Ground Zero for Inertia
My latest essay detailed the problem of corporate inertia and described how Fullerton’s government as a corporate body displays all the problems associated with stagnation, ossification and an inability do things any differently. And then of course, there’s the arrogance and secretiveness.
Here’s a prime example of a culture that is in need of electric shock therapy.
Last April I wrote a post about how the the City and property owner Mr. Mario Marovic had come to an agreement in the fall of 2022 about the latter’s removal of the infamous Florentine hijack of the sidewalk on Commonwealth Avenue. In return, Marovic got to open his two new saloons on the corner.
We now know what a foolish bargain it was for the City.
Marovic was supposed to start demolition the last week in March. That was five and a half months ago. As of mid-September this has not started, and there is no sign that it will ever start. Why not?
Some people may suspect that Mr. Marovic has cast his bread upon the City Council water, so to speak, either above or below the table. But there is also a more likely scenario: the City is simply continuing to cover up its own incompetence in the long, sad history of the sidewalk theft.
And at the center of this tale? City Attorney Dick Jones, who is the only player who has been involved in this mess from the proverbial Day One, and who continues, no doubt, to dispense his legal wisdom that has been so disastrous, and has included turning a blind eye to his own conflict of interest, and justifying forgery of an official City application.
There’s also a bigger picture.
The government of Fullerton has developed a noxious habit of ignoring its own rules and regulations in the downtown area; it has systematically ignored the scofflaws who own the bars, and in fact has coddled and pampered them. Both bureaucrats and elected have continued to portray downtown Fullerton as an achievement, a great success, a municipal asset, when in fact, the saloon culture has never been anything but an annual $1.5 million drain on the City’s budget.
Of course the pages of FFFF are full of stories that confirm the nature of the stasis that defines our city’s governance. What is the solution? That’s the theme of a future post.
Why is Jones still there? What a disaster. But that’s Fullerton. Weak and ineffective councilmembers that are just happy to be there and incompetent bureaucrats who act without accountability.
Yep, same old story.
You just described 95% of the cities in Orange County.
Property owner is lavish praise for this guy. Mario is a con artist. I smell a pretty expensive and long lawsuit. Mario better sell a lot more of his unappetizing appetizers to afford the legal bill. More taxpayer money drained by criminals and liars associated with this city. Not easy being marshal to a town of bad guys. I pity some of the council.
I get the feeling Mr. Mario flipped the City the bird and challenged them to enforce the agreement. And the City hasn’t got the courage to uphold it.
That’s bad.
Could be. Or it could be everyone has already forgot about it or are waiting for somebody to remember. Which almost nobody will.
You are getting very sleepy…
FFFF remembered and this is a reminder to people in charge to do their job and punish bad faith business owners and not the ones doing the right things. Mario is a stinker. Needs to stick to suing Florentine, but being Florentine.
Never gonna happen. The city bends over for the bar owners who hold fundraisers for the council.
This is a fine poster child, but jesus h. there are so many. I think the worst may have been the leaking of millions of gallons of water out of Laguna Lake.
It was replaced by MWD water and Don Hoppe made jokes about “duck butter.” Hahaha.
That was another no-fault disaster.
You want long and embarrassing shit? The famous Knowlwood corner. Man, that disaster dragged on for years.
Just happy unplanned Parenthood didn’t end up there
Too bad there wasn’t a Planned Parenthood for stupid Redevelopment boondoggles. We’d all be better off if Terry Galvin had been unemployed.
I figured Hooger would have shown up by now to praise the history of the “bump out.”
No, I have always been opposed to the encroachment on to the sidewalk.
Then we can count on you to go to the City Council meeting and how come it’s still there?
Yeah, right. You don’t get anywhere making City Hall look bad. The Fullerton Way.
As long as the corner is open air activity I don’t notice it as much
For sheer ineptitude AND duration the Florentine/Marovic sidewalk heist takes the cake.
I wonder if the Observer/Zahra club called “People Over Things” (POT, haha) will storm the Council chambers over this. Bet not. But they’ll be out in force to bitch about the great Trail to Nowhere decision.
I knew this wasn’t going anywhere when weeks before opening I happened to be driving by and there were two guys up there working on the roof.