Friends For Fullerton's Future – Page 254 – FFFF supports causes that promote intelligent, responsible and accountable government in Fullerton and Orange County

August 10, 2010August 10, 2010Behind Closed Doors

Fullerton Fire Chief Rescues Entire City

When you think things can’t get any screwier at City Hall, look out! According to this story in the Voice of OC, the Fullerton Fire Department will save Brea taxpayers about $220,000 per year by sharing a battalion chief position that is now vacant.

Who would have guessed that Fullerton would come to the rescue of Brea , especially considering our serious budget problems and the deep cuts felt by many? Apparently, Fullerton Fire Chief Wolfgang Knabe must be feeling some brotherhood kindred spirit howling from the mall next door and has taken it upon himself to experiment at Fullerton ’s taxpayer’s expense. According to Knabe, maybe it will work and everyone will save money, or maybe it won’t and we all lose. Makes you feel good, doesn’t it!

Fire Chief Fullerton — Maintain radio silence

In all fairness, let’s hear him out and see what our City Council had to say about Knabe’s plan… (deafening silence) It would appear our own City Council didn’t know we were bailing out the City of Brea and their Fire Department. In fact, no one except a couple of Fire Chiefs seems to know anything about this experiment.

According to the Voice, we will be sharing a battalion chief which will help both cities fill their respective vacancies with the same person who can be in two places at once. Neat trick; I’d like to see it though.

I hear sirens coming and they sound like the Orange County Fire Authority! Ok, here is a trick question for you. Brea citizens and the Brea Fire Department staff wanted to have the department “disbanded”, as the Voice calls it, and have the OCFA take over. Why? Sure the taxpayers save money, but what’s in it for the would-be disbanded employees?

August 9, 2010August 10, 2010Dead heads

Birds of a Feather…

by Grover Cleveland15 Comments

…well you know the rest.

Ray-Bolger-Scarecrow-web — Straw man says: With the thoughts I’d be thinkin’, I could be another Lincoln, if I only had a brain…

Here is Mr. Hypocrite J. Cunningham extolling the virtues of Kris Murray, a candidate for Anaheim city council, and heavily promoted by Anaheim’s Mayor-for-Hire, Curt Pringle; some woman he elevated from obscurity to occupy a six-figure sinecure at OCTA:

I, for one, am wholeheartedly supporting Kris. There are several stand-out individuals running for city council seats in Orange County this year, and Kris is one of them. She is smart, conservative, principled and experienced in both the business sector and government. She will make an outstanding member of the Anaheim City Council.

Ah! Smart, conservative, principled, experienced. Smart? Who knows? Her experience is with the big government Business Council and a giant government bureaucracy – OCTA – which is squandering hundreds of millions on Pringle’s slimy insider ARTIC and High Speed Rail deals. Principled? Well, Hell, we know what principle Cunningham and Pringle hold dear. There’s always a dollar sign in front of it.

Now, enjoy this snippet from the comment thread in which Cunningham extols the virtues of Big Chief repuglican Curt Pringle:

Curt has been an outstanding Mayor of Anaheim, and poll after poll confirms that. He has very high positive name ID in Anaheim, and if he were on the ballot again, he would be overwhelmingly re-elected.

Kris is and ought to be proud to have Curt’s endorsement.

Uh, yeah, right, whatever you say Jerb. Poll after poll? What polls would those be?

See, for a guy who posed as a social conservative, yet who behind the scenes pulled down mega-bucks shilling for the dopey, big guvment Rob Reiner Children and Families Commission, making a fortune off of government influence peddling, like Pringle has done, is some sort of badge of honor. And of course Pringle may very well hold the key to Cunningham’s economic future now that his 1st Five plug has been pulled.

Nothing wrong there, of course. If Pringle hadn’t latched on to all this gravy some evil, unprincipled Democrat would have scooped up all those simoleons.

August 9, 2010August 9, 2010Parks and Trails

‘Tree City’ Decapitates Trees

by Travis21 Comments

Todd Warden wrote in to tell us how the unsightly drainage ditch along Malvern/Chapman avenues is becoming further uglified by the city without regard for the surrounding neighborhood or the health of the landscaping.

He awoke one morning to find that the city had ordered the 30 foot tall trees hacked down to about 6 feet, while randomly selected shrubs were cut to the stump. The fully developed trees had been shielding motorists view of the ugly flood control channel and it’s rusty chain link fence for years.

Fullerton-0040 — Just a little off the top.

“In the past they have always just trimmed the trees back and kept the height leaving a swell green belt and noise buffer in contrast to other areas of the Malvern/Chapman eyesore,” wrote Todd. The city told him that they had no money to replant new trees and shrubs, but the mature trees were taken out anyway.

I’m no arborist, but hacking a 30ft tree by 80% seems like a great way to kill it. If the city doesn’t have the funds to replace prominent landscaping features, they ought to just leave them alone or trim them as reasonably necessary. Together, Malvern and Chapman form one of Fullerton’s main east/west arteries, and it’s a disgrace for our city to destroy what little aesthetics it has left.

