Strange But True Archives - Friends For Fullerton's Future

An item on last week’s Closed Session council meeting just caught my eye. The item identified the southeast corner of Pomona Avenue and Santa Fe, location of the previously discussed “boutique” hotel proposal. I last reported it here, when the Council voted 4-1 to let the unsolicited, single proposal issue get a time extension. As usual the lone no vote came from Bruce Whitaker. The July 6th item just says “terms and price” so that it can be hidden behind the Brown Act exemption.

When the City Attorney emerged he declared that this harebrained idea was moving ahead on a 3-2 vote to authorize a Letter of Intent to approve a development agreement. Hmm. We know that Jesus Quirk Silva would go for it. After all, he already changed his vote once to move this along – way back in December of 2018 as a parting gift to Doug “Bud” Chaffee. And Ahmad Zahra is always a reliable vote to support some stupid government giveaway or overreach.

So that leaves councilmen Nick Dunlap, Fred Jung and the aforementioned Whitaker. It is really hard to believe that Whitaker would suddenly change course 180 degrees from a previous commonsense, conservative position. Dunlap and Jung have so far shown unusual sales resistance when it comes to ridiculous bullshit so it’s hard to see either one going for this. But obviously, one of the three did. Who was it, and why? We were not told by the City Attorney and the minutes do not include such potentially embarrassing things.

And this will be a giveaway. You and I own that parcel of land that is currently providing popular parking for Transportation Center commuters. What is the land truly worth? If the Council continues on this reckless course to support a massive public subsidy to for an idea that has no basis in market demand, we may never know.

The days of the Fullerton Redevelopment Agency writing checks to fly-by-night developers, scammers, and other corporate welfare queens is over; but the so-called Successor Agency is perfectly capable of handing over real estate and getting nothing in return. And that looks likely to happen as the story of Fullerton’s unsolicited boutique hotel lurches forward.

June 14, 2021June 14, 2021Boohooism

NIMBY Winning Out Over Autistic Children

by Joshua Ferguson4 Comments

TempleBethTikvah

Tomorrow the City Council is going to vote on wether or not a business can help kids with developmental issues here in Fullerton after the Planning Commission voted to deny it.

The story is basically this;

Temple Beth Tikvah here in Fullerton has been up on Acacia for generations – since at least 1971. For quite some time they sub-leased to a Unitarian Church and nobody cared at all about it. There was plenty of traffic and a lot of religious activity and the neighbors never said a thing.

Skip ahead to last year or so and that Unitarian Church outgrew the Temple’s property and moved locations and the Temple then leased part of the property to a company called Sage Behavior Services. In the brief window where the Church was moving out and Sage was moving in – allegedly there was an increase in traffic and a neighbor got big mad about it and started to complain.

She complained and complained and complained. Code Enforcement came to the property about 10 times and was never able to verify her complaints but not one to be denied, she kept on complaining and is complaining to this day.

The issue finally made to the Planning Department and because zoning is stupid the City told TVT that they needed to have an amendment to their Conditional Use Permit to allow Sage to operate in their residentially zoned space despite the work they do being allowed by the code. The Planning Department analyzed the business Sage was running and following the municipal code they determined that Sage was *most like* a school that helps developmentally challenged kids.

This is when the Planning Commission got involved and got stupid. (more…)

June 9, 2021June 9, 2021Ahmad Zahra

A Manfro All Seasons

by Joe Sipowicz15 Comments

Who is Eddie Manfro? I asked myself the other day. Name sounds familiar.

See, I had seen the name pop up on a Fullerton City Council agenda as somebody who was involved as a participant, along with our former City Manager, Ken Domer, in carrying on labor negotiations with the City’s labor unions.

Hmm. Where had I heard that name before? Then it hit me. He’s the former City Manager of Westminster, who quit last year to become some sort of “human resources” expert whose supposed abilities were now for sale. Apparently Ken Domer was in the market for Manfro’s “expertise.” If the thought of a couple of bungling bureaucrats negotiating on your behalf makes you a little uneasey, well…but, I digress.

Here’s why I remember Eddie Manfro: he’s the City Manager who willingly participated in the Dick Jones scam in Westminster, where our ethically plugged-up City Attorney pretended to be a city employee to qualify for the CalPERS pension system and even went so far as to submit fraudulent time cards to line up with the sham. I believe these are all crimes.

And Eddie Manfro went along with the scam; and now, surprise, he is getting work from another agency in Dick Joneses stable of fine municipalities.

