Statewide Stuff Archives - Page 8 of 15 - Friends For Fullerton's Future

January 13, 2011January 13, 2011Arts & Architecture

The Great ARTIC Melt Down

ARTIC transit center — Pringle's Pipe-n-glass Dream

According to an article in today’s LA Times here, the cloudy jewel in Anaheim’s ex-mayor-for hire, Kurt Pringle’s tarnished crown, ARTIC, may not be eligible for $99 million in special Measure M funding. The money had strings attached. However those strings seem to have come loose. And by loose I mean really loose. You see, “Project T” Measure M funds can only be used to “expand” existing stations to accommodate high-speed rail, not build new ones that don’t.

So far the OCTA has pitched over $40,000,000 bucks into this glorified bus station and at this point nobody can show that the high-speed rail choo-choos can even get to it; or that high-speed rail will ever even come to Anaheim. Of course the City of Anaheim (that isn’t paying for any of this) is now saying ARTIC is a “stand alone” facility, which is great, but it ain’t what the voters approved back in 2006: a stand alone facility doesn’t qualify for the $100,000,000 (yes, you read that right) Project T funding.

The hot light of public scrutiny is bound to have interesting environmental effects. The great ARTIC melt-down begins this morning at an OCTA Transit Committee meeting, where newly re-elected Supervisor Shawn Nelson is going to ask members to start reflecting upon their complete lack of responsibility in funding this Pringledoggle.

January 8, 2011January 8, 2011Chris Norby

The Sudden Relevance of Chris Norby?

by The Desert Rat23 Comments

Norby-gets-roasted-195x110 — Mr. Speaker! Let's kill Redevelopment once and for all!

Way out here at the end of Screech Owl Road the silence is almost absolute – only occasionally ruptured by the stray thump of Marine helicopters in the distance. It gives a man time to think in peace and quiet, and I’ve been thinking about Chris Norby ever since his post the other day about the possibility of a stake in the heart of Redevelopment.

I started watching Norby’s political career in Fullerton back in the early 80s. During his days on the City Council he was effectively marginalized by the various majorities who saw Norby as an annoyance and an irritant. His 18 years saw almost no accomplishment at all; ditto his seven years as a County Supervisor, years in which his colleagues saddled you Orange Countians with a massive unfunded pension liability.

The gods were certainly kind to Norby when they presented him with an unforseen chance to extend his professional political career in the form of an open mike and an open Mike’s mouth. Still, what the gods giveth with one hand… 2010 saw a big Democratic majority and an opportunity to pass a budget with a mere 50%+1 of the Legislature. Total irrelevance for an OC Republican, right?

Well, maybe not. For those sly gods also finally presented Norby with an opportunity to be a Capitol player via a monstrous budget deficit and a Democratic governor who actually seems sincere in willing to dismantle Redevelopment – as well as to divert special taxes away from make-work, feel-good programs like the First Five scam.

Governor Brown will have to fight the entrenched Redevelopment lobby that has tentacles wrapped around members of both parties, and a budget proposal that goes after it may well need to be supported by Republicans, too. And when it comes to pulling the plug on Redevelopment nobody has a better record than Norby. A Brown-Norby alliance? Relevance at last? Who knows?

Better late than never.

January 6, 2011January 6, 2011Chris Norby

Redevelopment on the Chopping Block?

by Chris Norby11 Comments

Dear Friends, I just returned for my first full legislative term here in Sacramento, having gained valuable experience serving for the past 10 months since the special election. One announced reform I can embrace is the new governor’s goal of abolishing redevelopment agencies and restoring their funds to counties and schools. As a longtime critic of these agencies, I’ve been called by numerous media outlets and colleagues on issues related to this little understood level of government.

Redevelopment agencies capture 12% of all property taxes statewide-that’s $6 billion annually diverted from school districts, counties and municipal police and fire protection. The funds are largely spent subsidizing private development projects whose promoters acquire land under threat of eminent domain, while 20% pays for low income housing projects.

The government should not be in the business of subsidizing private developers, nor of building housing projects. That’s the job of the private sector. This money needs to be restored to pay for infrastructure and services. Public money should build classrooms, not Costcos.

The agencies cannot be closed, however, until their nearly $100 billion indebtedness is paid off, but a phase-out over time could start, and long-evaded sunset clauses enforced.

