Author: Travis

Posted onFullerton 2010

Bruce Whitaker is Running for Fullerton City Council

by 26 Comments on Bruce Whitaker is Running for Fullerton City Council

Here’s some big news. Fullerton resident Bruce Whitaker just pulled papers to run for city council.

Given the current crop of candidates, it’s safe to say that Bruce is an early favorite. He’s likely to get the endorsements of both Supervisor Shawn Nelson and Assemblyman Chris Norby, along with the GOP endorsement.

Why? Because Whitaker has a long history as a successful tax fighter and a proponent of property rights and personal freedom.

And now on to the chronicles of Bruce Whitaker:

Bruce entered political activism in 1992 when he became incensed at the largest federal tax increase in U.S. history and the largest state tax increase in California’s history under Governor Pete Wilson. He became active in the city of Fullerton the following year when he led a successful effort to recall a majority of the City Council and repeal unnecessary utility taxes. That repeal has saved more than $150 million for Fullerton taxpayers to date.

After the Orange County bankruptcy, Bruce Whitaker debated against tax proponents and authored numerous guest editorials which helped defeat a bankruptcy sales tax in 1995, resulting in more than $2.2 billion in taxpayer savings.

Bruce founded the Fullerton Association of Concerned Taxpayers (FACT) in 1996, a group that successfully stopped the Gray Davis Administration from pushing an unconstitutional $12.7 billion bond offering. Later, FACT sued again to stop a $2 billion pension obligation bond which was also pushed without voter approval.

Bruce is currently the O.C. District Director for Assemblyman Chris Norby and serves as a member of the Fullerton Planning Commission.

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Posted onDowntown Fullerton

Metrolink Expanding, But Where Are The Riders?

by 18 Comments on Metrolink Expanding, But Where Are The Riders?

The following commentary was sent to us by a friend who is concerned about a questionable Metrolink service expansion from Fullerton to Laguna Niguel.

A fourth track is currently being built at the Fullerton Station, exclusively for Metrolink’s new Orange County service — dubbed Metrolink Service Expansion Program (MSEP) by the folks at OCTA. I believe the concept is flawed from the start, and last I heard it is costing taxpayers at least $417 million.

Anyone up for a ride to Laguna Niguel?

I’ve asked numerous people at Metrolink how OCTA justifies the demand for this service. Nobody has an answer. Since it will run between Fullerton and Laguna Niguel only, it’s totally useless for commuters needing to get to Los Angeles. In my experience riding Metrolink, there are very few passengers riding such short distances in Orange County. If a person can afford $14 for a round-trip ticket Fullerton to Irvine and back, there’s a very good chance they already have a car and won’t bother to ride the train.

Furthermore, this service won’t appeal to bus riders unless OCTA drastically reduces the fares. That won’t happen… they just raised the fares again on July 1st. OCTA’s pipe dream to operate this service “every 30 minutes” makes a stupid idea all the more ludicrous.

There’s an angle to this which will affect the Fullerton Station (and the surrounding area) in a big way. Since the northbound trains terminate at Fullerton, the station area will become a layover terminal (akin to an airport) for people needing to get to Los Angeles. Suppose somebody takes the wrong northbound, thinking it goes to Los Angeles, and finds themselves in Fullerton having to wait HOURS for the next train to Los Angeles. There will be people sleeping on benches, sleeping on the ground, leaving their trash all over the place, etc, etc. The local restaurants will have to deal with freeloaders using their bathrooms. It just won’t be a good situation.

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Posted onBig Brother

Another DUI Checkpoint

by 19 Comments on Another DUI Checkpoint

Tomorrow night hundreds of law-abiding citizens will be stopped and questioned at a Fullerton DUI/license checkpoint while a few dozen officers stand around drinking coffee and earning overtime pay.

Unlike the previous checkpoint in May, the location of this one is being kept secret. If you want to know where the checkpoint will be, try hanging out at the local bars, where word of the location will spread immediately.

We’ve talked about how these checkpoints are extremely ineffective, nabbing only a couple of drunks while deploying a huge amount of police resources at our expense.

The police department has struggled to explain the lack of significant arrests, and has resorted to justifying the checkpoints as mere “safety education.” Our highly trained and well-compensated police officers have been reduced to handing out M.A.D.D. flyers in the middle of the street, one car at a time. That’s a task that could easily be done for free by M.A.D.D. volunteers in the bar parking lots. Of course, that approach wouldn’t be very lucrative for the police department.

These checkpoints are ineffective, invasive and expensive. It’s time to replace them with regular DUI patrols.

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Posted onFullerton City Council

Time to Tow Jones & Mayer Away?

by 14 Comments on Time to Tow Jones & Mayer Away?

Attorneys are expensive for a reason… they’re supposed to be smarter than the rest of us. But once again our high-priced legal experts from Jones and Mayer have failed to impress.

In haste to find a new revenue generating scheme, the Fullerton Police Department worked with Jones & Mayer attorney Elena Gerli (of former bicycle nuisance fame) to draw up an ordinance that would raise towing fees and create a new “franchise opportunity” within the city. For Fullerton motorists, that translates to more fees for the same ‘ol service. But I digress.

