What is Fullerton’s Future?
If the current situation in the District 4 election remains unchanged, Jamie Valencia will be the newest member of the Fullerton City Council.
Will she, like her soon to be predecessor Bruce Whitaker, form a reliable majority with Nick Dunlap and Fred Jung? I don’t know. But supposing she will, it’s fun to speculate on what issues, if any, could be in the offing for Fullerton’s future.
Remember, Friends, that Dunlap, Jung and Whitaker have never really bucked City Hall bureaucratic authority, with the singular exception of getting rid of hapless City Manager, Ken Domer, and that happened after four or five months of dithering.
Would a new council majority be willing to take on any sort of real policy direction? Would it be willing to reverse awful decisions made previously? We may consider such City Hall monstrosities as the Walk on Wilshire and the equally stupid Trail to Nowhere as projects crying out for their plugs to be pulled. What about the “boutique” hotel that morphed into a monster, high density boondoggle, whose “developer” has a series of bankruptcies and judicial losses to his credit?
What about Mario Marovich’s “bump out” building addition, a theft of public property over 20 years ago that still squats there on the Commonwealth Avenue sidewalk, despite an agreement with Marovich that should have gotten rid of it 16 months ago?
Hey! What are we going to do about the public money drain known as Downtown Fullerton? Anybody willing to discuss a bar tax on the people who have been making tens of millions off of us over the past 20 years?
And then there’s the deplorable “6th Cycle Housing Element” to the Fullerton General Plan, a program of mass housing mandates that, if effected, would destroy the City. SO far the Council has shown no sales resistance to the idea of 13,000 new residential units, even as their staff has cooked up a plan for 30,000.
Are there personnel changes that might happen, that ought to happen? Will there be new policies demanding accountability by our well-paid and benefitted staff? Would a new council majority put a halt to the staff penchant for drumming up Astroturf support for its boondoggles?
And let’s not forget the good folks who make bank on us dispensing the worst legal advice imaginable over the past 30 years without any accountability for losses, bungling, conflicts of interest; yes, the I can’t Believe It’s a Law Firm of Jones and Myers who oversaw and vigorously pursued the lawsuit against Joshua Ferguson, David Curlee and the FFFF blog itself.
Is change coming? Anything is possible, I suppose, but this is Fullerton, and Fullerton, being Fullerton, no idea is too stupid to die.
And of course Cannabis Kitty Jaramillo could be the beneficiary of her followers’ petitions to the Almighty for the “good guys” to win. In which case, other sorts of changes will be coming, none of them good, which would be the subject of another post.
In the meantime, let’s go ahead, Friends. Let’s indulge ourselves in speculation, and even more importantly, sharing what we think are good ideas.
Somebody has been protecting Dick Jones for the past 4 years and I imagine that it’s been Bruce Whitaker.
If anybody ever stopped to add up what that fool Jones and his cohort – Barlow, Palmer The Handjob Lawyer, and that clown at PC meetings, the amount would be staggering. The lawsuit against FFFF must have cost the City a miilion bucks.
What do I think? I think there are a number of very smart bloggers that contribute to this site on a regular basis who ought to really consider running for City Council themselves. Kiger tried his hand at it but didn’t have the stomach or testicular fortitude to make a slog out of it. You, Mr. Harpoon. Mr. Peabody, Jan Flory’s Dog, Joe Sipowicz, Fullerton Historian, just to name a few, have exactly what it takes to kick this city government square in the nuts and get it running right. You guys could formulate a powerful coalition and Daddy Warbucks (aka Tony Bushala) will keep the campaign coffers full as long as this team is at the helm. I see the solution, and the solution is all of you. A little late for this election cycle, but just in time for 2026 when you can send Zahra and Charles into obscurity. I think it’s high time the bloggers that comprise this site start exerting greater political influence over what happens in city hall by burrowing from within to air out the toxic mold.
Alternatively, with Fullerton being Fullerton, I predict Valencia will coalesce around Jung and Dunlap and more or less rubber stamp whatever staff puts in front of them. Zahra and Charles will continue with their performative politics. So, not much will change. We can always count on Fullerton being Fullerton.
A+
I’d like to see an honest assessment of the Water Fund in lieu fee without bent idiots like Flory and Chaffee and Fitzgerald running interference for the public employees.
And yes, let’s call out names for people who fake things and lie. Who lied to the State in the Trail to Nowhere idiocy and got to retire happily with an undeserved pension?
Who is programming dumbs ass events on Wilshire to help justify that nonsense?
Who decided that 30,000 new houses in Fullerton was just peachy? THESE PEOPLE HAVE NAMES.
Oh, Fullerton being Fullerton—just the same old mess, where nothing ever changes and everyone’s too busy patting themselves on the back to notice how nothing gets done. Let’s pray Nurse Jamie is the one who saves Fullerton
Gregory Palmer, HJL (Handjob Lawyer) says you have recourse!
We’ll find out soon enough that there’s not enough money in the State grant to build the Trail to Oblivion. That shit got approved by our council a year ago and the plans STILL aren’t done. We now have 9 months to finish design, bid and build this stupidity. Is anybody even counting? Why hasn’t the public been given an update?
How about cutting out all the ceremonial bullshit at the beginning of meetings? It looks like a damn school board meeting – gold stars and certificates and photo ops for everybody.
Valencia will do whatever the organized crime syndicate known as the Hero Unions tell her. Jamie Valencia is a puppet — bought and paid for by the cops who killed Kelly Thomas and the firefighters who don’t care if the cost of their salaries, benefits, and pensions bankrupt Fullerton.
Hi Doug!
Jones gotta go. 25 years ago.
I would like to see City Hall open five days a week – every week. This was originally mandated (by our friends at SCAG or AQMD) erroneously thinking it was going to cut down on miles driven. Of course it didn’t, but it became enshrined as an employee benefit and to hell with the citizens.
Ditto that, F.H.!
The next count is tomorrow at noon. In other words, the party’s gonna get jump started tomorrow at noon. It’s over for Jaramillo, and a BIG Valencia victory!
Team Jaramillo = LOSER.
Zahra = BIG LOSER.
Newman = BIGGER LOSER.
Genocide Correa = DOUCH BAG.
DPOC = BIG BIG LOSER.
Aaruni’s a two time LOSER and is going to lose his California’s bar license. Haha.
Ajay Mohan is DONE in O.C. politics.
Looks like they only counted 500 or so votes yesterday in OC.
Isn’t the deadline today or tomorrow?
What the hell!
Never seen anything so stupid.
They are reporting at noon today instead of at 5pm. Maybe that’s the wrap.
I would still like to know who’s been protecting Jones for the past 4 years.
How about that M>I>C>K>E>Y>S banner above the bump-out that’s been up there now for how many years? After all, it’s not very visible on the corner of Main and Main in DTF.
That must be why we pay top dollar for our hard working superlative Code Enforcement dept. We are so lucky that Geramina is their great leader and sacrifices herself to only receive a pension and a salary.
The fat lady sings. It’s over, Johnny! Vivian Kitty Jaramillo has been defeated. Good guys won! Losers ought to go back into obscurity to be never heard from again. Adios Kitty! Farewell Jan! See ya! Wouldn’t wanna be ya!
So what do the “heroes” get from Ahmad, Nick and Fred?