Watch Dick bobble head his way through convincing himself and Redevelopment agency director Rob Zur Schmeide that he knows all about redevelopment law as it relates to financing, bank loans, collateral, debt, you name it and Dick’s an expert, enjoy!
Our dear pals at the Fullerton Observer are at it again. In their latest (August) edition someone named Kevin Frink used the “Council Shorts” feature to take a shot at one of Fullerton’s Friends – Jack Dean check out page 4. The topic was the hearing on the Redevelopment expansion scam, and here’s what Mr. Frink had to say:
Several residents spoke in opposition
of the proposed action before the council/
redevelopment agency including Mr.
Kiker, Mr. DeWitt and Mr. Dean, the
later representing the Fullerton
Association of Concerned Taxpayers
(FACT), (a group responsible for
extremely dirty and misleading campaign
tactics in past city council and school board campaigns).
We suspect that Frink had coaching from his editor to insinuate a completely gratuitous and unsubstantiated claim about FACT’s political activities. The fact that this parenthetical attack had absolutely nothing to do with the issue at hand and is based on on the Observer’s notion that to oppose any statist, pro-government union candidate is tantamount to a crime, just backs up our previous criticisms of the Observer as a hack-run shill for City Hall. Those who have defended the Observer as some sort of journalistic paragon take heed. This is the type of stoogery you are defending.
Meanwhile the Yellowing Sub sinks deeper.
P.S. Could Mr. “Kiker” have been our very own Travis Kiger? If so we have a celebrity in our midst. Travis was that you?
Fullerton School District just approved the purchase of 350 new laptops for the floundering 1:1 Laptop program. Meanwhile, the school district has laid off 122 teachers and staff this year.
A few months back we discussed how parents are coerced into buying these overpriced Apple computers for $1,500 each, or else their child will be forced to attend another school. We have also confirmed that many of the laptop loans made to parents by the district have gone bad, sending families into bankruptcy and requiring an additional $120,000 in funding from generous but naive donors. The loans that these parents are forced into will continue to sour in this economy, which means even more indebtedness for the school district.
Furthermore, parents taking the so-called laptop survey are increasingly turning against the program, despite the threatening manner in which the survey is administered. The survey ominously indicates that answering incorrectly will result in one’s child being deported to another school against the child’s will.
Lest you think we’re making this up, here is a clip from an actual Fullerton School District presentation:
This entire catastrohpe was nothing more than a resume-padding excercize for former District Superintendent Cameron McCune. The 1:1 Laptop program needs to be scrapped immediately. Unfortunately for parents and children, Bevery Berryman is the only school board member wise enough to see past the chirade.
Police Captain Greg Mayes is calling for the Planning Commission to prohibit the serving of bottled liquor at local speakeasies. Unfortunately for responsible bars like the Continental Room, this new rule against “bottle service” will eliminate high-end customers from local bars, making plenty of room for the get-drunk-for-cheap crowd that Fullerton cops love to hate.
Continental owner Sean Francis made a strong case to the Planning Commission for allowing him to continue serving $200 bottles of alcohol to the look-at-me crowd. Although he probably could have drawn enough favor from the commission to pull off a coveted exemption from the rules, Mr. Francis took the high road and continues to push for a policy that would allow other bars to restore bottle service too.
It’s been a long time since Prohibition was repealed, and it still seems silly to attempt to force it upon careful bar owners and responsible patrons. This new policy is a misguided attempt to curb obnoxious activity that is actually perpetrated by the low budget crowd who would never pay for bottle service, but will now fill our bars even more.
Fighting, public urination and drunk driving are already illegal. Why can’t the police crack down on activity that directly harms others, rather than creating more laws that only inhibit law-abiding customers?
Fullerton’s drunks will always find a way to get wasted with or without bottle service. The Planning Commission should not penalize responsible citizens and business owners for crimes they did not commit.
This clip is short but meaningful. Claiming East & West Fullerton are “blighted”, Councilman Dick Jones and the Redevelopment Agency wants to take “money” from the schools, police and fire departments, and use it to build “municipal auditoriums, affordable housing, and even homes.” Of course none of this is about good ol’ Dick. He’s doin’ jes fine up on the hill. Enjoy!
About twenty years ago, the Fullerton Redevelopment Agency bought a few old houses, and condemned a perfectly good commercial building from long-time prominent Fullerton attorney William Chaffee. The City kicked everyone out and gave the prime land on the 100 block of W. Wilshire Ave in downtown to a Pasadena development group named Howard /Platz. All this done under the condition that H/P build retail space and apartments on top.
The developer built the apartments over retail, took its fees and profit along the way. But the project couldn’t lease up for the amounts that the developer and the City had promised each other, so eventually the property was taken over by Lenders. It was then sold for a fraction of what the City and H/P had invested because of the the dire market conditions and the complication that the project included a City parking structure. The new company which bought it lowered the rents and it eventually filled it up with tenants because of reduced rental prices and the City’s concession that the retail space was no longer required to be tax generating.
