Pam Keller Wants A Fullerton City Blog – But No Bloggers!
During a recent City Council mind unwind, Pam Keller suggested that what Fullerton needs is a city blog. But no bloggers! Here’s what she had to say:
You see, Friends, folks like Pam are all about “education,” not discussion. She thinks that all that the good people of Fullerton need to be happy is to be properly “educated” – by people like her. But Heaven forbid that somebody should post something unwanted, or unexpected, or critical, or true. No. Better to be spoon fed Pam’s pabulum of feel good nonsense.
NEWS FLASH PAM! THE CITY OF FULLERTON HAS A BLOG, AND IT’S CALLED FRIENDS FOR FULLERTON’S FUTURE.
Here we deal with the sometimes unsavory stuff that you’d never read about on Pam’s blog, and that the Observer won’t touch, and of which Barbara Giasone is blissfully unaware. And better still, we offer anybody a chance to opine. We’ve given anybody who wants an opportunity to argue and dispute every single post we’ve ever put up. Now there’s a novel concept!
See, we believe in democracy, even if it’s a little rough around the edges. Pam really seems to believe in bureaucracy. And that’s just the way it is.
People like Pam still don’t get it… the Internet has changed public discourse for good. The monologue of traditional media is dying – the Register, OC Weekly, Fullerton Tribune have all added sparsely-moderated public comments to their stories. Online participation will continue to increase as the younger, tech-happy generations buy homes and start to take ownership in their cities.
It’s time to get on board, Pam. Everyone deserves to be heard.
Gee Pam, we wouldn’t want anyone to leave any critical comments of your bad decisions. That would just be so wrong….haha. Who is she kidding with her nonsense?
Hey Allan, thanks for the visit to our blog, call me the next time your in NOC!
Travis – so true. Here’s the challenge. Most people are really lazy and are comforted by the fact that sloths like Barabara Giasone are coverning something for them (wrong, of course).
Blogs provide open access. There is no validation of any of it (just like there is no validation of any cut-rate journalism); NO INTELLIGENT PERSON DECIDES ANYTHING FROM FROM WHAT THEY’VE READ ON A BLOG. Instead thet use it as a springboard to investigation, self-education, self-empowerment, in fact. Exactly the sort of thing Pam and her coterie DO NOT want to happen, whatever their boohoo rhetoric may be.
Pam just sat there as “her” city manager closed a public park on his own say so. I think she’s got that relationship backward!
Hi Allan. Good to see you over here!
Did I hear right? Did she refer to “our” wonderful Barbara Giasone?
That’s the first time I’ve ever seen the possessive pronoun used by a politician to refer to a reporter. Pretty damn creepy if you ask me. As she said it she stole a quick glance to the audience where a simpering Barbara Giasone sat, no doubt, in the front row exuding all the energy of a tree fungus.
Jan Flory with a (permanently glued on) smile. Is this really the best Fullerton can do?
OMIGOD! Looks like Costa Mesa hasn’t corned the market on lamebrain council members! I guess communication in Fullerton is a one-way street!
Even the LAPD has a blog that allows comments. If those thugs can take a little criticism, I think Fullerton can too.
Welcome to FFFF, TPS. You’ve got a good blog. I even noticed you used our picture of Larry, Curly, and Moe. Well, okay it’s not our picture, but we used it too. It seems to symbolize a universal OC municipal atmosphere.
I also noticed your post about Steve Sheldon. We’ve had a run in with Steve here in Fullerton and have also done a little research on the ubiquitous glad hander. Search our archives.
Anyhoo, y’all come back now. Admin will add you to our blogroll.
What a maroon…
Joe, you heard it correct, she said “our” wonderful Barbara Giasone. I take Pam’s comment to mean that Barbara is on the city’s payroll.
I know! Lets all join hands around Chris Myers pot bellied stove and sing Kumbaya!
Pam wants us all to make nice while “her” City Manager shuts down parks without telling anybody.
Actually the city already has a blog without comments, it’s called the water bill.
Wow Pam, a few people I know-including myself, thought you believed in open and transparent government, I guess we thought wrong.
Heah Pam, thats just what we need- more public employees telling us what they really, really are doing behind our backs. I’m sure gonna believe them if they just put it on a blog.
Is Kellar krazy, doesn’t she realize this blog is the best source of dialogue in Fullerton?
I hear the following: “There is a blog out there that is gving way to much insight into what is actually going on behind the scenes and I cant get staff to write a response to all those sharp posts to cover my ass. Could we have a city paid for site where I can write in questions posing to be a concerned citizen and then staff, on city time, can write something that makes me look good for backing them blindly.”
Now that is my translation of course but come on Pam, we can see this a mile away. Every time you or some staff lackey thinks an issue is not being given its proper propaganda run, just post some inquiry to the “blog” and have the answer you want posted.
Good news for the common sense folks among us is no one would read such a shameful front for all things Bankhead/Jones/Kellar. Nice try though. Its called shilling Pam and we aren’t falling for it.
It seems that maybe Kellar and the other mental midgets are coming to realize that their grip on the information flow (ala Observer and Giasone) is slipping away. Well, welocome to the future Pam, its only going to get better on this blog.
A blog with no bloggers… only questions to Staff.
