Ad Hoc Tuah – Part Four-ah
Now that Shana Charles and Ahmad Zahra’s critical “Fiscal Sustainability (or something like that)” ad hoc committee has been created, and a quorum of that committee has been appointed by the City Council, I don’t see any reason why the three appointees can’t meet, appoint a chairman, and start on the all-important task at which our well-paid staff has dismally failed; to wit: figuring out how to stanch the red ink flow that our leaders and their professionals have created over the past decade or so.
Zahra and Charles couldn’t be bothered to find their own appointees. I guess it was too hard for them.
In my last post we already received some helpful comments about how to close the budget gap between revenue and expenses. In this in post I invite any other ideas that seem worth discussing, but that probably would never see the light of day in a city staff report. Here’s an outline of what we have so far.
- Convert the paramedic function performed by the fire department into a privatized EMS job. Reorganize the “fire fighters” accordingly. Placentia has done this.
- Levy a use fee on all downtown bars/clubs that serve booze after 10pm. The fee accompanies all CUPs. Those who create the mess pay to clean it up. No more subsidies for club owners. $5000 a month would generate almost a million bucks a year.
- Alternatively, close all the downtown bars at midnight, and;
- Get rid of the special downtown police force.
- Eliminate the “economic development” division of the Community Development Department. No one knows what this function actually costs or what revenue it produces, but as one commenter put it, it doesn’t even pay for itself.
- Start preserving commercial and industrial zones to generate business; stop handing out zone and General Plan changes in these zones for massive residential apartments blocks.
- Get rid of the “I Can’t Believe It’s a Law Firm” of Jones and Meyer that inevitably makes more when they fuck something up, which is most of the time. To this day no one knows how much they billed the taxpayers of Fullerton by suing FFFF, Joshua Ferguson, David Curlee, on top of what the hundreds of thousands the City paid out in damages and attorney fees. Who knows how much the legal “advice” of this clown show has cost the City over the past 25 years.
Well, that’s just to get started. I hope the new committee will be open to these and other ideas. City staff has no incentive to propose anything except a new sales tax increase. I guess we need to help them.
This is an excellent start. Please forward to the Committee.
It really would be great to find out how much Jones has cost this city through his incompetence. It must be into the tens of millions.
The City will hide his billing too. They would pretend a request was too broad or rely on some nonsense about attorney-client privileges.
Dunlap, Jung, Whitaker? Why is this clown still robbing us every damn day?
Theoretically the billing records could be sought per a public record request but the JM firm claims attorney client privilege and refused to turn over my records request relating to the amount of money they billed on that paramedic lawsuit a fee years back that tried to force the city to enact recommendation #1 a decade back. Interesting how JM rolls over for some lawsuits (ie Kitty’s) but fights tooth and nail over others but I’m getting off topic.
Re: #2., remember that some downtown carousers too cheap to pay bar prices get drunk before they even get to the bars on tiny liquor bottles from downtown liquor stores. I’ve seen these dudes lined up at the stores, and, of course, we’ve all seen the empties strewn along the dirty sidewalks.
On a minor note, whoever is assigned to clean up after the police horses shouldn’t be paid by the taxpayers.
Are you suggesting the retail liquor places should be included? I agree.
Even if the bar owners didn’t cheat on their liquor sales (they do) a lot of the boozers arrive with their own liquor from the 909, not even from Fullerton.
Viva La 909!
Possibly? Perhaps banning sales of those little one drink bottles anywhere in or around downtown.
I love the idea of a downtown nightclub tax. Let the hosts of trouble makers pay for the trouble, instead of the rest of us. Five grand a month! That’s nothing. They make that in one night.
And get rid of that economic development thing. It’s total BS these people just wander around without accomplishing a damn thing.
Yep, hows this; base the tax (fee) to the size of the “dance floor”. If the entire club’s a “dance floor type atmosphere” after 10:00PM that is the place to start. Bet the club owners would be happy…if not then revoke their respective CUP’s cause they’re all violating the ABC law of 51% food vs 49% alcohol.
D4r – like that idea: The DTF night club B.I.D. (Business Improvement District).
I like it too. Staff would never go along with this and neither would the council. They keep pretending what a great success downtown Fullerton is.
They’ve been doing it for 20 years. Just imagine the aggregate cost.
Fullerton’s Future should send questions to each of the candidates to see how they stand on this issue. As well as on other issues Fullerton has to deal with. Budget reform, Walk-able streets (close all Fullerton streets if it’s that GD great), Landscape maintenance, Street repairs and Maintenance (sewer mains, laterals, water main lines, laterals, meters, meter boxes), Street Light and Street Sign Maintenance, Police, Fire, Library, Parks, Park Maintenance, Museum, etc.
Drum roll…..campaign issues, please.
Have FPD thug cops stop murdering people and save big on lawsuits.
Thank you Kelly my retirement account. That raises the issue of risk management. Isn’t there someone with that title at Shitty Hall who collects a paycheck? I bet the Committee could do a better job of pointing out excessive risks than the paid staffer.
Host a City Council Carnival Fundraiser. “Pin the Tail on the Zahra” at $5 per pop will drum up plenty.
LMAO!!!
And a dunk tank for Charles but the displacement would likely cause a water shortage due to high demand to send her into the drink.
I bet Ahmed would be all shit and giggles with each pop.
The City should close the airport and master plan and rezone the property into tax producing uses. They should immediately issue an RFP for legal services and find themselves a real law firm. Jones Mayer is a collection of miscreants and amateurs.
Fullerton’s biggest problem are legacy costs it can’t get rid of. The annual pension cost alone eats up at least 30% of the City’s budget. The only thing they can do at this point is to start eliminating positions and contracting the work out. They could reduce the size of the fire department considerably by separating out the EMS work to a private firm and use 3-man engine and truck companies to put out the occasional fire or cut a drunk out of their wrecked car. No need to send firemen in giant fire engines on medical calls. Fullerton collects a ton of EMS fees every year that would completely cover the cost to provide EMS. I’d be willing to bet you could cut at least $10 million a year from the fire department budget if you did that. Imagine how many streets could be repaved every year with $10 million.
It was once suggested to me that the feds want the airport to stay open for use in emergencies.
Who said that, the Airport Director?
A former city manager who I will not name.
Must have been the drunk driver or the hitchhiker to Blythe.
I wonder how much toxic clean-up is involved at the airport.
A lot of time they stand around as the building burns down while the spray water on it. Hero. Deserve.
Get rid of the constantly lying Sunayana Thomas and the goober Taylor Samuelson. That’s $400,000 in useless baggage per year, right there.