No News Is Bad News Archives - Friends For Fullerton's Future

January 19, 2026January 19, 2026Ahmad Zahra

Observing or Stirring Up Controversy?

A Friend just sent over this snippet from a Fullerton Observer “article” about tomorrow’s Fullerton City Council meeting.

“Despite the limited agenda, the meeting is expected to draw public comments regarding the recent selection of the Mayor, the treatment of public commentary, issues surrounding ICE, and the City’s response to violations related to CalPERS.”

Why write about news when you can try to make your own! (Photo by Julie Leopo/Voice of OC)

Once again Skitka Kennedy and her sister Sharon seem intent on generating news rather than just reporting it. Of course this totally unethical stab at troublemaking is nothing new for these people. They love certain intangible abstractions, and if some proposal seems to scratch that itch, then so be it, no matter how fucking stupid it is.

Just tell me what to say and I’ll say it…

First, let’s examine the first sentence. The meeting is “expected to draw public comments…” Says who? Says somebody hoping that somebody will read this and maybe go; either that or remind the usual disagreeable claque that their presence is needed to disrupt the business of the city.

And then there’s the script

First, selection of Mayor, an issue decided a month ago and that has no relevance to anything anymore. The treatment of public commentary is really funny.

Treatment of public commentary? For some reason these fools seem to believe that they actually deserve respect as they berate members of the City Council. Look me in the eye, the Canadian green card holder demands! Sure these nincompoops have a right to speak; but there’s no requirement on the part of the City Council to give them a nickel’s worth of attention, or to adjourn meetings in honor of them.

And the ICE issue: giving $200,000 to undocumented persons for legal and living expenses, money taken from everybody to salve the moral sensibilities of a few. The decision not to fund this irresponsible idea was taken in November and isn’t going to change. Still, hope springs eternal in the cross-wired world of Fullerton Boohoo.

Finally the CalPERS “response” issue, yeah, an issue nobody has even talked about except for one opinion screed written by the the sweet young Elijah Manassero, soi-disant “investigative reporter” for the Kennedy Sisters.

FFFF, however, did publish a post about a possible Closed Session leak by “Dr.” Ahmad Zahra to the tender Elijah, and how the potentially illegal matter had been referred to the District Attorney. Will anybody from the balcony step up to the podium chatter about this, besides the delicate fleur Manassero? I doubt it.

I don’t spark up doobs any more, but back in the. Hey that explains a lot about my career trajectory.

The Fullerton Observer and its proprietors will never change. When you are on a messianic mission of goodness and light, you are unable to draw a distinction between objectivity and fantasy so long as the fantasy rings your bell. It’s an all too common trait in the less educated, and is a complete disqualifier for someone calling himself a journalist.

January 17, 2026January 17, 2026Ahmad Zahra

The Marovic Sidewalk

by Mr. Peabody22 Comments

A new year, and for Fullerton, lingering problems remain a municipal embarrassment, except that the people in charge don’t seemed particularly inclined to terminate them.

The seven year-old boutique hotel has lots of current actors’ fingerprints on it. And then there’s the decades old case of the hijacked sidewalk on Commonwealth and Harbor, heisted by the Florentine Crime Family in 2002, who put a permanent structure on it, attached to a building they didn’t even own. It has never been returned.

Zahra Congratulates Marovic (in green cap) for his lawsuit…against us.

The current owner of the adjacent structure and the business in it, Mario Marovic, made a deal with the City in 2022 to remove the offending structure.

Marovic reneged on the agreement, and boy he reneged hard. The demotion was to start in March 2023 and be done by that July. Nothing started except that Marovic filed some sort of claim and lawsuit against the City for some made up reason, and the the whole mess disappeared into the usual mists of Closed Session.

In the meantime, Marovic has continued to benefit from the add-on as an integral part of his bar – Mickey’s Irish Pub for three years, and counting.

Meet the new proprietor, same as the old proprietor…

Although I can’t verify the rumor, Marovic finally got sick of paying legal bills last fall and decided to perform the scope of his original agreement. A status (secret) of the lawsuit popped up on the October 7th, 2025 City Council Closed Session agenda. This might have led to some new deal.

According to the deal rumor, Marovic was supposed to start removing the addition this month, January 2026. If there was a behind the scenes agreement, it should have been made public, although the City lawyers would proclaim the lawsuits pending until the removal is complete, and therefore not subject to public airing in public. Of course that would make no practical difference, but that’s the way it is – secrecy for secrecy’s sake.

