Friends For Fullerton's Future

January 25, 2011January 25, 2011Redevelopment

Pillage and Burn. Emergency Redevelopment Meeting Today!

An urgent meeting is scheduled for this Tuesday afternoon at City Hall. While most meetings are scheduled for 6PM or later, this one is set for 4PM, forcing many to leave work early in order to speak at the meeting.

The urgency of the council/Redevelopment Agency meeting comes after Governor Brown announced his intentions of squashing Redevelopment Agencies as component of saving money and redistributing funds to their normally allocated destinations.

This afternoon’s Agenda has only one item:

CONSIDER APPROVING A COOPERATION AGREEMENT BETWEEN THE CITY OF FULLERTON AND THE FULLERTON REDEVELOPMENT AGENCY FOR (PARTIAL) FUNDING OF CAPITAL IMPROVEMENT PROJECTS, GRAFFITI REMOVAL SERVICES, AND PROFESSIONAL SERVICES

In a nut shell, City Hall sees their glass house shattering and is looking to pull out as much money as possible from the Redevelopment Agency in order to install street lights in the Lemon/Truslow area, stabilize the slopes along Harbor Boulevard just below the YMCA, work on Hillcrest Park, and build a parking garage at the Fullerton Transportation Center.

In all, the City/Redevelopment Agency is looking to move $14,100,000 from the Redevelopment agency coffers to the City of Fullerton coffers to help cover some of the upfront costs associated with these projects.

If any of those mentioned sound familiar it’s because just last Tuesday the City Council decided to ask Congress for some money to address them.

This sounds like the scheme of someone who desperately pulls out every bit of equity from their house ($14.1M from RDA’s tax increment), maxes out all of their credit cards ($29M in tax bonds) for that new sports car (town homes and condos and garages) knowing they are about to get slapped by a court-ordered judgment (governor’s proposed budget) that will surely leave them penniless.

Once again, the lack of leadership has manifested itself by the procrastination of City Hall to tackle our crumbling infrastructure. Water-mains continue to erupt forth from our streets like Old Faithful while the ever-expanding potholes begin to resemble the Grand Canyon. At this rate, residents will be able to sell tickets to the spectacle as our city sinks into the abyss of municipal doom.

January 24, 2011Downtown Fullerton

Roach Coach Invasion

by Greg Sebourn10 Comments

The Orange County Register is reporting that the Food Truck Jamboree is coming to the Hyatt Regency Irvine January 27th from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. Imagine if Downtown Fullerton had something like this but on a weekend. Maybe add some music and activities for the kids.

Unfortunately, many communities do not support food trucks because they compete against brick and mortar restaurants and generally have lower operating overhead. Local government doesn’t like food trucks for a few reasons. Their tax structure is such that they pay their sales tax within the city/county which they’re based and not where the tax was collected. Some cities have began regulating food trucks in an effort to capture tax revenue and level the playing field for local businesses. The fact that the trucks can drive into a city, sell food for an hour or two, then drive out of the city has caused code enforcement officers to take notice and issue citations for not having a city business permit.

Sadly, redevelopment agencies give cheap taxpayer funded loans to new businesses to come into town and compete against long existing and well established businesses, many of which are already struggling under the weight of employee benefits, higher taxes, and a depressed economy.

So, as one arm of a community attempts to level the field, another arm, the redevelopment agencies, cuts deep ruts and pits for the losers while building up a taxpayer funded framework for their chosen winners.

I support food truck operators in their endeavor of the American Dream and prosperity. I don’t see the trucks as a threat to local business so long as everyone adheres to the often cumbersome regulations governing businesses and food safety.

Food trucks may not always be the healthy choice when it comes to food consumption but they will certainly help to spur some healthy competition.

January 22, 2011January 22, 2011About Us

Travis Kiger Gets Under Skin of Loathesome Liberals

by Joe Sipowicz33 Comments

First off, let’s get one thing clear. Some of my best friends are liberals. We go way back. They are confused and misguided, but I like them and they like me (I think).

Then there are some of the local Democrats who are no better than our OC repuglican crew – except that they inhabit a Red County and don’t get to tap into the scratch. You know who I mean: The sad sacks at Liberal OC, for for whom no idiot Democrat is too low or too stupid to dream up outlandish apologies.

idiot-with-saw-774078 — Geez. He uses power tools. He's already smarter than the average Planning Commissioner.

