Bankhead Considers Using Public Funds to Bail Out the Civic Light Opera
Here’s an eye-opening story from last winter by Greg Sebourn about one of the most hare-brained Redevelopment boondoggles ever proposed. The fact that it was suggested by Don Bankhead a mere six weeks after his umpteenth re-election is ample evidence that either 1) his mental gears have slipped completely; or 2) he really never had any judgment in the first place. You decide if you really want this king-sized boob in office any more.
– Joe Sipowicz
Mayor Pro Tem Don Bankhead seeks to use Redevelopment Agency funds, originally set aside for combating blight and providing low-income housing, to prop up the Fullerton Civic Light Opera (FCLO).
In an article penned by Eric Marchese of FullertonStories.com, Bankhead indicated he is “…investigating the use of Redevelopment Agency funding to assist the Duncans and FCLO.”
What would prompt this Republican and self-proclaimed conservative council member with more than 22 years of elected service under his belt to conclude a necessity for a taxpayer bailout of the FCLO?
Bankhead was quoted as saying, “It would be a blow, a terrible loss, to the city if [the Duncans] can’t figure out some way of saving [the company].”
And therefore taxpayers must somehow bailout this private endeavor??
What about the public employees who have taken significant cuts in pay (and service hours) to help shore up the financial debacle created by a city council with their collective heads in the sand? Should the Redevelopment Agency also bail out these other departments and public employees?
The short answer: NO! Before the Redevelopment Agency existed taxpayer funds were meant to go toward all of our public services from engineering and education to public safety. But after the Redevelopment Agency was created and expanded, taxpayer funds were redirected to combat blight and fund low-income housing. Meanwhile, our infrastructure lays in ruin from continuous neglect and habitual misappropriation of public funds.
If we use Redevelopment Agency funds to bail out the FCLO we will have effectively robbed all of our public agencies so that a select few can be entertained.
I cannot think of a more egregious abuse of public funds except perhaps spending $6-million to move a McDonald’s restaurant 200 feet or borrowing $29-million to evict low-income families.
Does the recall effort begin now or do taxpayers wait for further damage to be done at their expense?
Recall Grandpa!
Should probably have included quotation marks around “blight” and “low-income”. Disastrous make-work projects for the useless staff of an agency without purpose.
“What would prompt this Republican and self-proclaimed conservative council member with more than 22 years of elected service under his belt to conclude a necessity for a taxpayer bailout of the FCLO?”
You meant to say RINO! And of course the 22 years just ossified the RINOism. I really do believe this guy’s brain went straight line.
The author didn’t use “RINO”, because trying to be nice to Grandpa who might get grumpy or mad. We know how old farts get these days.
Aren’t “blight” and “low-income housing” kind of the same thing?
If you don’t earn something you will not respect it and therefore it will become blight. If you have free time take a walk down Valencia or in the apartments on highland and baker.
End redevelopment and fire Bankhead!!!
Years ago Bankhead referred to the Redevelopment Agency dealings as “playing with Monopoly Money” Maybe no one informed him that the money comes right out of the taxpayers pockets..including him..?
Sweet Glow in The Dark, Micro-filtered Jebus, we’ve been subsidizing Blankhead’s comedy act for 22 years. And now he’s adding music!
“Don Bankhead, a longtime Fullerton city councilman and FCLO subscriber, said the company provides “entertainment of the highest quality, a first-class program for as long as I’ve been aware of it (25 years) and well before that.”
Great. Bankhead wants to subsidize his brand of low middle-brow entertainment.
Is the Maverick theater struggling? No. Maybe it’s because people are just not into the musical comedy/operettan schtick anymore.
Would Bankhead subsidize the horseless carriage?
Just curious, BUT why did you write that FCLO Music Theatre produces a “brand of low middle-brow entertainment” ? Is this comment based upon your patronage of FCLO Music Theatre productions? Or is this just hear-say from another source?
Can you name the FCLO Music Theatre productions (shows) which you have attended, and were (in your words) a “brand of low middle-brow entertainment” ?
You owe it to the public of this forum an explanation!
Glad to oblige. FCLO produces re-tread Broadway musicals. Just the sort of schtick that makes a person of above average intelligence cringe. Think:
The Sound of Music. Schmaltzy lyrics tied up in string (leiderhosen and drapes) these aren’t a few of my favorite things…
Damn Yankees. Yeehaw! Shoeless Joe from Hannibal, Mo! Mo betta blues!
