Chronic Failure Archives - Page 65 of 68 - Friends For Fullerton's Future

March 29, 2012March 29, 2012Chronic Failure

The Jaw Dropping Cost of the Fullerton Police Department

When you’re getting top-notch service you might not be inclined to quibble much about the price. But if you’re being provided law enforcement services from an organization that has employed perverts, perjurers, thugs, con men, pickpockets, and killers; and that has, and will ring up millions more in costly civil lawsuit judgments and settlements, you may not be inclined to feel so charitable.

Here are some interesting facts on the per capita cost of law enforcement services from some surrounding towns. The formula is pretty simple: take the total 2011-12 budgeted cost for the cops (lock stock and gun barrel), and divide by the number of people in the city based on the 2010 US Census data. The results are interesting.

The 60,000 citizens of the City of La Habra pay $15,000,000 for their police force, and that equates to $250 per capita. In Placentia the 50,500 inhabitants budgeted just over $11,000,000 for their cops for a figure of $219, per capita. The City of Yorba Linda pays the Brea PD $11.3 million to police its mean streets at about $176, per capita. The Orange County Sheriff’s Department has just submitted a proposal to do the basic job for $9.6 million, or just under $150 per person.

In Fullerton the budgeted cost of the Police Department for 2011-12 is $37,259,455. For the $135,161 people of Fullerton that equates to $276, each.

Why does the Fullerton Police Department cost so much more than surrounding jurisdictions with smaller departments, and hence with less opportunity for economies to scale? Well, there’s a jail to operate, I guess. Other that I haven’t got a clue. You’ll have to ask Jones, or Bankhead, or McKinley or maybe one of their supporters. They must know. After all they are boasting about their support from the law enforcement union.

March 29, 2012March 28, 2012"Dick" Ackerman

“Recall No” Lays Giant 2012 Fundraising Egg. Also Fouls Own Nest.

by Joe Sipowicz30 Comments

When you have a crappy product it’s pretty hard to sell. Think Yugo.

But really? Won’t anybody help the gerontocracy cling to power in Fullerton? Apparently, almost no one will. It could be that contributors to the cause in the fall were underwhelmed by the bang they got for the bucks they handed over to Tricky Dick Ackerman and The Human Salamander, Dave Ellis.

ellis — The metamorphosis into an oxygen breathing creature was slow and painful.

Yep, Protect Fullerton-Recall No filed their 460 on Monday for 1/1/12 through 3/17/12. The results? Somewhat less than impressive.

$4,224.00 raised

$9,765.70 spent

$3,841.69 left over

Most of the funds were from early in January – before they sent that last pathetic mailer advertising the recall. The only recent donation was $2,000 from some presumably ancient lady named Mary Ransom.

Holy Smokes! Dave Ellis really took them for a ride. $2,500 to Delta Partners. $500/mo to host that crappy website.

View the statement

By the way, did you notice that $250 from the Santa Monica cop union? I did.

March 26, 2012March 26, 2012"Dick" Ackerman

Banners expressing love for Fullerton draw praise…

by Joe Sipowicz158 Comments

Bannerlove — Makes ya feel good. Oops, watchit there, just step over the bodies and the civil rights!

Thus spaketh Lou Ponsi who seems to be doing his level best to avoid real news and even to parrot the nonsense peddled by the anti-recall crowd.

Ponsi seems really impressed with banners stating how much folks love Fullerton. Ponsi doesn’t seem interested that the operation is the brainchild of downtown businesses who have profited off of the City Council’s crazy wild west show; nor in the irony that these essentially anti-recall messages are hung on public property. No, that would take independence and intelligence, traits that Ponsi simply doesn’t possess.

Of course Ponsi echoes the notion that the one and only problem is the minor altercation last summer that left Kelly Thomas’ brains in a Transportation Center gutter, and of course he ignores the reality a phone call made by – a downtown business, that may very well have an I Love Fullerton banner in front of it.

Ponsi2 — Really? I don't know anything about that stuff. Wow!

Lou must have a short or self-serving memory if he can’t remember:

FPD cop Todd Major – convicted of fraud, 2011.

