FFFF supports causes that promote intelligent, responsible and accountable government in Fullerton and Orange County
Author: The Fullerton Harpoon
The Fullerton Harpoon is a retired commerical fisherman having served many years on the Japanese whaler Nisshin Maru where he unfortunately lost the right side of his brain and his sense of propriety in a Greenpeace attack.
Lost in the brouhaha over his wife’s sudden carpetbagging political ambitions in the 72nd State Assembly special election is the curious fact that Dick Ackerman is very likely going to be a resident soon of the 4th Supervisorial District.
We’re not real sure yet where the Ackermans have decided to take up their faux residence, but chances are pretty good it will be back in Dick’s old happy hunting grounds, surrounded by the love of all his old Fullerton Rotarian pals. And if he does “move” to Fullerton he would be able to throw his hat in the ring for termed-out Supervisor Chris Noby’s job.
Far-fetched? Well, maybe. But the Ackermans seem to be the type of folks who avoid leaving anything on the table, so Shawn Nelson would be well-advised to watch his back…
We recently received an e-mail from our Loyal Commenter Chamber Star, who takes us over his/her knee for undermining the respect due to political officeholders. He/she suggests an alternative approach in a short essay that we reproduce below:
The Friends of Fullerton’s Future has brought up a lot of issues over the last few months and can take satisfaction that many people in town visit the FFFF blog. But I cannot help but think some real damage is being done. Why? Because the blog continually criticizes our elected leaders and does so in a manner that is really just disrespectful. Humor has its place in life but the business of leading government, especially for the betterment of business, is not one of them.
Our elected City Council and School Boards were chosen for their experience and their wisdom, and that is Democracy in Action. Just because you don’t like someone that the majority has chosen, or you disagree with their policies doesn’t mean that they are fair game for ridicule and insult. Why not? because that undermines the very confidence that everyone must have in a system that is so important to maintaining our way of life.
Our leaders have shown their mettle first in getting elected and then at every meeting dealing with issues that would just baffle the rest of us. Their broad experience and wisdom should not be subjected to the rude slapstick of a blog “sound bite” or attempts at witticisms by those who only see the small picture – not the broad and deep policy implications. They deserve our respect, not ridicule.
I am not saying that our leaders are perfect. But they are among the best and the brightest, that’s for sure. Rather than being attacked from the safety of a blog, they deserve a private phone call, or an e-mail, or even a cup of coffee at Starbuck’s as you explain what you think about this or that decision, or upcoming agenda item. They will always meet with you and will always refer you to the appropriate staff member who can explain things satisfactorily.
The City of Fullerton is comprised of a lot of Positive People who want to pull in the same direction to get things done. That is why our Chamber of Commerce is so effective in working with the City for the betterment of the business environment. The Chamber leadership knows that without the City’s help there will be no advancement of the conditions necessary for the very success of businesses throughout Fullerton. With business success comes the sales and property tax revenue we desperately need to hire the very best staff in the State of California.
So it’s time to rethink the negativity and the satire. In the end it will only hamper people from coming together for the common good. I believe we all love our town. Let’s get on the same team, and let’s move forward!
SUCH A LAME APPROACH INSULTS NOT ONLY OUR AESTHETIC SENSIBILITIES, BUT IT ALSO TURNS THE WHOLE ENVIRONMENTAL REVIEW PROCESS INTO A CHARADE THAT JUST SECURES FOR STAFF WHAT THEY WANT: BRICK VENEER.
CONSIDER THIS: THE MONEY SAVED BY ELIMINATING THE USELESS BRICK COULD GO TO ESTABLISHING SOLAR PANELS ON THE BUILDING AND ENHANCING ITS SUSTAINABILITY QUOTIENT.
They just can’t seem to help themselves. Not long ago the City held a “stake holder” gathering that was supposed to display three alternative plans for the proposed new parking structure on Santa Fe Avenue. No sooner had the meeting begun than it became apparent it was going to be one of those typical “here’s what we’re doing so sit down and shut up” meetings.
The image above shows what the City wants the building to look like. The architectural elements look okay except for the hideous brick veneer – that tomato soup colored stuff you see on the building. Brick veneer. The lazy Redevelopment bureaucrat’s material of choice. We recently wrote about it in a pithy post here.