South Pacific. Gonna wash that Man Right Outta My hair! Or, even worse – Bali hai! Hai caramba!
Oklahoma: ducks and chicks and geese better scurry….sheesh! What drivel! Take that surrey outta town, fast!
West Side Story (the worst of the bunch): Maria, I just smelt a girl named Maria!
Bad enough to have to sit through it. Subsidize it?
People don’t want Redevelopment boondoggles, either, but we keep subsidizing them.
Your examples, as cited above, of past FCLO Music Theatre productions which you claim were a “brand of low middle-brow entertainment”, are presented and “critiqued” with silly and childish prattle; you chatter like a rejected high school student, angry because the upper-classmen refuse to admit you into their ranks.
If you’re going to critique FCLO productions which you attended, (and I question this) do so intelligently. And by the way, FYI- the five FCLO productions which you have cited above were not recent productions – several of these were produced 10-20 years ago.
You failed to mention the following FCLO Music Theatre award winning productions of recent acclaim: AIDA, ANNIE GET YOUR GUN, MISS SAIGON, FLOWER DRUM SONG, GREASE, JEKYLL & HYDE, EVITA, 42ND STREET, THE ANDREWS BROTHERS, CATS, RAGTIME, RING OF FIRE, SMOKEY JOES CAFÉ, to name a few…
Annie Get Your Gun? Hahahaha! Almost lost my coffee.
BTW, what awards were those, and who handed them out?
It sounds like the FCLO should have made cuts to their budget over the last few years like the rest of the theater groups did. Instead they bet the farm and lost big.
I think Fullerton could skip out on a showing of “The Wizard of Oz” for a year or two. The FCLO can come back to full strength when their season ticket holders do the same.
Either way, Don Bankhead should not get to pick the winners and losers of Fullerton’s theater scene.
Yes, “The Wizard of Oz” play must go on, but instead of the “Yellow Brick Road” there is a “Red Brick Road” version explaining the sea of red ink that is bleeding Fullerton’s Taxpayers.
FUI, FCLO did cut (very deeply) their theatre budget over the last 10+ years. However, they recently bet on a show that just didn’t come through for them, and during a struggling economy which truly didn’t support their valiant effort!
They are to be commended, though, because of their track record of serving our community and surroundings for the past 39 years. FCLO created many technical & artistic jobs, and provided a venue for actors to hone their craft. FCLO has given artistis, directors, technicians and the public, a special gift of musical theater! BRAVO FCLO!!!
Please don’t give him any ideas!
I bet he’d spend millions of dollars developing a high speed telegraph.
Next week’s special! Joe and Tony perform interprative dance. WARNING! Leave the kids at home, it gets a little blue.
Jesus Christ, can’t you learn how to spell?
Why are Sidhu and his clan so fucking ignorant?
What an asshat, Bankhead is the town fool!
no! this can’t happen to the fullertonions, save fullerton’s light opera and the fox because these two zombie entities have been around for so long. personally, I have never seen a performance by fullerton’s civic light opera and though a lifer for half a century in fullerton, neither have I met anyone who lives or works in fullerton who has ever been to one of its performances(but I bet family of the cast members have repeatedly attended the FCLO performances)but that fact does not mean the FCLO is a useless appendage(like the fullerton library that is being remodeled to accommodate a coffee bar at the cost of 10 million tax dollars). the hallmark of a good society is its commitment to promote aesthetics whether it be in the form of Wizard of Oz or HMS Pinafore(gilbert & sullivan), Uhhh, huh, seeee, our tax dollars made more precious during our great depression II (oops! I forgot its only a temporary recession easily fixed by quantitative easing aka printing money)should not be wasted on propping up our city’s necessary infrastructure when it may be better spent on entertaining the populace with these lyrics”For I’m called Little Buttercup — dear Little Buttercup,
Though I could never tell why,
But still I’m called Buttercup — poor little Buttercup,
Sweet Little Buttercup I!
I’ve snuff and tobaccy, and excellent jacky, ”
Priceless stuff because it makes us happy.
“….but that fact does not mean the FCLO is a useless appendage….” YOU ARE SO RIGHT ON… & thank you for your comment! I couldn’t agree with you more!
I’m sorry that you haven’t attended any FCLO shows… you really missed some wonderful productions, but prehaps it just wasn’t you thing?
It’s my understanding that thousands of Fullerton Jr. College and Cal State Fullerton students attended many of the FCLO productions through the years, along with their parents and instructors.
This theatre company was a non-profit organization which culturally enhanced and artistically enriched the entire Fullerton community.