FPD cop Kelly Mejia – plead guilty to grand larceny, 2011

FPD cop Albert Rincon – accused of a dozen sexual batteries while in uniform causing a rebuke from a federal judge and a $350,000 settlement (so far), but actually “separated” for something else (jeez how bad could that have been), 2006-2011.

FPD cop Vincent Mater – “separated” after destroying evidence in a Fullerton jail suicide, identified as an untrustworthy “Brady cop” and suspected of a roll in the false identification in the Emanuel Martinez case. Charged by the District Attorney,2011.

FPD cop “Sonny” Saliceo who through laziness or malice, permitted or encouraged the mis-identification of Emanuel Martinez who subsequently spent five months in jail.

FPD employee April Baughman who was recently arrested on charges of theft from the FPD property room over a period of two years. 2012.

A lawsuit by Veth Mam against the police department and FPD cop Kenton Hampton for a laundry list of civil rights violations and false prosecution. 2011.

A lawsuit by Andrew Trevor Clarke against FPD cop Cary Tong and half the FPD for a laundry list of civil rights violations. 2012.

A lawsuit by Edward Miguel Quinonez against the FPD and Kenton Hampton for even more civil rights violations. 2011

And let’s not forget the eventual civil and civil rights suits against the balance of the FPD Six (including our old friends Kenton Hampton and Joe Wolfe). 2011.

Then in non-police matters there’s the little problem of the City Council giving away land worth millions for free to campaign contributors; and giving away huge subsidies to the bag man who runs the anti-recall campaign. 1996-2012.

And finally let us recall the biggest scam of all – the perpetuation of the illegal water tax for fifteen long years that went, in part, to pay the salaries and pensions of the very city council that looked the other way year after year. 1996-2012.

Hey, Lou? Any of this ring a bell? What a punk.

March 25, 2012March 25, 2012Chris Norby

Quirk-Silva Gets Opportunity To Do The Right Thing. Then Doesn’t.

by The Fullerton Shadow193 Comments

Quirk2 — I know I said that. But that was way back yesterday!

Tuesday was a big day for Fullerton Mayor Sharon Quirk Silva. Only the day before Quirk-Silva had issued a bold press release to her pals in the liberal blogosphere stating that she was going to request that her colleagues on the city council suspend the illegal 10% water tax. She even helpfully explained why the new 6.7% number was a load of manure.

Here’s what she said, quoted verbatim from a press release sent to an admiring Liberal OC: “I will also call upon members of the city council to join me in a motion to stop any further diversions of water revenues to the general fund until these questions are answered,” Mayor Quirk-Silva asserted.

Naturally, when the chips were down, SQS chickened out. Don’t believe me? Here she is, right after Councilman Bruce Whitaker made the motion she herself had said she was going to make, that is, agendize the suspension of the illegal 10% tax on our water.

Oops.

Well, there you have it. Quirk decided to side with the blowhard who attended (and fell asleep at) the Water Rate Ad Hoc Committee meeting, and put off the decision to do the right thing for some other day.

The courage of Monday morning evaporated by the next afternoon.

What a leader!

March 24, 2012March 24, 2012"Dick" Ackerman

Oh, Damn. Another FPD Brutality Lawsuit in Federal Court

by Joe Sipowicz68 Comments

Pat-McKinley-Cops-300x206 — You lookin' at me?

Nearly a year ago FFFF started what would turn into a long string of investigations into the FPD Culture of Corruption by telling the tale of a young man who claimed that he was beaten and abused by Fullerton cops during a downtown arrest.

There were plenty of skeptics here, and there was a barrage of personal abuse leveled against the man by anonymous FPD goons. At least there was until we published the results of an internal investigation, here, in which at least part of the victim’s assertions were confirmed.

Well last week another of Pat McKinley’s chickens emerged on the horizon, coming home to roost. Andrew Trevor Clarke filed a federal civil suit against Fullerton PD employees Tong, Contino, Hampton, Bolden, Salazar and Sellers.

Read the complaint

Sellers? Good call, but I wonder why Clarke didn’t include former Chief, present councilman Pat McKinley. After all, he will proudly tell us he hired all of ’em.

All I can say is the lawsuits are piling up so fast we’re going to need wings to stay above the legal paperwork. And I wonder how much this one is gonna cost us.

