Friends For Fullerton's Future

January 31, 2010January 31, 2010Fullerton City Council

On the Agenda – February 2nd, 2010

At first glance the agenda looks a little short, like someone forgot to add a few items to it, however, don’t be fooled!

Let’s take a look at the list of issues on the table.

In closed session, council will be negotiating with the employee associations (or unions, if you prefer). Item 2 of the closed session is labeled as “PUBLIC EMPLOYMENT” and is regarding the Director of Community Development as well as the Director of Administrative Services.

When they finally let us in for the meeting, the good-ol boy’s will be presented with their favorite and most difficult duty – Miss Fullerton Contestants. Let’s see if the guys can keep their hands to themselves.

North Orange County Community College District and FAST (Ne Elite Level Swimmers and Coach) will also be presenting.

After everyone gives Council a piece of their mind in the Public Comments, we hop right into the Consent Calendar which includes last meeting’s minutes, acceptance of donations to the police department, and grant funding for tree planting at Laguna Lake.

Next , item 4 addresses the Richman Court Relocation Assistance Program. If anyone has any experience with relocation plans from either prospective, please jump in. I would imagine that this program will get equally screwed up as most government programs, but that is just another useless opinion. This will use $118,000 from the federal HOME Investment Partnership Program funds

The appointment of representatives to advisory bodies comes in on item 5. I’m not sure who can be appointed but this looks like an opportunity for some crony to get their hands into another honey pot

Coming in as item 6 on the agenda is a discussion of moving the Public Comments to the END of the meetings. I guess they want to make their decisions prior to hearing from us. This has BAD IDEA written all over it. I think council should be well aware of the community’s sentiments regarding an agenda item BEFORE they discuss and vote on anything

If you felt jaded by Bankhead’s self appointment as Mayor (with help from his old friend Doc Jones and Shawn “I must recues myself” Nelson), you need not worry. The topic will come up again as item 7 and we will get to hear again about how the mayor get’s the job. It seems pointless to have the debate when the same people who were on the council when Bankhead was made mayor –again- are still on it. Why would they feel differently now about how the mayor is chosen?

There is a “comprehensive” list of projects that the City would like to get funded through federal sources. Item 8 is a list of capital projects that are submitted to Fullerton ’s federal representatives for funding consideration as part of the annual federal appropriation cycle. Here is the kicker: staff recommends that Council ask Ed Royce for federal money specifically for the Boy’s and Girl’s Club/Senior Center. Maybe the Club and the Senior Center should be relocated to make room for the Orange County Fliers and their new stadium. The other item on the list (that’s right, there are just these two items) is the slope stabilization on Harbor Boulevard . But why does the slope need stabilization you ask? It would appear that someone at City Hall allowed the slope to be graded as it currently is when Harbor Boulevard was realigned and reconstructed twenty-plus years ago. I’m not sure when it was done, but I am quite certain that a 1:1 slope with no sidewalks, trails, channels, or retaining walls was a bad idea in anyone’s book. At one time Harbor Boulevard was Highway 101 and received funding from state and federal sources. Maybe the city can blame the state or feds for the slopes. Maybe the U.S. Army Corps (USACE), which operates the damn, can chip in. I know USACE has done collaborative work with other local agencies, why not Fullerton . Hey Royce! Can you call someone at the L.A. District to get some help? Or maybe FEMA… Maybe not.

Sorry for the rant.

Item 9 is concerned with tow services provided to the City. Local businesses and homeowner associations may be impacted by new municipal codes covering impounds made on private property.

Lastly, item 10 is a resolution of support for the City of Placentia . This has to do with OCTA’s bright idea to get all of the grade separations going at the same time for fear they might loose federal funding. As legitimate as that fear might be, tying up several miles of north-south routes is a terrible idea. There are several possible solutions which I haven’t heard considered yet. Let’s see if OCTA can figure this one out.

On February 16^th in the Police Department’s Mural Room at 5:00 PM their will be a study session on the Housing Policy Review followed by the regular meeting at 6:30 PM in the Council Chambers.

If I missed or glossed over something, please let us know. If I’m wrong, let me know. Otherwise, stay tuned for any breaking developments…

January 30, 2010January 30, 2010Dead heads

Scott Baugh is Coming To Town

by Mr. Peabody5 Comments

Scott-Baugh-2 — Would you buy a used revolution from this man?

At the Orange Juice blog Art Pedroza is passing along a missive from OC GOP Chairman Scott Baugh, here.

Seems Baugh has chosen downtown Fullerton’s Slidebar Cafe as the site of some sort of “Citizen Power Rally” to promote the Paycheck Protection Initiative that also dovetails with his newly-developed manifesto to punish Republicans that take public employee union money. We wrote about that here. The event is planned for February 13th at 10:00 a.m.

