FFFF supports causes that promote intelligent, responsible and accountable government in Fullerton and Orange County
And now, because you deserve it, we present another slow, mental unwinding by everybody’s Southern fried favorite, F. Richard Jones. Here he holds forth on the subject of coyote miscegenation, apparently an area of special expertise. Of course I couldn’t imagine mating with a wolf, at least not without a step ladder.
Remember Friends: when the coyotes attack your home, be sure to obey their commands and avoid eye contact!
Get this! The Fullerton City Council’s ONLY Regular Business for Tuesday’s meeting is…drum role please…to designate a voting representative and alternates for the League of Cities annual conference!! View the agenda.
That’s it, right? No. That is the only “Regular Business” item but I didn’t mention the Consent Calendar.
Item 4 of the Consent Calendar is a $2,705,000 bond for irrigation at the Fullerton Municipal Golf Course. You read that correctly; $2.7 million for golf course sprinklers! Apparently “staff” has identified this as the most “shovel-ready” infrastructure project.
The background on this item is interesting for those following President Obama’s American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA). The Act includes provisions for bonds issued by agencies in designated “Recovery Zones” and Fullerton has been designated as one of those Recovery Zones or RZ.
The eligible uses for RZ Economic Development Bond proceeds according to the staff report include: 1) capital expenditures for the acquisition or development of property within a Recovery Zone by a public entity; 2) expenditures for public infrastructure and construction of public facilities; and 3) expenditures for job training and education programs.
This is when the veins on my neck begin to pulse and I run the risk of bursting a blood vessel! Our Congress has given local agencies certain bonding authority to raise money to fix their infrastructure and our beloved City Hall staff decides to use this authority to grow our indebtedness and fix golf course sprinklers!
I may not be much of a golfer but I do know they charge as much as $35 per person to play. If that isn’t enough to cover the cost, I suggest they charge more or get out of the golfing business altogether.
I hope our council has the wherewithal to vote NO on this but I doubt it. It is spending like this that makes me want to run for city council. But the race is already full of rich would-be spenders chomping at taxpayers’ checkbook with pen in hand. How will Bankhead vote? How would McKinley or Burbank vote? Tomorrow we will get to see how Bankhead, with 22 years of experience on the council, will vote. I am quite certain he will vote YES and waist $2.7 million watering the grass while ignoring our roads, sewers, water system, and sidewalks.
Oh but the grass will be green and a council member will get to go to the League of Cities Conference in September all on our dime. Not a bad gig if you can get it.
Update: Three more have been added to the list.
The following have pulled papers to run for city council so far:
Dear Friends: The issue of Pension Abuse continues to dominate the National, State and local scene. If you haven’t already heard Jack Dean with Pension Tsunami speak on this important topic, hopefully today is a great relaxing day to do just that. Happy August 1st, 2010!
In its page one retelling of events at the last Fullerton School Board meeting, Yellowing Observer Jan Youngman spun out this yarn about the District’s unconscionable arrangement with The Fullerton Collaborative for the services of FSD employee and soon to be ex Fullerton Councilwoman Pam Keller:
Five spoke in opposition to
continuing the relationship,
including the president of FACT
(Fullerton Association of
Concerned Taxpayers), a group
responsible for vicious hit mailers
in past school board and council
campaigns. (The group’s major
funding comes from Bushala
Brothers Inc. Tony Bushala heads
the group FFFF (Friends for
Fullerton’s Future) which has
made both Pam Keller and the
Fullerton Collaborative frequent
targets. FFFF is currently suing
the City of Fullerton.).
Hoo boy! Now there’s a mouthful of tripe, even for one of the Observer crew who can’t discern the difference between editorial and news reporting. We haven’t made Keller or her illicit arrangement with the Collaborative a “target.” Oh, no. That was all her doing – by a multiplicity of conflicts of interest as a councilmember, by skipping out without having to account to anybody for her time, and by remaining an FSD employee with the attendant benefits without having to set foot in a classroom. We only shed some light on the whole rancid deal.
Bad girl. Bad, bad girl.
But back to the egregious Youngman. Important fact, hon. FFFF sued the Redevelopment Agency, not the City. I know it’s next to impossible for you people, but next time do please try to get your facts right. By the way, why is that even relevant to your story?
No, that’s not just crazy talk.
I was just sent the next Public Art Commission’s agenda in which City Staff is proposing that over $100,000 be spent “restoring” those dubious murals that adorn the Lemon Street pedestrian overpass. Here’s the text of the staff report:
ATTACHMENT A
Staff Recommendation for Public Art
After reviewing reports and treatment proposals from contracted professional art historians and conservators, staff has a recommendation for how to proceed with the Lemon Park Murals. The goal of this recommendation is to make progress on the restoration of these important historical pieces of public art in a way that is fiscally responsible and takes into account the directive of the Public Art Committee to continually produce new works while maintaining the City’s rich existing collection. We therefore propose that restoration take place over 5 years. The proposed preliminary plan is as follows:
Year One:
Fall, 2010
Work with the Public Art Committee to revise the list of potential locations for new/restored work to be produced over the next 5 years.
Spring, 2011
Restore “Zoot Suit Riots.” using the services of a professional mural restoration team. The cleaning, consolidation of paint and coating layers, graffiti removal, reintegration (touch-ups) and protection is estimated to total $18,000. “Zoot Suit Riots” is an ideal starting place for mural restoration because the historical significance of the subject matter and its strong aesthetic appeal, and key location.
NOTE: Lemon Park and Maple Community Center renovation project will be under construction in the period beginning between summer – fall 2011. The construction period is estimated at 9 months. The start date for construction will be pending Lemon Park Committee review/recommendation, although it is likely to start in the fall of 2011, to avoid disrupting summer youth programs at the park.