It is also my understanding, and SADLY, that during the last 39 years, the City of Fullerton has never offered as much as a nickle in support of FCLO Music Theater.
“It is also my understanding, and SADLY, that during the last 39 years, the City of Fullerton has never offered as much as a nickle in support of FCLO Music Theater.”
And a damn good thing too. That Bankhead would even contemplate such idiocy now is an indicator of increasing dementia.
Whether FCLO puts on good shows or not, and whether anyone wants to go see them or not, is completely irrelevant to the City of Fullerton. Go support it with your own nickle.
Ecclesiastes 3:1
“To everything there is a season, and a time and a purpose under heaven”.
Looks like it is time for that final curtain call for FCLO.
Don’t be so sure of yourself; FCLO’s curtains will rise again, and very soon! … with or without the help of the city.
God bless ’em, and good luck.
It won’t be with help from the City.
The fact that Bankhead ran for re-election despite his apparent mental challenges tells you all you need to know about Bankhead – and his supporters.
Bankhead is limitlessly selfish and always has been. And his supporters are are just backing someone who will hand out our dough to them. Think FPOA, for instance; or any one of a number of downtown developers getting free land and air rights, entire streets, and phony density bonuses.
Ackerman will fight like hell to keep his gravy train running – even if the engine doesn’t work anymore.
EXACTLY…………….
We have more than adequately identified the problem with the (3) Fossils on the city council. And remember, they were elected by the voters of Fullerton.
We need no further pointing out of the general or specific details of the malfeasance of this collection of thieves on this board as much as we need to spread the word to our friends and neighbors in the community..
The issue now becomes one of removal. We must focus like a laser beam on their removal. They have to go, period. And God help Fullerton if they should survive this recall effort. Then they would be invincible in their own eyes and most likely would be right. They would then really strt operating like a Saudi Prince granting favors and money only for the priveliged few.
We must stop barking and start biting………….
“We must stop barking and start biting………….”
Arf!!! Grrrrrr!
Good girl! And when it’s all done with, you’ll get a niiiiiice tummy rub for ALL your hard work. 😉
Jebus O’ Jebus! I’m a boy dog, dammit!
Good boy! 😉
That’s okay. My mistress took care of my junk on day one.
Bankhead thinks the absence of musical comedy is blight?
Damn, who left the door open?
West Foolerton’s residential streets need a lot of work. Back in the early 90’s the city voted to resurface them. They were warned not to completely remove the asphalt on 4200 block of Ash Ave due to a very high water table. Well guess what? They did and out street have never been the same since. Waterlines are breaking and the streets are sinking. How much more asphalt can they put on them to band-aid over what has become a major problem? Foolerton will NEVER be the same.. It will become a ghetto..
Call your local realtor and get outta Dodge!!!
does Bankhead know that CSU fullerton has one of the best theatres and theatre arts departments on the west coast? Using redevelopment funds to support Fullerton Civic Light Opera is tantamount to the 10 million dollar renovation of the fullerton library so to include a coffee bar. Yes, since the coffee bar was added to the fullerton library, most residents of fullerton are hauling ass to the library’s parking lot so they may rush in and ask the librarian which row of dusty books contains the latest info on: science, economics, technology, fiction, social, political, cultural developments, instead of sitting at their computer and googling this latest info.
Isn’t common knowledge that librarians are fountains of information and knowledge about where to find fountains of info and knowledge? Librarians, libraries, like Bankhead, are relics of the past.
Because Griff Duncan, the owner of FCLO, is one of Bankhead’s Rotary buddies.
then Bankhead may use his own money to support his friend’s bad productions.
Ultimately 3D Productions, mentioned in the article, took over the 2011 season from FCLO. Not sure how successful they have been, but the productions have been steady since they started.
It’s frightening to think that this sleepwalker has voting power that affects all of us and involves a hundred million dollar budget.
Just in time for Halloween.
Looks like the cops get alot of calls about the homeless in Fullerton. What happens to the bodies after the cops are done with them?
Police Log: Oct. 16 – Oct. 22, 2011
October 24, 2011
10/16 Robbery – A caller on the 600 block of Roberta Avenue says a woman just ran to the porch saying she was assaulted and robbed at 6:34 p.m. The thief stole the 29-year-old victim’s cell phone and cash. She described the thief as a white man between 50 and 60-years-old. It’s unknown what kind of weapon he used.
