A Step in the Right Direction Archives - Page 12 of 15

July 17, 2012July 17, 2012A Step in the Right Direction

Fireworks For Fullerton?

Tonight you can share your opinion with the Fullerton City Council on whether the Council should schedule a November 2012 referendum on legalizing “safe and sane” fireworks.

Of course we are not talking about cherry bombs, M-80s, skyrockets, or any of the other illegal stuff that may be acquired over the border, so please, let’s nobody have a cow, right off the bat.

Back in the late 80s the people of Fullerton said no to all fireworks after heavy lobbying by the Fire Department and other members of the crowd control clique.

The result is lost revenue that many non-profits would have received, and of course, the lost freedom of being able to enjoy a good old-fashioned 4th in you own backyard.

So let’s hear your views.

July 11, 2012July 11, 2012A Step in the Right Direction

Tonight: Citizen Committee Seeks Civilian Oversight of Fullerton Police Department

by admin239 Comments

Citizen Committee Seeks Civilian Oversight of Fullerton Police Department in the Wake of Beating Death of Kelly Thomas, Reports of Abuse by Officers, Recent and Impending Lawsuits against FPD.

by Alex Stoffer

The Police Oversight Proposal Committee (POPC) will host a public presentation on methods of police oversight (tonight) Wednesday, July 11, 2012 from 6:30 to 8:00 pm at the Fullerton Public Library Conference Center. The public are invited to attend. There is no admission charge.

Citizen Oversight committees are composed of community members who review complaints, look into claims of misconduct and harassment, and investigate instances of excessive force.

Read the rest of this article…

July 9, 2012July 9, 2012A Step in the Right Direction

NEW: L.A. Sheriffs set the standard for dealing with the homeless

by admin237 Comments

Cal Watchdog Editor’s note: This is the second part of a three-part series on how the homeless and mentally ill are treated in California. Part One was about the Kelly Thomas beating and death.

By Tori Richards

Welcome to 450 Bauchet St., a 10-acre compound in the heart of downtown Los Angeles that is the world’s biggest jail. Known as Twin Towers, it has a population greater than many small towns, with 3,911 inmates, 900 staff, and even its own hospital. But it also has another distinction: the world’s largest mental institution.

Housed in one wing and encompassing four floors, the mental health ward tends to approximately 1,200 inmates with psychiatric problems. Several hundred more of the most severe cases are located in the hospital.

California is now a state where the police — not doctors or counselors — are the front lines to millions of mentally ill who have no other recourse than to end up in the jails.

“Sheriff Baca has frequently commented that the mentally ill belong in a mental institution,” said Capt. Mike Parker. “In law enforcement we deal with things because other aspects of society have failed. You have a system not addressing the need. “In the end, law enforcement is the last stop. We’re not looking for that responsibility; it was given to us.”

A breakdown in the system has led to a large population of the mentally ill who turn to crime or simply wander the streets homeless, a recipe for disaster.

Just look at the case of Kelly Thomas, a 37-year-old schizophrenic homeless man who belonged in a mental care facility rather than on the streets.

Click here to read more.

July 4, 2012July 4, 2012A Step in the Right Direction

New Council Kills Illegal Water Tax

by admin172 Comments

They did it.

Last night the new city council killed the “in-lieu” franchise fee that illegally tacked on an additional 10% to our water bills. Redeeming their campaign pledges, Travis Kiger and Greg Sebourn led the charge, along with Bruce Whitaker. Doug Chaffee followed their lead, as did Sharon Quirk-Silva.

So after a year’s dilatory foot-dragging by city staff and a clueless council majority, the deal is done, effective July 1st, 2012. Future rate increases necessary for infrastructure maintenance will be treated, rightly, as a separate issue, as will any legitimate indirect and overhead costs from the City.

And Bruce Whitaker succinctly summed up the what happens to the money – $2.5 million a year – that is tacked on and skimmed off. 70% went to pay for non-water related salaries, benefits, and pension costs. The scam lasted for over forty years.

I offer my profound thanks to the council for doing the right thing.

Also invigorating was the minor tsunami of requests from councilmen for future agenda items:

Kiger: a study of nepotism in the police department; a fireworks referendum.

Sebourn: an independent audit of City Hall; a report on police disciplinary statistics.

Whitaker: discussion of disclosure to council of public records requests.

Doug Chaffee: discussion of direct council hiring (and presumably oversight) of the police chief.

It was refreshing and exciting to finally see a Fullerton city council take charge, direct policy issues, and deliver on campaign promises.

Well done, and thank you!

July 4, 2012A Step in the Right Direction

Freedom Ain’t Free

by Grover Cleveland54 Comments

In a democracy the elected representatives work for the people. When they forget that, and when they come to affiliate themselves with the governing class, the results can be consequential. Sometimes it takes a while, but sooner or later their dereliction catches up to them.

The image above symbolizes freedom from tyranny – the tyranny of incompetent, entrenched, befuddled decrepitude.

Happy 4th of July, Fullerton. Have a cold one and congratulate yourselves!

July 3, 2012July 3, 2012A Step in the Right Direction

Read All About It! A New Blog in Town

by Mr. Peabody28 Comments

A guy named Matt Leslie has started a new blog in Fullerton, and it looks like a pretty good read. It’s called the Fullerton Rag and appears thoughtful and well-written. I am informed Mr. Leslie is the lesser half of recent council candidate, Jane Rands.

