Watch Your Wallet – Page 3 – Friends For Fullerton's Future

March 2, 2026March 2, 2026Boohooism

Government Make-work Alive and Well

Fullerton may be on the verge of financial crisis, but let it not be said that creative ways for its employees to stay busy aren’t possible, if you can find “other peoples’ money” to do it. We’ve seen it in spades on the ridiculous Trail to Nowhere, built mostly with money from an unaccountable and irresponsible State agency whose only observable job is to give away money with no answers to questions even checked for truthfulness.

The next silly project in line comes to us courtesy of the State Legislature, again, in the form of AB 1572 that mandates that “non-functional” turf can’t be watered with potable water. Municipalities are first on the hit list, and that includes the formal lawn in front of City Hall. The item is on tomorrows Council meeting agenda.

The City can declare that the City Hall lawn is functional and walk away. Oh, but that won’t do! We have to get rid of the grass and replace it with drought resistant plantings of some sort or other. This strategy scratches the itch of those who feel moral gestures are more important that facts, who love big government mandates, no matter how footling, and those who want city staff to be happy and productive.

How much water will *this* use? Who cares?

The City thoughtfully promulgated a call for ideas from the citizenry in a press release a couple of months ago. Re-imagine the municipal front yard! A blank slate! A blue sky! The world is your oyster! Presumably your idea will save water and respect the ecosystem, etc., etc. Grateful citizens sent in pictures of idyllic succulented and lavendered walkways!

At least one submission had a sense of the ridiculous nature of this nonsense.

A giant Hornet and a giant Titan! Come to think of it, maybe this suggestion was serious, Fullerton being Fullerton.

But there is no money budgeted, alas! What to do? Well a budget transfer from Water Non-Rate Revenue funds can be tapped. I have no idea where this money would even come from, the Water Fund being supplied by rate payers. Another option to pay for the new, giant cactus garden is to apply for, and get, a grant from the Metropolitan Water District, one of those huge, opaque agencies that practically answer to nobody.

I have to wonder what the ultimate savings would be water-wise, and what the existing cost of watering the grass is. The fact that the City uses free water paid for by the rate payers has always been an issue and naturally no facts about the acre foot volume or the cost to the rate payers are included in Tuesday’s staff report. No data will be presented except the results of the survey done to solicit public opinion.

I could make the pitch that the reflecting pool, steps and lawn were part of a neo-formal aesthetic that went along with the 1962 building, but that would be a waste of my time and yours. Somebody has decided that the pool and the grass is offensive to modern sensibility, and provides an opportunity to engage the public in a feel-good Kabuki drama.

February 27, 2026A Manfro All Seasons

A Manfro All Seasons. Eddie Manfro to Be Anointed New City Manager

by The Fullerton Harpoon24 Comments

At next Tuesday’s Fullerton City Council meeting Eddie Manfo. Acting City Manager will be hired by the City Council to fill the job formally.

He will get $305,000 per year as base pay, plus a cornucopia of benefits that amount to, well, a helluva lot of money. Does he get to keep his current pension?

He’s quasi-at-will until this November, after which he gets nine months’ severance if fired.

Apparently there are at least three votes for Manfro’s appointment, but the sledding will not be without some controversy. Manfor was one of four Fullerton hires post COVID that attracted the negative attention of CalPERS, the State’s public employee retirement system. Once you officially retire there are limits to what you can do for employment inside the system. I don’t know what is required to unretire yourself so maybe Manfro has done that.

However, the CalPERS controversy, such as it is, is bound to arouse the indignation of certain elements in Fullerton Boohoo/Crazy who will use any opportunity, no matter how slim, to impugn the Jung/Dunlap/Valencia troika; the Kennedy Sisters, for instance, continue to bemoan the loss of “excellent” City Manager Ken Domer the incompetent stooge of Jennifer Fitzgerald, and wail about all subsequent replacements.

February 25, 2026Boohooism

Poor, Sad Sukhee Resurfaces

by Mr. Peabody20 Comments

Friends may remember the name: Sukhee Kang. Sukhee is one of those common cases where political ambition to hold office leaps far ahead of ability or commonsense.

Way back in 2016 Sukhee quit Irvine where he had been a Larry Agran flunky on the city council and bought himself a mini-McMansion on a Fullerton golf course, behind a security gate. Remember? Mr. Kang’s lust for higher office caused him to carpetbag in order to run for the State Senate. I seem to remember one of his lackeys in Irvine defended this foolishness as a sensible “empty nester” move and downsizing on the part of Sukhee and Mrs. Sukhee.

