A Brief Essay by “Chamber Star”

Loyal friends, we keep inviting Fullerton’s decision makers to come to our blog to give their side of the story when they perpetrate what we feel is a particularly egregious screw-up. None have yet taken up the gauntlet and we really can’t blame them. Who wants to be swarmed by an angry squadron of Friends after a public policy fiasco? Responding directly to the public is ever so much more difficult than reading a script.

Yet our site has been visited, and visited often, by an individual who styles him/herself Chamber Star. We’re not sure what this handle means, precisely, and whether this person is actually even affiliated with Fullerton’s Chamber of Commerce. But since we have unloaded many rounds into the Chamber’s fleshy leadership tissue, we feel pretty confident in assuming that Chamber Star holds some position of authority in that organization. But we could be wrong.

We like Chamber Star because Star’s is the voice of unquestioning support that the City of Fullerton has come to expect from their friends in the Chamber leadership cadre. So much so, in fact, that the Chamber has actually come to embrace the anti-business Redevelopment proposal.

A while back we invited Chamber Star to write a post for our blog so that his/her attitudes and beliefs could be shared with the Friends in order to present a rounder view of life and times in Fullerton. We reproduce Chamber Star’s essay verbatim, below:

First, let me thank FFFF for giving me an opportunity to tell a different side of the story, a different view point, if you will. I hope that when people have read this they will understand a little bit more about the way I feel about Fullerton.

We should all be on the same team: Team Fullerton. We should all want what’s best for our great City and all work for the same goals. We cannot do this if we are pulling in different directions. That’s why the Chamber leaders have taken up a consistent and rather courageous position of supporting the people at City Hall who are always working hard to make Fullerton a great place.

It is very easy to criticize the City staff because their jobs are both difficult and have to be carried out under the critical and often unfair light of public perception. Their skill sets are highly developed to perform complex missions that none of us could do in a hundred years. And yes, the atmosphere can be hostile as is evidenced by this very blog!

Redevelopment in particular is an area that demands great skills of a wide variety. And if mistakes happen (nobody is perfect, including the operators of this blog), we have to remember that redevelopment staff are taking risks for all of us. So I wholeheartedly support Redevelopment in Fullerton and wish to see it expand. If possible we should have it throughout the City. Again, it’s easy for Monday morning quarterbacks to take shots at our fine staff, but not very fair. These are top flight professionals who deserve our respect and support. These folks are helping to develop new business in Fullerton, and raise sales tax receipts so we can afford to hire and keep the very best public servants in the State. And that’s why the Chamber of Commerce supports City staff and Redevelopment. You can’t have all the things you want like municipal auditoriums and graffiti removal and mandated affordable housing without the all-important Redevelopment funds.

And finally I would like to say that I have a lot of confidence in our elected officials. I believe in democracy and believe that we will elect good people who have good judgement. I support them and have confidence in their judgement because if they didn’t have it they probably wouldn’t have gotten elected in the first place. Time and time again they have shown how consistent their judgement and wisdom really is. And our leaders know that they have to work closely with their staff to get what’s best for all of the City. I would also say that many times it is necessary for the City Council to do its business behind closed doors to keep important facts secret. And that’s really for the good of everybody, too.

Thanks again FFFF for letting me share my views. And remember: look forward to the future and not backwards! Fullerton’s best days are still ahead!

Thank you Chamber Star for sharing your views.