Last night’s City Council hearing on moving ahead with a marijuana ordinance produced the usual incoherent blather from our distinguished electeds, none of whom seemed to know what they were talking about, and two, in particular, who seemed to have been coached by representatives of the legal pot lobby. Of course we learned that the previous outreach didn’t reach anybody not looking to make a buck in the weed biz.
Somehow in its latest incarnation, staff’s proposed framework for allowing these uses, particularly dispensaries. reduced the “buffer zone” at schools and parks from 1000 feet to only 600, and eliminated the buffer for residential zones altogether. Why? Pretty obviously to increase the opportunities for locating dispensaries.
Councilmembers Zahra and Silva, who gave every appearance of repeating “consultant” talking points expressed concern that workers in these places be unionized and that to proceeds go to kiddie social programs, but they were more interested in increasing parcels available for development than they were about the impacts on residential neighbors. The bumbling Silva in particular made a big deal about having most permissible zoning in order that the burden of hosting these facilities would be shared by rich folks up in the hills, an idiotic pretext since a majority of the council spent a good deal of time extolling the virtues and minimal impacts of licensed shops.
Councilmembers Whitaker, Flory and Fitzgerald indicated their desire for a 1000 foot buffer, and the inclusion of residential use as a “sensitive receptor” requiring a buffer. So good for them. However, Fitzgerald and Whitaker both voted against going forward with more “outreach” and a future ordinance anyhow, meaning that either Zahra, Silva or Flory somebody is going to have to change their support for a residental buffer, ultimately, in a final ordinance. I leave it to the Friends to guess who that might be. On the other hand it’s hard to see how this can make it back to the Council before the election and both Flory and Fitzgerald will be gone, meaning that we may get lucky in Districts 1 and 2 and get a level-headed council majority who can make a decision that isn’t bogged down by fake concern, verbal gas, and union stoogery.
Jesus Silva, Jennifer Fitzgerald and Ahmad Zahra just manipulated you and the entire city for the sole purpose of putting Jan Flory back on city council.
Jan (Staff is the heart of the city) Flory.
Jan (3% at 50 Pension Crisis) Flory.
Jan (Hold no one accountable ever) Flory.
This woman was and will be a train wreck for council because she has zero regard for our budgets, has never shown a desire to hold people accountable and is nothing but a shill for those who are supposed to work for us.
I’m not sure why Zahra would have neutered himself by giving FitzSilva their third vote on every agenda item. I’m not sure why Zahra would have given Chevron 3 votes to develop Coyote Hills when he campaigned against that issue.
I’m not sure why Zahra would have switched in less than a month from a man of votings rights and constitutional principles to selling out and playing along in a mockery of an appointment process.
No. Sorry, I am sure why. Ahmad Zahra is just another in a long line of hacks who will lecture us from the dais while having no principles himself. Just like his pal Josh Newman – another self-righteous and pompous ass who thinks it’s okay to lie to your face as long as it gets him into power and the good graces of his corrupt party. He’ll spout wiki-quotes and nonsense for the sole reason of justifying his incompetence and malfeasance.
Zahra can preen and pretend to care about our budget all he wants. He can use whatever emotional ploy to try and justify an appointment process. What he cannot do is pretend that the reasons for an appointment excuse his actions in participating in a farce of a process that was the antithesis of the open and transparent system we were promised.
Back in December, in his first at-bat, Ahmad Zahra surprised me by speaking of the Constitution and transparency whilst simultaneously voting against FitzSilva in their attempt to appointJan Flory to Council. Zahra was on fire with gems such as:
“My decision is going to be contingent upon us making sure that the appointment process is fair and open and transparent. So until we can make that decision, I don’t see how we should take votes away from people.
“The question is, is there a fairer and open and more transparent process than voting itself? Can we come up with that? Can we come up with something better than what the Constitution come up with? That is my question for the council. I’m leaving my decision until I hear other council members.”
Tonight we get to find out if Zahra is a man of principle standing by his own talking points at the last meeting or if that was all simply a clever flex to show who has the real authority on this issue in an effort to get his preferred pick onto council.
