 years, may not be torn down. The reality is 2-4 units are not going to make a fast enough difference in reaching 13,206 units. Since no requirements in the bill specify affordable housing, there are no public funds available for these projects. Because of the high per-unit cost of building and a lower ROI, in the first two years only 75 lot splits were approved across California, as opposed the approval of 8800 ADUs. Confusing? Attempting just to describe it is fodder for mistakes. But ideological wars are both heated and have many twists and turns. This is an attempt to solve a housing shortage with a culture war pushing it from behind.

In Lieu Of Cows, Create A New Preservation Zone
Because this is politics, there are loopholes, places where SB 9 does not apply: Farms, hazardous waste sites, high fire risk zones, ecological conservation areas, and historic preservation zones. Short of adding cattle or flooding city lots, NIMBYs stepped up to blanket entire neighborhoods as “historic preservation zones.”
 YIMBYs believe that this is an abuse by impassioned locals to “weaponize preservation.” They claim NIMBYs don’t want to preserve as much as they want to keep state-mandated multi-family and affordable housing out under the guise of “homey” and “charming.”

But SB 9 can intentionally be used to get people to side with Preservation zoning, as happened at a community meeting held for the purposes of finding out about this proposal. All anyone had to do was say the word, “Fourplex” without understanding nuances of the bill, along with the many restrictions that make the implementation of this both costly and difficult.

Last night the City Council voted 3-2 to move ahead with a study of a Charter City status for Fullerton. Jung, Dunlap and Valencia voted to look into it. Zahra and Charles voted no.

It was painful to sit through comments, most of which were obviously scripted to attack the motives of Mayor Fred Jung, and were all full of nonsensical misinformation about staggering financial costs, legal entanglements, and of course the old standby cliché: if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.

These Fullerton Boohoo worthies were obviously coached- and coached sloppily – by Zahra and Charles, and maybe even by reading the opinions of Sanskia Kennedy in the reliable Fullerton Observer – reliable to make stuff up if it helps the narrative. All of the excuses had been debunked, but that doesn’t matter. Commonsense is a not a common commodity among these folks.

Old grievances were aired of course, mostly the money pit Waste on Wilshire, and the Trail to Nowhere© redux in which “the people” have spoken – a few dozen out of a City of 160,000.

My favorite line of attack that was parroted by several speakers was that Fullerton has bigger problems – a fiscal precipice, and horrible roads. The fact that these disasters developed under General Law City status made their “argument” comically ironic. Is it or ain’t it broke?

Joshua Ferguson was on hand to deliver a hard, cold slap to the commentary by pointing out that the citizenry can become more involved in Fullerton affairs in the Charter process, not less. He was interrupted by boos from the faithful.

A Mr. Matt Leslie called in to support a study, and to admonish the speakers who had said (insultingly) that it would be too complicated to figure out and people would just vote yes (because they are so dumb), the typical top-down patronization of ordinary people by liberals. “The people want (fill in the blank)” doesn’t apply to a possible majority regular voters – only the claque of 12 or so who show up to harangue the council majority on a regular basis.

Another zoom caller expressed astonishment that so many adults, especially old ones, were so scared of the monster under the bed.

Which brings me (at last) to the real issue of charter status, expressed without bias. The proverbial devil is in the details. A charter can be as simple or as complex as people want. True the final charter version will be put on the ballot by the City Council, but lots of smart people will be able to scrutinize the text long before an election to approve or reject it. Don’t like it? Mount an anti-charter campaign. Zahra and Charles must have lots of campaign money lying around. Put it to work and get voters to just vote no.

I would be remiss if I failed to point out the noxious presence at the meeting of our old friend, Vivian Jaramillo, still very bitter about losing in last fall’s election, and then being rejected as a planning commissioner. Her “argument” was that a charter would make “Little Dictator” Fred Jung able to give all the City’s construction jobs to the Bushala Brothers, a claim based on her own long standing vendetta with the Bushalas, not any facts in evidence.