As usual, Sukhee had a phony ballot designation as an educated (he taught some made-up footling class at Chapman) and he was an author, too, producing a self-published biography. Sukhee promoted the fact that he was a veteran, although it turned out it wasn’t of our army.

Sukhee had all the usual endorsements – loads of Dem politicians, the sort of thing we now know is almost worthless. But Kang didn’t reckon with FFFF or Fullerton Taxpayers for Reform. He came in third and it was sayonara, Sukhee.

Anyhow, we learned shortly thereafter that the empty nesters had flown the coop – back to Irvine, demonstrating the bullshit of the rationalization.

I’m a leader. Larry told me to put that there…

Now Kang has kangaroo’d back into politics. He’s running for the Irvine City Council, a sad attempt of a 75 year old man to be relevant. It’s even sadder than an old dude trying to be important. The Irvine Council now has seven seats instead of five, and poor sad sack Sukhee has to run for a paltry district seat now.

Irvine District 1 residents may not even remembers this creep’s ditching Irvine just to run for an available office in a whole other town. Hopefully an opponent will remind them of Sukhee’s stay in Fullerton.

February 22, 2026February 23, 2026Ahmad Zahra

Meet Jozef Maldonado

by Grover Cleveland42 Comments

First, don’t ask me why the guy spells his name like that, because I don’t know.

Mr. Maldonado is a candidate for Fullerton’s 5th District in the election this fall. At least he has created a campaign committee. That’s the seat that will be left by “Dr.” Ahmad Zahra, the immigrant fraud, woman batterer and general prevaricator.

There’s a connection there. Zahra appointed Maldonado to the Parks and Rec Commission where he has been photo bombing boohoo events lately. He is also some sort of young Democrat Party operative, which makes sense, following in the footsteps of Jordan Brandman, Connor Traut and the like. Except that unlike them he seems to have a real job, being some sort of chemical tester. He’s yet another mid-twenties Fullerton fellow who seems very eager to make Zahra happy.

Is this a real candidacy? Some folks had thought that Vanessa Estrella, Sharon Quirk’s newly minted school trustee might leap into the breach to defend Fullerton Boohooism. She still might, but time is running out. The days of last minute candidacies in Fullerton are pretty much over.

It would also make sense that young Jozef is the Tony Castro of 2026. You all remember Tony Castro – the last minute candidate in 2022 recruited by the Team Zahra to draw votes away from genuine Latino candidate Oscar Valadez. This could be the same slimy strategy to help Estrella, I suppose. At least Maldonado’s candidacy would have verisimilitude. Tony Castro’s did not, and neither did the Dems fake candidate in 2024, Scott Markowitz, who had to plead guilty to perjury.

Curiously Maldonado’s form 501 shows no zip code in a redacted address, which is peculiar. Why would anybody omit that on a candidate statement?

On the other hand maybe I’m being too cynical. Perhaps this will be a real candidacy and maybe Estrella will be happy staying where she is – for now. After all she’s barely been in office for a year.

Maldonado spoke at the February 3rd City Council meeting solely to attack Mayor Fred Jung for some supposedly divisive remarks that criticized his detractors. Poor Jozef was obviously following direction from Ahmad Zahra; and he obviously doesn’t really understand that mindless attacks don’t get you elected and that Zahra is a spent force, if he was ever much of a force to begin with.

This candidacy begs the question of whether or not Fullerton wants or needs another Zahra-type liberal who is more than happy to spend your money, lots of it, on his conscience-causes, from illegal immigrant welfare to boondoggle park projects that have no budget for maintenance.

February 11, 2026Ahmad Zahra

Tender Young Elijah Strays off Reservation

by Disillusioned Ex-Hippy27 Comments

The sweet young “investigative reporter” Elijah Manassero has posted an “opinion” piece at the Observer blog. No investigative research was necessary for the Kennedy Sisters’ cub reporter. It’s all sanctimonious cant about how Fred Jung and Nick Dunlap have demonstrated “how not to run a city,” by delaying a necessary tax increase, and of course by getting rid of the ever incompetent Jennifer Fitzgerald lackey, Ken Domer.

Fullerton is in dire economic straits because of the Jung/Dunlap mismanagement, says the youthful bud Elijah, whose grand experience running anything other than his eager mouth is exactly zero.