For those new to the story here’s the gist as I understand it —
Jesus Silva wanted incumbency in 2022 and thus opted to run for the District 3 seat on council.
Council then chose to change the law ON ELECTION DAY in the case Silva beat Sebourn in order to limit the options for voters.
Silva took home the ring on election day and in winning he vacated his at-large seat which runs until 2020.
Then in December the dynamic duo of Jennifer Fitzgerald and Jesus Silva testily complained that they needed Ahmad to go along to get along in order for them to get what they wanted. Zahra didn’t go along which brings us to today.
Tonight we’ll watch as FitzSilva likely tries to lay it on thick and blame Ahmad for the cost of the election should he choose transparency and an election (as he did back in December). This is posturing bollocks but I’m wondering if he’ll stand firm. Both he and our residents need to know that the fault here lies partially with Silva for running, partially with council for changing the city ordinance, ON ELECTION DAY, to facilitate this choice between the devil and the deep blue sea, but really the fault lies with our City Attorney The Other Dick Jones™ for offering terrible advice and putting us in this situation in the first place. Zahra is blameless here on the issue of cost should he choose openness and transparency by way of a special election.
Prepare for the same shenanigans with FitzSilva promising a fictionally transparent process in this city which is allergic to the very premise of transparency. The same transparency which had Jan Flory meeting with at least 2 (if not 3) current council members and bringing a cabal of people to lobby for her to be appointed without the citizenry any the wiser. THAT type of so-called transparency should be rejected and here’s hoping that Councilman Zahra continues to impress the way he did during at his last at-bat.
I was pleasantly surprised at Fullerton’s City Council meeting last night and that rarely happens. I was surprised because Ahmad Zahra stood his ground on the principle of Democracy being the preferred way to settle our current council vacancy caused by Jesus Silva. He withstood Fitzgerald’s venom laced claws and boxed Silva in so much that Silva had to contradict himself by claiming to believe voting is important except, you know, with regards to, uh, the vacancy he created in playing musical chairs.
I had heard going into the meeting that Jan Flory had lobbied 2 if not 3 of the current council members to be appointed to the vacant seat. I had also heard and believed that Fitzgerald and Silva were going to push for an appointment process to get the Flory ball in motion. I also knew, just from historical context, that Whitaker would vote no on that because he and Flory are opposites on most items and he gains nothing by supporting her. I did not know how Zahra would act or vote despite allegedly meeting with and being lobbied by Flory. Owing to Zahra’s campaign and his coziness to people I believe to be ethically challenged I didn’t hold out much hope and assumed he might go along to get along.
Then Zahra showed up to play ball and stomped on my assumptions. (more…)
Says the 4 year old as he spins around and waves his arms frantically for attention.
Transparency, uber alles!
And so our new acquaintance, lively young fleur Elijah Manassero presented himself after the last city council meeting in another of those pre-written emails to the Fullerton City Council.
Earlier that evening the Council passed a new ordinance making bar owners responsible for the cacophony that emanates from their establishments. At the meeting, tender Elijah, pretending to be a big supporter of small businesses, claimed that the majority of the bar owners were already in non-compliance with the new regulations.
Of course they are are. That’s whole point of putting a stop to the amplified music free-for-all. Sweet Elijah’s conclusion to his “argument” is that bar owners shouldn’t be held responsible because of their…irresponsibility.
Think harder…
But back to the fragile sprig Manassero’s email. The comfy chair he was sitting in in the council chambers was still warm when he hit the send button for his missive to the council. Get a load of this:
Dear City Council,
What I witnessed tonight was deeply disheartening. The decision made by this Council Majority disregarded both the data presented and the overwhelming public opposition. For those who campaigned on transparency and accountability, this vote reflected neither.
Councilmember Valencia – I encourage you to review information before meetings, not during them. The claim that Los Angeles and Orange County maintain 45-55 dBA limits is demonstrably inaccurate. These are residential limits, not commercial. Fullerton’s own consultant, Dudek, explicitly found such limits incompatible with downtown conditions.
Mayor Jung – you dismissed data in favor of personal anecdotes about your visits downtown. The code enforcement logs, which I provided, contained the evidence you seemed to be missing. Instead of engaging with facts, you deferred all reasoning to a donor and then immediately adopted his requested carve-outs. That was not impartial governance.