How did Eddie acquire this gig, that’s what I would like to know. And when for God’s freaking sake is Fullerton’s City Council finally going get rid of the incompetent, corrupt, and utterly self-serving, the Dickensianly awful, the I Can’t Believe It’s a Law Firm® of Jones and Mayer?

May 17, 2021May 17, 2021A Step in the Right Direction

The Dead Kennedys & Others

by Joe Sipowicz26 Comments

Now that the City of Fullerton’s retaliatory lawsuit against FFFF bloggers Joshua Ferguson and David Curlee has finally done its inevitable Zeppelin Hindenburg act, some folks who promoted and nurtured the despicable assault on freedom are already trying to rewrite their participation.

Kimberly Barlow, Esquiress of the lamentable law firm of Jones, Mayer and Gecko is saying she’s just “happy the City got its documents back” another disingenuous swipe at Ferguson and Curlee who never deprived Barlow of anything; her “happiness” is costing us $750,000, at least , but she forgot to tell the reporter this inconvenient fact.

Ahmad Zahra the hapless, preening poseur, and insufferable boohoo gasbag is now claiming that he was a “fan” of settling this lawsuit, a statement completely unsupported by any fact as the City continued its legal harassment of FFFF.

Then there’s Sharon Kennedy, the (former, supposedly) proprietor of the Fullerton Observer. In a comment string at their blog, Kennedy is now denying her involvement defaming our bloggers and pretending that her involvement was strictly objective. Unfortunately for her, the facts suggesst a slimy collaboration with the City and Jones, Mayer and Gecko. Her “expert” who claimed that she hired him, produced an opinion that was a joint statement to the Observer and an official Declaration to the Court in the case. How that happened and who, if anybody remunerated this self-styled expert is unknown – so far, but it looks suspicious as all Hell. Commenters are questioning Kennedy, but she isn’t answering. And naturally, the expert conveniently backed up the long-since debunked statement of the City’s own “expert.”

Kennedy can claim innocence all she wants, but her track record of venom toward this blog and really toward anybody else whose honesty threatens the well-being of government employees is well-known, and the malice might be pretty easy to prove in court if anybody cared to hold her accountable.

Well, the rats can scurry off the SS Jones, Mayer and Gecko as quick as their little legs will hurry them along. But the facts are incontrovertible and somebody, and soon, is going to have to pay the proverbial piper – just like the taxpayers are going to have to pay for the horrible and intentional malice of City Hall and its lawyers.

May 10, 2021May 10, 2021Behind Closed Doors

Fitzy Fire Sale. Everything Must Go!

by Jan Florys Dog12 Comments

It’s easy, just lift your leg and piss…on ’em

My human Friends have learned that your former Mayor-for-hire, and the best bestie of my former mistress, Jennifer Fitzgerald, is jumping ship from the Fullerton boat of which she spent years drilling holes in the bottom. But before she skips town she has planned at least one last scam to separate the gullible bipeds from their dough. This borders on some sort of abuse, and believe you me, I know a lot about abuse!

Can you please repeat that? Hard to believe any of you humans would pay a hydrant pee to listen to Fitzgerald opine on any subject, but this topic is so funny that it’s even funny up here in doggie heaven.

What qualities make a good city manager? Well, let’s ask.

How about refusing to reform a criminal enterprise known as the FPD?

How about letting millions of gallons of expensive MWD water leak out of Laguna Lake with zero accountability?

How about years of unbalanced budgets leading to the brink of fiscal disaster?

How about serial neglect of the city fragile infrastructure?

How about getting drunk and running over a tree, and then trying to drive off?

How about covering up a Parks N’ Rec vehicle crash?

How about turning a blind eye to serial code violations?

How about continuing to foster the myth that downtown Fullerton is some sort of financial asset?

How about turning a blind eye to forgery of official city documents?

How about stonewalling on required release of public documents?

How about wasting hundreds of thousands of dollars on crony “consultants”?

How about mismanaging construction projects as simple as wooden stairs and elevator additions?

How about enabling vanity projects like unused ceremonial bridges and dry duck ponds?

How about wasting a million dollars in state money on an idiotic and unpopular Specific Plan?

How about acceding to the demands of regional agencies for housing demands?

How about developing an entire Specific Plan behind everybody’s back – except the housing bureaucrats and do-gooders?

Arf! That’s only some of the stuff I can remember happening under the watch of Fitzgerald’s two city managers – the drunken stumblebum, Joe Felz, and the equally incompetent, likely sober, Ken Domer, neither of whom could run a dog kennel, as well I know.

For Jennifer Fitzgerald the only skill that mattered from a city manager was to accommodate her desires, desires that often as not ended up costing the citizens and taxpayers of Fullerton one way or another. She was a “master” all right. A master of manipulating a feeble system of political hacks and corruptible bureaucrats.