But hold on a second!

If I knew what I was talking about this wouldn’t be Fullerton!

It was just a few weeks ago that Shana Charles and “Dr.” Ahmad Zahra and Co. were touting Fullerton’s massive reserve funds, funs so well and amply stocked – $30,000,000 – that Fullerton taxpayers could easily cough up a tiny $200,000 to hand over to undocumented immigrants for lawyers, food and rent.

So which is it? Is it possible that Charles and Zahra deliberately lied to their acolytes? Or is the situation really as dire as the green sprout Elijah now asserts?

It seems both can’t be true.

Fullerton Boohoo is generally so stupid and so lacking in self-awareness that they end up arguing against what they have previously said. This sort of inconsistency is not abnormal for people clinging to ideology over practicality.

February 4, 2026February 4, 2026Ahmad Zahra

Bent History Bullshit

by Mr. Peabody35 Comments

Here’s an interesting bit from the “print edition” of the Fullerton Observer, proving that once again the Fullerton Klown Kar has no rearview mirror.

The subject is the reopening of the abandoned UP Park, and all you have to do is look at the photo op result to guess that a history re-write is in the works.

While we were basking in the Spring-like day, most of the USA was under an unrelenting, repressive assault by ice, snow, and freezing rain. All of the speakers took notice of who was in the audience, mainly the Fullerton residents who did not give up on the idea of a local park, rallying support for an incredible 20-plus years. Assemblywoman Sharon Quirk Silva recalled how she was on the City Council in 2004 when the idea of revitalizing Union Pacific Park was discussed. Persistence from Fullerton residents kept the idea alive, so keep that in mind.

There’s a who’s who of Fullerton libs who can’t seem to have their pictures taken often enough, especially over there on the far left – the tarnished antique Pilferin’ Paulette Chaffee, who did less than nothing to have the park reopened. But then again, neither did Vanessa Estrella, or Sharon Quirk, or Jesus Quirk-Silva.

And on the subject of Quirk and Quirk Silva, the reimagining of history is appalling. Quirk got on the City Council at the end of 2004 all right. But at that point the first Union Pacific Park was just completed – brand effing new. Her statement is obviously meant to ignore the long history of bureaucratic failure that led to toxic soil removal and closure of a third of the park, to finally fencing off the whole damn thing because of the hypes, borrachos and homeless campers.

But just as important as hiding ugly truth is promoting your own accomplishment – finally doing what was thought impossible – after a 20-year fight! And let’s not forget the other myth – the popular struggle from la communidad, all of it ginned up, when it existed at all, by patronizing gringos at the Center for Healthy Neighborhoods, etc.

The Big Q probably doesn’t want you to remember that she was on the Council for another 8 years after her mythical park revitalization “discussions” allegedly took place, and so if the park wasn’t “revitalized” under her careful stewardship, why not?

Then there’s her dopey, hare-brained husband, Jesus, who was on the council from 2016 through 2022. What was he doing to revitalize the park after it really was fenced off? Nada. That’s right fish farm fans. He and Ahmad Zahra, also mugging in the picture, were trying to illegally convert the parkland to an intrusive fenced off private event center. So much for “the community.” You couldn’t make this stuff up.

The Fullerton Observer sisters and these political types want us to forget the real history of the UP Park – a poisoned public nuisance created by and for City bureaucrats as a Redevelopment money plaything who’s history would be a civic shame, if anybody in City Hall had any shame.

Now maybe you think that this is all trivial, this whitewash of the past. Not so. The conditions which caused UP Park #1’s failure are still there, even as more millions are thrown at UP Park #2. No one is paying attention because nobody cares.

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.

January 13, 2026January 16, 2026Ahmad Zahra

The Boutique Hotel to Nowhere, Part 2

by Mr. Peabody25 Comments

Warning: Conceptual only, not to be taken seriously!

The other day I described the history of the idiotic Boutique Hotel – a notion to build a high-end hotel on the site of the East Santa Fe parking lot at the Depot. The idea was, and is so stupid that it astounds any commonsensical thinker. And even worse, as the “unsolicited,” exclusive deal became less and less likely, the concept became bigger and dumber. The approved plan more than doubled the density allowed by the Transportation Center Specific Plan.

City projects are virtually immortal if they look like work for eager “economic development” bureaucrats or look like they can be sold as accomplishment by people like Ahmad Zahra and Shana Charles, who think (or pretend to think) that their gullible followers can be fooled into believing something good is happening.

