If someone takes the time to review the history of Fullerton over the past forty years, one thing becomes shockingly clear: when it comes to building things, maintaining things and planning for things, the City government just can’t do much of anything right. And yet over this long history, the City and the public […]
Fullerton’s Design Standards
Stucco, stucco, and stucco, Fullerton likes a da stucco and brick veneer
Clean and Green: Recycling Bad Ideas
On Tuesday (August 1), the City Council will be voting on the “Clean and Green” initiative, which calls for an affirmation of the City of Fullerton’s Climate Action Plan (available here). What is the Climate Action Plan, you ask? Well, it was a report prepared in February 2012 to make sure Fullerton does its part […]
The Pinewood Stairs Pintrest Fail
Readers here will be familiar with the Pine Wood… excuse me, the Exercise Stairs, that were thrown up at Hillcrest Park recently for the low-low price of over $1.6Million. Let us take a tour of these stairs: After walking the stairs here’s the first thing that came to mind:
Desperate to Celebrate Mediocrity
This Saturday, 06 May 2017 at 10:00 the city of Fullerton is having a Grand Opening for the new “Pine Wood Stairs” at Hillcrest Park. To which the natural response should be something along the lines of “They’re stairs. Why do you need a ‘Grand Opening’ for a set of stairs?”. Why? Because politicians and […]
Fullerton’s Most Useless Bridge
Yesterday, I wrote about the hideous stairs at Hillcrest Park and alluded to the City Council being asked to spend another $5.7 million on Hillcrest Park improvements. This is Park Dwelling Fund money — an important distinction I will get to in a minute. You can read the full Agenda Letter here. A portion of […]
Big Downtown Developer (Me) Finishes Historic Project
After many years, and many splinters, my brother George and I recently finished our latest project. For those that bought into the anti-recall propaganda that I’m some sort big-time developer, well here you go: I moved a 375 sq.ft. house about 200 feet and restored it! To read more about my big downtown development project […]
A 4F Record Year
Well, Friends, 2011 was a record year for our humble little blog. We’ve had 2,013,945 visitors, and counting. I wonder what next year will bring for a blog that all began here, the day I questioned the ridiculous and deteriorating Redevelopment Styrofoam light fixtures at the downtown plaza. See what I mean? That was just […]
Contrasts in Architecture Are Rare in Fullerton
Last month I was walking Independence Mall in Philadelphia and admiring the history and reflecting on what it would have been like in 1776. As I crossed Market Street to go look at the Liberty Bell I looked left and right scanning the streets. Then something caught my eye. The antique cityscape had something shiny […]
ABOLISH THE RDRC!
Update from admin: It’s 2011 and we’re still still catching stanky wiffs rising from the bog of mediocrity known as the RDRC. Yep, they’re still slowing and stalling residential additions, nitpicking the architectural details of private projects and using the know-nothing force of government to bear down on hapless homeowners trying to improve buildings that aren’t […]
And The Winner Is…
Effervescent Emancipator! Dinosaurs, brick veneer, burning money? Yes, Friends, it’s outta here! Touch ’em all! Congratulations to the Fullerton Savage for the winning entry in our city seal contest. Fullerton truly has much to be proud of. Savage, your new Nancy Sanchez CD is on the way.
Fullerton Transit Center: Amerige Court on Steroids?
We just received the following notice from Friends for a Livable Fullerton: The Fullerton Transportation Center “Specific Plan” is an approximately 40 acre project at the southeast corner of Harbor and Commonwealth. Built over the next few decades, it will take up over 6 full city blocks at one of our prime city intersections and will […]
“Would you support our efforts to make our neighborhood historic?”
I received this post from a Friend who wishes to remain anonymous for reasons that you may understand after you read this post. Think historic neighborhoods. Immediately, one’s mind goes to such places such as Bungalow Heaven in Pasadena, Harper’s Ferry, West Virginia and others where houses, landscape, and layout reflect a distinct architectural coherence. What we don’t […]
When is An Historic Resource Not An Historic Resource?
When it’s Fullerton’s Hillcrest Park, of course. Then it’s a resource of a different kind: an opportunity for City Staff to play upon the sentimentality of Fullerton’s park and history lovers to destroy the very resource that is ostensibly being saved. They did it 15 years ago and they are doing it again. I went […]
One Big Happy $23 Million Community Center
Last week, before all of the excitement about Coyote Hills and the one term history of Pam Keller, the Fullerton City Council approved the conceptual plan for a new community center. This eighth wonder of the world is to be built right across the street from city hall and the main library. The existing Boys […]
In Fullerton It’s Only Over When Staff Says Its Over
A few items in 2009 have caused me to reflect on the way things go in Fullerton, the way things have always gone, in fact. My poodle friends have a saying: la plus ca change, la plus c’est la meme chose. Man, that’s Fullerton all over! In Fullerton, no screw-up, no cluster f, no civic disaster ever […]
The Questionable Promise of Technology
Using computers to arrange and sort data is useful for all sorts of things – especially when in comes to creating three dimensional imagery. Nobody can deny the impact of presenting scanned data for medical diagnostic purposes; or the use of scaled multi-disciplinary construction models that can simulate a 3D environment: very useful for ascertaining “clashes” between different trades […]
Some History Behind Architectural Veneers
We’ve made a pretty big deal on this blog about the use of brick veneer, specifically, the way our Redevelopment Agency has always insisted on slathering it on to stuff to try to give the false appearance of historic structure, or under the guise of matching what is supposed to be the building material par […]
God-awful “Fox Village” Gets Even Worse!
Remember those horror movies when the outraged villagers grabbed their pitchforks to have at the monster? What the “Fox Village” monster could use are a few more angry villagers. At the City Council “workshop” on Tuesday the new plans for the existing city-created empty space behind the Fox Theater were rolled out. And while the […]
New Parking Structure Approved. More Brick Veneer in Our Future
On Tuesday our City Council took up the matter of the proposed parking structure on Santa Fe. Since we first reported on this issue City Staff has maintained its ludicrous attachment to the brick veneer panels, and its equally ludicrous position that fake brick somehow satisfies some sort of CEQA requirement – even though WE HAVE […]
New Street Signs: Assessing the Hump
The first thing that came to my mind when I first saw these street signs was: am I the only one that thinks these things look like something I might find at Knotts Berry Farm or the dopey French Quarter at Disneyland? There is something odd about the idea that a street sign needs to be […]