The Slidebar is a logical site for Baugh who is clearly trying to exploit the populist anger of the so-called “Tea Party” movement. Last year the Slidebar hosted the John and Ken Tax Revolt/Smash Arnold’s Videos Party, although the Slidebar is also known for its ecumenical tastes when it comes to an event-hosting venue.

Baugh is likening his new mission to the nobility of the Minute Men at Lexington and Concord, but it’s really hard to see him getting involved in something unless there’s a Main Chance angle. He may believe that harnessing the T.P. energy is necessary to keep his party a going concern, but given the number of local GOP electeds who have taken public union money, it’s a safe bet that the ‘Pug gentry will avoid being seen on a dais with Baugh.

And let’s not forget that just a few short months ago Baugh was supporting the totally fraudulent Ackerwoman campaign for State Assembly so it’s pretty hard to take anything this guy says about reform as being serious. Wonder if Baugh can be persuaded now to condemn the fraud of carpetbaggery and fake residence. Hmm. Scott?

Anyway, our ever-vigilant crew will be on hand to chronicle the fun and games.

January 29, 2010January 29, 2010Harry Sidhu

As The Colony Turns: Galloway On The Move Again

by The Fullerton Shadow6 Comments

lorrisfortune — You will soon be moving. Again.

Well I guess technically you have to have moved a first time to be able to move again, by why get all semantical ‘n stuff?

According to “Colony Rabble” at the Red County blog, Lorri Galloway is moving. Again. That makes three times if you are one of the tiny, gullible subset of 4th District citizens who ever thought she moved out of her 3rd District house in the hills to begin with.

Apparently she has selected yet another address – out of the Colony District and into to a place called “Five Points” that is farther west along Lincoln Avenue and is, in fact, halfway to Harry Sidhu’s phoney address at the beautiful Calabria Apartments behind the Linbrook Bowl. The property? Another Bill Taormina special. Gotta assume this one is actually zoned residential. Could it be that the City Planning Department actually did its job?

Anyhoo, Lorri can be serenaded to sleep by the white noise hum of Interstate 5 that passes nearby; and now Harry and Lorri can both ride the number 42 bus in the same direction from City Hall to get “home”! Which of course suggests a money saving strategy for both campaigns: co-habitation at the Calabria!

January 28, 2010January 29, 2010Dead heads

Harry Has A New Friend

by admin19 Comments

Harry'sFriend — One is the loneliest number...

The day after Harry Sidhu announced the formation of the “team” to run his carpetbagging, fake residency-based campaign for the OC 4th District Supervisor race, a seeming spate of commenters popped up in the local bloggery to promote Sidhu and attack Shawn Nelson’s career choice. Good lord! It was like watching bacteria multiply under a microscope.

Here at FFFF we had:

Mad Max
Amy Lynn
Grassroots Advocate

Interestingly, Max and Amy presented themselves as innocent, earnest students. Meanwhile, Orange Juice was honored by the presence of:

Mark Redman
FootballDad

When Red County’s Cynthia Ward’s passed along the Sidhu press release announcing Team Sidhu, that thread was favored by a visitation from:

Orson
Anonymous

The only problem with this sudden eruption of teeming pro-Sidhu blog-life was that it all came from the same source and showed up on different blogs at the same time!

Well Harry, at least one friend is better than none at all.

January 28, 2010January 28, 2010Fullerton School Board

Teachers’ Pension Fund $42 Billion in the Hole

by Travis34 Comments

Last month we warned you that CalSTRS (California teachers’ pension fund) was in a bad spot and they were hoping that nobody would notice.

Yesterday CalSTRS announced that investment losses have left the fund with a $42.6 billion dollar shortfall.

Even more worrisome: the fund will be completely wiped out shortly after today’s young teachers enter retirement. To counteract that problem, the fund will need to start sucking in major contribution increases almost immediately.

Naturally the pension system wants to resolve the situation by sending more Sacramento lobbyists to persuade legislators to “take action”. And by “take action” they mean increase contributions to the fund. Since a majority of teachers’ pension contributions come from taxpayers… Well you know what that means.

January 28, 2010January 28, 2010Harry Sidhu

They’re Baaaack!

by admin17 Comments

Those boys need to learn about cash for clunkers...

Yup. Those bad boys in the white van were spotted in the Linbrook Bowl Lanes parking lot yesterday. The mescaline and the revolving bowling pin may have provoked some transcendental moments, but apparently the fellas got down to work because they forwarded an audio file. There is a lot of interference on it that sounds like the crashing of bowling pins, so we have had to deploy our expert audio forensic team create a transcript. And here it is:

(sound of phone ringing)

Scott Taylor: Hello?