You also stated that you wish to be “pro-resident” rather than “pro-business.” But when the vast majority of residents who spoke opposed these limits, that justification rings hollow. Outside of one of your donor’s former bloggers, no one living downtown spoke in support. If this vote was truly about residents, then which residents are being represented?
Councilmember Dunlap – I understand the pressures of coalition politics, but I also believe you know when something is wrong. If you continue to vote with those driven by donor loyalty rather than the public good, those distinctions won’t protect you in the court of public opinion.
To Mayor Pro Tem Charles and Councilmember Zahra, thank you for your thoughtfulness and consistency. You demonstrated what it means to listen to the community and think critically about policy rather than reflexively defending it.
For weeks I’ve raised awareness about this issue through my platform. That advocacy led to coverage by Voice of OC and then KTLA, which broadcasted your decision tonight. The public is paying attention, and what they see is a Council majority choosing special interests over small businesses, culture, and common sense.
I said this before and it remains true: there’s still time to change course, but that window is closing. This was the wrong decision, and I guarantee the majority of Fullertonians agree.
I’m disappointed in tonight’s vote, but encouraged that accountability is finally catching up. Please reconsider the path you’re on before it’s too late.
Respectfully, Elijah Manassero
Where to start picking apart this nonsense? You choose. But do linger over the part where the precious rosebud claims credit for media coverage of the issue thanks to his “platform,” whatever that may be.
Oliver has taken to insulting Mayor Jung and councilmembers Dunlap and Valencia for their persecution of “Les Amis” and perforce, their anti-small business bias.
At first I couldn’t figure out what the deal was. Fullerton Boohoo, led by the Kennedy Sisters certainly climbed on the bandwagon quickly shedding tears, so they said. The sweet young rosebud, Elijah Manassero thought he knew a good thing when he saw it, to attack Fred Jung in order to help out Connor Traut. The narrative was great: Jung beats down the little man. News at 11.
The tender sprig even came up with a fun graphic: Les Amis bound like Prometheus by red, well, yellow tape.
The problem for Jinan and her cub Oliver’s narrative is that they have been determinedly dodging rent due to the City for 15 years while they were also squatting on public property without agreements or permits in place.
Isn’t that a terrible look for anybody, let alone people who get up in public and attack their landlords? And why oh why had the City allowed these scofflaws to stay in business on our property and to continue to grab more public real estate without permission?
Questions.
Then a commenter suggested a cozy relationship between 5th District Councilman Ahmad Zahra and the restaurant located in his district. Hmm. A little checking revealed Zahra political fundraisers held at…Les Amis. What a coincidence. Here are a couple of images from a Zahra campaign fundraiser:
Bernard, did you know rent’s been due on this property? For 12 years?
Wanna take a sidewalk? That’s our specialty!
Les Amis provides a colorful backdrop…
Zahra once held a “Pride Celebration” fundraiser of some kind at Les Amis that featured Robert Garcia – another fellow grifter, just like himself.
I wonder where the money went…
It looks like Zahra may well have persuaded impressionable Oliver to start making a nuisance of himself. Doc Zahra has certainly pitched the “Les Amis as victims” to young Elijah who has taken up the cause with liveliness.
It appears that Les Amis has become a hub of local Democrat activity on misappropriated property. And look who the most recent beneficiary:
Makes you wonder about the integrity of all concerned.
Unfortunately, this ploy of Zahra/Traut, whose ultimate goal is to attack Jung, has backfired badly. The ugly truth about Les Amis is now out of the bag and the good folk of Fullerton are entitled to know exactly when they’re going to get paid for the property Les Amis is squatting on.
Friends can file this story under a number of different categories: political puppetry, gross hypocrisy, unmitigated gall, comical self-righteousness, offense is the best defense; pick any one you like.
Pay no attention to the overdue bills…
At last Tuesday’s Fullerton City Council meeting we were treated to another diatribe by a guy named Oliver Montecristo attacking Fred Jung, Nick Dunlap and Jamie Valencia. We have already met Oliver, here. Oliver wants everyone to believe that Jung and his colleagues are anti-small business, a new line of attack by Ahmad Zahra and Shana Charles, two muppets who have never run a business in their lives.