A series of tow operators gave detailed testimony that passing the ordinance would be a violation of several state laws. The City Attorney then gave a sketchy rebuttal (more on this subject in a future post) that failed to mitigate the council’s concerns, Sharon Quirk-Silva quickly took the lead in sending the attorney back to the drawing board and calling for a study session to prevent another legal mess for our city.

Was our attorney outsmarted by a group of tow truck drivers? It seems like it. We’ll find out in a few more weeks, but not until they’ve squeezed out another round of billable hours.

Why do I feel like we’ve been here before? Let’s see…  a bureaucracy’s insatiable desire to increase revenue combined with poor legal advice, leading to eventual lawsuits and thus diverting any potential “profits” into the welcoming arms of Jones and Mayer.

Ah yes, it’s the red light camera disaster all over again.

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Posted onFood and Drink

4th of July Celebration at IvyCrest Montessori

by 2 Comments on 4th of July Celebration at IvyCrest Montessori

We pass along this invitation to a rockin’ 4th of July party put on by the folks at IvyCrest Montessori to celebrate their 40th anniversary. Have fun!

Make sure you mark your calendar for the 4th of July, when IvyCrest will be pulling out all the stops and treating everyone to an entire day of wholesome family fun including games, complimentary food and beverages, performances by current students, music and entertainment!


IvyCrest will play host to Grammy Award Winner, Tom Chapin, local favorite “Sing Along with Jules” and wildly entertaining Fantastick Patrick and Friends. This 40th anniversary school year is a very important event in the history of IvyCrest. The celebratory weekend will also mark what would have been the 80th birthday of Mrs. Smith, the mother of Ms. Holly Smith Constantin who currently owns the school. Every family has their own traditions when it comes to special occasions, and in the Smith family, education and supporting the school was a legacy that they passed down to their daughter.

In this spirit, Ms. Holly wants to share the joy and inspiration of her mother’s dream for IvyCrest with all the alumni, children, and families that have been touched by the school over the last 40 years. We welcome you to join us for some wholesome, child-friendly entertainment, take advantage of the opportunity to tour the historical Hale House and newly renovated campus, or simply enjoy a safe 4th of July among family and friends.

Please RSVP and let us know if you would like to join us. The cost is free and the whole family is welcome. Please join us between 10AM and 7PM for wonderful entertainment, food, beverages, and wholesome fun for the whole family!

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Posted onMSM Falls on Face

Observer Smacked Down

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Nobody told us about the depth charges.

Previously we noted the Fullerton Observer’s legal maneuvering in an attempt to add itself to the city payroll. Last week we found out that Sharon Kennedy’s court filing had been met with objections by both the Orange County Register and the City of Fullerton.

The City’s objection is based on the same points we brought up a few weeks ago – namely, the Observer is not printed within the city, it is not printed weekly and it doesn’t have a bona fide list of paying subscribers as required by law. That’s three strikes for the Observer.

City of Fullerton’s Objection

The city calls into question Sharon Kennedy’s own filing, where we learn that the Observer boasts a whopping 598 paid subscribers and a monthly online distribution that rivals FFFF’s daily hits.

Next we have an objection filed by OC Register attorneys, which finds fault with the notice that Kennedy filed for her own hearing. The Register sums up the problem by saying “It is ironic that the Petitioner [Fullerton Observer] is seeking to publish important legal notices, yet cannot even publish its own Notice correctly.”

OC Register’s Objection

Kennedy pushed out her hearing to the end of July. I suspect she will drop it all together rather than suffer further embarrassment.

Bottom line: Kennedy’s dying cause here is to get the Fullerton Observer onto the city payroll. We’ve already demonstrated the paper’s inability to criticize city staff, engage in any kind of investigative journalism within city hall or participate objective reporting all while claiming that it is a legitimate newspaper. It’s hard to imagine any of these conditions improving should Kennedy’s paper wind up on the taxpayer’s dole.

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Posted onBig Brother

CHP Threatens Bloggers Over Free Speech

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On June 7th a few of us took a banner onto a public sidewalk along a freeway overpass in Fullerton to participate in constitutionally-protected free speech in support of Bill Hunt for Sheriff. Almost immediately, a CHP officer told us to leave or we would be ticketed and removed.

Citing the 1st amendment, we declined and held our position for nearly an hour.

Eventually backup arrived and we were threatened multiple times with arrest, although the officers would not say which law was being violated. Here is a clip of the event, which reveals several disturbing statements made by the officer.

We decided to leave after the officer began to quiver with anger and his threats of arrest became more forceful.

The officer then suggested that we were being paid and then made disparaging remarks about the candidate who we were supporting. Those statements were extremely unprofessional and suggest that the officer’s intentions may have been political in nature.

We have been informed of similar accounts of intimidation of sign-holders by the CHP at other freeway overpasses throughout Orange County on that same day.

A complaint of officer misconduct will be filed with the California Highway Patrol shortly.

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