While the legislature requires me to be in Sacramento on a weekly basis through June, I’ll keep regular district office hours every Friday. Visit or call 714-672-4734. I’m there for you.

December 2, 2010December 3, 2010Behind Closed Doors

Pringle Outed; AG Yanks Open Closet Door, Shines Light on Embarrassing Scene

by Mr. Peabody11 Comments

Yesterday the State Attorney General handed out an opinion that, yes, outgoing Anaheim Mayor-for-Hire, Kurt Pringle did indeed hold incompatible offices as the Chairman of the California High Speed Rail Authority. For three long years. And that raises all sorts of questions about the ethics of Der Pringle’s votes on both HSR prioritization issues that benefited him and his clients, and City of Anaheim land use issues that benefited – him and his clients. You can read all about it in an LA Times article, here.

Well, we told you so. What will his mom say?

Interestingly the other day the Voice of OCEA did a story on an e-mail exchange between Herr Burgermeister Pringle and his former Director of the HSR, in which he attacks the “core competence”of the Authority’s engineers. The author misses the point, somewhat, in noting Pringle’s critique of the “experts” like so many others in California have done; but the real point is that his anger was based on their unwillingness to defy engineering realities to deliver the HSR line to his already designated ARTIC boondoggle. It certainly wasn’t lost on the recipient of his e-mail who noted dryly that he wasn’t sure if he was communicating with the HSR Chair or the Mayor of Anaheim.

Well, our boy Pringle is days away from being off the OCTA and out of City Hall (except as a lobbyist to his hand selected replacements, of course). But what about his Chairmanship of the CHSRA? Can the new guv keep him? Hard to imagine why Jerry Brown would keep on the HSR a repuglican who has soiled himself and the Authority so badly, if he had a choice.

December 1, 2010December 1, 2010Fullerton School Board

New School Board Members Shipped Off to San Fran Indoctrination

by Travis24 Comments

Even before they were elected, the superintendent let the Fullerton School Board candidates know that tickets had been reserved for them at the 2010 CSBA conference in in the Bay Area, which starts today.

Presumably the California School Boards Association will introduce the new adherents to the ways of the educational bureaucracy. Topics will include unconditional respect, union coddling, collaborating, achievement gapping, revenue generation, tax enumeration and the proper operation of trite awards ceremonies.

Check out the program:

CSBA 2010 Annual Education Conference and Trade Show Guide

It’s loaded with ads for lobbyists and political consultants eager to help young board members navigate the challenges of passing new school bonds and local property taxes.

So will our new school board members drink in the delicious Kool Aid of California’s educational establishment? Or will they withstand the temptation of vacuous adoration from their new group of friends, holding their promises of independence above the cheap thrill of being “liked” by their peers.

I suppose we’ll find out soon enough.

November 20, 2010November 20, 2010About Us

Fleischman Puts ‘Pug in Repuglican

by Grover Cleveland15 Comments

You remember a fellow named Jon Fleischman, don’t you? Well, of course you do. He starred in the now historic 2007 holiday visit video to Dick Ackerman at the latter’s house inside a “secret, gated community” in Irvine.

tricky dick — I still owe Fleischberg for that. Heh heh.

An alert Friend just forwarded a post that was published on the completely hackish blog-for-sale, The Flash Report, of which Fleischman is proprietor. It’s a rousing condemnation of the practice of bogus non-profit, public benefit corporations staging legislative love-ins at plush resorts on Hawaiian islands. The things are bought and paid for by lobbyists who get to corner state legislators at fraudulent “conferences” that are nothing more than schmooze fests, golf and cocktails on the veranda. The Sac Bee gives more info on the latest scams, here. At the end you’ll read about “The Pacific Policy Research Foundation” that just perpetrated its annual scam on Kauai.

Sound familiar? It should.

We reported about the scam over a year ago, here. And the biggest offender of course was the hideous Linda Ackerwoman, bogus 72 AD candidate, who participated in the sham front known as the Pacific Policy Research Foundation that got her and husband, Dick Ackerman, annual junkets to Hawaii. And of course Ackerwoman was an officer of the bogus “charity.”

And to close the circle we have to recall that Fleischman was a big Ackerwoman cheerleader. Ackerwoman. No record, no accomplishment, no residence, no sale. What a difference a year makes.