Harry Sidhu: Uh, Scott. This is Harry.

ST: Where the hell are you?

HS: Well, I am here at the Calabria. I think I was being followed so I came over here. Just to be safe, you know.

ST: Followed? Aw, Hell. Tim Clark is with me. I’ll put you on speaker.

HS: Oh! Hello Tim! How are things going in my campaign.

Tim Clark: Well, we’re trying. I’ll be honest Harry. There’s still a lot of stink on you from that ass-kicking Mimi laid down on you in 08. Geez she won every precinct in Anaheim. Then running so soon after your re-election to the Council – our polls say that people think you’re just desperate for a higher political job.

HS: Yes, jobs.

TC: Huh?

HS: I am a job creator.

TC: Ah, gee Harry. People in our poll weren’t impressed by minimum wage job creation. They didn’t seem impressed no matter how hard we pushed.

HS: Jobs.

ST: Um, focus, Harry.

HS: Jobs. Enterprise zone. Small business.

ST: Yeah. Okay. Okay. This carpetbagging thing is tough. Carol Rudat took it on the chops over this and it just killed Linda Ackerman and they’re gonna keep hammering that one. No way around it. For chrissakes just don’t get caught going home at night, Harry. Jesus, we’ll end up with Dave Lopez at the gate!

HS: Well, you know, those peacocks don’t feed themselves. Somebody has to do it.

TC: Okay focus, guys.

ST: What are we gonna pitch? Harry do you know anything about the County government?

HS: Jobs? I went to Norby’s office all the time. I will tell them I am just like Norby, only richer.

ST: Um, better not do that. We need something, you know, specific. Anything, really.

(prolonged silence)

Well, don’t worry, I guess we can cook up something.

HS: Well my friends that is why I have hired you. Oh! Now look at that would you. What a filthy disgrace! A dirty white van behind the wall spewing fumes.

Ah! And look at the time! I must be going, um, well, you know – home.

(at this point the telecommunication was terminated)

January 27, 2010OC's Fourth District

Tom Daly: Career Politician Who Wears the Union Label

by admin16 Comments

Well you heard it straight from the horse’s mouth.

Tom Daly has and will be beholden to the public employee unions. He tries to put a fig leaf over this ugly fact by describing the unions as his neighbors with a stake in the “quality of life” of his community. Notice how Daly conveniently confuses the individual with the collective? What a hoot!

Well I hate to break the news to you Mr. Daly, but it’s the public unions and their never ending fiscal demands that have pushed our cities, our county, and our state to near-insolvency and dismal credit ratings. And the citizenry has finally gotten wise.

Say good night, Tom.

January 26, 2010January 26, 2010Former Fullerton Councilmembers

More Fun at NUFF Forum: The Flory Blurt

by Jan Florys Dog8 Comments

Looking down from Doggy Heaven at last night’s NUFF forum I noticed my former mistress Jan Flory in attendance. At one point during Shawn Nelson’s observation that County bureaucrats were hardly a necessity to get hitched, my one-time owner blurted a loud ejaculation.

It sounded like “who’s going to marry you?”

Well, that’s a Hell of a stupid question, besides being pretty rude to someone who’s speaking, but that’s my mistress for you. Of course if anybody pulled that stunt on her she would have smacked them with the business end of her broomstick.

FloryBird — Defender of traditional marriage - the kind performed by a County bureaucrat!

Anyway, I’ll tell you who will marry people: their priests; their rabbis; their ministers; their ashram maharishis. Who cares? Why should a civil servant in a plastic robe do it under a dopey arch of fake flowers?

Jeez, I can figure that out and I’m just a dog.

January 26, 2010January 26, 2010Dead heads

Red Going Mauve

by admin14 Comments

Right on cue, Cynthia Ward AKA “Colony Rabble” the newest blogger at the Purpling County blog tossed a bouquet to her soul mate whom she “just loves to death,” Democrat Tom Daly.

FFFF has previously noted here and here that Ms. Ward’s presence on a supposedly conservative blog was merely to promote the candidacy of Daly – which can’t be done out in the open by Matthew Cunningham, the blog’s editor, who has been indirectly promoting the Daly candidacy on behalf of his boss John Lewis for almost a year. Repuglicanism at its very worst.

Her post is nothing but a big, sloppy wet kiss for Daly – for his supposedly sparkling performance at the 4th Supervisorial District candidate’s forum held in Fullerton last night. Apart from the fact that Daly is a Democrat who proudly announced his pride in accepting union contributions, his perfomance at the forum was anything but superlative.