It seems that the chief of this scabrous tribe has got it into his noggin to criticize my friend Travis Kiger for an incomplete and unsatisfactory application to the Fullerton Planning Commission. Dan Chmielewski thinks this is some sort of breech of transparency and takes Travis to task as some sort of hypocrite. Of course, the idea of anyone who prostitutes himself for Boss Agran’s crooked Irvine machine talking about transparency is downright laughable.

Danc1 — It was a slow month for liberal news.

Alas, Travis didn’t list an employer or a single reference. Well so what? The appointment is a recommendation from a City Councilman (Bruce Whtaker) who is personally responsible for the appointment. And that’s what we promote here: accountability. Dan C and his cohorts should try it some time.

Here’s the truth: upon assuming office Travis will have to submit a Form 700 and then Curious Dan and Jerbal Cunningham can have a look at his financial interests. And that’s transparency.

January 21, 2011January 21, 2011Big Brother

The Red Light Skeletons of Harbor Boulevard

by Travis35 Comments

Several years ago this blog documented the shameful saga of Fullerton’s red light cameras, which were shut down after a judge declared that the city had been operating them illegally. That was an embarrassing moment for the mystified members of city council; even more so for the city attorney who lost in court and then stuck us with the bill.

The cameras were removed, but the poles and strobes still hang over Harbor Blvd today.

Should the city take them down?

Nope. Please leave them up forever as permanent monuments to magnificent and expensive failure, driven by a desperate quest for new revenue. Ah, wonderful new revenue streams… usually that means some gimmick conjured up to extract more money from the beleaguered public, promoted by tireless staff (and in this case, an eager red light camera salesman) and then executed by council with little regard for external consequences, all to avoid dealing with the real problem: excessive spending.

Any way, I see no sense in tearing down those poles. None at all.

January 20, 2011May 6, 2011Don Bankhead

Mayor Pro Tem Makes Sexually Suggestive Remark At Council Meeting

by Greg Sebourn23 Comments

At Tuesday’s City Council meeting Fullerton Mayor Pro Tem Don Bankhead said “Mayor, if you need any help, I would be more than happy to help you!” At that moment Mayor Dick Jones had his arm around a Miss Fullerton contestant while the Mayor Pro Tem seemed to study the young ladies. You can watch the exchange here. Forward the video player to 0:20:00.

The unsavory comment, captured on the City’s cable TV feed, reflects a good example of poor leadership and disgraceful public service. Mayor Pro Tem Bankhead was first elected to the Fullerton City Council in 1988. If he can complete this term without a sexual harassment law suit and another recall election, he will have served for 26 years.

January 20, 2011May 23, 2011Behind Closed Doors

On the Water Gravy Train. Prima Ballerina Edition.

by admin7 Comments

Last week the Register’s Watchdog Teri Sforza did a piece on members of the opaque Metropolitan Water District Board who had racked up huge travel expenses soldiering onward for you and me in the great water wars.

Who’s well up on the list? Fullerton’s representative, Jim Blake, for one. Another is Fullerton resident wannabe Linda Ackerwoman who lives in Irvine but tried to carpetbag her way to fame and forune as our Assembly representative. This egregious pair racked up bills of $18,302 and $13,356 respectively, in 2009-2010. The biggest line item was lodging in for both.

It seems that Mrs. Ackerwoman got up on her offended hinders to defend the indefensible – with the usual blather about how hard she works for us, and the rigors of travel to engage herself in all these hyper-complicated issues. Of course the real truth is that if this job were so damn complicated she couldn’t do it in the first place. More truth: these trustees are hand-held and led along by their staff upon whom they are completely reliant. Which is no doubt why Madame Ackerwoman voted to jack up by 20% the rates requested by the aquacrats in the spring of 2009. See, the relationship is pretty symbiotic.

The fun Ackerwoman quote from the Sforza piece? Here it is: “the whole world of water is ballet.”

Wow! Thanks for that, Linda. Now go slip into your swimsuit!

And lest we forget Jim Blake, who has been on the Board since before water was even created, isn’t it time to switch to a more reliable, less expensive model?