An interesting post popped up on the Fullerton Observer blog yesterday. It isn’t interesting because of content. It’s interesting because it was actually advertised as an opinion piece for a change; and it has an named author: Skasia, one half of the intellectually challenged Kennedy Sisters who publish the Observer. Because of this latter fact, the post is chock full of misinformation, weak generalizations, and double talk. Of course it is completely unpersuasive.

The topic? The awfulness of charter cities in California, and a list of supposed reasons to fear and loathe them.

Somebody called “Fran J” responded with a comment methodically dismembering all of Snakia’s talking points. Here’s what Fran J had to say, and please note the final two paragraphs of Fran J’s comment:

Fran J

May 11, 2025 at 12:36 pm

The opposition to Fullerton becoming a charter city isn’t rooted in facts or public interest—it’s rooted in political bias and a reflexive rejection of anything introduced by Mayor Fred Jung. The arguments raised against charter status collapse under scrutiny, and publications like the Fullerton Observer, which should be advocating for local empowerment, have instead chosen to stoke fear and misinformation.

Sacramento is not slowing down. From housing mandates to labor laws, the state continues to erode the power of cities to govern themselves. Charter status is the most effective legal tool we have to protect our autonomy. It doesn’t mean we ignore state law—it means we have the power to decide when and how to apply it in local matters.

Fullerton deserves better than to be handcuffed by outdated state mandates. We are a city of educators, entrepreneurs, artists, and families who care deeply about where we live. We have the intelligence, the creativity, and the civic pride to shape our own future—and the charter is the legal framework that lets us do just that.

Claim: Charter cities reduce accountability and invite corruption.
Reality: Charter cities still operate under California’s transparency laws, including the Brown Act, the Public Records Act, and the Political Reform Act. Nothing about becoming a charter city removes oversight or ethics requirements. In fact, a city charter gives residents the power to implement even stricter ethics rules, term limits, or transparency standards than state law requires. Suggesting otherwise ignores both the law and reality.

Claim: Charter cities concentrate power in the hands of a few elected officials.
Reality: This is a talking point, not a truth. Charter cities are governed by documents written with public input and approved by the voters themselves. That’s democracy—not consolidation. It’s ironic that the people making this argument seem far more concerned with who proposed the idea (Mayor Jung) than with the content of the proposal itself. The fear of power concentration is a distraction from the real issue: whether Fullerton should control its own local affairs or remain bound to Sacramento’s one-size-fits-all mandates.

Claim: Charter cities face more lawsuits and cost taxpayers more money.
Reality: Any city—charter or general law—can face legal challenges. The legal risks are not higher simply because a city adopts a charter; they only rise if a city writes a sloppy or reckless charter, which Fullerton has every opportunity to avoid through proper public process and expert input. More importantly, charter cities have more flexibility to reduce costs in public contracting, land use, and local services, often saving taxpayers money long term.

Claim: It will silence public voices.
Reality: This argument couldn’t be more backwards. Charter adoption requires public engagement, input, hearings, and a vote. If residents don’t support a specific provision, they can vote it down or demand it be changed. The process invites deeper civic participation—far more than passively following distant state mandates.

Claim: Charter cities can raise taxes more easily.
Reality: False. Charter cities are still bound by Prop 13, Prop 218, and Prop 26—meaning no new local taxes can be imposed without voter approval. The only thing charter status allows is greater efficiency in how cities spend public money—not how they raise it.

Claim: It isolates Fullerton from state or county support.
Reality: There is no evidence whatsoever to support this. Charter cities still receive state funding, participate in county programs, and are eligible for grants. Nearly 125 cities in California are charter cities—including Anaheim, Santa Ana, Irvine, and Huntington Beach. None of them have been “cut off” from support. This is fear-based rhetoric, not grounded in fact.

Let’s be honest—the real reason groups like the Fullerton Observer are opposing charter status has nothing to do with policy and everything to do with politics. If this proposal had come from anyone other than Mayor Fred Jung, many of these same critics would likely be praising it as a progressive step toward local empowerment. Instead, they’ve allowed pettiness to dictate their stance, opposing a good idea simply because of who introduced it.

