Take Care of Your Toys
When you were a kid your parents most likely told you what parents have been telling their children for thousands of years: if you don’t take care of your toys you won’t have any toys to take care of.
Too bad such admonitions are often lost on the custodians of public property. How often have you seen property owned by you and me left without proper maintenance or even abused by it’s supposed caretakers? It happens all the time, and with impunity. But how often have you seen a government actually refused resources because they can’t take care of what they already have? That’s right. I can’t remember a single instance, either.
Which brings me to the point of this post.
FFFF has already opined on the ridiculous waste of money, $4.6 million and counting, being poured into two new elevator towers at the Fullerton Depot – right next to the existing elevator bridge. Why? Because some other government agency was willing to blow the money.
It’s bad enough the new elevators are unnecessary; they are also in the wrong location since so many commuters will use the Harbor Boulevard underpass to get where they want to go – to the bridge that gets them to the huge parking structure west of Harbor.
But the most unkindest cut of all is the brutal fact that the existing bridge is a disgrace to the entire City. The glass elevators have been etched with so much tagging that they are becoming opaque; the paint, where it hasn’t peeled off, is discolored and oxidized; and the steel stair steps are rusted through. The deformed stair treads have been patched here and there with caulking, and that, too, is decaying.
So next time somebody like Jan Flory or Jennifer Fitzgerald sneeringly defends of the “experts” in City Hall, please point them in the direction of the Fullerton Transportation Center; and remind them that thanks to the ever-generous taxpayers nobody in City Hall has to worry about breaking their toys. New ones will always be handed out.
The best place in Fullerton to ditch a police officer that is chasing you is right up those stairways to the south side. The elevators are too slow for a winded officer in pursuit. Faster elevators will be nice but I heard that the old ones will be left next to the new ones.
I’m not in the habit of suggesting new people be put on the city payroll, but if you had one guy whose sole job it was to maintain that bridge, it would probably be cheaper than an endless cycle of letting them disintegrate and replace.
Fullerton refuses to pay to have someone maintain the facility full time with the proper skillset and equipment. They use funds to rebuild things that wouldn’t have to be rebuilt if they would give Public Works the resources to prevent the deterioration in the first place. Not enough staff and not enough for proper equipment. That’s what happens when other departments take a hit because of the Fire Departments greed. You tell me what’s more important, buildings, streets, water, sewer, parks, or firefighters playing video games waiting for that 1 fire a year? They need to be stripped down to what they actually are “Emergency Medical, Incident Response and Every-Once-in-a-While-an-Actual-Fire Department”.
Yup, the heroes and their ridiculous compensation packages are actually killing Fullerton’s infrastructure.
The first bridge was an eye-sore even before it decayed/was vandalized.
The City could have built an underpass like they have at Orange and saved a million bucks – except that Terry Galvin who had no adult supervision) demanded a bridge and scared the boobs on the council with scary stories of a tunnel stabbing in Raton, New Mexico.
Unconscionable waste of public money is an old story in Fullerton.
I didn’t know you could fix rust with a little caulk. Smooth move.
Well, it’s more a cosmetic repair. Oh wait, that’s not right either.
Why are you blaming our leaders for the actions of drunks and gangs who deface public property? If you are really worried about housekeeping, code enforcement can easily get photos of some of your homes. Weed abatement issues, inoperable vehicles on the premises, and things that can get you fined are all in plain view. Take the planks out of your own eyes and grow up and get a life. Some of you need to get real jobs, some of you need to get off the drugs and all of you need to stop spending so much time abdicating your responsibilities to your families.
You idiot.
Drunks and gangs are not responsible for the excessive rust causing the stairs to decay. I’ve never seen ANYTHING rust that badly in California, have you? The pedestrian bridge is only 22 years old and yet it looks like the underside of a Chevy in the rust belt.
Idiot? Really? Do you dumbshits know what happens when diesel exhaust combustion components mix with the water in the air and are constantly in contact with iron? It is caustic, Those trains belch 24/7 right onto and around that pedestrian overpass and stairs.
Shall I post pictures of the shit boxes that some of you live in? Got rats too I am sure. I’ve never seen ANYTHING that badly neglected in Fullerton, have you? The lawns and yards of some of your homes look like Compton rental properties.
LOL
Have you ever been to the train station? Trains don’t belch diesel exhaust onto the pedestrian bridge 24/7. There’s maybe 70 trains per day that, on average, spend what, ten seconds near it as they pass thru. Ten or fifteen minutes of exposure per day would never cause that kind of rust.
Besides, the portion of the bridge directly above the tracks is least affected. It’s the stairs off to the sides that are suffering the most from rust.
Man, you are one desperate fuck.
If any of that were true (actually, none of it is) then how come your beloved leaders didn’t make sure the steel was protected?
The only shitbox I see around here the space between your ears.
This is true. That’s why trains and train bridges aren’t made of metal at all.
LOL, yes, they are actually made of Play-doh. Jennifer and Gretchen told me so.
Non toxic. Mmmm. Yummy Play-doh.
“the actions of drunks”
You mean like Stumblejoe Felz? Or the Culture of Vomit and Mayhem created by “our leaders?”
Anyway those are separate issues.
And just exactly how are gangs and drunks causing rust on the transportation centers stairs?