Friends For Fullerton's Future – Page 345 – FFFF supports causes that promote intelligent, responsible and accountable government in Fullerton and Orange County

June 7, 2009March 1, 2011Fullerton City Council

Water, Water Everywhere…

The ‘ol H2O seems to be on a lot of people’s minds these days, and as ever more people wrangle over the available resource, why not?

This time of year the City of Fullerton addresses the issue of water rates it charges the users of this commodity as part of its budget voodoo. What many people fail to realize is that not only does this water revenue go to running the waterworks, per se, but that 10% of the gross revenue is siphoned off into the General Fund to pay for salaries and benefits of people who have nothing to do with the purchase and transmission of water. In the next two years the projected amount of liquid gold is projected to be over $5.3 million, a tidy sum, to be sure.

well don't just sit there, go get it — "There it is. Take it."

This little financial two-step is called the “in-lieu franchise fee” in which the City treats the water enterprise fund as if it were a separate utility – and milks it like a cash cow. Can anybody possibly believe that there is a direct and attributable cost to the City’s General Fund of $2.7 million a year to operate the waterworks?

What all of this means is that every time water rates are raised there is an indisputable raise in the amount transferred into the General Fund. Another apt term for this raise is a tax increase, pure and simple, disguised in this case by being included as part of a “fee.” Year after year the Fullerton City Council has embraced this cheapjack swindle, perhaps not caring that the water rate payers (including many businesses) are carrying a disproportionate tax burden. It’s enough for them that no taxes were seen to be raised.

Next time you cross paths with one of your councilmembers why not ask them why the water “in-lieu franchise fee” is so high, and ask them to justify it. If you get a cogent answer please let us know!

June 6, 2009December 28, 2010Dick Jones

Is Roscoe’s Franklyn Above The Law?

by admin29 Comments

Public parking lot, or Jack's parking lot, you decide. — 1.5 Million $$ Public parking lot, no more!

The verdict is in, Jack Franklyn owner of Roscoes is above the law.

June 6, 2009January 5, 2010Fullerton School Board

Hilda Sugarman Puts Her Lafite Where Her Mouth Is…

by The Fullerton Shadow21 Comments

can we get that in a box... — can we get that with a screw cap?

We have to say this for FSD Trustee Hilda Sugarman. She puts her Premier Cru on the line for what she believes in. And what she believes is that her elementary school kids need laptops to be properly educated.

Mrs. Sugarman is one of the masterminds of the FSD laptop program that has given us (and the ACLU) such heartburn. Perhaps not coincidentally, she is also the President of the Fullerton Excellence in Education Foundation (or at least was as late as 2008); the pupose of the foundation, per its website is to support the technology/laptop education in the FSD, etc.

We have heard on the grapevine that the Foundation has pledged $120,000 to the district program over the next two years, which is fortunate since the program seems to be in the hole for at least that much in unanticipated costs in this year’s budget. Seems some folks don’t want to pick up the tab for pricey laptops.

But on to the the bibulations!

well, it's for a good cause, i guess... — well, it's for a good cause, I guess...but remember kids, just say no!

This evening, the Foundation holds an “exclusive” wine auction over at the Arboretum. Lots of locals are involved and it looks like many of Sugarman’s in-laws are event sponsors; and, again we give kudos to Hilda for doing a little intrafamily arm twisting.

We’re sure a good time will be had by all, and that everybody goes home feeling downright philanthropic. But let’s hope that at least some of the attendees come to reflect upon FSD Superintendant Mitch Hovey’s blithering baloney on the FEEF website:

“To be effective in the 21st century, the Fullerton School District believes that students must be able to develop innovative products and processes using technology, construct knowledge and demonstrate creative thinking.”

what did that funny man say? — what did that funny man just say?

We really have no idea what this statement means, but in any case it seems to imply a pretty tall order for an eight-year old. We here at FFFF are somewhat old fashioned, and think that its the job of our elementary schools to teach kids how to read, write, and do some ‘rithmatic; and maybe along the way learn to think a little bit for themselves. Mitch, please consider scaling back your goals for success to something comprehendable, reasonable and measurable.

June 5, 2009Big Brother

This One Speaks For Itself

by admin7 Comments

June 5, 2009December 28, 2009Chris Norby

Ed Royce Endorses Shawn Nelson

by The Fullerton Shadow3 Comments

big-ed

US Congressman Ed Royce has endorsed Fullerton City Councilman Shawn Nelson in his bid to replace outgoing Chris Norby as the OC 4th District Supervisor. Here’s the letter, purloined from Nelson’s campaign website:

Wow. Now that's impressive stationery...

This is good news for Shawn, but hardly surprising. The bigger question is whether other Republican politicos will start coalescing behind Nelson without expecting to be paid for the honor.