And that’s the snag in the script. Daly was truly awful. I was there taping the event. He actually seemed like he was underwater. His performance was not engaging and just seemed “phoned in.” He really did appear like somebody just going through the motions, and keeping his employment options open.

He even waffled hard on the High Speed Rail project, Ward’s pet project du jour. But it hardly matters. Her screenplay is already written.

It will be interesting to see whether Red County blog boss Chip Hanlon goes along with this nonsense. Only last week he was reacting enthusiastically to the Scott Baugh Manifesto, that not only denounced public union money but excoriated Democrats.

January 26, 2010January 26, 2010OC's Fourth District

NUFF Forum Comes, Goes. A Little Learned, But Not Much

by The Fullerton Shadow42 Comments

If avoiding specifics, dodging straight answers, and putting ignorance on public display were virtues, then the crop of 4th District supervisorial candidates at the NUFF forum were virtuous in the extreme.

An hour and half of questioning produced almost nothing in the way of inspired leadership and mostly cliched responses to pretty specific questions directed by the Register’s Jennifer Muir. They all agreed that north County was getting screwed on park funds (or lack of same), that yacht owners should pay something toward patrolling Newport Harbor, and that there was going to have to be a multi-tiered pension system in the future. Well, that’s just stating the obvious.

Here’s a brief and summation of the candidates and how they comported themselves.

faher_r — He may be slow getting warmed up...

1. Richard Faher. Incapable of constructing a concise, intelligent answer. If someone really wanted an excuse to get drunk they could do a Richard Faher Drinking Game and take a shot every time he starts a sentence with the word “okay.” Faher did provide the amusing highlight of the evening when he thanked “Friends for Fullerton” for putting on the event. Gee, you’re welcome, Richard!

rose_espinoza_medium — Wait, let me go collaborate with my city manager...

2. Rose Espinosa. Despite the attempts by the Local Left to paint her as some sort of credible politician, she came across as, well, just plain dumb. And by dumb I mean a sack of door knobs kind of dumb. And ignorant. She appeared perfectly clueless about County issues and kept deferring to what others had said. She spoke in the lamest sort of generalities about every single question put to her. She repeatedly referred to getting her information from her city manager, and that’s bad. She talked about “collaboration” several times. Ouch.

3. Shawn Nelson. Came across as pretty articulate and knowledgeable about the ongoing harbor patrol budget scandal. His statements about getting County government smaller and less intrusive was cliched stuff right out of the GOP playbook, but his comments about why the Clerk/Recorder performs marriage ceremonies was right on. He also may have surprised some by his observation that the County’s current lawsuit against the Deputy Sheriff’s retroactive pension spike was a sure loser, and that he would share information on-line about all meetings with lobbyists. But he dodged answering the specific question about supporting regulating those lobbyists.

Nelson also took credit for courage in supporting Sharon Quirk to be mayor of Fullerton. That elicited snickers from many of the NUFFsters and maybe even from Pam Keller who was sitting toward the back of the room.

4. Tom Daly. He appeared to have popped too many quaaludes before the program, but maybe that’s just his style. He talked a lot about all that he got done as mayor of Anaheim, perhaps hoping that the NUFFsters were unaware that the Anaheim mayor is simply one of five votes. He appeared to be the the most knowledgeable about the way the County government is actually constituted, but that sort of familiarity comes with a price tag: career politician; and it did not produce any inspired ideas of reform, restructuring or right-sizing.

Daly took some oblique shots at Chris Norby for failing to deliver park funds which was fun because Norby was hovering in the back of the room like the amiable chorus in an Aristophanes comedy. Whether Norby was even paying attention is unknown, though unlikely.

At the end Daly rolled out his big guns. 1) He was opening his satellite office in Fullerton on Sunday, Feb. 14 to perform bureaucrat weddings (no mention about paying employees overtime to do it); 2) he had worked out a deal with the Lincoln Library to host a road show of Old Abe memorabilia. This produced some chuckles later in the FFFF editorial room as we recalled our post on Daly and another dead Republican.

Two Chickens — Harry and Lorri ponder the perplexing crossing of the 91 Freeway

5 & 6. Harry Sidhu and Lorri Galloway both took a powder. They were not missed. Their presence would no doubt have simply added another half an hour to an already pretty depressing evening. Still, credit to the NUFFsters for putting the event together, and shame on Sidhu and Galloway for blowing it off. Were they afraid of having to deal with the carpetbagging issue, or just their inability to talk cogently about bedeviling County problems? They needn’t have worried.