10/16 Suspicious Person – A woman calling from her vehicle parked out front of an apartment complex on the 100 block of W. Southgate Avenue says a strange man is inside the courtyard area at 12:11 a.m.. She says she’s too scared to get out. Police arrived and found Tenacious Davon Gibson, a 21-year-old from Las Vegas, in possession of a life size doll that did not belong to him, and arrested him for theft. He was taken to Orange County Jail
10/16 Follow Up – An officer needs to transport a victim from the safe house at Anaheim Regional Medical Center to the Fullerton Police Station. The officer needs to contact forensic nurse Patricia Harris. 5:56 p.m.
10/16 Burglary – A caller saw someone taking wire from DW Landscape Clearing on the 300 block of E. Santa Fe Avenue. The suspect is described as a Hispanic female. 4:58 p.m.
10/16 Burglary – A burglary occurred at a 98-year-old woman’s estate sale on the 1000 block of N. Hollydale Drive. 10:09 a.m.
10/16 Suspicious Person – An angry customer is refusing to leave the Naughty Teddy at 8:49 p.m. The employee says the subject is a white man in a red baseball cap. He’s there with four other subjects.
10/16 Public Assist – A Naughty Teddy employee is requesting an officer come and escort her to her car at the business at 129 W. Commonweatlh Avenue because she’s scared of an angry customer from earlier in the evening. 9:50 p.m.
10/16 Transient Problem – W. Baker Street/S. Euclid St. 1:24 p.m. Subjects jumping in front of vehicles.
10/16 Petty Theft – A umbrella was stolen from an entity described only as a “non-profit group” at the intersection of E. Rolling Hills Drive/Brea Boulevard at 8 a.m.
10/16 Petty Theft – A bike was stolen from In and Out Burger at 11:25 a.m.
10/16 Transient Problem – CVS Pharmacy. 1:45 p.m.
10/16 Public Assist – A woman says she is enroute to Game Stop. She says her 19-year-old son stole a lady’s purse at the church on Valencia today, and he sold an iPod that was in it to someone at the Game Stop. She is now on her way to get the iPod back, and wants assistance confronting the person who now has it. 8:14 a.m.
10/16 Transient Problem – A transient male says someone stole all of his belongings at Woodcrest Park at 12:16 p.m. He will flag an officer down. He says he borrowed a friend’s phone.
10/16 Vehicle into House – A car slammed into a home on Sueden Avenue at S. Hart Place at 4:46 a.m.
10/16 Transient Problem – A transient has barricaded himself in the bathroom at the Amtrak Station at 9 a.m. and refuses to leave.
10/16 Transient Problem – A female transient is angry at the Starbucks at 507 N. State College Boulevard at 6:34 a.m.
10/17 Transient Problem – A transient man appears to be setting up camp the Amalie Montessori Academy at 1231 E. Chapman Avenue at 10:31 p.m.
10/17 Disturbance of the Peace – An Amtrak employee says an angry transient jumped onto the train and asked for help getting him off. He’s described as white. 10:51 p.m.
10/17 Disturbance Juvenile – A caller’s 16-year-old daughter is “out of control” and throwing things, like coffee tables, at their home on the 1400 block of S. Jefferson Avenue.
10/17 Burglary – 400 block E. Ambrige Avenue. 11:17 a.m.
10/17 Burglary – The window on a woman’s beige 2006 Toyota’s window was smashed at the Fullerton Hills Apartments on the 1200 block of N. Gilbert Street at 10:51 a.m.
10/17 Transient Problem – Fullerton Museum Center. 3:31 p.m.
10/17 Parking Problem – The principal at the Sunset School would like police to come and check for parents who have double-parked their cars and are blocking the crosswalks at 2:02 p.m.
10/17 Welfare Check – A caller says her 12-year-old brother was being spanked repeatedly by her mother with a blue ruler two hours ago at their residence on the 300 block of Marie Avenue. 5:27 p.m.
10/17 Transient Problem – The owner of the apartment complex says two white male transients are drinking and sleeping outside at 1:14 p.m.
10/17 Suspicious Occupied Vehicle – City Hall. A caller from the City Manager’s office says threats were spray painted on the east walkway at 6:57 a.m.
10/17 Dead Body – A 63-year-old man has died at the Fullerton Residential Manor. 7:48 a.m.
10/17 Vandalism – Graffiti was painted at Nicolas Jr. High. 7:49 a.m.
10/17 Vandalism – Graffiti was painted throughout the campus at Ladera Vista Jr. High. 7:23 a.m.