Hopefully some female human attending this gathering will be smart enough to ask some of the specifics of Fullerton’s city management disasters, but I doubt it.

April 21, 2021April 21, 2021A Step in the Right Direction

Signs of Life On Mars!!

by The Fullerton Harpoon15 Comments

Well, no Friends, not Mars. But in Fullerton.

An institution, namely our City Council, that has been moribund/and, or corrupt and cowardly for at least 40 years has finally sprouted a few darling buds, raising hopes that our future is no longer simply a matter of waiting for mental and moral entropy to render our city into a puddle of putrification.

Well, what happened? you ask. Last night the City Council pronounced a loud no to bureaucracy- driven nonsense. Let me explain.

Yesterday evening the Council took up the matter, again, of extending an “Exclusive Negotiating Agreement” or ENR, with some guy who wanted to put a non-profit aquaponic farm on the site of our embarrassingly fenced off Union Pacific Park on Truslow Avenue. The biggest trouble (among many) was that this type of venture is thoroughly dependent upon the financial kindness of strangers and can’t possibly sustain itself.

Matt Foulkes. The downward spiral wasn’t complete, after all…

No problem there! said our Planning Director and incoherent word salad shooter, Matt Foulkes. The aquaponic farm shall be surrounded by a fence and a hedge, and a private event center to pay for it all! In true staff fashion a last minute “letter of intent” from an event coordinator was offered up yesterday afternoon to show the marvelous potential of converting a park into a private facility – open now and then to the public – at the convenience of the operator.

Councilman Ahmad Zahra was in fine fettle – drumming up a handful of forlornly ignorant boosters; and his hapless colleague Jesus Silva stammered and stuttered support for this nonsense as well as his limited ability permits. He moved for an extension of the agreement

The train of thought was weak but it sure was short…

But then the fun started: several speakers pointed out both the idiocy of making a deal with a single, impecunious guy. Other pointed out the hypocrisy and nonsense of permitting an event facility that has no parking.

Mayor Bruce Whitaker cogently and patiently explained his rationale for offering a substitute motion to end the deal then and there: the park is part of a much larger Specific Plan area being developed (behind closed doors) and it made no sense to pursue piecemeal development with a single individual on the 1.7 acre site.

Councilman Nick Dunlap echoed that idea and observed, kindly, that the aquaponic guy already had 18 months to work something out with nothing to show for it. Like Whitaker he suggested an RFP process to determine ideas for the site.

Finally Councilman Fred Jung unloaded on the hot mess, decrying the City’s inability to address the park over the years and the arrogance of city staff thinking it could determine what was best for “the community.”

In the end Whitaker’s substitute motion carried the day 3-2 with Zahra and Silva trying desperately to defend the honor, competence and integrity of a planning staff that hasn’t got any of those qualities.

March 22, 2020March 22, 2020Bad Cops

Joe Felz in the News. Again.

by Disillusioned Ex-Hippy24 Comments

Entertainers and politicians are often cited as saying there is no such thing as bad publicity.

However, former Fullerton City Manager Joe Burt Felz is not a professional politician or entertainer, although his political machinations and his alcohol-induced behavior have been cause for entertainment.

You will certainly recall Felz’s now infamous “Wild Ride” in which the badly inebriated Felz took a wide turn on Glenview Drive, ran over poor Sappy McTree, and then tried to elude the cops on on three tires. His subsequent catch and release by a corrupt Fullerton Police Department is now the stuff of legend – and the cover-up of which is the cause of the City’s egregious lawsuit against Joshua Ferguson and this very humble blog.

Well it turns out Joe has been misbehavin’ and not following his court mandated service. His probation was revoked on December 6, 2019.

Oops!

A hearing to to review Poor Joe Burt’s violation was held December, last.

Who knows if Felz has ever bothered to delve into the mysteries of Victim Impact Counseling? And who knows if he got, or will get a pass because, after all, judges are just public employees in silly robes? And they always stick together.

March 17, 2020March 17, 2020Carpetbaggery

Hope Springs Eternal

by Mr. Peabody9 Comments

There is a certain personality profile that is so narcissistic that it can’t conceive of the reality enjoyed by others. And that sobriquet must certainly apply to Paulette Marshall, the erstwhile candidate for County Board of Education who was so thoroughly trounced at the March 3rd election that she came in 5000 votes behind a candidate who spent 1/300th of what Marshall did.