Spring – Summer (production), 2011
Neighborhood youth will be recruited (coordinated with City summer youth programs at Maple Center) to design and execute a new mural that expresses the themes of cultural pride and community solidarity originally intended by the mural entitled “Fullerton.” The existing mural, which is much degraded and heavily vandalized, will be thoroughly documented and covered with a protective varnish, then painted over. The new mural will be processed through the standard application and review procedure by the Public Art Committee. It will be produced by neighborhood teens under the supervision of a professional artist and with input from the Lemon Park Ad Hoc Advisory Committee, and will take its place thematically and visually in the suite of paintings that makes up the entire park.
Fall, 2011
The Public Art Committee will oversee the production of a new, permanent public art piece at the main stage in the downtown plaza.
Year Two:
2012
Restoration of “The Virgin of Guadalupe” and “Girl with Car. Estimated cost (combined) of $32,000.
Based on progress on the Transportation Center Master Plan, we will install a new piece of public art in the pedestrian corridor between Spadra restaurant and the bus depot. Suggestions for this area include three-dimensional awning type installations that invite access to the transportation center and visually expand the downtown and event area south of Commonwealth.
Year Three:
2013
Restore “Calle Elm” and “Come Back Again” by a professional mural restoration team. Combined cost of $24,640
Produce a new piece based on Public Art Committee recommendations
Year Four:
2014
Restore “La Adelita” and “Cross with Crown of Thorns.” Estimate (combined) cost of $26,000
Produce a new piece based on Public Art Committee recommendations.
Year Five:
2015
After four years of restoration we will have some idea how the Lemon/Maple murals are faring and how the new mural produced in year one has been received by the community. With this experience the Committee can develop recommendations for “Brown Car.” This mural has been vandalized numerous times and sustained considerable additional damage since the November, 2008 preliminary report. Based on the current rate of destructive activity, staff does not believe that the estimated $21,000 required for a thorough restoration would be fiscally responsible. Two possibilities present themselves: we could invest in moderate restoration and additional anti graffiti coating to keep the mural intact for as long as possible despite what seems to be relentless vandalism. Or we could document the piece, cover it, and create a new mural under the direction of a professional artist and with the input of community groups such as the Lemon Park Ad Hoc Advisory Committee. Both options present obstacles and opportunities and it is hoped that our experience restoring the other pieces of the original suite over the preceding 4 years will equip us to make a wise choice in 2015.
Note: The murals “The Town I Live In” “Niños del Mundo” and “La Mujer Latina” are in relatively good condition at this time and are not included in this 5-year restoration plan. They will be maintained as needed (graffiti removed, coatings restored, etc.)
Public Art Committee Agenda
July 26, 2010
These paintings have been the source of some controversy for quite some time. Critics question the gang references as well as the deterioration and gang graffiti they seem to invite. Others doubt the artistic value.
Although some folks in the community have suddenly taken a proprietary interest in the murals, this interest doesn’t seem to extend to actually paying to clean them up.
In 1995 the restoration of the Kassler Mural on the side of the Plummer Auditorium only cost about $25,000 – of which half was made up of a matching Redevelopment grant. Hundreds upon hundreds of volunteer hours were spent stripping and cleaning that work of art. That participation proved the value to the community.
So the question is: who really wants to “restore” the Lemon Bridge murals, and what are they willing to pay for it?
POST UPDATE.
OC Register (now OCEA) heart throb Jennifer Muir posted this piece today after having talked to Hide and Seek Harry Sidhu. Sidhu, who still does not live in our district claims “money is no object” in his fight to dethrone last night’s winner Shawn Nelson in a November run-off for the 4th District seat.
Aw, c’mon Harry. Are you really that dumb? You have nothing to pitch. The more money you spend to promote yourself, the more people will see what a clown, er assclown, you are.
You raised not one substantive issue during this last campaign. Not one. The pathetic “jobs, jobs, jobs” bullshit wasn’t swallowed by anybody. Go ahead. Spend a million. Spend two, or three. It won’t help. Like I said earlier today you can’t sell a car that has no wheels and no engine, no matter how slick you are. And Hairball, you ain’t even slick.
By the way Jen, did you bother to ask Hide and Seek Sidhu how the fortune already wasted on his slimy self accomplished so little? Or how this cipher thinks he’s going to beat a sitting supervisor who already kicked his ass by 12%? Thought not.
We just received an e-mail from the Friendly proprietor of a Fullerton blog that promotes cookery in Our Town. It’s called “The Altruist’s Cookbook.” Here’s the link.
This individual goes by the blog moniker “Kattus Petasatus” which we think is a Latin translation of “please don’t eat the cat.”
Hide and Seek Harry Sidhu surfaced last year in this image used in his scampaign for 4th District Supervisor (a district in which he didn’t and doesn’t live).
He seems to be in a kiddie library listening to an unseen story teller. Unfortunately our guess is that the rest of the class learned a lot more about communication than their older classmate Sidhu, whose garbled syntax and undecipherable gobbledygook dropped the jaw of many a campaign event attendee.
Those children are probably still wondering about that big, dumb kid who showed up for story hour.
Tracy Woods at The Voice of OC has written a post about the slick salesmen of the Cal High Speed Rail Authority, and a supposedly meaningful poll that shows 77% of Californians supporting their massive boondoggle. Apparently Anaheim’s Mayor-for-Hire and HSR Authority Chairman Curt Pringle is going to use the poll on a trip to Washington today to grease up some of the DC skids.
Most telling is the fact that the CHSRA didn’t release the poll questions so we’ll never know how hard the respondents were pushed. My guess is very hard.
Meanwhile, the City of Orange has passed a resolution opposing the HSR morass.
Where, or where is Fullerton?