10/17 Vandalism – Graffiti was spray painted on the front door of Bumsin Kim in the Fullerton Professional building at 1950 E. Chapman Avenue. 9:17 a.m.
10/17 Burglary – A thief broke into a home on the 900 block of W. Knepp Avenue by forcing open a rear window. The intruder stole two cameras from a 37-year-old male victim. 3:11 p.m.
10/17 Commercial Burglary – A thief broke into CD Jents Ent on the 2400 block of Fender Avenue and stole tools and a generator, a 42-year-old man reported at 2:06 p.m. Entry was made through the door.
10/17 Transient Problem – A man is sleeping in the back entrance of Bullard, Brown and Beat at 234 E. Commonwealth Avenue at 7:15 a.m.
10/17 Burglary – 400 block E. Amerige Avenue. 11:17 a.m.
18 Burglary – A 51-year-old man just arrived home to his residence on the 1700 block of Victoria Drive and found his home had been broken into and his laptop had been stolen.
10/18 Burglary – Lux Salon Spa, 219 E. Commonwealth Avenue. It appears someone broke into the business at 6:28 a.m. and stole their cash register. An employee there has the crime on tape.
10/18 Vandalism – City Hall. A city council member’s parking sign was vandalized at 8:51 a.m.
10/18 Burglary – I Sold It, 1060 E. Bastanchury Road. 4:35 a.m.
10/18 Burglary – Rosary High School. 2:36 p.m.
10/18 Forgery – Fullerton Police Department – 11:49 a.m.
10/18 Petty Theft – La Pachuca, 801 S. Harbor Blvd. 11:33 p.m.
10/18 Suspicious Person – A man tried to pass a phony $100 bill at the 99 Cent Store at 1845 W. Orangethorpe Ave. The caller describes him a 30-year-old Hispanic man, 5’8”, 170 pounds and wearing glasses, black shorts and slippers at 11:06 a.m.
10/18 Transient Problem – Transients have set up camp at 1051 W. Bastanchury Road at a nursery and are refusing to leave at 3:18 p.m.
10/18 Transient Problem – A female transient is refusing to leave Miss Donut Bakery at 331 N. St. College Blvd. at 12:31 a.m.
10/18 Burglary – A car was broken into on the 200 block of Rayner Avenue at 8 a.m. The radio and dashboard were stolen.
10/19 Grand Theft – Amtrak. 10:51 .
10/18 ID Theft – Costco. 8:26 a.m.
10/18 ID Theft – Bank of America. 9:54 a.m.
10/19 Suspicious Person – A white man in his 50s has a rifle on the tracks at Amtrak at 5:49 a.m.
10/19 Battery – Fullerton High School. 10:08 a.m.
10/19 Transient Problem – A transient is asking for food at S. Gilbert St. and W. Orangethorpe Avenue at 7:34 p.m.
10/19 Grand Theft – Highland Pinetree Apartments 3:10 p.m..
10/19 Grand Theft – A 30-year-old woman’s sunglasses, makeup bag and CD were stolen on the 1000 block of E. Rolling Hills Drive. Method of entry is unknown.
10/19 Grand Theft – A 49-year-old woman says two airplane radios were taken from the premises at General Aviation on 3915 W. Commonwealth Avenue.
10/20 Burglary – Locker Broken into at Bally Total Fitness. 10:45 p.m.
10/20 Burglary – Rancho Fullerton Mobile Estates, 1200 block W. Valencia Drive. 10:15 p.m.
10/20 Transient Problem – A caller says four transient men are urinating on the side of the building at Blockbuster Video and harassing customers at 7:49 p.m.
10/20 Transient Problem – Byerrum Park. A transient is smoking drugs at the park at 5:55 p.m.
10/20 Forgery – Bank of the West, 3000 block Yorba Linda Boulevard 8:01 p.m.
10/20 ID Theft – 2500 block Greenwich Drive. 12:11 p.m
10/20 Petty Theft – A black man in a hoodie stole a bottle of vodka from the CVS Pharmacy at 455 N. State College Blvd., and employee reports at 7:20 p.m.
10/20 Battery – Woodcrest Park – 1:41 p.m.
10/20 Transient Problem – Carl’s Liquor, 1322 E. Chapman Avenue. 4:51 p.m.
10/20 Transient Problem – A caller says a white man in his 40s is sitting there on the 2700 block of Craig Circle at 3:19 p.m. The caller would like an officer to check him out.
10/20 Transient Problem – A group of transients at the Fullerton Museum won’t listen to the caller when asked to move along at 2:28 p.m.
