Amerige Court—How to Give Away Public Land for $500

Mid-Evil Circus Revival revival

Last December The Fullerton Redevelopment Agency approved yet another extension to Pelican, the hapless developer of the gigantic Amerige Court project downtown. Readers will recall that this project was approved in 2008 over the objections of hundreds of people who saw it for what it was, yet another cheap looking, insipid  copy of the retail/loft model that is supposed to revive downtowns.

This time the now unemployed redevelopment staff allowed the developer to plan to rent the housing units at first, even though when it was first approved years ago it was supposed to be all about classing up the area by inviting the landowning gentry to move in and stare down the lawless drunks of Fullerton’s bar culture.

So two months ago, despite several people speaking out against the fourth (!) amendment to the original agreement, and no one speaking in favor of it, the extension was granted. Bruce Whitaker and Sharon Quirk-Silva dissented, having had enough of developer excuses for why they haven’t been able to build anything, but Bankhead, McKinley, and Jones predictably went along with this giveaway of taxpayer owned land in the heart of the city.

Well, that was back before Redevelopment disappeared last week, so now they have to do it all over as the City Council tonight.

Show up to watch developer owned politicians try to give away your land once again, if you let them.

Last week we showed you why the Three Dinosaurs were so willing to perpetuate this disaster of a project.

When you take their money, you have to do their bidding. Besides, if you can give away public land to build a monstrous and unneeded architecturally appalling project that will add more traffic to the area and tear down some really old buildings to do it, why wouldn’t you? Especially when the half of the development partnership that’s still in business gives you $500 to keep you from being recalled?

VALIDATION

According to the OC Registrar of Voters the sampling of the Fullerton Recall signatures has validated the number needed to recall Bankhead, Jones and McKinley.

Here’s what the sampling projects for totals:

McKinley 13,604

Bankhead 13,355

Jones 14,361

The recall needed about 10,500 to qualify. Not even close.

And now it’s time for the Three Dithering Dinosaurs to certify the signatures themselves and call a special election. This will be agendized for February 21, 2012. Will they do it?

 

The $55,000 Conversation

They're baaaack!

Well, you didn’t think they could do it, did you? Well we didn’t either. But the boys in the White Van overcame their three-month peyote and grapefruit juice-induced haze and picked up an audio recording of a conversation that  we think you will enjoy. It seems that one night a few weeks ago they were parked in the neighborhood of the brick veenered and mansarded ranch house of Col. F. Dick Jones, USAF(Ret.), MD.

The transcription from the audio recording that you are about to read is so true to life that you might almost accept it as something that really happened.

(sound of a telephone ringing)

Dick Jones: Hella, this here’s Dick Jones. Doctah Dick Jones.

Dick Ackerman: (grunting noises) Dick, Dick. I got Ellis with me.

Jones: (wheezing noises) Dick Dick? What the Hell you talkin’ ’bout boy? What the Hell’s Elliswithme? Ah say, speak up, boy!

Ackerman: It’s Ackerman and Ellis. We’re running the campaign against Bushala. Protect Fullerton, remember?

Dave Ellis: Hi, Dick. Dick. Just got the check. Thanks a bundle.

Jones: Dick Dick? Aw, coll-sarn it y’all r’ a-startin’ that agin’. Whatcha boys talkin’ ’bout?

Ackerman: (more indecipherable short guttural sounds) Okay, shut up. Who else is there?

Jones: Me ‘n Don and Pat. We been a-waitin’ on yer call.

Ackerman: Okay. We on speaker? Good (three more staccato grunts). Everything’s going great. Got Bushala and those high school doper drop-outs on the run. Heh heh. Dave, give ’em an update.

Ellis: (a distinct sound of ice cubes rattling in a cocktail glass followed by a loud slurping sound. Karaoke in background ) Recission cards are pouring in – thousands, hundreds,  millions of ’em. Our mailers are working great. Worth every penny. Bieber’s the best. Haha. Bushala slum lord, Bushala jailbird. Hahaha. Bushala dope-head. This is like taking candy from a baby. Hey, that sounds like fun, too! Haha.

Don Bankhead: (muffled sounds followed by a few snorts) Quite frankly…(indecipherable sounds that appear to be snoring).

Jones: Hey Pat, a-jiggle joggle that boy awake fer me, will ya? ‘Tamnation ah wish’d ah’d just a-quit. That damn Royce.

Ackerman: (a loud bark followed by a protracted low snarl) Goddamit stay focused. We got ’em on the run. The people of Fullerton know their city’s not for sale. This is my city.

Jones: It ain’t fer sale? But we’s open fer bidness! Ye-haw!

Pat McKinley: Pat here, Dick. I’m ready to deploy. Just give me some nun-chucks and some tear gas. Tasers. They enjoy pain. My boys’ll do anything for me. Did I mention that somebody punctured my Kevlar® gas tank? Freaks and hippies. Terrorists. She Bear, oh yeah!

Ackerman: Jesus Christ, you’re all nuts.