I sometimes fight for transparency!
It’s pretty clear that Oliver is one of the minions in Zahra’s stable of impressionable young fellas. His other protégé, lively young Elijah Manassero, has taken up the myth of the City’s persecution of Olly’s mom, and the family restaurant, Les Amis. The rents on City property are so darn high! The Kennedy Sisters at the Fullerton Observer have also taken up the Les Amis cause.
The only problem is that the Montecristo clan led by mom, Jinan, have a notorious record of not paying their bills, and encroaching on public property without authorization or permits. Check it out:
Feb 2011 Jinan Montecristo d.b.a. Les Amis Restaurant & Lounge (Jinan) applied for an outdoor dining encroachment agreement.
Aug 2011 After several reviews of the site plan, staff provided a draft encroachment agreement to Jinan for consideration
Sept 2011 Jinan issued a letter to staff challenging the lease rates. Les Amis installed fencing and started operating within the public right-of-way without executed agreement (south patio).
Dec 2011 Staff send revised encroachment agreement for consideration
June 2012 Jinan was issued an Administrative Restaurant Use Permit (ARUP), which included an ancillary outdoor patio. Among other things, the conditions of the ARUP required a valid encroachment agreement pursuant to the Outdoor Dining Guidelines established by the City Council.
July 2012 Staff send revised encroachment agreement for consideration
Dec 2015 Jinan submitted building permit to expand into the north portion of the building.
Feb 2016 Staff inform Jinan that she owed $28,659.60 for use of the public right-of-way of private benefit (9/2011 – 2/2016).
May 2016 Modification of an Amended ARUP was approved, expanding existing restaurant into adjacent tenant space. Jinan executed an encroachment agreement for outdoor dining (south patio only; $510/month; $6,120 annually). The agreement also required payment for 12-month prior occupancy ($6,120; negotiated down from $28,659.60).
Aug 2016 Jinan issues a letter to staff indicated they are “unable to fulfill financial obligations” due to “hardship”.
April 2017 Jinan was issued a letter from the City attorney to pay outstanding balance on account.
May 2017 Encroachment Agreement expired.
Aug 2017 Les Amis expanded into the north patio area without a permit/agreement for outdoor dining.
Nov 2018 Jinan was issued a letter from the City attorney, indicating they are in violation of their ARUP, failed to pay the lease outlined in the executed agreement, and are required to remove encroachments (north and south patio) by Dec. 14, 2018. Jinan subsequently expressed interest in continued use of both patios. Outstanding balance was $24,643.70 at the time.
Dec 2018 Jinan signed resolution of breach of outdoor dining encroachment agreement and FMC. Resolution waived outstanding balance on Patio 2 (north patio; $5,263.70), resulting in $19,380 of remaining account balance.
Jan 2019 Staff sent two encroachment agreement(s) for consideration. Jinan expressed interest in removing Patio 1 (south patio) and expanding Patio 2 (north patio)
March 2019 Jinan executed Encroachment Agreement for new north patio only. New Agreement was for $913.75/month ($510 for north patio; $403.75 for prior occupancy fee ($19,300 amortized over 48 months))
Permit was issued for removal of fencing around south patio and installation for north patio expansion per executed agreement.
May 2020 City Council paused collecting lease revenue from all outdoor dining encroachments due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Outstanding balance for all outdoor dining agreements was also waived. Les Amis waived balance was approximately $13,647.50.
June 2022 Council approved new lease rates for outdoor dining on public property.
Aug 2022 Les Amis reinstalled south patio without permits and/or an agreement.
Sept 2022 Jinan submitted application to reinstall south patio.
Aug 2023 Staff reinitiated collecting lease from all existing agreements.
Oct 2024 Jinan defaulted on payments from August 2023 to October 2024, accumulating a dept of $13,468.71. Jinan signed an agreement for a 12-month payment plan to pay the outstanding debt of $13,468.71.
NOTE: this did not include prior occupancy for the reinstalled south patio.
Nov 2024 Jinan executed two superseding encroachment agreements for outdoor dining with the new lease areas and rates.
