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
Once again the “Battle of the Bands” analogy becomes reality as neighbors try to drown each other out. Noise penetrates property lines, and thus property rights. If your neighbors complain, you need to shut it down. That includes residents AND businesses.
I think the attitude of the City to Mr. Gomez is probably echoed in their performance throughout the proposed Redevelopment expansion area which is basically suffering from code enforcement and graffiti removal issues more than anything else.
I hate to suggest malfeasance where mere stupidity applies, but perhaps the city willfully neglected these code enforcement issues as a lead-in to the redevelopment expansion?
When you call the police regarding a noise complaint, unless YOU are willing to sign a complaint for a citizen arrest/citation, all they can do is ask them to quiet down. If you do sign the complaint, be ready and willing to testify in court if needed. YOU are the victim and have to be willing to take the steps to resolve the situation…the Police Department’s peace cannot be disturbed, therefore you are the victim and have to be willing to follow thru.
#4, and the cops use this to scare people into just saying “forget it”; and then the cops don’t have to do anything about it. I put up with this situation for quite a while. I just wish I had said “HELL YES, I’LL SIGN A COMPLAINT – NOW GET OUT THERE AND DO YOUR JOB!”
Living next to a known gang member that blasts his music to the world every chance he gets, I also face the same problem. The city and police aren’t too quick to act on such nuisances unless you file a complaint. Unfortunately, that only escalates the problem between neighbors. Especially when they own a home and can not readily move away under dire circumstances without suffering financially; like me.
The “cops” don’t make this up to scare people, it’s in the CA penal code. The officers WILL come out and tell people to turn it down if Jane/John doe request it. For a misdemeanor crime, (disturbing the peace,) the only way to actually enforce the law is if you, the victim, desires prosecution and is willing to sign a private person’s arrest form and possibly go to court and testify.
Well, Blue Devil, every time I called to get the all night party shut down – all sorts of lawas were being broken from public urination, drinking, etc. the first thig the dispatcher would tell me was whether or I not I wanted to file a complaint.
“Enforcing” the law is not the same thing as prosecuting the law breakers. I wish cops in Fullerton would quit playing Clarence Darrow and just do their jobs. A friend of mine had a similar problem in Anaheim. The police came out and the problem was solved. A-mmediately! as Jones would say.
I won’t even get into the stories where the victim (me) was turned into the culprit by some Fullerton “investigator” with a real bad attitude; or how when my house was robbed they didn’t even bother to talk to prome suspect #1. I could go on and on.
Maybe I’ll write up the laundry list and e-mail it to FFFF.
Kept Awake, send ’em in!
Honestly, I don’t know why I even post my thoughts on this site. It is so one-sided (left,) hateful, and just utterly negative that it really hurts the morale of citizens who read it. If Fullerton is so awful, maybe you should all follow the name of this original post and move out of Fullerton. Everyone is so quick to blame someone else, the city council, the police department, etc. Ever heard of personal accountability?
Blue Devil, you are free to keep your head in the sand, pretending that nothing is wrong and nobody is to blame. Complacency is exactly how we got here in the first place.
Alternatively, you could realize that problems cannot be fixed without first acknowledging them. Then we must identify the responsible party and set them straight. Finally, someone must take corrective action.
If we don’t do anything, it’ll be business as usual. In that sense, you’re either with us or against us. I can see why you feel so polarized.
Nevermind. Admin and Dave Albers already said it best: http://www.friendsforfullertonsfuture.org/2009/were-from-ffff-and-were-here-to-help-our-way/
Blue Devil,
Often, justice comes too slow after corrective actions. When you establish a homestead, you practically pour your life’s savings into it and hope that your neighbors will treat you kindly. If they don’t, all you can do is push for a solution. However, creating that bad blood, through corrective action, can only escalate out of control. Especially if its an unruly neighbor. If Mr. Gomez could have moved, I bet he would have been long gone. Unfortunately, the average Joe cannot. It looks like he has gone as far as he can go without causing harm to his home and family.
I took action by reporting my neighbor, because of loud music and yelling, and all I received were threats and a keyed up car. The police took a report, but nobody saw anything and couldn’t prove anything. So, what is there to do? If I had the money I would move out today; too bad it isn’t going to happen today.
And, when I see my neighbors extending their homes, building bathrooms without permits, it just breaks my heart. Not only is the property ill equipped to support the addition, the illegal rigging of electricity and limited quarters creates a fire hazard. I won’t allude to you to where I live, but it’s getting ridiculous. They might as well call this area unincorporated Fullerton.
#4- first of all you said it, you wished you would of said you would sign a complaint….you didn’t so quit whinning, it’s the law, look it up. The police can’t make up new laws to suit you and your particular problem. I agree this is a pain the a** to listen to, but the police can only do so much. Anaheim PD abides by the same laws as all CA. departments do, so the problem was probably handled in some other manner or the reporting person signed, or was willing to sign a complaint. And by the way, your house probably wasn’t robbed, it was more than likely burglarized.
Wow. mr. thanks for the clarification. I’m so glad my house was buglarized and not robbed.
In any case the cops did almost nothing except take a report.
You seem to have missed the point of my comment which was that the police use the “do you want to sign a complaint” as their first line of defense to evade having to come out at all. And they give the job to a dispatcher.
“mr.” thanks for giving us the policeman’s point of view.