January 19, 2011May 15, 2011Friends Around the World

Fullerton Friends Around the World!

by admin12 Comments

January 18, 2011Fullerton City Council

Pensions, Utility Taxes and The People of Fullerton

by Travis9 Comments

The following commentary was sent in by Fullerton’s own Barry Levinson.

——-

Since the November 2010 elections, I have read two articles on the Friends for Fullerton’s Future site that require further discussion. The first one stated that the rescinding of the utility tax increases of 1994 has saved the taxpayers approximately 150 million dollars since 1994 to the present time. Hats off to Council member Bruce Whitaker and all the people who helped make that rescission a reality. The fact that we were able to elect him to the council indicates that we are making some progress. But this is not a time to sit back and savor our victory locally as well as nationally.

We cannot afford any complacency since another even larger albatross is now facing the fine citizens of Fullerton, namely the unfunded liabilities for public pensions and retiree medical costs.

The second article deals with the reporting by CALPERS that the Fullerton police and fire pension obligations are now facing a 127 million dollar unfunded liability as of June 30, 2009. In other words, we the taxpayers of Fullerton are currently on the hook for this astronomical amount.

If you add the unfunded liability of the miscelleous employees as well as the City’s unfunded retiree health care benefits, it skyrockets up to and probably well over the 200 million dollar mark! Twice the amount saved from the utility tax rescission.

I suggest that the citizens of Fullerton have to be just as irate now as when we were facing the massive utility tax increase in 1994. The one common thread between these two instances is our city council. We must make it clear that we the people are watching very closely the actions taken by our council as they prepare to negotiate with all of the city’s unions! We must speak out loud and clear and demand that the council vote for significant cuts in these benefits coupled with significant employee contribution increases.

I suggest that all fellow readers of this blog attend the February 1st Council Meeting to speak to the council during its Open Agenda Segment to insist that major employee cost savings must be implemented across the board this year. We must demand no less and be ready to take further action if a majority of the council defies the people one more time.

January 17, 2011January 17, 2011Repuglicanism

Repuglican, Junior Grade

by Mr. Peabody33 Comments

There has been some talk hereabouts regarding tonight’s election of officers for the OCGOP. Not being a Republican, I really don’t care much who these idiots elect to be their “leaders,” a funny description of what amounts to little more than a kleptocracy (thanks, nipsey). Scott Baugh, the top dog who is running for another term, has been an overseer on the plantation for years, using his political connections to get a huge lobbying contract from the County of Orange. His official bootlicker, Matthew J. Cunningham, was rewarded for all his lackeydom with a six-figure-a-year deal with the most liberal agency in California proving that the plumbers are right and shit does run downhill.

But this post is about a chap named Jonathan Fleischman who is running for 1st Vice president (or some equally lame title) really sets the the gold standard for repuglicanism. His pals like Cunningham love to tell you about how The Flash has labored in the trenches doing God’s work, blah, blah, blah. What he omits to mention is that Fleischman was crooked Sheriff Carona’s apologist for years – while on the public payroll, and all the while running his real business, an ad factory blog called The Flash Report.

You are called upon by Cunningham to believe that underneath the oleaginous surface Fleischman is true and pure, a real Tea Partier. Examples are shown to demontrate his rock-ribbed conservatism and willingness to go after even bigger crooks than he. But check the dates: Fleischman’s behavior only got tough when he was no longer on the government payroll, the S.S. Carona was sinking fast, and he evidently saw his main chance in burnishing his alleged conservative credentials.

carona — Psst. Fleischman's left the reservation...

But the true ‘pug in Fleischman re-emerged in fine form in the fall of 2009 when he promoted the carpetbagging scampaign of the utterly lame Linda Ackerwoman over Chris Norby. See, that episode was all about the do-re-mi, too. And that’s what repuglicanism is all about: getting government influence through specious claims of conservatism and then peddling it as hard as you can.

January 16, 2011Orange County Central Committee

Radio Replay

by Travis2 Comments

Have a listen to last night’s KRLA 870 radio show, where OC GOP leadership candidates Allan Bartlett and Deborah Pauly are interviewed about the current state of the Republican Party in Orange County.

[wpaudio url=”http://www.thompsonforschools.com/MM1-15-11.mp3″ text=”Martha Montelongo Show with Chris Thompson – 1/15/2011″]

The elections for the GOP board take place on Monday night.