I can’t see Marovic settling anything, stalling has been so fun; but maybe his legal bills are costing him more than revenue from the dozen chairs within the “bump out.” It would be nice to see Fullerton play hardball with this scofflaw, but it probably won’t happen. If the add-on actually does go away, I bet the taxpayers get stuck with the legal bill.

In the meantime the small contingent of “transparency” whiners at City Council meeting, the Fullerton Observer and their tender young investigative reporter Sweet Elijah Manassero don’t seem at all curious about this twenty four year-old scandal. I wonder why.

December 18, 2025December 18, 2025A Step in the Right Direction

Did Zahra Leak Confidential Closed Session Information to Mr. Transparency?

by The Fullerton Harpoon51 Comments

Yesterday I published a post about City Attorney Dick Jones saying the Fullerton City Council had voted in Closed Session to ask the District Attorney to investigate a possible leak of confidential information to the Fullerton Observer.

I methodically eliminated all possible subjects except one – “Dr.” Ahmad Zahra, the pathological pathologist, known manipulator of the Fullerton Observer Kennedy Sisters, as well as the author of the above-mentioned “story,” green sprout Elijah Manassero.

I can’t say if Zahra broke the law by revealing closed session stuff to his tender young protégé, but I do know he missed the meeting completely. The ever-incurious Siskia Kennedy says he was “out of the state on business,” an odd statement given Zahra’s lack of employment, as noted in his Form 700s. Was it because he didn’t want to vote to have himself investigated?

Anyway, here’s the video again, highlighting the Jones statement and Zahra’s MIA.

November 30, 2025November 30, 2025A Manfro All Seasons

The Strange Case of the Ambulance Bonds

by Disillusioned Ex-Hippy21 Comments

Back in March 2025 the Fullerton City Council decided to fire the City’s ambulance contractor and take the responsibility in-house. Why? Well, naturally there’s the official story, which is that there will be some sort of saving, which is nonsense, since it means adding 20 new public employees on the payroll, and was all based on wishful thinking. So instead of shopping out the paramedic business like Placentia did, Fullerton did the opposite, requiring acquisition of ambulance rolling stock and the various other appurtenances like gurneys, etc.

On this Tuesday’s Council meeting Agenda Item #10 proposes a payment plan for this nonsense. Guess what? It looks desperate. City staff is still proposing to finance the acquisition of all the ambulance stuff through acquiring debt, via a master agreement with Bank of America to buy City bonds at a coupon rate of 3.5%, and then use the proceeds to lease ambulances.

Well, there she goes. Don’t worry. There’s more where that came from…

Yes, you read that right. We’re paying for Fire Department empire creation with $2,000,000 credit. The capital repayment and interest on the bonds would amount to $2,175,000 by the time the last bond matures in November 2031. And let’s not forget the dough paid to bond counsel and financial consultants (UFI) who are selling this deal. And oh, yeah, let’s consider there’s now insurance, maintenance, fuel, etc., of vehicles owned by the lessor (BofA), which was all glossed over last April 1st, as was the cost of financing which is over $200,000.

The single Agenda Item #10 staff report sentence justifying the financing is laconic, and notable for what it doesn’t say; that the City still plans to finance the purchase orders for this equipment supposedly issued in April. Here’s all we are told:

“Urban Futures, Inc. (UFI), the City financial advisor, and staff determined private placement financing offers the most beneficial and cost-effective solution for the City.

But there is no explanation why. None at all. Zip. Is the City borrowing $2,000,000 at a lower interest rate that it is making in an investment pool? Who knows? The City Council and the public aren’t informed, just as they weren’t informed when financing was proposed back in April.

The fun aspect of this is that the lease of these ambulances would be rent-to-own, a little con – making the credit-risk-uninformed think they are getting something great. I mean, who doesn’t want to own stuff, right? What good is a owning a six year old old ambulance? I don’t know, but my guess is they depreciate really fast. Maybe even faster than rent-to-own toasters.

I really don’t know what to say about this completely unnecessary move. If the Council had just voted no on the unsolicited plan from the FFD we wouldn’t be looking at having to cover any loan vig at all. Neither the Councilmembers who voted for this – Zahra, Charles, Jung and Valencia had much if anything to say about this bond/lease back in April.

This is how I bought my first car, a 1991 Yugo!

