Redevelopment Hard At Work On Orangethorpe? Big Toy #2?
A couple hundred housing units on that site might do nicely. Or maybe a coupla acres of new retail. Or Hell, why not both!
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A couple hundred housing units on that site might do nicely. Or maybe a coupla acres of new retail. Or Hell, why not both!
But i don’t get it. This looks like a prime site for an entrpreneur to assemble parcels and build a new shopping center – with a grocery store. If the market wants it it can get done!
Little Slow, you reckon without a cluster of redevelopment employees standing around looking for something to do! Where did they come from you ask? They were brought on as a result of the last big toy tax increment producer – “Soco Walk.”
Now increment is falling and this gaggle needs something to do and money to raise. Hence the expansion – although increment may take a long time to accrue. On this site they can do all sorts of fun things – buy property, give it away, play with RFPs all day, play design consultant, etc. etc. And all without two cents’ worth of accountability if (when) things go wrong. It’s great. Perfect job security.
Something reallllllly needs to be done there…
And it will be, and without subsidy – if the City stays out of the way.
Usually I’m in agreement with what I read here, but in this case…
I’ve watched the area decline for several years. Tagging in the adjacent neighborhoods has increased as commercial occupancy has decreased.
In your version of life, the answer is to sit back and wait while the corner businesses and the surrounding neighborhoods fall to crap, hoping some developer decides he wants to take a chance on building in an area that is on the decline.
Sorry for the selfishness, but I think I’d like to see my local tax dollars spent on an area that directly benefits me instead of…say…the SoCo Dist….or the gradual elimination of the “wrong side of the tracks” houses south of the rail line…or the 4am puke patrol that cleans up downtown. Even if it was hamfisted and clumsy, SOMEthing is better than nothing. And by the way, to someone who grew up in this area, dodging multiple people asking for spare change while I’m on my way into the drugstore sure FEELS like blight.
FTown local, if you’re usually in agreement with us I hope you’ve taken the opportunity to see our copious series on redevelopment f-ups and lack of accountability in Fullerton. If you have you may think twice about wanting “tax dollars” to develop private property. Maybe what your area needs is more CBDG funds for infrastructure, better and more responsive code enforcement, and an actual voice on the City Council. Don’t you find it interesting that the council members who “live on the hill” like Doc heeHaw want to impose their vision on you?
Government of ANY kind wants to impose its will on me–I don’t really trust that anyone in an official position is working in my best interest, and of course, those who aren’t part of govt don’t even have to pretend to care about people like me.
There’s a lot of ‘maybes’ involved in any discussion about things like this, too many, I think, for anything useful to actually happen in a reasonable time frame.
Nobody is altruistic–as soon as somebody wants somebody else to do something that benefits them they are a special interest group.
What I find interesting is that all the city council members live “on the hill”? Has there ever been a council person in Fullerton who lived south of Chapman?
Yes, Mayor Louis Velasquez, and Mayor Francis Woods, and maybe a few others….
Yikes, thanks for the trip down memory lane (no, not that Memory Lane!).
The two that you mention were on the council over thirty years ago – ancient history in politics.
Ever since 1980 councilmembers have been almost exclusively hill dwellers – with the exception of Chris Norby who I think still lives south of Chapman Ave.
Yep, you’re probably right. Along with Norby, there was Mayor Bornhoft, And, Whitey is headed back to the Moon!