Why would anybody put a brick veneer on a concrete parking structure? Who would put lipstick on a pig? Brick panels spanning impossibly long spaces look simply idiotic – even to the layman who could sense intuitively that brick has little tensile strength; but unfortunately this type of masquerade is par for Fullerton’s aesthetic course – displaying once again the curious parochialism of Fullerton’s taste makers.
But brick veneer is not only stupid architecturally, but is a big waste of money, to boot. And it contradicts the General Plan Advisory Committee’s adopted “sustainability” policy in the General Plan Update, since it serves no function and will have to be replaced when it falls off.
Fortunately it’s not too late to make the right choice here. But we’re not holding our breath.
“To be effective in the 21st century, the Fullerton School District believes that students must be able to develop innovative products and processes using technology, construct knowledge and demonstrate creative thinking.”
Mitch Hovey, Ed.D.
Our previous posts on FSDs Laptop Program have generated a wide array of commentary, some of which has been a bit off the mark relative to the specific posts. So we thought a general recap of problematic issues might be timely at this juncture.
Parents were being coerced into participating in the program
The laptops are way too expensive
Laptops are being lost and or stolen
FSD claimed the laptops were secure
The value of laptops in education is overrated
If anybody wishes to add items or to dispute them – fire away!
The other day we posted about the shameful payoff deal Fullerton’s Redevelopment lawyer Jeff Oderman cooked up with the County in order to get the latter to call off the legal dogs in regard to the City’s proposed Redevelopment expansion plan here . You may recall that the triumvirate of Usual Suspects – Bankhead, Jones, and Keller went for bribe/hush money scheme even though it required an up front payout of $4,000,000 from the City’s General Fund and involved bogus lease back deals in the out years.
Well, we want to thank council members Shawn Nelson and Sharon Quirk-Silva for sticking to their guns in the face of all sorts of institutional and statist pressure to go along with the scam that required the Council to make findings of blight where none exists. This fragile lie was the foundation of the whole rotten expansion superstructure.
It’s good to know we have two representatives who appreciate a concept much-abused by governments in their mania to raise revenue to pay themselves more and more: the truth.
UPDATE: According to an e-mail we received yesterday, our acquaintance “Tenant” reminded us that he did indeed have a follow up conversation with Ms. Kennedy about his situation. We apologize for that error. However the basic thrust of this post remains. You can’t be a reporter and an advocate for this or that specific cause or organization at the same time.
And just to remind our Friends: we are a blog – not a journalistic endeavor and we have never tried to get anybody to believe otherwise.
To those Fullerton Observer observers who still believe that Sharon Kennedy has an atom of journalist integrity, or any objective standards either, we present the most recent Observer edition as our evidence to the contrary.
Last week we posted a story about how Fullerton Interfaith Emergency Services intended to expand their compound in the 500 block of West Amerige Avenue, and in the process how the current landlord had told his tenants to vacate the premises so he could close the deal.
What we didn’t share was the fact that one of the tenants had actually contacted Sharon Kennedy. According to this individual she evinced considerable interested in his plight; but the tenant never heard back from her.
In the Observer’s mid-September issue she gave an answer. Buried in the middle of an article about unrelated FIES issues the author tucked in a few lines about the FIES acquisition of property on Amerige. The article notes matter-of-factly that relocation help would be available for those tenants who need it. Check out left column halfway down page nine.
Of course there was no mention of the fact that previously none of the tenants had been notified that “assistance was available,” no mention of what the criteria for qualification are, and no mention of who at FIES told her that they were going to help anybody.
It sure looks to us like Sharon Kennedy was trying to help her pals at FIES cover up an embarrassing episode long after the fact. Wow! What a crusading reporter!
Well, at any rate, we are glad that someone may be getting something, sometime, somehow. We’ll check in to see what FIES is doing to make things right for the folks they are dislocating.
In the meantime a whole lotta irony is still goin’ on: several genuine, non-subsidized affordable housing units are taken out of the available housing stock and the property, soon to be owned by a non-profit, will be taken off the property tax rolls. Hooray!
We just came across a post by Art Pedroza over at his Orange Juice blog about Anaheim City Councilwoman Lorri Galloway announcing a 4th District County Supe campaign kick-off event.