Jones: (a phlegmy wheeze followed by a disctinct sound of expectoration)  Ah’m a doctah ‘n a kernel. I ain’t a-gonna stand fo’ no mo’ ana-key. Ah’m a fomah Mayuh!

Ellis: We need more money for the next mailing.

Jones: Whuzza? How much we in fer so fah?

Ackerman: Um, er, Dave?

Ellis: About fifty-five.

McKinley: Fifty-five hundred? That’s not bad. I make three times that each month for my pension! Not counting my She Bear royalties for all those books I sold at the Chamber.

Ackerman: (a bark) I wish you’d quit reminding people about that stuff you idiot. No. Fifty-five thousand.

Jones: Sweet Blubberin’ Baby Jebus! Oh Gawd, ah think ah’m a-havin’ a conniption!

Ackerman: (an unmistakable snarl) Settle down, Dick. This is about more than just you. If this recall goes through I’m finished in Fullerton. No more kickbacks, no more fake residences.

Jones: Aww Lawdy, ah’m a-comin’ home! Fiddy-five thousand? (A series of choking sounds followed by a low moan). Aw-w-w-w-w-w-w.

Ackerman: Look, we’re in the home stretch. Do you want to lose your jobs or worry about a few grand? Jesus, most of it came from the cops anyway. Let’s talk about Phase Two.

Jones: Mah repa-tay-shun. Tarnation, MuhKinlay, a-joggle jiggle that boy awake agin’. We gotta get hard, n’ tough and  n’ mean!

(muffled noises, coughing and assorted grunts)

Bankhead: Uh, really and truly. Uh. What? What was Phase One, again?

Ackerman: (a grunt) Phase One was where we softened ’em up with body blows. They’re about ready to quit.

Jones: But they got all them signa’ters anyway. Fiddy-five thousand.

Ackerman: Shut up and listen. Phase Two. Dave?

Ellis: Phase Two is to alert the media that all those signatures are going to be invalidated. We’re gonna need another five thou, give or take. We need another mailer

Jones: Fiddy-five thousand. Aw Lawd ‘a Mercy! What we need another mailer fer?

Ellis: We’re going on the offensive, take ’em down. Fullerton’s Not For Sale. Bushala the Terrorist. Haha.

McKinley: People keep asking me about the police department and that damn Kelly Thomas video. Jesus, you can’t even blouse up a bum anymore. And that She Bear talk in Brea. Now they keep asking me about Rincon. What do I tell em?

Ackerman: Tell ’em Bushala keeps chickens in his backyard. Heh, heh. Damn Norby’s behind all this (more low growling).

Jones: Whaddabout that watah fee Hitlah thing?

Ellis: Bushala wants to buy your city!

Bankhead: Things of that nature…(snoring resumes).

Ackerman: Okay, just raise more money. Everybody whose ever got a dime off of Redevelopement chips in. And I mean everybody, got it? Hey, what’s that van doing out there? What the? How long…

At this point the conversation was terminated.

 

 

 

She Bear About to Turn Violent?

Frustrated that the slow working of his mind could not process the new data, McKinley was about to flail about violently.

Here‘s an article in the Register about Fullerton Councilman Bruce Whitaker asking his fellow councilmembers to vote on whether to see the video of the Kelly Thomas killing at the hands of the FPD. He seems to be suffering from the delusion that Fullerton elected leaders should be intelligently informed.

It’s an interesting article for two reasons. First is the reaction of councilman Pat McKinley, former FPD Chief, and architect of the Culture of Corruption in the force. You would expect him to be opposed to letting anybody see the actions of goons he hired personally and let loose on the streets of Fullerton. But what’s that you say, Pat?:

Councilman Pat McKinley, Fullerton’s former police chief, said he is “violently opposed” to the release of the video.

“I think it’s completely off-base,” McKinley said. “It’s absolutely unprecedented, and it would be wrong to view that before the trial.”

Violently opposed? Now that doesn’t sound like a balanced man, does it? His reaction to a perfectly reasonable request says much about McPension the man. Is he about to go off the deep end?

Mcpension may not want the video released, but I assure you it has nothing to do with any trial, and everything to do with a recall election.

The other thing that struck me as odd is the City Attorney’s alleged request to the DA for permission to view the video and the imbecilic comments ascribed to DA spokesholetress Susan Kang Schroeder, who seems to be just making shit up. The council could watch this video as a closed session personnel issue and nobody else would have to see it. Also, the FPD is bound to have made copies so why ask the DA for permission at all – except to get that “no” answer you want? Acting Chief Hughes, who is neither investigating nor trying anybody, claims to have viewed the video 400 times! I’m starting to suspect everybody  has seen this video – except some of the council and of course, the public.

And as a final thought, is there anybody in Fullerton who believed the serial prevaricator Pat McKinley when, after an awkward pause on CNN, he denied seeing the video himself?