Fullerton deserves better than performative outrage and knee-jerk contrarianism. This isn’t a small town that needs to be told what to do by Sacramento. This is a proud, capable community that can write its own rules, shape its own future, and trust its own residents. Becoming a charter city is a powerful step in that direction—and it’s time to stop letting political grudges get in the way of progress.

ED Response: Wow Fran J – you seem to know a lot about this subject though not everyone agrees. We do have a lot of problems to pay attention to and spend our limited funding on. This seems – to many – to be something that will not be helpful. I agree with you that a study session presenting all sides would be useful. In the past Fred Jung and the council majority have terminated the contract of an excellent City Manager for no reason at great expense and hired an unemployed friend who was not up to the job, tried to privatize the public library, end the UP Trail, and did end Walk on Wilshire – and more – so are not trusted by many who live here and want those things.

Unfortunately “ED” felt constrained to exercise a nasty, unprofessional habit that still plagues Siskyu. “Wow” she says, sarcastically trying to denigrate the commenter. Of course she may just be that surprised that someone actually bothered to read her tripe. She slips up and says she’s for a “study session” but that’s a lie, of course. Then Sakia trails off into a litany of Fullerton Boohoo grievances against Fred Jung and the council majority for:

1. firing an “excellent” City Manager (ED Note: Ken Domer was an incompetent boob)
2. trying to privatize the library (ED Note: and when did this happen?)
3. end the UP Trail (ED Note: the UP trail has always been an absurd boondoggle, but the majority did approve it.
4. end the Walk on Wilshire (ED Note: yes – an idea so damn stupid, and so bad for Wilshire Avenue businesses only a dunce couldn’t see it)
5. “and more” (ED Note: what’s the matter Sanka, too busy soliciting mortuary ads to spin more mythology?)
6. not trusted by many who want those things (ED Note: many people want many things, and many people can be manipulated into believing falsehoods about things they say they want. That’s just demagoguery, and that’s we have representative democracy.

My own favorite part of the editorial was this hilarious hypocritical line from Saksia:

– Charter cities can impose local taxes with significantly fewer restrictions, placing the financial burden squarely on the community.

Since when have the Kennedy Sisters or any of their tribe given a rat’s ass about the ease of raising taxes, except to make it easier. I wonder if Sanka even pays any taxes at all.

A close second for unintentional hilarity was Skiana’s assertion that a charter city would be more expensive in legal costs, another topic that Fullerton Observers have never shown interest in the past as Dick Jones racked up billing based on his own legal misjudgment. More self-unawareness: Sharon Kennedy actually tried to help the City in its absurd and losing legal harassment of Joshua Ferguson, David Curlee, and FFFF. That lawsuit cost the taxpayers plenty.

And even more, later yesterday. Enjoy.

Fran J

May 11, 2025 at 3:38 pm

Yes, I am very familiar with this subject. As a former municipal attorney, I have experience with local governance and legal frameworks. You’re welcome to disagree, but there is a difference between opinion and fact—I’ve provided the latter for readers to consider.

That said, you’re actually reinforcing my point. Your response appears heavily influenced by personal grievances with the Mayor—many of which are either inaccurate or irrelevant to the issue at hand. It’s important for your readers to understand that, as the editor of this publication, you’re approaching this topic with a strong and evident bias.

Readers deserve transparency, not personal vendettas disguised as civic concern.

ED Response: I have no personal grievance with anyone on our council. I was merely listing some of the reasons many in our town do not trust the current majority to make good decisions on our city’s behalf. For instance at the most recent council meeting the majority allowed a memorial plaque for a historic building in honor of a KKK member and at the same meeting banned our university newspaper Daily Titan and the 46-year-old all local volunteer community newspaper Fullerton Observer from continuing to have a rack in the lobby of city hall. You may have read about that in the OC Register, LA Times, Voice of OC, the LAist, or heard about it on NPR or other news agencies or from various Free Speech agencies. These, and other decisions have made residents suspicious of our council majority.

Saska has no personal grievance with anyone on our council. Now that’s hilarious.