November 13, 2010November 13, 2010Behind Closed Doors

Pringle Ethics Probe. Break Out The Scanning Electron Microscope!

by admin8 Comments

Uh, oh. More bad news for Anaheim’s outgoing Mayor-for-Hire, Curt Pringle. An FPPC investigation into foreign junkets by the California High Speed Rail crew.

Pringle declared all the gifties large and small from Europe’s socialist governments that are hoping to sell the CHSR good jobs that Americans are too stupid to do.

But the rest of Pringle’s gang at CHSR may not have been so diligent, especially the Golden horde of consultants, yes men, and PR tools Pringle & Co. have brought on board their choo-choo.”Record keeping lapses” unintentional? More hilarity to follow.

From the Register, yesterday.

November 1, 2010November 1, 2010About Us

Pringle Gets Dangling Appendage in Wringer. Again.

by Grover Cleveland3 Comments

The LA Times is after poor Curt Pringle again. It seems he represents all sorts of people up and down the state who have major interest, one way or another, in the California High Speed Rail boondoggle.

Check out the Boy Scout response: Gosh, gee whiz, I didn’t know. Thanks for bringing that to my attention!

PringlePower — You are becoming very sleazy...

For a while now we have shared stories about the manifest sleazes of Anaheim’s Mayor-for-Hire, Pringle, the worst repuglican in the County, who has his dipstick stuck into just about every conceivable honey pot, and a man whose only political principles come with a price tag affixed.

We finally got sick of watching Herr Pay to Play shove his bogus pork and kickback laden High Speed Rail project into California. When our boss discovered a legislative opinion that both HSR Boardmembers Pringle and Richard Katz held “incompatible offices” he reported this fact to the Attorney General.

Only last week tales of unreported foreign trips by Pringle emerged once again. Although we had already shared that story, here, it seems that nobody in the HSR enterprise was keeping track of who was going where. The idea of shipping jobs overseas didn’t seem to bother Der Pringler. Well,what the Hell, France and Germany have unemployment problems, too, right? Even worse, it slipped out that the HSR’s army of consultants and camp followers were getting gifts, too. Lots of them, apparently.

Well, as they say, the fish rots from the head.

And now that the election is upon us and Pringle’s rancid days as an elected official and an OCTA board member are coming to an end, it’s time to do whatever we can to kick this creep off the HSR board and then to kill the greatest boondoggle in the history of California.

October 15, 2010About Us

Fullerton Fire Hero Goes Viral

by admin316 Comments

Our famous firefighter video has become some sort of Internet sensation, bringing in tens of thousands of viewers and building some serious buzz. Oddly enough, the clip seems to be extra popular on computers within the halls of public agencies throughout the nation.

But just in case you missed it, here it is again:

And a special thank you to our anonymous friend, Mr. Oliver Stone. The popularity of this clip has inspired other cinematic greats such as “Cop Gets Schooled” and “Fire Chief Watches House Burn.” Keep ’em coming, Mr. Stone.

October 12, 2010October 13, 2010Behind Closed Doors

CalPERS Delays Scary Pension Reports Until After the Election

by Travis15 Comments

A senior CalPERS attorney just told me that the annual pension liability reports for local agencies, which are normally distributed every October, have now been delayed until after the November elections. The delays are allegedly due to furloughs, but conveniently prevent local pension watchdogs from using the data to promote fiscally conservative candidates and pension reform leading up to the November 2nd.

This year’s reports would be the first to calculate pension liabilities after the disastrous market crash of 2008/2009 which caused CalPERS to loose a large portion of its holdings, which in turn has caused cities’ unfunded liability and annual contributions to skyrocket. But the damage to each city is unknown until the individual reports are released.

How bad will it be? Here’s one example: rough calculations show Fullerton’s “non-smoothed” unfunded liability for itspublic safety plan will soar past $100,000,000 this year, nearly three times the amount presented last year. Throughout the state, the debts shown in these report are likely to be shocking compared to previous filings.

The data would have undoubtedly been used to draw more attention to the dire pension situation in cities throughout California. The reports would have come just in time for local elections, which makes CalPERS’ stated cause for the delay extremely suspect.

The annual “Actuarial Valuation” reports are prepared by CalPERS actuaries for each participating agency to justify annual increases in required contributions. Here is a example of Fullerton’s public safety report for 2008, which is the most recent year available.