10/20 Dead Body – A 70-year-old man has died on the 1200 block of Miramar Drive at 12:09 p.m.
10/20 Dead Body – Cedar Mobile Homes, 2800 block E. Rolling Hills Drive. 9:26 a.m.
10/20 Burglary – Nicolas Jr. High. 8:20 a.m.
10/20 Burglary – 2600 block E. Chapman Avenue. 6:32 a.m.
10/21 Robbery – An employee at Bob’s Liquor Deli says three Hispanic males beat him and robbed him of a bottle of liquor. They left in a small gray boxy car at 11:48 p.m.
10/21 Transient Problem – A man with a small white dog is sleeping at Walgreens on the north side of the business at 1826 W. Orangethorpe Avenue.
10/21 Indecent Exposure –. A white man with a long beard and a blue sweatshirt exposed himself at the Taco Bell on 2750 W. Orangethorpe Avenue at 7:11 p.m.
10/21 Battery – Sunny Hills High School. 10:26 a.m.
10/21 Burglary – A thief broke into a convertible silver Mazda parked on Quartz Avenue by cutting through the roof at 10:37 a.m.
10/21 Transient Problem – A caller says “Ernie” at the Subway yelling at him and at customers and having conversations with himself at 3:22 p.m.
10/21 Found Property – A Wallet was found on Quartz Avenue at 10:19 a.m.
10/21 Burglary – 2700 block Medford Place. 12:12 p.m.
10/21 ID Theft – 500 block W. Houston Avenue. 3:54 p.m.
10/21 Burglary – Someone broke into a white Nissan Pathfinder parked in the driveway on the 1300 block Kensington Drive by smashing the back window with a brick. A victim’s briefcase was stolen. 5:41 a.m.
10/21 Burglary – AMC Fullerton 20. A victim says three white males broke into her white GMC Sienna and stole his girlfriend’s purse at 1:43 a.m.
10/21 Dead Body – A 53-year-old man was found dead under his car on the 91 Freeway at the eastbound transition to the 5 Freeway southbound on a shoulder west of S. Magnolia Avenue at 10:21 p.m., according to the CHP. The victim was replacing a flat tire when the car fell off the jack. The car was a white pick up truck. Carlos Cardenas was the deceased. It is said there was a reporting party but unknown on any information.
10/21 ID Theft – Toys R Us. 4:27 p.m.
10/21 Petty Theft – Bally Total Fitness. 12:36 p.m.
10/21 Transient Problem – A transient is hiding in the bushes at the park near the 2700 block of Medford Place. The caller would like him moved along at 12:08 p.m.
10/21 Transient Problem – Byerrum Park. 10:49 p.m.
10/21 Transient Problem – A man is lying face down on the front door at 1010 S. Brookhurst Road at 7:54 a.m.
10/21 Transient Problem – Denny’s. A transient is laying on the bench inside the restaurant at 12:02 a.m. The caller would like him moved along.
10/22 Fight – Slidebar. 2 a.m.
10/22 Battery – A caller says a man dressed as a zombie attacked his friend on the 1800 block Page Avenue at 1:34 a.m. He says he doesn’t need the medics. He says he will wait out front for an officer. He’ll be the one wearing a long- sleeved white shirt covered in fake blood.
10/22 Fight – There is a fight on the first floor of the parking structure at 122 E. Wilshire Avenue at 1:21 a.m. Six units.
10/22 Burglary – Food 4 Less. 12:58 p.m. A 40-year-old man’s vehicle was broken into in the parking lot of Food 4 Less.
10/22 Burglary – A thief broke into a 48-year-old woman’s Toyota Corolla parked at the UPS Store behind Stater Brothers and stole her purse, police reports say. The victim reported the crime at 1041 E. Bastanchury Rd. at 12:01 p.m.
10/22 Transient Problem – The manager at Panera Bread says a Hispanic female transient is refusing to leave and getting angry when asked to leave the store at 2415 E. Chapman Avenue.
10/22 Found Property – A caller’s grandchildren found handcuff and leg shackles in the bushes in front of the complex on the 100 block of E. Truslow Avenue at 11:57 p.m.
10/22 Suicide Threats – An employee at St. Jude Hospital says an 81-year-old Fullerton man who was evaluated and released from the emergency room last night for suicidal ideations is now on the phone at 6:09 p.m., saying that he again feels like killing himself. Police are asked to go to his home on the 900 block of Boxwood Avenue.
10/22 Vandalism – Lilac Flowers and Gifts.