Except that nothing good is happening. Our City officials increased the value of the property ten-fold through entitlements, but sold it for its original value – a staggering subsidy of at least ten million bucks. And that subsidy was handed to TA Partners, a flimflam operation fronted by a couple of con men, Johnny Lu and Larry Liu, at the end of 2022.

In the three intervening years nothing has happened so far as the public knows, even as TA Partners’ legal and financial woes have become public; woes that certainly should have been known by our economic development experts in City Hall prior to signing a contract, but weren’t. Why not? And why is the project at least two years behind schedule? Don’t ask. Fullerton being Fullerton.

The land was deeded over to Johnny and Larry without even an approved set of conceptual plans. But the deed was encumbered after a fashion with development and construction milestones.

And here’s the Schedule of Performance mentioned above:

I don’t know what sort of plans have been submitted, if any, but I know that grading should have started at least 20 months ago and hasn’t. And look at that project completion deadline – a Certificate of Occupancy by 10/21/26. That’s only nine months from now. As this fiasco looks worse and worse, not a peep from our friends at Fullerton Angry and Fullerton Transparency about the initial giveaway or the state of the schedule. They have more important if less expensive “scandals” to rant about.

Of course the paragraph tacked on to the Grant Deed, above, describes the covenants attached to the land, but that’s it. Other language talks about the City’s right to legal recourse if the conditions of the covenants are not met. That’s pretty toothless since lawsuits are always possible; there is no mention of Johnny and Larry surrendering their new asset, an asset whose entitlements could still make it worth a fortune. Why the City hasn’t already initiated legal action is a mystery worth speculating upon.

We all know that when it comes to Fullerton redevelopment boondoggles, nobody ever takes responsibility for failures. It’s just not good form to hold the masterminds accountable. Often it’s not enough to just keep quiet; sometimes staff actively tries to keep the boondoggle gasping for air so it can be reassigned to some new front man. That’s what I think must be happening now.

By the way, a majority of the current City Council has not voted for this hot mess. It’s a legacy mess.

It’s way past time to learn what’s going on, to find out what the status of the Boutique Hotel and Apartment monster and to find out why the City hasn’t pursued legal remedy to protect our interests.

January 11, 2026January 11, 2026A Step in the Right Direction

A Modest Proposal: the Case for Cannabis Dispensaries in Fullerton

by Disillusioned Ex-Hippy33 Comments

The other day my FFFF colleague, Fullerton Harpoon, published a post on a possible move on the part of Fullerton’s annoying liberal claque to drum up support for legalizing cannabis dispensaries in town.

It’s really hard to get worked up over Doc HeeHaw’s illegal “hip hop drug guy,” and Fullerton Harpoon was quite right in pointing out the absurdity of the “it costs so much to crack down on illegal stores” as a good argument for legal dispensaries when the real reason to have them is to generate large amounts of cannabis sales taxes and fee revenue.

With the Fullerton budget in parlous condition, cannabis revenue derived from an intelligent program isn’t such an unreasonable idea.

Let’s quickly dive back into history when we examine the previous cannabis dispensary ordinance and its revocation in 2020 and 2021.

Throughout 2020 public discussion was held regarding a potential cannabis dispensary ordinance. Public input was clear people wanted a 1000 foot buffer from “sensitive receptors” such as schools, parks, and houses. In fact the consultant’s map that reflected this desire became known as “the People’s Map.”

That was the map approved for recommendation by Fullerton’s Planning Commission. But a funny thing happened on the way to the City Council.

The ordinance was pushed through by the Council 3-2, in the waning months of 2020, even though an election promised a new councilmembers. Jan Flory, Jesus Quirk-Silva, and of course Ahmad Zahra voted yes. Jennifer Fitzgerald and Bruce Whitaker voted no.

The problem that many saw was that in the modified plan there was now generous latitude of potential locations, even to have a dispensary 100 feet from a residential zone. This latitude was undoubtedly the result of dope lobby pressure on Zahra and Quirk-Silva to increase their opportunities as much as possible, and to “share the pain” as Quirk-Silva put it. The public could shove it where the sun didn’t shine.

The other obvious problem was that the ordinance invested the authority to approve cannabis licenses in the hands of the City Manager, who at the time was the incompetent Ken Domer; the decisions would be shrouded in secrecy instead of transparently, in public

The People’s Map had been sandbagged by Flory, Zahra and Quirk-Silva.

