Friends For Fullerton's Future

We received this letter from a resident who is ready to leave Fullerton after years of struggling with the city over disparate code enforcement, including yet another example of the city turning a blind eye towards an ongoing public nuisance caused by amplified outdoor music.

Fullerton is actually my hometown, and it was pretty decent back when I lived here. Eight years ago, my parents and I decided to move back to the City of Fullerton, from Buena Park. It was the beginning of the real estate boom and we got our house on the west side of Fullerton for a decent price. It was a nice neighborhood then, and still is at times. But, We’ve grown out of love for the City of Fullerton. It is no longer a place where my parents can retire in their modest lifestyle. We didn’t know that this little corner of Fullerton was just a throw away section back then. To us, it seemed like a place that had some potential for people who wanted to add the the community by renovating their homes, (as some have), and live quietly.

I have watched the neighborhood drastically change over the years, and it doesn’t look like it is getting a whole lot better. It seems like the city could care less about what is happening here as long as we pay our property taxes to fuel their idiotic projects.

We were going to put a lot of money into this home. But there is no way now, we do not have the heart to improve this little enclave one-bit when the city has failed us.

Late July, we received a letter stating that Community Preservation was inspecting this little corner of Fullerton for illegal modifications to the homes.  Shortly thereafter, we received a letter warning us to water our lawn. Which was asinine because we were obeying the water conservation request that they’ve sent.

Even more appalling, was how my neighbors, who homes are “blighted” with illegal modifications, miraculously walked away without any condemnation from the “preservationists.”

One of our neighbors painted his house and left the last quarter of his wall, under the eaves unpainted.

While another, illegally converted his patio into an additional room, added a laundry hook up, possibly a bathroom, and covered the roof with a tarp to keep the rain from seeping into the roof and walls from last winter! In addition to that, he installed another bathroom in his garage, that was left unfinished for a year, to complement his home theater/dance floor.

It just appalls me that our community preservationists can spot out the dry lawn, that I did not water per their conservation request, while something as tacky leaving a house barely painted, and blatant modifications are left undocumented.

And unfortunately, that is just one of the many issues and gripes I have about the City of Fullerton.

When I moved to his neighborhood, I envisioned a place where I can renovate the home and give my parents a modest home to retire in, while I try to purchase another home on the street for me and my wife. They are humble people with no need for anything fancy. Just peace and quiet.

There has been an ongoing situation with my neighbor with the home theater/sound system/dance floor in his garage. I would love to talk to him, but my mother says he is an aggressive guy. One day he was parked in our driveway and my mother could barely get in. Well she went looking for him to politely ask him to move the car, but he barked at her instead. From then on, she told me to stay away from him; even though I have a cool head, I tend to fly off the handle when it involves someone threatening my mother (everyone can relate to that).

Well, the loud music and parties started once he built up the garage. They usually happen on weeknights and goes into the wee hours of the night; 3 AM-ish. Knowing that a face to face wasn’t going to work. I wrote a polite letter, apologizing that I couldn’t talk to him face to face, because I could not find him (he has a super high fence that goes all the way around his yard), and requested that he turned his music down and refrain from partying too loud in the evening (because my dad wakes up for work early and goes to sleep early) and late at night, for we all work on weekdays.

Unfortunately, that letter didn’t help (knew that would happen). So, I called the police instead, hoping that they would put some sense into his hard head. But, that didn’t work. All they said was that they couldn’t do anything about the music, and can only request that the guy turn down his music. Which is total BS! IMHO! So, the cops came over once and requested him to turn his music down; that worked only once. Each consecutive call I made thereafter resulted in no shows. I know Fullerton Police has better and more important things to do, but they could have given him a ticket for disturbing the peace, or being a nuisance to really ring his bell. Calls to community preservation were no help either. I was going in a loop by then, as they referred me back to the police, saying that it was under their jurisdiction. In retaliation of this offense neighbors, instead of banding together to squash the evildoer, other neighbors have selfishly play their own music on their own accord, creating an even dicier situation; it seems like no one can get a long, or is willing to try (I am. Unfortunately they aren’t). And this is where I am at; where the whole family is at: frustrated and sleep deprived.

The City of Fullerton has made it clear that noise isn’t an issue for them. It seems like they have an alternative motive when it comes to enforcing their own noise laws. *hint hint* *jab jab*

And ignore established building codes to suit their own distorted visions of grandeur.

Whatever they are doing, they are driving away people who have the ability and dream to make Fullerton a more positive place to live in, particularly in the west side of Fullerton, where it is becoming a bigger s**t hole, without decent enforcement of the ordinances, and decent families to abide by them.

–Berto Gomez