10/22 Keep the Peace – 2900 block Arlington Avenue. A woman’s cell phone was stolen in Orange, and now the phone’s GPS is tracking to a home on the 2900 block of Arlington Avenue. The caller is waiting at the 7/11 at Rolling Hills Drive and Brea Boulevard at 5:39 p.m.
10/22 Suspicious Persons – A caller says a pair of young female “gypsies” are asking people for money in the parking lot of Blockbuster Video on 101 W. Orangethorpe Avenue.
10/22 Suspicious Persons – Bus Depot – Fullerton Fire Department is out with a subject someone thinks is acting suspiciously. The subject needed medical attention, and was taken to St. Jude Hospital. 3:37 p.m.
10/22 – Heart Attack – The Fire Department is with a 64-year-old man in cardiac arrest at Independence Park at 2:33 p.m. To C.S.I.
10/22 Fight – There is a fight on the first floor of the parking structure at 122 E. Wilshire Avenue at 1:21 a.m. Six units.
10/22 Keep the Peace – 2900 block Arlington Avenue. A woman’s cell phone was stolen in Orange, and now the phone’s GPS is tracking to a home on the 2900 block of Arlington Avenue. The caller is waiting at the 7/11 at Rolling Hills Drive and Brea Boulevard at 5:39 p.m.
There seems to be a huge transient problem and also people just dying around Fullerton when compared to most other OC Cities. In addition, the 10/22 event: “the caller says a pair of young female “gypsies” are asking people for money in the parking lot of Blockbuster video on 101 W. Orangethorpe.” This calls for the use of Fullerton PD’s finest: Officer Rincon. He will check out those young female “gypsies” in the back of his police vehicle.
Oh am I being too mean to the men in blue? Well tell us all here on this blog, DID ANY OTHER POLICE OFFICER TURN IN OFFICER RINCON? NO? THEN YOU WERE ALL COMPLICIT and ACQUIESED TO HIS ACTIONS over a two year period.
Santa Fe Depot Redevelopment Deal the Best We Could Get
I hesitate to get in the middle of your lively give-and-take with Tony Bushala (Mid-Sept Observer page 9 “Redevelopment Foe Also a Recipient,” and the Early October page 2 Rebuttal).
However, since I was one of five Fullerton City Councilmembers (including Don Bankhead, Molly McClanahan, Buck Catlin, and Richard Ackerman) voting to approve the old Santa Fe Depot lease, allow me to defend our action.
That lease was the only way to save the historic structure from demolition and make an outdated building commercially viable.
In 1987, the Santa Fe Railroad sold the depot to a private developer who then sought a demolition permit. To avert its razing, the Fullerton Redevelopment Agency acquired the depot and sought bids for those who could preserve, restore and operate it. Agency staff recommended that the Bushala Brothers, Inc. (BBI) be awarded the project.
BBI was the only firm not requesting public subsidies. It offered a $41,000 up front payment to the agency plus $340,000 to restore the building to its original condition. As BBI had just completed an award-winning restoration of the old Ice House (just across the tracks from the depot) it was well qualified. When the depot restoration actually cost $540,000, the overruns were covered by BBI.
BBI also applied for and received the depot’s recognition on the National Registration of Historic Buildings and Places.
The monthly lease payment to the agency is $1,326, which is adjusted annually for inflation. While the Observer contends this is below market rate, it was the best offer we had at the time to restore this historic building. In addition, BBI pays $12,000 annually in building maintenance and for all property taxes and insurance.
The agency retained all rental income from Amtrak for the waiting room and ticketing areas. The rest of the depot was largely baggage storage rooms and an abandoned loading dock – areas difficult to lease out.
I have been critical of redevelopment agencies’ abuse of eminent domain, handouts to developers and diversion of property taxes from public schools. However, I have voted for agency-funded public projects (roads, parks, libraries) and for the preservation of historic buildings, such as the Santa Fe Depot.
One could argue that an old depot was not worth the public investment. However, given the council’s commitment to save the structure, I believe this was the best deal we had.
Chris Norby Fullerton
Current California Assemblymember
and former Fullerton City Council &
Redevelopment Agency Member, 1984-2002
http://www.fullertonobserver.com/artman/uploads/foearlynov.pdf
By contrast, could we have a story about the Villa del Sol?
Blankhead wants to spend redevelopment dollars on the civic light opera. And no one on this blog understands why!