In December 2020 and in the early months of 2021 the two new councilmembers – Fred Jung and Nick Dunlap joined Whitaker in pulling the plug on the ordinance. No one has tried to resurrect the issue – yet.

So I have a modest proposal. Why not go back to the People’s Map? Why not go back to the earlier suggestions that would have banned these stores within 1000 feet of anybody’s residence? In addition, why not require street visibility from a Primary or Secondary arterial so everything is in plain view? Sure, almost all of the cannabis businesses would be in southwest Fullerton – Council District 5, so what? That’s the reality of Fullerton’s zoning code.

As far as other revenue options go, two proposed special sales taxes on the 2026 ballot might not pass as they require 2/3 majority; even if the council waffles toward reverting to a general sales tax there would have to be 4 council votes to put it on the ballot. Are they there? Without these revenue sources the practical financial aspect of cannabis-generated revenue appears useful.

The same argument against a special or general sales tax increase is always there: why should everybody be asked to make a sacrifice for the city’s welfare when the City Council and the hundreds of municipal employees, whose salaries and benefits paid for by the public, have sacrificed nothing?

And here’s a final thought: why not restrict cannabis revenue to specific deployment – such as roads, sidewalks and street lights?

Difficult decisions such as who gets licenses and how many there should be remain. I’m not confident in our existing bureaucracy to regulate this use successfully, but to me an intelligent rethink of the issue that minimizes citizen concerns is not a bad idea at all.

January 6, 2026January 6, 2026Ahmad Zahra

The Boutique Hotel to Nowhere, Rehash, Part 1

by Mr. Peabody20 Comments

Domer-Decorations — Hitching to Desert Center

2026 is here, portending all sorts of fun for Fullerton. Some haunting spirits will have to be propitiated, among them is the so-called “boutique hotel” fiasco, one of the parting gifts of former incompetent City Manager, Ken Domer left for his ultimate successor, Eric Levitt.

You will recall the project: a small, high end hotel at the train station, that over the years morphed into a massive housing project attached to it.

Grab it and consume it as fast as you can…

Domer was the facilitator of the stupid concept cooked up by our former Mayor-for-Hire, the lobbyist Jennifer Fitzgerald. His sole reason for being City Manager, in fact, appeared to be his willingness to enable Fitzgerald’s wish lists into fruition.

And Domer was the fellow who let the project move along, during the gestation – recommending a non-bid, exclusive negotiating agreement with Westpark LLC, a company that couldn’t build a birdhouse. Domer was fired in the spring of 2021 but his boutique child, an infant that should have been strangled in its crib, lived on, proving that make-work ideas supported by staff never die.

The years passed and Levitt became godfather to Domer’s baby. In this time his staff had uncovered a new and willing partner – TA Partners. Enter Johnny Lu and Larry Liu, two con artists who were already getting deep into debt and fraud elsewhere in Southern California.

By the end of 2022 the real disaster struck: on December 20, 2022, the City voted to approve an agreement to deed over its property, the value increased tenfold, without an approved project even in place. The supporters? Ahmad Zahra, Shana Charles, and inexplicably, Bruce Whitaker, the latter ignoring any of the warning signs that his instincts should have been screaming to him.

Three years have passed. None of the milestones in the Development and Disposition Agreement have ben met. And nobody is talking about this fiasco, at least not in public. We have all learned that Larry and Johnny have pleaded guilty to fraud; that their project in Irvine collapsed, probably taken over by whatever investment bank was dumb enough to give them a construction loan.

Has the City even contemplated action? No closed session reporting has been forthcoming and no reasons given for why not. FFFF learned that the original Westpark guy, Craig Hostert’s family is suing Larry and Johnny for their hijacking of the project. They must see some sort of asset there. If so they are right.

Despite having failed to meet contractual deadlines, TA Partners owns this 1.7 acre parcel and is presumably paying their property taxes to keep it in the family. And the property has value thanks to a incompetent City Council majority.

The entitlements approved by Whitaker, Zahra and Charles are worth a fortune, and can, with the City’s approval, be assigned to somebody else, a tactic that City bureaucrats have pursued in the past to keep embarrassing projects alive and kicking. But that may not work because only Zahra and Charles will keep voting for this disaster.

This fiasco is now seven years old and if there’s an end in sight, it isn’t even on the horizon.