No free exchange… only canned answers.
No meanness… only happy talk.
Is this what you ran on in ’06?
Keller wants to piggy back friends of fullerton future’s success by creating a web site that looks like FFFF blog to lure away Fullertonions from this site to hers. what she really wants is propaganda
addendum: upon further scrutiny of the prior posts a scene is emerging. the fools of fullerton’s city council always could count on good press from the bad newspapers aka Fullerton Observer. after FFFF exposure of the fullerton Observer and the dubious editorial talents of its editor sharon kennedy, municipal politicians now know any association with the fullerton observer is political death. this explains kellers pressing need to create an “objective political blog” that acts as a smokescreen for (I say it again) propaganda
Good Point, van. The Observer IS the city blog, but way too low tech.
Evan Barbara Giasone is getting edgier than Sharon Kennedy with her McDonald’s move story that the Observer completely ignored.
I saw a stack of yellowing Observers yesterday at Ralphs—with way way yesterday’s news.
Keller should start her own blog, if whe wants. She shouldn’t wait for Meyer to do it. He’s lookin’ for retirement, not a political future.
“I saw a stack of yellowing Observers yesterday at Ralphs—with way way yesterday’s news”
Are you talking about the paper or its writers?
“Evan Barbara Giasone is getting edgier than Sharon Kennedy with her McDonald’s move story ”
Good God, that woman asked a coupla kids if McDonalds made them fat and one of them said no. A “move story?” Giasone is about as far from any edge as is physically possible.
Too true, but at least she DID cover it! Not a word in the Observer. Just a Q & A column with Rob Zur Schmiede.
I think Pam ought to push for it, the City of Fullerton can always use another point of view and it’s only fair that city personnel have a chance to express their side of the story. First Pam will have to convince the other council members of the actual need so that they can hire a qualified consultant to perform a thorough analysis and produce some requirements for a workable system. No doubt that’ll cost a good chunk of change, but the recent decision on McDonald’s means there will be millions to use on projects like a one-sided pro-staff city blog! Hooray!!
What is wrong with another avenue of communication? If I call someone at city hall to ask about a project, why not have a blog from the city to post an answer so everyone else can see what is happening there without having to call over there too? I can be satisfied or not with whatever the staff tells me, but at least we would have it posted for the record.
As far as inviting the city staff to post rebuttals to this blog, you must acknowledge that some of them might find it a bit awkward to participate in a forum that has not only called them roundly incompetent, but has referred to their superiors, the city council, in sometimes highly unflattering terms. Given this climate, can you blame them for staying away?
Yes, FFFF has published loads of very interesting information about the last couple of decades in Fullerton, but the tone of this blog has typically ranged from irreverent to rude, repelling many who might choose a more polite forum.
Now, I realize that politeness has it’s limits. To paraphrase W.C. Fields, I’d give you ten nice guys for a son of a bitch because it’s the sons of bitches who get things done in this world while the nice guys are too busy being nice, so I don’t begrudge you your fun with your proverbial sledgehammer, but you can’t expect FFFF to serve everyone in this city. Maybe it’s just the nature of the beast, but you’ve simply made it too difficult for some people to participate.
So, what is wrong with the city having a blog? At least give it chance before you pounce all over it.
The bit about them being able to respnd on this blog, is indeed disingenuous and was meant to appear so. They won’t and they can’t.
The point of this post is to ridicule Pam Keller for her brainless happy-talk “blog” that will just spew pro-staff propaganda and spin, spin, spin for the City Manager and whatever majority he has cobbled together to cover up the latest disaster. Pam is afraid of the people of Fullerton. Afraid they may come to discover that all the “experts” aren’t all that expert after all.
You do make one excellent point. Having yet another (they already have several) propaganda outlet will just give us more ammunition to go after the boondoggles.
And, as Peabody points out, the first boondoggle will be hiring some “expert” to create the blog; the second will be wasting staff time running it. Oh Joy! Bring it on Pam!
BTW, irreverent, yes. Can you imagine anyone one displaying reverence for Dick Jones? Rude? I would say sometimes brutally honest. Maybe that’s just semantics.
As admin has demonstrated, he’s been watching 25-year’s worth of unaccountable disasters with nothing but deceit, cover-up, etc., etc. that goes on because everybody was being so polite by refraining from criticizing anything – this was Fullerton after all.
If somebody wants niceness they can read Barbara Giasone’s latest story about the giant koi in the Japanese restaurant. Or I guess they can read Pam Keller’s cognitive disfunction on a new and generally useless non-blog.
You made some excellent points Matt, and I don’t have a problem with the city starting it’s own blog. Unfortunately it will be done in a way that renders it completely useless. There will be no community discussion on this blog, because moderation will bring up all sorts of first amendment issues. The city will also waste a bunch of money to have a consultant create a blog, something that the rest of us can do for free.
The most that it will give them is an informal way to re-post press releases and event announcements. Would that be worth the effort?
Right on Travis. Who decides what questions get posted, let alone which ones get answered (whatever the mush-mouth answer may be)? City bureuacrats and politicians, that’s who. The City would necessarily have to adopt some code of ethics so as not to run afoul of the 1st Amendment, a code it would no doubt routinely violate.