March 23, 2012March 24, 2012Chronic Failure

Water Main Breaks In Front of Water Reformer’s House

by Greg Sebourn300 Comments

The irony, astonishing. The coincidence, unnerving. The big picture, never clearer.

If you could choose a place to break a water line, would this be at the top or bottom of the list? It’s in front of my house this morning…again!

This is just around the corner from the house that exploded yesterday and has many questioning the water systems integrity and capability when taxed with fire services. Did the sudden demand on the system place too much stress on the water lines? One would think so but I have not been able to speak with the Water System Manager, Dave Schickling, or the City Engineer, Don Hoppe, to ask.

After you and I have contributed $27-million through the water tax since 1996 to the City’s General Fund, you would think the City would have this under control.

A City of Fullerton representative contacted my wife to tell her that, because the leak is slow, they’ll be out TOMORROW, on a Saturday, to fix the line. Can you say OVERTIME? Seriously.

If the City was ever going to try to demonstrate water efficiency and commonsense responsible water management, you would think they might want to expedite a water main break. I wonder how many other breaks occurred since yesterday…

March 22, 2012March 23, 2012"Dick" Ackerman

Asleep At Switch, Bankhead Waterboards Self Fighting For Illegal Tax

by The Fullerton Harpoon51 Comments

When the topic of the Fullerton’s illegal 10% water tax was brought up the other night, Councilmember Bruce Whitaker was right there to propose agendizing the immediate suspension of the tax. And Triassic, soon-to-be recalled Don Bankhead was there to stall, stall, stall.

The funny thing is that Bankhead cited his presence at the Water Rate Ad Hoc Committee meeting as some sort of evidence that he knew something the others didn’t. Bad idea, Bonehead.

See, if you’re going to brag about going to a meeting it might be an excellent idea to stay awake during it.

March 21, 2012March 21, 2012Chronic Failure

Welcome To The Third World?

by English Major149 Comments

Imagine your delight when a faithful Fullerton public works crew shows up to repair those potholes that you and your neighbors have been asking the city to fix. Well, you really are delighted, especially since all records of your original calls were lost by the city.

Then imagine your disappointment when the city employee drives away and you inspect the repair job:

Asphalt Patch — Fullerton Asphalt Brigade Fail

We will no doubt be told that there just isn’t enough asphalt or man hours to do the job properly, an excuse as old as public servantry. But whose fault is it that City infrastructure has been neglected go for so long?

Isn’t that the City Council’s responsibility?

March 20, 2012Chronic Failure

New Lawsuit For Fullerton

by The Fullerton Harpoon99 Comments

Malvern — Image purloined from Register.

It never rains, but it pours, as some folks say. It seems that the City of Fullerton has been hit with yet another lawsuit, which likely means more payout from us and more pelf for the City’s contracted attorney, Dick Jones (no, the other meat head).

Lou Ponsi of the OC Register, writes about the lawsuit, here.

It transpires that a 58-year old Fullerton High teacher and motorcyclist named Jeff Rupp was wiped out at the intersection of Euclid and Malvern in early 2011. He died from his injuries and the family has brought a wrongful death suit against the City. The basis of the suit is that the intersection is deficient and dangerous. A $2.9 million claim by the family was denied by the City last year.

Well, the intersection is dangerous. No doubt about it. It’s got that funky flashing yellow left turn arrow which is confusing the first time you see it. Anybody turning left in either direction had better be careful; and anybody going straight through had better be careful, too.

Still, it’s pretty hard to lay the beatdown on the taxpayers of Fullerton because of bad drivers.

March 19, 2012March 19, 2012Behind Closed Doors

Water Wars Continue

by The Fullerton Shadow59 Comments

Teri Sforza of the OC Register has done another piece on Fullerton’s fraudulent 10% water tax and the equally fraudulent study commissioned by the City Council to justify keeping as much of the tax as they can. Naturally the consultant ginned up some phony rent value for City owned property that water reservoirs sit on! In fact the bogus rent topped $1.3 million, a figure so absurd that even Mayor Sharon Quirk took offense. It’s a good thing Ms. Quirk is running for the State Assembly or she might not be so concerned about the wear ratepayers getting ripped off in an illegal scam. Whatever. At least she finally seems to have somebody who knows what’s going on advising her.