And speaking of politicos when is Chris Norby, the would-be County Clerk, going to get up off his duff and endorse a conservative Republican?

Finally, when we reflect upon some of the intellectual and philosophical ciphers Ed Royce has stuck Fullerton with in the past 15 years on both the City Council and the various school boards, we have to ponder the value of his endorsement. Still, as far as the rank and file are concerned it is better to have it than not.

June 4, 2009January 5, 2010About Us

Hilda Sugarman Reads Our Blog!

by The Fullerton Shadow12 Comments

FSD Trustee Hilda Sugarman, one of the masterminds of the district’s $1500 laptop flop actually reads our blog, as evidenced by the following e-mail string. The funny thing is she thought she was sending an e-mail to somebody else (the Superintendant?) when she was actually sending it right back to us!

Our own Travis Kiger, author of the laptop post, politely notified Mrs. Sugaman of this fact, courteously invited her to correct any errors in his post, and promised to publish them. Hilda is right: Travis is a lovely person!

Sugarman has yet to respond but we’ll give her some time to get a response written for her by district staff. If and when she does get back to us, Travis will be sure to post these “corrections” – whatever they may be.

You see, unlike public agencies we always welcome correction and are not afraid to admit it if we get something wrong!

Here are the e-mails:

From: Fullertons Future <info@friendsforfullertonsfuture.org>
To: Hilda Sugarman <hilda_sugarman@fsd.k12.ca.us>
Sent: Wednesday, June 3, 2009
Subject: Re: [Friends For Fullerton’s Future] School District Still Forcing Parents to Buy $1,500 Apple Laptops

Hilda, I believe you meant to forward this email to someone else, but instead you replied back to us.

I am the author of this story. If there are errors in the story please send them to me and I will add a postscript – or feel free to reply in the comments.

Travis Kiger

From: Hilda Sugarman <hilda_sugarman@fsd.k12.ca.us>
To: Fullertons Future <info@friendsforfullertonsfuture.org>
Sent: Wednesday, June 3, 2009
Subject: Re: [Friends For Fullerton’s Future] School District Still Forcing Parents to Buy $1,500 Apple Laptops

REad the article. Do you know who this lovely person is? Do you think it is worth correcting the errors?
Hilda

On Jun 3, 2009, Fullertons Future wrote:

Hello,You may be interested in this article:

School District Still Forcing Parents to Buy $1,500 Apple Laptops
Posted On June 3, 2009

View the rest of this article at http://www.fullertonsfuture.org/2009/fullerton-school-laptop-program/

June 4, 2009January 9, 2010OC's Fourth District

Is Anybody Just Wild About Harry?

by The Fullerton Harpoon6 Comments

Harry Sidhu poses with a near life-size dummy of Arnold

We haven’t posted anything on Anaheim’s Harry Sidhu and his bid for the 4th District County Supe race in some time. And we have been negligent in not passing along news of his upcoming fundraiser on June 20th. His “host committee” (remember – the guys who get in free) include a roster of current and former Anaheim politicos.

Looks like Tom Daly's got problems in Anaheim. But Stanton, Cypress and Brea aren't even in the district...

This is surely bad news for the other Anaheim candidate, Tom Daly who must be chaffing at the thought of Harry grabbing the support of Anaheim’s old guard both Republican and Democrat. That may actually be a reflection of Tom’s real popularity south of the 91. His campaign mastermind, John Lewis, must be plenty pissed off about it, too.

But back to Harry. He has a wee bit of a problem. Harry does not live in the 4th District, but in the posh precincts of Anaheim Hills, in the 3rd. He has stated that he will buy an address in the 4th, for appearances and legal requirements, presumably, because nobody expects him to move out of his cozy compound in the hills. None of this reflects well on Harry who can be seen as a perennial office seeker with more money than sense.

...and harry isn't part of it either! — ...and Harry isn't part of it either!

In the meantime Fullerton’s Shawn Nelson has already launched his campaign for the 4th and has a website under construction.

June 3, 2009April 5, 2011Fullerton School Board

School District Still Forcing Parents to Buy $1,500 Apple Laptops

by Travis39 Comments

As another school year comes to an end, the Fullerton School District is telling parents that it’s time to pay $1,500 for a brand new laptop for each of their children. Included in the presentation is a reminder that if they don’t get a laptop, the school district will ship their children off to a lesser school under the premise that they must have 100% participation to continue the laptop program.

First, a little background — this little shakedown started as the brainchild of Fullerton School District Superintendent Cameron McCune, with the assistance of board member Hilda Sugarman. McCune had grandiose visions for his future career as an educational consultant, and he figured the best way to make himself popular was to manufacture a “digital revolution” and give away computers to every child in Fullerton.