Of course Zahra and Charles don’t give a rat’s ass about wasting money, especially when they script some sort of feel-good performance. Hopefully, Jung and Valencia will change their minds about this resistible offer, but I’m not optimistic. Maybe Dunlap can talk some sense into them.

With Fullerton tottering on the edge of financial meltdown the Council’s behavior towards the fire department (and its union employees) has been highly irresponsible. In October they accepted a one-time FEMA grant to hire a platoon of new “fire fighters” that we will become completely responsible for in 3 three short years, pensions and all.

No, I’m not optimistic at all. The financial leveraging is bound to be used as a pretext to pass a sales tax increase next year. And what if that fails?

November 12, 2025November 12, 2025Ahmad Zahra

Young Elijah Misses Nap, Throws Tantrum

by Disillusioned Ex-Hippy11 Comments

Sweet flower Elijah Manassero has just lost his temper. Did he miss his midday nap? Does he have a full diaper? Who can say? What I do know is that he has scribbled another of his diatribes for the Fullerton Observer Sisters, piling on their desperate narrative that the owners of Les Amis are victims of some sort of conspiracy in City Hall.

The City finally removed Les Amis stuff from City property a few weeks ago after the aforesaid business spent a decade and a half dodging rent, stalling, trying to weasel out of signed agreements and of course, encroaching onto public space without permit or agreement on several occasions.

The defenders of the indefensible are trying to ignore all the facts of the Les Amis history of scofflawry, and pretend that the substantial 2022 rent increases by the City were insufferable, and hence non-payment justified. And anything that happened before this gossamer pretext is wished into Fullerton Boohoo’s collective cornfield.

Off you go. We’ll hear nothing of the kind…

Tender fleur Elijah calls his article a “history,” but conveniently omits most of Les Amis‘ real histoire, and like a typical Observer reporter shares unsubstantiated conversations related to him by Ms. Jinan Montecristo – the alleged victim in all this – as gospel. Young pup Elijah mentions nothing before 2022, of course, and even Les Amis recent spotty history of non-payment goes unmentioned.

Fragile and fresh Elijah has tried to speak with nobody inside of City Hall to get the true litany of Les Amis bad behavior. That would be uncomfortable. He accepts as true what he has been told by the noaccounts of Montecristo without reservation. Did he get any facts from Mayor Fred Jung about the removal of the Les Amis detritus? Nope. Might he have been told that the upcoming discussion of lease rates in the future has nothing to do with lease obligations in the past and due now? Of course. Did he he inquire about the fact that maybe the removal of the stuff happened at 6:30 am so as not to block the adjacent alleyway during business hours? No. That would interfere with the conspiracy narrative.

Since the young fleur Manassero visits and cites this blog all the time, he knows very well that his mentor and manipulator, Ahmad Zahra, voted to implement the 2022 rates; and he knows that the Montecristo clan said nothing about it at the June 21, 2022 public hearing. He has obviously decided that these facts aren’t necessary to convey his nonsensical narrative. Why clutter up your prosaic propaganda with embarrassing information?

And why should Fullerton expect anything resembling honesty, integrity, or basic journalistic ethics from The Fullerton Observers and its proprietors – the Kennedy Sister, Sharon and Sitka.

November 5, 2025November 5, 2025Ahmad Zahra

Zahra Does What Zahra Does Best. Lie.

by The Fullerton Harpoon15 Comments

I will get what I want, one way or another…

At last night’s City Council meeting, “Doctor” Ahmad Zahra, the Dissimulator of Damascus, informed the packed audience the he had written an opinion piece in the Fullerton Observer. The thrust of the article he said, was to point out the disparity in park spending in south Fullerton when compared to the north.

I was curious to see what Zahra had written, knowing as I do his penchant for plagiarism in the Observer, and his special brand of hand-wringing. I wondered if it might be AI written as has appeared to be the case before. So I found the online copy of the print edition.

Naturally the first thing Zahra does to establish his position is to tell a bald-faced lie. People in the neighborhood have been waiting 20 years, he bemoaned, for the Union Pacific Park to “finally” be opened! One poor mom could become a grandmother waiting for the park to open! The shame! Zahra was peddling the same false history bullshit as his pal Skiaka Kennedy.