Fullerton-0042 — A fresh view from the beautiful grounds of The Muck.

It’s worth nothing that Fullerton frequently boasts about its 29-year title of “Tree City USA” as bestowed by the Arbor Day Foundation.

Fullerton-0015 — That's not very good either.

As for the future of the flood control channel, Todd has some ideas:

“What about replanting the entire strip of the canal that literally splits the entire city from Buena Park to Harbor Blvd. Tall palms or low water use flowering hedges would beautify the city for residents and visitors that use the artery. Another idea would be to cover the ditch for a bike path that would allow residents and visitors to reach downtown and the Buena Park Metrolink station.”

August 9, 2010August 9, 2010OC's Fourth District

Nelson’s Newsletter Lands on E-Doorsteps

by The Fullerton Shadow9 Comments

I received a copy of recently elected Supervisor Shawn Nelson’s newsletter in my electronic in-basket Friday afternoon.

Other than the redistricting issue that we reported on here, the thing’s all about art walks and pets of the week and the Lion’s Field astro turf. Sort of light in the loafers, issues-wise, but I guess we can cut Nelson some slack since he just got into office a few weeks ago and may not have much to report. Still, the puffery on events and wonderful County parks, etc. really needs to be condensed into something a lot more substantive.

Oops, got the date and the month wrong, too!

Anyway, here it is:

View the newsletter

August 8, 2010August 8, 2010Downtown Fullerton

Candidate Searches for the Perfect Chicken Fingers

by Travis9 Comments

Who is Jesse La Tour? I have no idea. But he is the first candidate to throw a bone to Fullerton’s poultry-loving voters.

A cursory search of the new Fullerton city council candidates revealed the blog of La Tour, who is bent on discovering the secrets of the culinary curiosities known as “chicken fingers.”

pint-house-chicken-fingers — Nine out of 10. Winner!

On his blog, Jesse journals his journey to five Fullerton eateries, tasting varieties of fried fingers at places like Bill’s Burgers, Stadium Tavern and the Cajun Swamp.

“I love chicken strips. They are delicious,” writes La Tour, who began his quest at Roadside Burgers where he observantly declared that the nuggets probably came in a frozen bag. His suspicions were heightened later when he discovered that the fingers of Bill’s Burgers a few blocks away were almost identical. Both eateries earned a 6 out of 10 on La Tour’s scorecard.

So who won? After five plates of simulated poultry appendages, Jesse La Tour finally declares that the best Fullerton fingers can be found at The Pint House in downtown. “These strips are made from scratch, hand-dipped in beer batter and fried to perfection, so they are crisp on the outside and juicy in the middle,” he writes. Sounds tasty.

It is unknown if any other candidates will capitalize on La Tour’s willful abandonment of vegan voters, although some hope other candidates will be as forthcoming as Jesse has been on his carnivorous preferences.

In all seriousness, the lineup for Fullerton’s city council races are nearly complete. Today is the day when FFFF begins combing through the histories of each candidate, distilling fact from fiction and shining light on everything they hoped you would never find out. Despite what you may hear from those who prefer to keep their heads in the sand, this process is not about negativity, personalities or vendettas. This is about the truth, our choices, and ultimately, our future.

August 8, 2010August 8, 2010MSM Falls on Face

Mickadeit Lunches On Italian Sausage & Ego

by Mr. Peabody13 Comments

image002_002 — Extra, extra, read all about me!

Is there a limit to the extent one will shamelessly grovel in public? In case you didn’t see it, check out Frank Mickadeit’s column in the O.C. Register from a few days ago.

In this recent opus Mickey exhibits the fierce prowess that seems to drive journalism these days. Here is what Frank and his employers at the Register think the public wants to know all about; Frank’s lunch schedule:

having lunch with political consultant Christine Iger;
getting an olive-oil tasting lesson from restaurateur Antonio Cagnolo;
getting a liquor-tasting lesson from vodka czar Bill Eldien;
a slap-happy kiss-ass session with good ol’ boy Mike Carona.

Poignancy! Mick’s and Mike’s eyes meet across a non-smoke-filled room and Caroney waves his old buddy over to join him. Mickey describes his soul mate, characterizing Caroney as “smiling, buff, color in his cheeks.” He points out that if Caroney is lucky enough to avoid getting nailed with a witness-tampering charge he’ll be able to down endless shots of booze with his buddies with his freshly-won freedom (Frank doesn’t mention that he would be doing it on a $200,000+ per year taxpayer sponsored pension, but well, that would just be mean).

So what does the reader learn from this hard-hitting expose? That the Mickster is chummy and swills booze with some pretty notorious and questionable company, the kind of people that would bring into question his credentials. Not only does he shamelessly bring this to our attention, he even gives credit to Caroney for providing him with leads to “interesting stories!”

Interesting stories? The fact is that during Carona’s amoral reign of terror over the Sheriff’s Department Mickadeit gave him a free pass, and was, well, just damn glad to be there!

frankmickadeit — A shot of whiskey and a cigar and I'll write anything you want.