If you need any evidence of this disconnect with reality, here’s Exhibit #1, an image harvested from Marshall’s Facebook page the day after the election:

Such delusion in a normal person might be cause for a certain amount of pity from folks. But this is not a normal person. This is thief, a liar, and a fraud. Pity would be misplaced. “Who cares now?” you may ask. You should. Because I predict that Fullerton hasn’t seen the past of Pilferin’ Paulette. Just wait and see.

March 4, 2020March 4, 2020A Step in the Right Direction

Say Goodnight Paulette

by Joe Sipowicz20 Comments

Yesterday a lot of chickens fluttered home to roost for sign thief and fake carpetbagger Paulette Marshall Chaffee. After spending hundreds of thousands of bucks for a part time job on the county’s Board of Education, she was defeated, and defeated badly. The job goes to La Habra’s Tim Shaw, another candidate who unloaded a boat load of dough.

Dr. Vicky waiting for Paulette at the finish line…

But the most humiliating part of all for Paulette was getting beaten soundly by Vicky Calhoun, a woman who spent almost nothing.

And that’s where I put the sign in the back of the car…

Have we seen the last of Ms. Marshall? Hard to say. The woman is oddly unaware of her own unpopularity and the stigma with which crime decorates the perpetrator.

It looked good from far, but it was far from good…

One thing is certain, however. The tale of the little web of phony “community news” websites that were concocted by the Chaffees without any Fair Political Practices Committee requirements isn’t over by a long shot. Ms. Paulette can look forward to yet another day in court.

February 25, 2020September 9, 2020Chronic Failure

The “Fullerton Gazette” Chaffee Scam Explained

by Lonnie Machin17 Comments

As you may have seen Paulette Chaffee got the much coveted endorsement of the “Fullerton Gazette“, a mysterious little rag that until her specific endorsement nobody knew existed.

Well, after a little internet sleuthing I discovered why there is no byline to their articles and no names associated with their masthead. It turns out that every single one of the non-Fullerton stories is purchased content from a site called PLR (Private Label Rights). I don’t recommend clicking the link, it’s ad central but feel free to see for yourselves.

PLR sells themselves in the following way:

“We believe content marketing for health and wellness professionals doesn’t need to be time consuming or complicated. There’s a faster and easier way.

“What we do is create beautiful done-for-you coaching resources that you can license, brand and sell as your own, so you can grow large and devoted audiences, without having to write everything from scratch.”

So not only is the Fullerton Gazette purchasing nonsense clickbait content, they’re purchasing “wellness” clickbait in an effort to pretend to look legit while boosting for Paulette. Allow me to show you the proof:

Fullerton Gazette Article

PLR Sale Page

Fullerton Gazette Text

PLR Text

It’s like that for every single non-Fullerton related “article” on the site starting with the very first one.

Here’s a quick rundown of some Fullerton Gazette articles from oldest to newest:

The original article from November 2019 on the website was the hardest to find because the Gazette author spelled Turmeric incorrectly which just adds to the hilarity of this copy editing fail.

“5 Minute Guide to Tumeric and Your Health”
Fullerton Gazette Version / PLR Version for Sale

The next two are just copy/paste jobs.

“15 Tips for Dealing with Insomnia”
Fullerton Gazette Version / PLR Version for Sale

“9 Strategies for Happy, Blended Families”
Fullerton Gazette Version / PLR Version for Sale

Then we have another fun one because the original article had 9 ways to make the most out of a Bad Day but our Gazette copypasta expert managed to truncate it to 3 and mess the title up.

“3 Ways to Make the Most Out of Bad Day”
Fullerton Gazette Version / PLR Version for Sale

And finally two more straight copy/paste jobs.

“Wealth Isn’t For the Wealthy – Wealth is for the Smart!”
Fullerton Gazette Version / PLR Version for Sale

“7 Brain Hacks That Boost Productivity”
Fullerton Gazette Version / PLR Version for Sale

There you have it folks, the Fullerton Gazette’s prize worthy clickbait journalism as purchased on PLR for “credits”.

It’s quite clear that someone is paying for PLR content for the Fullerton Gazette. It’s also quite clear that someone is paying for content to benefit Paulette Chaffee’s campaign, possibly exclusively to benefit Paulette Chaffee’s campaign.

Just a reminder for all the social media experts on Paulette Chaffee’s publicly disclosed payroll, intentionally hiding campaign expenditures is a crime.

This blog has never been afraid to name and shame people monkeying with our local government. That said, if you’d like to contact FFFF and tell your side of the story before it gets out ahead of you and your information gets sent to the District Attorney and FPPC, the button is at the top of this screen.

Category: Strange But True

“Boutique” Hotel Lumbers Along