Hey kids, everybody got a laptop? OK, building clear. — Hey kids, everybody bought a laptop right?

Predictably, there was no money in the district budget for thousands of new computers, so McCune and Sugarman led the school board to ask the parents to pay for new computers themselves. At $1,500 a piece, that wasn’t going to be an easy sell. Just as they were about to give up, the perennial big-government solution presented itself – COERCION. The board decided that they could help Apple extort $1,500 from every parent using the threat of forced student relocation for non-participating parents.

There was a mother in Fullerton named Sandy Dingess with four children who now “needed” laptops to attend school. Being wary of disclosing private financial details in the required paperwork, Sandy called the ACLU, who then sued the school board. In the ACLU’s words “the Program plainly violates the free school guarantee under the California Constitution”. A lengthy battle of legal letters ensued, with school board caving in and allowing a small number of parents to opt for a $65/yr insurance premium instead of an outright purchase. Obviously the Constitution was still being violated, but it was enough of a victory for the ACLU to back down.

In the end, three of Sandy’s children were forced to move to another school because they could not afford laptops.

For those of you who don’t believe that the school district would participate in such thuggery, here is a clip of this year’s presentation from the District’s technology director:

So what can the victims do today to stop this expensive charade? When the 1:1 Laptop Program survey comes to your school, you will be presented with four options…. the first two leave you with a hefty bill. The opt-out choice will allow the school to ship your kid off to a location of their choosing. The “insurance only” option is obviously the way to go, as it forces the school to procure a laptop for your child even though they still take $65 from you. Remember that this will be a high-pressure sale, as the district can only afford to purchase laptops for 10% of the students. If there are more requests for laptops, the 1:1 program could be in jeopardy at that school, which cuts into Apple’s bottom line. But do not be swayed – let the school know that you will not be forced into participating in this high-tech boondoggle.

As Fullerton teachers and parents are losing their jobs, the district is attempting to expand this expensive program into new grade levels. It’s time to let them know that we cannot afford it.

June 2, 2009June 2, 2009Dick Jones

Being Dick Jones; Sharing the Crazy Hillbilly Routine

by admin21 Comments

The Orange County Vector Control Board meets monthly with all its 3 dozen Board Members, and Vector staff. Our own Dick Jones represents Fullerton on the Vector board where he now has the reputation of being a nut. Sound familiar?

During a staff presentation at the May 21, 2009 meeting, Jones had a typical Jones moment. First he pops up out of his seat waving hand in the air, screaming “enough…enough for God’s sake,” then minutes later he compliments staff for baffling him. We’re not sure how to read this other than we think Dick Jones had some sort of a mental snap, and then he flew the coop. We’re used to this sort of things, but apparently it shocked some of his Vector colleagues.

You may have trouble sorting through the man’s mangled syntax so we are providing a transcript of his remarks:

“I would like to compliment you all on the extensive report you gave, however when I get on an airplane I’d like to think that some agency says it’s air worthy, I don’t want to know the percentage of the materials that make up the wing spars, your intentions are laudible and so forth. I think this was over done, when people come to me for an operation I did not give them 4 years of surgical information during my residency, this was excellent. It’s nice to be baffled by brilliance, and it was baffling”.

We would like to think that’s it’s not asking too much of our elected officials to act like adults, not spoiled children used to getting their own way. If Jones can’t control himself in public perhaps he could just limit his idiotic outbursts to Fullerton rather than make the city a laughingstock when he takes his show on the road.

June 2, 2009December 28, 2009Home Town Hero

Who is Jane Reifer?

by admin17 Comments

We spend a lot of time criticizing the self-styled leaders of Fullerton that we decided to post once in a while about the postitive things done by Fullerton’s true leaders.

A few days ago The Harpoon floated a trial balloon: Jane Reifer For City Council in 2010? We got several comments, pro and con, and so we thought we would share some more information on Jane and her participation in Fullerton activities.

Jane Reifer is one of the founders of Friends for a Livable Fullerton, an organization formed to influence development decisions in order to promote and preserve Fullerton’s uniqueness and livability. For many years Reifer has provided crucial leadership to the community by advocating small business, responsible development, and transparent government process.

Jane Reifer is also one of the most outspoken and influential transit advocates in Orange County. She currently serves on the Orange County Transportation Agency’s Citizens Advisory Committee where she advocates for increased and improved bus service as well as for better conditions for pedestrians, bicyclists.

She is well known for her successful fundraising efforts to Save the Fox, culminating in a partnership with the City of Fullerton that saved the historic theater from demolition.

Jane Reifer is a small business owner and operator of the Fullerton-based Clutter Control.