“Money is the mothers milk of politics”. People that give political contributions to the 3 moribund ol fossils for re-election sit on boards like the civic light opera. They do not need to have their big homes redeveloped and their area of town is well taken care of. However, their pet projects like the Fullerton Civic LIght Opera are hurting for fund raising as this is a recession. So if we use Redevelopment money instead and let those seedy parts of town continue to decay, its OK! After all, you did contribute to my re-election campaign and you do want something back, don’t you? Just follow the money!
Oh this is nothing. They use redevelopment money in other cities to help people pay their bills.
Yeah, let’s subsidize entertainment!!
How about we buy some more trees too, for the parkways that then get real big and push up the sidewalks with their roots? Then, don’t fix them. Then people move out of this deteriorating city. Tax revenues fall, more people move out….
Uh oh, might need to rethink all that.
Montebello is in a heap of trouble over misspent redevelopment funds. It was also uncovered that there was an mysterious bank account with several million dollars that the city did not know about.
The city council is having its own crisis.
Fullerton is not alone in its corruption.
And don’t get me started on the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors, where I reside. I am sick, sick, sick of it all.
State controller slams Montebello’s spending practices
Chiang’s office says $31 million misspent
By Thomas Himes, Staff Writer
Posted: 09/22/2011 10:57:24 PM PDT
MONTEBELLO – City officials paid for dinner in Las Vegas, rounds of golf and polo shirts with money that should have been used to clean up downtrodden shopping centers and homes, according to two state controller’s audits released Thursday.
State auditors said they found that more than $31 million from Montebello’s redevelopment agency and street improvement fund was misspent by city officials between 2005 and 2010 by way of “questionable” transfers, expenditures and loans.
“At the expense of local job development, street repair, and schools, Montebello has made it a habit to tap legally restricted funds to cover its budget and cash shortfalls,” State Controller John Chiang said in a statement.
“It appears that the city moved money wherever it wanted, whenever it wanted, regardless of the law or the intended purpose of those taxpayer dollars,” he said.
Read more:
Whittier Daily News http://www.whittierdailynews.com/news/ci_18959508#ixzz1cO2dyxNA
Montebello cops are just as crooked as Fullerton’s. And for the same reason: their chief is another Gates protege like Dickhead McKinley. I can say this from personal experience.
It really is a illness of sorts.
Jane, it’s amazing how widespread it is. The writing is on the wall: a civilian population armed to the teeth having to endure years of economic hardship popularly perceived to have been caused by the excesses of the affluent is brutalized and restricted by an ever more violent police force.
This is a recipe for disaster that will explode with the population rising up against authority. And you know who’s going to be trying to put them down.
The scenario is already playing out as predicted, and it ends with thousands of dead cops assassinated in uniform. And with martial law.
But only for a short while, after which the next horror appears, much worse than the last.
It’s been predicted by many different sources in many different ways, but always with the same ending.
Anything from the “Fullerton Observer” isn’t worth reading. period.
Living across the street from the opera house has been painful. They had (I believe) 3 different shows this summer. The band sounded ok, but once whoever the female singer is starts screeching I have to retreat into the inner sanctum of my home to avoid the nausia.
Hey! Maybe we could put another bar there in its place. (Joke)
My mother was a singer in college and I grew up with a soundtrack of “West Side Story”. I saw a few Civic Light opera performances and enjoyed them.
What a city whould and shold not fund is a matter of philosphy. I would certainly put basic services first.
Steve, then go to csu fullerton theatre arts productions for quality musicals
Well, my brother Joliet Jake and I, Elwood, are putting the band back together. We hope to play at the Civic Light Opera to pay the overdue property tax on the Church School.
If Friendly Neighbor cannot take the screeching soprano that “sang” this past summer, wait until you hear our rendition of “Soul Man”!
I live directly across the street from the FLCO-if it went away today I could care less- Not sure how anyone pays the 48 bux to listen to the tone deaf swooning that takes place day after day. Then after your ears are assualted you get to use a porta potty. I dont even park on Commonwealth the nights of their shows- the blue hairs that bash the curbs with their far too big cars- is frightening. Unless the FLCO is willing to compensate me- for the horrible music, the view of the old people struggling to get outta that johnny pot,and the generally rude behavior of those who go to this over price establishement. Where else can you get a gallon of gallo for 8 bucks a glass..there are nights I want to peirce my ears with pencils to make the screaming ( singing) stop.Soul man-cant wait even a deaf guy has to have better pitch than what they have there now. Im hoping they have taken the season off to get singing lessson…Freindly neighbor- it is worse than you can post. Maybe they can use the for sound track for torture?