April 2025 Jinan defaulted on payments, accumulating an outstanding balance of $26,650.96. Staff terminated the agreements, cancelled the payment plan, issued several notices of violations, and required removal of all encroachments. Jinan expressed financial hardship and requested the City revisit the lease rate. Jinan also paid $1,200 toward the payment plan and expressed interest in purchasing the property. The city paused removal to explore options.
July 2025 Jinan was once again requested to remove all unpermitted encroachments. Jinan paid $3,900 toward the payment plan. City Manager agree to extend the time for compliance or a change in the Outdoor Dining policy for 60 days. To date, Jinan has an outstanding balance of $31,185.10 ($5,494.06 payment plan; $25,691.04 encroachment agreements)
Yikes! What a history of screwing the taxpayers. Almost 15 years worth. Poor, small-businessman Oliver was in fourth grade when it started.
Not paying your debts to the public is the best way to become a Sharon Quirk Woman of the Year!
Over the years Jinan has deliberately dodged paying many tens of thousands of dollars in rent to the people of Fullerton. She has illegally encroached onto public property without agreements or permits in place on numerous occasions. The record is abundantly clear: the City has bent over backward for years and years to accommodate this woman; rather than evicting Janin from the City’s property and taking her to court for the rent due she has effectively stolen, they kept giving her more opportunities to rip us off. Pathetic, really.
Found another victim!
Well, Oliver may think the documentation of his family stiffing the public is all nonsense and that somehow he and mommy are victims, doncha know; however, no one except the inordinately stupid would believe it.
The cynical manipulators like Doc Zahra don’t believe it either, but Zahra won’t miss a chance to get some eager fool to stand up and harass the people who haven’t, and won’t make him Mayor.
It could be worse. It could be Speed Metal! Wait. It is!
Last night the Fullerton City Council, at long last, approved a noise-related addition to the Municipal Code. The vote was 3-2: Jung, Dunlap, and Valencia for, Charles and Zahra voting no.
This effort has been going on for over ten years, has been diddled with by more than ten City Councilpersons (Flory twice), and five City Managers, acting and permanent.
The ordinance is pretty tame really, with decibel levels I think are way too high, but at least gauged at the property line where the goofy and distracting issue of “ambient noise” can be better put to rest. Hours of outdoor music have been addressed with common sense and respect for neighboring inhabitants.
Fines for violators are in place, and about time, too.
For the business…
It was amusing to watch Zahra and Charles pretend to be “pro-business.” We know the performance was disingenuous because of their cavalier attitude to non-bar businesses on Wilshire Avenue that suffered when that pair closed the street for their absurd “Walk on Wilshire.” They ignored the fact that downtown Fullerton runs in the red and is subsidized by the rest of us. Really their act was about voting against what they characterized as the wishes of “one businessman” regardless of the need for reform.
In what surely must be the dumbest thing said in recent years at a council meeting, Ahmad Zahra claimed as a fact that the “downtown is dying,” a really weird and irresponsible thing to utter. The Dismal Damascus Doctor offered exactly zero facts to support his stupid utterance.
Transparency, uber alles!
Naturally, our friend sweet young Elijah Manassero popped up to inform the council that most of the bar owners were already non-compliant with the new rules. His logic led him to conclude that therefore the new regulations were ill-advised. It didn’t seem to occur to the tender sprout that the continual bar-owner abuse of existing law was precisely why the new ordinance was needed. I have no idea what they’re teaching the young folk these days, but thinking doesn’t seem to be in the bundle, although I’m sure callow Elijah has loads and loads of self esteem.
Now it will be time to see if the City Code Enforcement operation will employ the willingness and the competence to enforce the law. They have stubbornly refused to do so in the past, partly because councilmembers were running interference for the scofflaws. And part of the reason for staff’s reluctance might be because enforcement implies some sort of fault or failure, and in City Hall the decades long mess they made out of downtown Fullerton, has been characterized as a stunning and inarguable success.
I noticed this closed session item on this Tuesday’s Fullerton City Council meeting agenda.