A while back our friend Joe Sipowicz speculated that Galloway might have been nothing but a shill for John Lewis; a shill whose job it was to get Harry Sidhu to back down and preserve the Anaheim vote for Tom Daly – the heir apparent as selected by John Lewis.
Now it seems that Joe’s guesses were off the mark; or if that Galloway was just supposed to be a shill she is one no longer. In any case this seems like really bad news for both Daly and Sidhu who, if they go through with their plans must split the Anaheim vote one more time.
Some folks say brick veneer is a perfect symbol of the RDRC...
In the post about brick veneer stuck on to the side of the proposed parking structure on Santa Fe (here), admin added a helpful comment that shared the minutes of the Redevelopment Design Review Committee (RDRC) meeting when the parking structure was considered by the committee. Although the members of the committee quibbled with this or that detail of the structure, none of them opposed or even questioned the project architects idiotic statement that the fake brick was there to “relate to” buildings on Harbor. One of the members even proposed the thin-set type of brick to save money
While we have to wonder if the architect had been coached beforehand by staff to pay homage to Fullerton’s obsession with brick veneer, the main point of this post is to ask why nobody on this hapless committee even bothered to question the comical notion that a concrete parking structure needed a fake veneer in order to relate to other fake brick veneer buildings in downtown Fullerton.
And so we repeat our challenge to Fullerton: ABOLISH THE RDRC!
Update: We have received word from an RDRC member that the committe was told that brick veneer was necessary as a CEQA mitigation for a Negative Declaration; that, in effect, the brick veneer would make the building compatible with other brick buildings in downtown Fullerton.
Just as we suspected. This “mitigation” is simply staff’s way of getting what they want: brick veneer. There is absolutely no need to “mitigate” a non-existent problem. If we can believe the RDRC member this was simply a matter of personal aesthetic taste – and poor taste at that.
The Fullerton Interfaith Emergency Services (FIES) is a non-profit collaboration of local folks whose mission is to help people of marginal means subsist, learn job skills, and for some, transitional housing is provided in the FIES compound in the west 500 block of Amerige Avenue.
Imagine the surprise of the tenants at 504 W. Amerige when they recently received eviction notices from their landlord. It seems FIES wants to buy the multi-family property located next to their current assemblage of properties, and the residents have to go. Apparently there are several families living on this property including several kids and even an infant. Some have been living there for over fifteen years and must like it.
It seems nobody at FIES has made it their business to inquire about the fate of the current tenants who now have to find a new home with a comparable rent, and will somehow have to scratch up a new first/last payment on a new place; or if they did, perhaps they dismissed it as not their problem.
We don’t think it’s real nice of FIES to cause the eviction of employed, rent-paying citizens simply because their mission is to minister to people farther down the housing stock food chain. It’s particularly egregious since FIES routinely receives government subsidies to pursue its mission. It must be galling for a taxpayer to find himself on the receiving end of an eviction notice due to the efforts of a taxpayer subsidized organization.
We hope that the good folks at FIES can reach an accommodation with the current tenants to let them stay on until they can relocate, and/or provide monetary relocation assistance. That’s only fair. It would be a painful irony indeed if any of these people ended up as FIES clients in the future.
The Ever Expanding Compound
Finally, the issue of the FIES compound itself needs to be addressed. Is it appropriate for this facility to continue to expand at this location? Is it wise to aggregate this sort of transitional use in a single neighborhood? Continued expansion seems likely to hasten even more growth in the future. What are the permit requirements, if any, for this proposed use, and what does the City have to say about the dislocation of the existing tenants.
With all of the collaborative activities going on in Fullerton, maybe somebody can collaborate on some help for the residents at 504 W. Amerige Ave.
With the disgrace and unavoidable collapse of our State Assembly-zit Mike Duvall of Yorba Linda, a perfect opportunity has arisen for our termed-out 4th District County Supervisor Chris Norby to step into the picture.
Whoo-hoo! The best part is it'll drive Ackerman crazy!
Chris has taken some heat here from some of our fellow FFFF bloggers for his County Clerk campaign which to some of them gave off an aroma of desperation for a job. Well, the politico gods seem to have placed a job right in Norby’s lap – a job at which he would excel – statewide policy – particularly Redevelopment reform. Do it Chris!