Now there’s truth in journalism! Can anybody take this guy seriously?

August 7, 2010August 7, 2010Watch Your Wallet

A Masterpiece of Brevity and Focus

by Christian7 Comments

The Grand Jury has reported on the OCTA’s budget mess and their deficiency in Bus service. Here is how the report begins:

The mission statement of the Orange County Transportation Authority (OCTA) is a masterpiece of brevity and focus:

“Our mission is to enhance the quality of life in Orange County by delivering safer, faster, and more efficient transportation solutions.”

The report identifies how the OCTA had the right idea when it cut bus services and raised fares by calling the action prudent. Then later the report notes that the rise in fares had negative effect on the ridership. Ergo, we must lower bus fares but only after full state funding is restored.

The report also calls into question competing priorities with the federal handout of $2.25 billion for high-speed rail and the $143 million set aside for the Anaheim Regional Transportation Intermodal Center, which the City of Anaheim is not contributing to. The Grand Jury points out that OCTA needs to review its priorities with these funds. The Grand Jury says that the “governmental relations committee of the OCTA Board should urge Orange County ’s congressional delegation to lobby for legislative modification of the $2.25 billion.”

The final recommendation by the Grand Jury is for OC’s political and transportation leaders to hold a series of public meetings, the goal of which would be aimed at creating a countywide transit agency that will have sufficient authority and funding to overcome parochialism in developing a modern transit system.

I love this gem from the report:

One member of the transit agency’s board characterized the economic impact this way: “The businesses and industries in Orange County that depend on low-income workers would grind to a halt.”

It would appear that we taxpayers subsidize bus service (to the tune of more than 80% of the total cost) so that low-income earners can keep their low-income jobs which helps keep low-income employers staffed with low-cost employees… Ergo, you and I subsidize burger stands, Walmarts, and rich people with nannies and maids.

Thanks OCTA!

August 6, 2010August 6, 2010Dead heads

Looks Like Hairball Wants Some More Abuse

by Joe Sipowicz7 Comments

HarrysFriend — Please, Sir, may I have another?

I’ve got it on pretty good authority that Hide and Seek Harry Sidhu has decided that there is even more political humiliation he can endure. Apparently this perpetual office seeker has filed a ballot statement for the fall run-off against Shawn Nelson for 4th District Supervisor.

Sidhu already got handed a pretty solid 12-point beat down by Nelson in June, but it looks like having a massive ego and a non-existent sense of shame have prevailed over common sense. Hairball’s handlers must be salivating at the prospect of their sugar daddy opening his wallet yet again.

Sidhu’s only hope is to capture the vast majority of Democrat voters in the district who voted for somebody else. Will this mean a hard left and more union support for Hide and Seek? Who knows? They spent over a million bucks to help this assclown last time and it didn’t help at all.

August 5, 2010August 5, 2010Repuglicanism

Straw Man Produces Another Straw Man Argument. Classic!

by Mr. Peabody23 Comments

fartboy — Being a priest is one thing. Getting married is just plain wrong.

Over at the Red County, poor, lonely and increasingly isolated Matthew J, Cunningham lashed out at Libertarians in the wake of yesterday’s judicial smackdown on authoritarian ‘pugs who want government to discriminate against law abiding citizens.

The legal finding that California’s asinine Proposition 8 was unconstitutional caused Cunningham to reflect upon the oddity of Libertarians. He says:

At the same time, libertarians act is if the the Republic will fall and tyranny reign unless marijuana is legalized. Recently, one leading libertarian California libertarian flatly declared that if you oppose legalizing marijuana, you are anti-freedom.

Which is more vital to a the kind of healthy, stable, virtuous society the Founders believed necessary to ensure the survival of the Republic they had erected? The ability to use a particular intoxicant? Or that institution — marriage – that is the literal building block of a healthy, stable, virtuous society?

Judging by the commentary, libertarians think getting stoned matters more.

Good Lord! How did so much self-satisfaction, self-righteousness, bigotry and mental confusion ever get rolled up into one straw man?

Let’s correct the poor, muddled mind of this moralizing midget:

If you restrict the ability to use (not abuse, mind you) a particular intoxicant you goddam well are anti-freedom. And if you deny law abiding citizens the same right to enjoy contractual relationships enjoyed by others, you are anti-freedom, too.

So go put that in your pipe and smoke it, Jerbal.

August 4, 2010Chris Norby

Bruce Whitaker Aims for Shawn Nelson’s Seat

by Travis6 Comments

Bruce Whitaker has officially filed papers for the 2-year city council seat previously held by Supervisor Shawn Nelson.

The two-race situation has generated plenty of speculation as to which candidates will face each other for the separate seats. With Bruce being one of the strongest contenders, this action may solidify the choices of other candidates.

Whitaker has already received the endorsements of the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association, Assemblyman Chris Norby, Congressman Ed Royce and Supervisor Shawn Nelson.

Bruce’s campaign is having a kickoff party this weekend. Contact the campaign at ElectBruceWhitaker@live.com for details.