Almost forgotten but not gone…
Commonwealth and Harbor LLC, AKA Mario Marovic has been in litigation with the City for a long time now claiming some sort of misfeasance on the City’s part in the ongoing saga of the Florentine stolen sidewalk.
Sit down and grab some sidewalk, brother…
Friends may remember that Marovic turned out to be just as big a scammer as the Florentine Mob. After they walked away from their lease, he took over and planned to open two new bars.
It’s there, just take it.
He actually remodeled the so-called pop out without permission as part of his redesign. Oops. The pop-out belonged (and still belongs) to the City.
In the fall of 2023 the City decided it wanted the sidewalk back; Marovic wanted to open his fake Irish pub. Yes it was a clusterfuck courtesy of the boneheadedness of a City bureaucrat named Paul Dudley over twenty years ago. He talked the Council into letting the Florentines put a new building on a public sidewalk, a building addition not owned by the guys who owned the main building to which it is still attached. Oops.
A deal was struck a deal under which Marovic could get opened and the City could finally get its sidewalk back. Marovic could open Mickey’s Irish Pub bars and had until March 2024 to begin demolition of the offending bump out. The remediation work had to be done by July 2024.
March 2024 came and went; March 2025 came and went. There was no work performed. Instead Marovic continued to use the public’s building and sued the City. I hope he was paying rent to us, but I wouldn’t be surprised if he didn’t.
Another stand up DTF bar owner…
Marovic has been in breech of his agreement for over a a year and a half. For some reason the City has been playing a protracted legal game with this individual instead of evicting him from our premises for being in default. Maybe the City-folk were trying to dodge personal embarrassment – just like their predecessors have done for the past two decades. Maybe they were still hoping that Marovic, somehow, would do what he was supposed to do – a hope so incredible as to be absurd.
My hope is that no settlement is made, at least not one where the City is not fully recompensed; that Marovic pays for the City to do the demolition work (he can repair his own building exterior), covers all our legal fees, and kicks back a portion of the profit he has made using our building.
Zahra Congratulates Marovic for his lawsuit…against us.
I am not hopeful about my hope. The City can’t even seem to get Les Amis to pay their years late rent. Playing hardball just isn’t in their repertoire. My guess is that the City will vote to give Good Ol’ Mario a second chance. Or maybe they’ll just drop the thing altogether and the sidewalk will remain as is.
Transparency, uber alles!
Incidentally, I wonder if Ahmad Zahra and his young sprout Elijah Manassero will give the stolen sidewalk item the scrutiny and transparency the public needs. Bet not.
Who says “nobody” reads the FFFF blog? Well, they do in City Hall, obviously.
It turns out that “Dr.” Ahmad Zahra’s campaign committee maybe wasn’t terminated after all. It’s now back on the active list on the City Clerk’s website! Looks like the “new crew” did another oopsy.
And that’s terrific news for those of us who were looking forward to next year’s Fullerton City Council election in District 5.
Zahra rap sheet
See, Mr. Zahra faces all sorts of challenges of his own creation, and he has voluntarily made enemies where he ought not to have. Here’s a partial list of Zahra’s transgressions – stuff that his blind followers love to ignore, but issues that may resonate with the electorate at large.
In the 1990s gay immigrant Zahra committed marriage fraud by marrying an American woman (a federal felony), so he could stay in the United States and pave the way for eventual citizenship.
In 2020 and 2021 Zahra committed plagiarism by taking articles written by somebody else and having them published in the Fullerton Observer under his own name.
In October of 2022 Zahra filed a false police report to the FPD claiming that his colleague, Fred Jung assaulted him (or some such thing). The report was rejected.
If he stays in the race, Zahra would go up against Oscar Valadez, the guy who would have beat him last time around, except for Castro, and who’s returning to the fray in 2026. Then there’s his biggest antagonist, Tony Bushala, who seems to want to make it his business to rid the city of this con artist. Mr. Bushala has the means and the motive to do so.
In 2022 Zahra spent well over $100,000 to squeak out a tainted victory. Right now he has less than six grand in his committee account. While we may expect the OC Dems to enlist another candidate to draw votes from Zahra opponents (the Scott Marowitz Experience may frighten them off), it’s hard to see a path forward for the disingenuous doctor from Damascus.