Of course Zahra’s implication is that the closed park symbolizes profound unfairness, proving bias against south Fullerton, presumably by white City Councils from north Fullerton (not so subtle racism and hideous classism would be the obvious cause, Zahra hoped, to the Latino-packed audience). That’s the official Fullerton Boohoo narrative.

The problem is that this weeping about Union Pacific Park is completely untrue, and the history of the park, while demonstrating gross incompetence by City staff and councils, in no way shows an anti-south Fullerton bias. Actually, just the opposite.

Here’s the truth: the park had been opened back in the early 2000s at a cost of several million bucks to the public – all of Fullerton’s public. In a year or two part of the park was fenced off due to soil contamination – but a small part of the western end. The balance of the park remained wide open to the public and stayed open for ten years or so. Then the park was closed by Fullerton’s City Manager, and former Parks and Rec Director, Joe Felz.

Why?

Because the Union Pacific Park had become a haven for borrachos, gang members and drug addicts. The City finally put up a fence around the whole damn thing. The small toilet building was a magnet for illicit activity; it was closed, then demolished. Homeless started to haunt the walkways and build wickiups against the fence. No City Council ever voted on this closure, by the way. A public explanation would be too damn damning. It has been painfully obvious that there never should have been a park there in the first place, and there wouldn’t have been except for the ego of the then Parks Director and lots of Redevelopment play money.

The sad truth is that nothing has changed to make the new version of the Union Pacific Park successful. All of the same socio-economic, criminal, and drug abuse issues still exist. Zahra will not be in office after next November’s election, but the legacy of his foolish, patronizing make-work projects – the Trail to Nowhere and the Union Pacific Park – will be notorious to anybody willing to look at the topic honestly.

Alas, honesty is not a commodity in high demand in the world of uber-liberal politics, made manifest locally in the precincts of Fullerton BooHoo. Here, governance, if you want to call it that, is based on seeking out, and appearing sensitive to the plight of some victim or other, some “underserved” person or class, whether they want that solicitude or not. The more you spend, the more you appear to care, even if the money is utterly wasted, as were the millions spent acquiring and building the first Union Pacific Park.

October 21, 2025October 21, 2025I Aint a Swallerin That

Haunted Fullerton High School

by The Fullerton Harpoon5 Comments

*There are more things in Heaven and Earth, Horatio, than are dreamt of in your philosophy.*

It’s that time of the year. Scary stories and creative history.

https://www.facebook.com/reel/601779576339446

My favorite part is the “hospital on the hill.”

But who are we to judge such things?

April 15, 2025April 15, 2025Ahmad Zahra

George Bushala Strikes Back

by The Fullerton Harpoon30 Comments

I’m really starting to like George A. Bushala, the guy who is standing up in public and saying the things that need to said about the fraudster councilman, “Dr.” Ahmad Zahra. At the April 1st Fullerton City Council meeting he also added the scalps of the Fullerton Observer and its two sister “editors” to his collection.

A couple days later, as FFFF shared, Skasika Kennedy recreated public comments (erroneously, of course) and added her typical “editor’s note” at the end of Bushala’s statement, bragging about standing up to his falsehoods.

It turns out that Bushala is not going to take this defamation lying down, and has retained counsel by the name of Briggs Alexander. This firm sent the following letter to Skakia Kennedy yesterday calling out her failure to show wherein Bushala had lied, and demanding that she reproduce (without editorial comment) a letter from young Bushala in lieu of facing legal action for libel.

Wow. Suggesting that the Kennedy Sisters behave like responsible journalists and quit defaming citizens. What a novel concept.

It’s pretty sad when it takes this sort of effort to get people who call you a liar to prove where the lies are. In this instance there are no lies since the documents detailing Zahra’s dubious slime trail across the United States have been published right here on FFFF. Of course the Kennedy’s have no interest in the truth and are completely enveloped by their ideological miasma in which truth is whatever helps you feel good about your cherished ideals; okay for private rumination, possibly costly in a public forum.

April 13, 2025April 13, 2025Ahmad Zahra

Derek Smith and the Wearin’ O’ the Green on the Fiscal Sustainability Committee

by Mr. Peabody23 Comments

Last fall a silly committee was created by the City Council to pretend to explore ways to raise Fullerton’s public revenue. It’s gone by the hopeful name “Fiscal Sustainability Committee.”

No one really believed this “ad hoc” committee was meant to do anything but to propose some sort of sales tax increase, and that’s exactly what they did this week at what looked to be their final meeting. Of course there were only 4 members present and they split on whether to propose a general sales tax increase or special sales taxes aimed at “public safety” and infrastructure.