That was good for a few renters for a short time but bad for the rest of the property owners in downtown because this glut of space forced down rental rates. It was also bad news for the City because the tax revenues that the developer had “promised” to generate never materialized.
The lesson; When government gets involved in the development business, it’s bad for everyone except for a select few who take a direct benefit and the well paid redevelopment bureaucrats.
2. CONFERENCE WITH REAL PROPERTY NEGOTIATOR
Property: 626 & 700 S. Euclid Street
Agency Negotiator: Rob Zur Schmiede
Negotiating Parties: Paul Kott, Pierre J. Nicolas Trust
Under Negotiations: Price and terms
Affordable housing, like politics apparently makes for strange bedfellows. Take the case of Euclid Commons, a proposed affordable housing site that the City wants to buy. The agent for the owner is none other than Paul Kott, an Anaheim realtor and apparently a giant NIMBY, to boot.
About three years ago the City of Anaheim proposed a housing development for disabled folks near Kott’s offices on Lincoln Avenue, a pretty worthy goal you would think. But guess who marshaled neighborhood opposition that caused the city council back down? That’s right, Paul Kott.
Lest anyone think we make this stuff up, we thoughtfully provide a link to the LA Times article from 2006, here.
And speaking of money, here’s the money quote:
“Residents of the neighborhood, called Westmont, said a letter from real estate agent Paul Kott alerted them to the city’s plans for the vacant lot at Wilshire Avenue and Pearl Street. Kott, whose office is a few hundred yards from the site, wrote in his letter that “parolees, child molesters and mentally ill” could soon live nearby.”
Hey, Fullerton CC, nice guys you want to do business with!
We are finally getting around to writing about an item our dear, squishy-soft Barbara Giasone scribbled out last week about the Grace Ministries sanctuary – a god-awful looking, overbearing monstrosity click here to enjoy Barbara’s pabulum . In her journalistic valentine, Babs passed along the grandiosity of the church (larger than Crystal Cathedral, oh joy!) but omitted mention that the Administration Building and “the gardens” were designed by world-famous architect William Pereira and are part of a larger original complex that includes the Hunt Library and the hideous “bark park” (more on that in another post!).
It’s not that we expect Giasone to know or even care about such things, but we really want to heighten Fullertonians’ awareness of this amazing architectural resource in their midst. The City has done very little to protect this resource as they handed out entitlements to the massive church that, we assume, pays no property tax. The filled-in reflecting pond is pretty symbolic of the disregard to this complex; the City’s bark park adds insult to injury.
Recently Fullerton’s Redevelopment Director, Robert Zur Schmiede (who also serves on the planning commission for Laguna Beach) decided to channel his inner MD for an impromptu prescription to the Laguna Beach City Council to ban all medical marijuana dispensaries from the city. An OC Register article detailing the issue is available here, but here are a couple of noteworthy quotes:
“While acknowledging the needs of ill patients to access marijuana, I will not support — and will, in fact, vehemently oppose — the allowance of collectives in the city,” Commissioner Robert Zur Schmiede said.
“Why anyone with a grain of sense thinks this is something we should do is beyond me,” he added, to some murmurs in the audience.
Let’s get this straight:
- the majority of voters in California elected to legalize marijuana for medical use 13 years ago
- Zur Schmiede is fully aware that there are ailing citizens who have a legitimate medical need for the drug
- Zur Schmiede does not have a medical degree
Despite all that, he actively seeks to deny patients access to a drug that a licensed medical doctor has recommended for treatment.
Does Zur Schmiede really have the public interest in mind here? Can we expect this sort of reefer madness to echo in Fullerton? Or can we reasonably expect our city staff to uphold State law?
08/04/09 UPDATE BY THE FULLERTON HARPOON:
We have delved deep into our photo archives and have uncovered this image. And so continuing in the Robert Young leitmotif we share it with our Friends.
Yesterday we ran a post on the duplicitous way the City started the ball rolling behind closed doors on a big housing project that promises CEQA impacts on its neighbors. In fact decisions are already being taken that should have been done under the illumination of a public hearing.
The project even has a name, “Euclid Commons” that makes us wish to make a quick pit stop at the West Harbor Alley Improvement Project vomitorium. A couple of comments provided descriptions of what was being proposed that seemed to differ considerably and so we provide la tabula rasa for our Friends to chime in and see if any clarifications are forthcoming.
The issue of starting negotiations is being addressed tonight (Aug 4th) behind closed doors since the public can’t be trusted to even know that a project is now officially (if secretly) sanctioned by the City Council. There will be “reporting out” but no public comment. Really, what have they got to hide?