How To Burn Through $55,000

We’ve had a lot of fun exposing the waste and incompetence of our three Jurassic councilmen, Bankhead Jones, and McKinley, although the indecent exposure hasn’t been pretty. The Redevelopment scams, the Water Fund fraud, and the Culture of Corruption in the Fullerton Police Department all point to sclerotic ineptitude of Biblical proportions.

But nothing that came before prepared me for the Protect Fullerton expenses identified on their Form 460.

Somehow these dopes managed to spend $55,000 in a few months mounting a pathetic opposition to the Fullerton Recall signature drive. $55,000 spent on a gang of fixers and political prostitutes assembled by OC’s number one bag man, the “Honorable” Dick Ackerman. The childish website, the dumb mailers, the rotten political advice cost the Three Sluggish Sloths plenty. And what do they have to show for it? A handful of recission cards from people who probably never even signed the Recall petition in the first place.

But, lest you feel sorry about the poor boobs who had their hard-earned contributions wasted by these dodos, consider the source: over half the dough came from the Fullerton cop union and a few other police agencies across the state – including the cop slush fund that is fronting the money to pay for Ramos and Cicinelli’s lawyers.

And to wrap the package in a pretty bow, Friends, reflect on this: if the Three Dimwits can throw their money around to such little effect, just think what they have been doing with our money all these years.

 

Chief Sellers Calls It Quits

He gave it 110%. Well, 10%, at least.

But not before ripping off the taxpayers of yet another $150,000 in the form of a disability claim. Apparently he got sick of his job and two compliant medicos agreed the poor bastard was just too ill to continue. But fear not. On disability half of Seller’s $18,000 a month pension will be tax free.

The City’s lawyer who dealt with the case is satisfied. Well, he’s not picking up the tab, we are. And come to think about I wonder how hard the City really pushed back on this scam.

Here’s the announcement from City Hall pensioner and new-hire Sylvia Palmer Mudrick.

Sidewalk Hijackers Support The Dinosaurs

Caution - ethical behavior narrows ahead...

And why not? Life is good when you can get away with grabbing a public sidewalk and build a building on it. “Are you crazy, Joe?” I can hear you saying. No. FFFF shared the story, here.

The sidewalk grabber was Mr. Anthony Florentine, proprietor of the Tuscany Club. Here he is chipping in to save the Three Dithering Diplosaurs:

And the guy that let Florentine get away with the heist was none other than former Fullerton Development Services Director F. Paul Dudley, whose incompetent tenure caused harm to Fullerton that will probably never be fixed. A member of Fullerton’s $100,000 pension club, Dudley makes extra cash lobbying his former employers on behalf of developers. So he’s working to keep the Old Boys in office, too:

Of course Dudley had help in brushing off the sidewalk scam, and then papering it over. And he had help in the persons of Don Bankhead and “Dick” Jones, previously beneficiaries of Florentine’s campaign largess.

What nice people.

So Who Do Downtown Developers Support?

Update: Gentle Friends, I forgot to remind you that Pelican Ontario was also shaken down, er, contributed $300 to Pam Keller for her Fullerton Collaborative just ’cause they care so darn much for Fullerton.

Here’s a snippet from the anti-recall Protect Fullerton Form 460 – indicating a healthy contribution from Pelican Ontario LLC.

What is Pelican Ontario? Why that’s the partnership proposing “Amerige Court,” that god-awful downtown Fullerton monstrosity in which millions of dollars worth of land is to be given to the developer for free. What’s that you say? Free? Of course. Because to people like McKinley, Jones, and Bankhead giving public resources to private interests without due consideration isn’t a gift of public funds, it’s being pro-business. We get stuck with the traffic and they get the campaign contributions.

You have to admit it takes a lot of nerve to attack Tony Bushala as a downtown developer when he isn’t, and at the same time take the money from people who have millions of reasons to prop up the Three Dyspeptic Dinosaurs. But these worthies are not bothered by ethical nuisances like hypocrisy.

Bankhead, Jones and McKinley Are Proud of Their Supporters

View the Report

The Anti-recall squad is boasting of its broad range of fundraising support, including developers, city contractors, and the police union. Naturally the Fullerton cops have given liberally to the defense of the Three Dithering Dinosaurs – a whopping $19,000 last fall. If you peruse the FPOA’s Form 460 you will certainly discover some familiar names. Names like Goodrich, Mater, Tong, Hampton, Nguyen, Mejia, Power, Siliceo, Coffman, Blatney, Craig, Thayer, Wren and other by now familiar characters who have a vested interest in supporting the sclerotic regime that has permitted a Culture of Corruption at the Fullerton Police Department.

But the names that really jump out at you are serial sex pervert Albert Rincon, and the two goons, Manny Ramos and Jay Cicinelli, who have been charged with the murder of Kelly Thomas. I don’t know about you, but I would just feel ashamed having those names on my list of supporters. But apparently shame is not an emotion experienced by Mssrs. Bankhead, Jones and McKinley . These fine gentlemen say they are proud to be supported by law enforcement.

Well, I predict that they are going to come to regret that pride.