Dying to Move Out of Fullerton

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

Norby Throws Hat In Ring

Norbyphoto

The word of Mike Duval’s resignation has spread like a wildfire. I just got off the phone with soon to be termed out Orange County Supervisor Chris Norby and according to Chris even though he’s only had 30 minutes to think about this he told me, “I believe this is an opportunity I have to take”! “Opportunity”? Hell, this is the Red Sea parting.

Everyone who knows Chris’ avowed principles knows that he would better serve the public by being in Sacramento and advocating for Redevelopment reform than by hanging around Civic Center Drive and Broadway recording “vital” records. There’s no better place to advocate for Redevelopment reform than in Sacramento.

Goooo Norby, we’re behind you 100%.

Norby for State Assembly

With the disgrace and unavoidable collapse of our State Assembly-zit Mike Duvall of Yorba Linda, a perfect opportunity has arisen for our termed-out 4th District County Supervisor Chris Norby to step into the picture.

Whoo-hoo! The best part is it'll drive Ackerman crazy!
Whoo-hoo! The best part is it'll drive Ackerman crazy!

Chris has taken some heat here from some of our fellow FFFF bloggers for his County Clerk campaign which to some of them gave off an aroma of desperation for a job. Well, the politico gods seem to have placed a job right in Norby’s lap – a job at which he would excel – statewide policy – particularly Redevelopment reform. Do it Chris!

Duvall Drops Pants; Calls Attention To Fact

What a Guy!

The rather gross story that has emerged about our State Assemblyman Mike Duvall the insurance salesman from Yorba Linda will not be retold here. It is related in disgusting detail by the relentless Scott Moxley at the OC Weekly here.

We’re not so much offended by this clown’s infidelities, which are his business, as by the utter lack of tact in bragging about them, and the stupidity of doing so in an open mike. Why can’t the GOP find better representatives? And why does the same cast of characters – including Dick Ackerman and Ed Royce – keep foisting these nitwits on us?

PS – JC, I believe this is the thread you may wish to comment on.

Here’s another source for the Duvall video: http://sexoffenderissues.blogspot.com/2009/09/ca-assemblyman-mike-duvall-resigns.html

Retirement Already A Bonanza Waterfall For MWD Employees

victoria

Teri Sforza has produced another fine Watchdog post over at the Register about the gravy train that already awaits MWD employees in retirement, including a list of over 40 of these watercrats who pull down over $100K a year in pension payements click here . The former top dog who retired in 1993 gets almost $225K per year and has received over $3.5 million since he stopped clocking in. Sweet. For him.

grrrrrr
grrrrrr

If that weren’t bad enough, now MWD wants to raise their pension formula even more. A few days ago we threw down the gauntlet to our City Council to be accountable for the upcoming vote by their chosen MWD representative, Jim Blake. Well, now we do it again. The vote is next week and we will be reporting back to the friends.

And remember. MWD cost increases are passed directly on to us. On top of that, in Fullerton 10% of gross water revenue (from your water bill) goes directly into the General Fund. And that’s a hidden tax increase, folks.

Here’s the MWD $100,000 club. If you know anyone on the list make sure he/she thanks the water rate payer for their largess:

CARL BORONKAY $224,812.80
NORMAN TAYLOR $191,512.08
RODERICK WALSTON $187,782.84
DAVID PORTER $170,075.76
DOUGLAS MARSHALL $149,733.12
LAUREN BRAINARD $148,945.68
NORMAN FLETTE $148,258.92
JARLATH OLEY $137,811.60
JAMES GALLANES $132,217.08
ALBERT CHENG $129,202.20
MYRON HOLBURT $120,516.84
FREDERICK HORNE $120,203.88
GEORGE BUCHANAN $119,561.76
VICTOR GLEASON $119,445.48
MICHAEL YOUNG $118,419.24
STEPHANIE VENDIG $118,418.76
BARBARA KENNEDY $115,249.92
JAY MALINOWSKI $114,198.00
ROBERT LYONS $114,192.36
ALAN SMITH $112,779.24
GARY HAZEL $112,212.36
CAROL BALCERZAK $111,909.60
WILLIAM WATSON $111,849.60
EDWARD THORNHILL $111,653.52
AHMAD HASSANI
$111,339.60
RONALD GASTELUM $111,130.44
JOSEPH SANTOS $111,113.88
EZELL CULVER $109,106.04
IZETTA BIRCH $108,637.56
ROBERT MOEHLE $108,349.44
TERRY HARMAN $107,494.56
LARRY DEFORGE $107,363.88
ALLIEN WHITSETT $104,608.20
JESSE CORRAL $104,095.44
MARSHALL DAVIS $102,596.28
EVAN GRIFFITH $101,766.60
NELSON LEE $101,334.12
LARRY HINES $101,244.60
PAUL SINGER $100,597.08
DAVID FURUKAWA $100,353.48

Beauty and The Beasts

Fullerton School District Trustee Minard Duncan (or someone doing a marvelous impersonation) visited our site a while back and left this observation about City Councilman Shawn Nelson’s wife, Sharon:

Nelson’s wife is a very pretty women as well as pleasant and cordial! It is hard not to drool around her.

Apart from the sharp needle-jump into the red on our FFFF creep-o-meter, it set us to thinking about mature male politicos and attractive, significantly younger females.

Minard lookin' good!
Pretty and cordial, too!

Some politicos avoid having their pictures taken with beauty contest winners for fear that the young woman will get all the attention, and the politician will look rather like an ugly duckling alongside. Others either haven’t learned that lesson, or are so starved for attention that they do it anyway.