But this predictable and inconclusive conclusion is not what my post is about.

This post is about a guy named Derek Smith, one of the appointees to this committee, lifted out of obscurity by none other than Councilman “Dr.” Ahmad Zahra.

Guess what a very quick search reveals? Smith was not a random appointment based on apparent fiscal experience. Derek Smith is the political operative for the UFCW 324, the grocery store worker’s local union. Does that ring a bell? It should. Derek was clearly the mastermind of the national HQ’s $60,000 contribution to an “independent” political action committee dedicated to electing Vivian Kitty Jaramillo last fall. The origin of that money suggests a much darker source: the local SoCal MJ dispensary cartel.

That’s a lot of green from the produce section. How come? Because the OCFW 324 represents workers in the local marijuana dispensary business, part of a wider cartel that has been trying, with the help of Ahmad Zahra, to crack into Fullerton for several years. Jaramillo was going to be their Golden Ticket for a revived marijuana ordinance.

So Smith’s real fiscal experience consists of blowing $60K of somebody else’s cabbage on the S.S. Jaramillo.

Mr. Smith made the news in Anaheim a couple years ago getting a suite at the Honda Center courtesy of Mayor Aitken after pushing $140,000 in her direction.

Backscratching is fun – with other people’s money…

Back to Fullerton, Cannabis Jaramillo’s loss to Jamie Valencia was disastrous to Zahra in so many ways, not the least of which could his apparent utility to the MJ cartel.

Anyhow, at the end of the meeting Smith voted to recommend a general sales tax increase for Fullerton to deal with our fiscal crisis, although in the front of his mind must surely have been the idea revenue from the sale of cannabis products – good for the budget, good for his union.

March 28, 2025March 28, 2025About Us

Silence is Golden

by The Fullerton Harpoon56 Comments

A couple months ago FFFFs attorney, Kelly Aviles sent a letter to the Fullerton City Manager announcing our intention to begin a paper edition of our humble blog, and requesting that the City permit distribution of that publication on City property – places like the lobby of City Hall and the Community Center.

Dear Mr. Levitt:

I hope this finds you well. I am writing to you on behalf of my client, Fullerton’s Future, who’s in the process of launching a new newspaper publication to serve the residents of Fullerton. As part of the marketing and distribution efforts, my client seeks to place a newspaper rack in the lobby of City Hall, similar to the arrangements that have been made with other local newspapers.

We respectfully request the City Council grant approval for my Client to install a newspaper rack in the lobby of City Hall. My Client has secured a financial commitment from a local businessman for a significant amount of private financing to launch this new business endeavor committed to contributing to the local community by providing important local news, restaurant reviews, business advertisements, and information that reflects the diverse interests of our city’s residents and their needs for alternative news sources. In addition, an application to form a new 501-c4 will soon be filed with the IRS for this venture.

Please let me know if there are any specific procedures or requirements that need to be followed to facilitate this request or if the Council has any preferences regarding the placement of such a news rack at City Hall. We are eager to comply with any guidelines you may have.

Thank you for your time and consideration and we look forward to your response.

Sincerely,

Kelly Aviles

FFFF hasn’t been particularly forgiving of all the murder, mayhem, misbehaving, and costly mistakes our highly paid employees have made over the years with the blessings of boobish city council members; the City has even gone so far as to sue FFFF contributors for mistakes made by employees and our City Attorney; therefore we figured our chance of getting our voice heard in City Hall was nil.

We were right.

Of course we knew the City was just stalling us. Now the wait is over.

If you check out next Tuesday’s council agenda you’ll notice Item #14. It’s a Resolution establishing a policy that keeps FFFF off City property and limits the presence of non-governmental communications to the Main Library “community corkboard” – at the discretion of the Librarian.

Wow, there’s steaming pile of bureaucratic jargon – enough to satisfy anybody who admires that sort of gobbledygook. My favorite sentence is “The policy emphasizes that all City facilities remain non-public forums.” Wouldn’t want a public forum in City Hall, now would we? That space is reserved for government propaganda.

I don’t believe this would be on the agenda at all without previous agreement in closed session, hidden away from prying eyes under the deceitful cloak of “potential litigation.” I wonder if they can legally enforce this policy.

We may have to start printing selected copy from our greatest hits and push pin them onto that community corkboard!