Say cheese!
No personal space in this biz. Smile 'til it hurts

And of course some just can’t seem to resist laying hands on the pretty young things.

jones_firehouse2_2008
Yeehaw! A coupla young fillies in the corral...

MWD RAISES RATES; NOW WANTS TO JACK UP PENSIONS

A River of Greed Runs Through It...
A River of Greed Runs Through It...

UPDATE: The MWD Board will take up this matter at its meeting on Sept 15.

The Metropolitan Water District, one of the shadowiest and least transparent agencies in California is contemplating raising its employees pension benefits. The Register opines about it here and makes reference to an original story by Teri Sforza here .

With bad news about how its own pension plan has been rocked by huge CalPERS investment losses, and with financially teetering state and municipal governments it seems like a poor time for the MWD to be grabbing for more tax-payer backed gravy to benefit a giant gaggle of water bureaucrats. Plus, the MWD just passed along a water commodity rate to its members that we are all paying for.

Fullerton is original member of the MWD and has been represented for a long time, some say way too long, by a fellow named Jim Blake – as we wrote about here .

I'm from the MWD and I'm here to help. The MWD.
Jim Blake from the MWD is here, and he's here to help. But whom? The ratepayers or the MWD bureaucrats?

UPDATE: The MWD is scheduled to take up this matter at its meeting on September 15.

Jim has been on the MWD Board for so long that almost nobody can remember when he went on back in the 80s (1980s, that is). The people who originally appointed him are all long gone. But Jim has well-managed his continual reappointment without anybody else getting a shot at the job. Well, now he’s got an issue that may just spell trouble for his lengthy tenure.

Blake has always been a big pro-staff drum-beater, and its hard to imagine that if, left to his own devises, he wouldn’t go for the pension jack. If he goes for it now, the people who appointed him may discover that it is they who are ultimately responsible for the actions of their appointees. Under ordinary circumstances this might not bother Fullerton’s own pension spiking gang too much. But 2010 is an election year, and we feel certain that this the pension increase will become an issue if it goes through. The city council needs to know that this continued fiscal recklessness will not be tolerated.

What Color Is Pam Keller’s Parachute?

Won't take money from developers...
You will never see me taking money from developers...

Green?

We’ve been sharing information (when we find it) with our Friends about the unusual – well, unique, really – relationship between the Fullerton Collaborative and the Fullerton School District. Fullerton City Council woman Pam Keller is the Executive Director of the former, but remains an employee of the latter. We’ve coined a term for the process – “contracting-in.” It’s such a rare strategy that we’ve never actually seen it in use before.

Many of our Loyal Readers’ eyebrows have been caused to arch by the possibility that Pam Keller might have been soliciting donations for The Collaborative that actually went to pay FSD for her own services. And those eyebrows got even closer to hairlines when speculation began that Pam may have been soliciting donations from interests that had business before the City of Fullerton.

Today we share the 2009-2010 agreement between the Collaborative and the FSD – agreed upon by the Board of Trustees unanimously and without discussion as a “consent calendar” item.

PamKeller-2009-2010-Contract

Notice the asterisk in item #1 of the Collaborative’s responsibilities. It leaves open the possibility that the District may give the Executive Director a raise – and stick the Collaborative with the bill! Now we ask you – what kind of an organization would agree to an open-ended codicil like that in a contract? We’ll help out: one in which the Executive Director (who is also a board member), is the direct beneficiary, that’s who!

We also note in the 2009-10 FSD budget documents a throw away line stating that the Collaborative kicked in extra money to the FSD. It’s noted in that little box at the bottom of the document (below). Now why would the Collaborative do that? What kind of “charity” gives additional money back to a contractor? Possibly a charity whose fund-raiser’s efforts are so successful that a surplus exists which could be kicked back to the District to pay for that raise described in item #1 of the agreement. Of course we’re just speculating here.

Resolution for Expenditure

But, none of these speculations would be so thought provoking if the Collaborative’s mission weren’t so fuzzy, and if it had major expenses other than the cost of hiring a government employee to be its Executive Director/fund-raiser. But the mission is so loose as to be practically meaningless, and the cost of the Executive Director consumed most of its budget in 2007.

All of this really ties back to the fundraising issue and who actually gives money to the Collborative. But it’s perfectly clear now that the funds – donations, fees, whatever –  that go into the Collaborative, go to pay Keller – via the FSD; the question of additional “revenue” given to the FSD by the Collaborative opens up a new issue for people who contribute to this endeavor and who might start wondering why the Collaborative can’t be run by its own employee, or better yet, by volunteer labor.

One Man’s Trash is Which Man’s Treasure?

gold-n-trash2DSC00128

Fullerton trash in green bins is gold to hundreds if not thousands of recyclers throughout North OC. People who are in the marginal business of recycling are now flocking to neighborhoods throughout Fullerton Monday- Friday. Depending on the day of the week that your trash is picked up you may notice people competing to score the goods from the green bin. It’s no coincidence that it’s green is it?

So who does the recyclable stuff belong to? Good question. Someone “inadvertently”  forgot to label the bin Property of MG Disposal or Property of the City of Fullerton, and the recyclers believe that they are doing business as usual.

Most people understood that if everyone helped (recycled) by sorting our trash, then the hauling rates would be lowered (or at least not raised) and would save us  a little money on our trash bill. But now that we are all sorting the “goods” for the recyclers on trash day it has become an added bonus for those in the shopping cart recycling business.

Is a crime being committed? Is anybody cited for it? Who makes up the loss for MG Disposal?

Did the city and MG Disposal leave out an important clause in the contract? Or is it just easier for everybody to look the other way?