This blog will likely appeal to the less febrile and more intellectual Fullerton political aesthetic preference; and I say bravo! The more people who dial into what’s happening in Fullerton, the better.

Be sure to read the post about Leslie playing Monopoly with Don Bankhead. It’s pretty good.

July 1, 2012July 1, 2012A Step in the Right Direction

The Three Empty Pez Dispensers

by Joe Sipowicz41 Comments

pedz woz — Looking for brains, courage, a heart.

You know, Larry Bennett really could have just left it alone. After dodging a final, humiliating meeting to certify the recall election that drove them out of office, at least one of the Three Bald Tires finally deigned to show up at Fullerton City Hall tomorrow morning to do the deed. It could have been done quietly with as little fanfare as possible. Actually only one of them even needed to show up.

But no.

Bennett seems to think the Three Dead Batteries need a sendoff appropriate to all the wonderful things these men have done for Fullerton. Friday he notified supporters of the Three Tree Stumps that there was to be a special council meeting, and that he hoped everybody would show up to let them know what terrific public servants they have been.

Bennett has likely spent the week-end making phone calls to drum up some folks willing to say kind thing about the Three Pea-less Pods. No doubt some will show up. And others are likely to show up now, too. People who recognize the disastrous misrule of these three characters:

Don Bankhead: dumb-bell, and self-annointed king of Fullerton, whose somnolent councilmanic career was punctuated with one Redevelopment boondoggle and union give away after another.

JonesMouthOpenFor Business — Crazy? Check. Rude? Check. Gone? Check.

Dick Jones, the southern fried lunatic and loud-mouthed bully who never came to understand that the authority to give orders doesn’t confer wisdom – or even relevance.

Pat-McKinley-Cops-300x206 — To all appearances it looked a lot like a street gang.

Pat McKinley: protector and apologist for the undeniable Culture of Corruption in the Fullerton Police Department that he himself had created. Those ladies weren’t like you. Aliens. Don’t rush to judgement.

Well, good bye and good riddance.

bennettturtle — The sun had been warm and life was good. But all that changed.

And please take Larry Bennett with you. The tide is rising.

June 29, 2012June 29, 2012A Step in the Right Direction

Yes, I Have An Agenda

by Travis234 Comments

There’s been speculation about some of the new city council members and if they have a “hidden agenda.” While I don’t speak for any other council members, it did occur to me that I do actually have a personal agenda that I’ve been keeping since early June.

In the interest of transparency, why not publish it?

Here you go: my raw and unredacted personal agenda, online and up-to-date for everyone to see:

[iframe_loader width=’100%’ height=’600′ frameborder=’1′ scrolling=’auto’ src=’https://docs.google.com/document/pub?id=1l2nvBpJCJwSBM8vDUlvoi92Akl-bT14DqhtbZZiu0xg&embedded=true’]

June 28, 2012A Step in the Right Direction

What to Do With Former Redevelopment Employees? How About Pink Slips?

by admin71 Comments

Anybody who reads this blog knows that I have had a running battle with the Fullerton Redevelopments Agency, even going so far as suing the Agency to block its bogus expansion attempt into areas of west and east Fullerton that had no blight. That was just a fraudulent attempt to divert property tax revenue from legitimate recipients.

Now that Redevelopment has been killed off by the Legislature and the Governor, I really have to wonder what has and will become of that small army of government economic planners, boondoggle promoters, bribers, bagmen, design guideline perpetrators, and the rest, whose job it was to gin up sales tax revenue and property tax increment (usually at the expense of somebody else) while dictating land use development in Redevelopment project areas across California.

Lest anybody think I’m just grousing about an abstract problem, consider an article here in the OC Register that points out the exorbitant amount that Fullerton Redevelopment Agency wasted on administration.

Anyway, these folks were in the business of playing developer without taking any of the risks, and with a compliant city council there was never any fear of them being held accountable for their manifest failures.

Some of the former Redevelopment employees will be kept around to close things out. The rest? Who knows? In Fullerton, some of them have already been absorbed into the regular bureaucracy, to be supported by the General Fund – as if these people were simply interchangeable and indispensable parts. The message that move sent to the citizens of Fullerton is a really bad one – that the government has no appetite to shrink, even though a specific purpose has been ended.

June 27, 2012A Step in the Right Direction

Old Guard Won’t Go. Better Call a Judge.

by The Desert Rat89 Comments

I keep hearing on the Fullerton grapevine that Fullerton City Manager Joe Felz, doggone it, just can’t get one of the recalled Three Bald Tires to show up to validate the June 5th Recall election. Without at least one of these clowns there is no quorum and a meeting can’t be held. Apparently they have been individually agreeing to show up then later, suddenly have other plans.

This could go on for quite awhile, and if left to their own devices, these miscreants may actually file to run for election in November before they’ve officially been run out of office.

Well, this might explain why it’s been three weeks since the election and the new councilmen Kiger, Sebourn and Chaffee have not been sworn it yet. That’s pretty reprehensible, if you ask me, and it begs the question – how much longer is this farce going to go on before somebody goes to a judge and gets a court order validating the election?

I remember well in 1994 that the three recalled councilmembers simply refused to schedule a replacement election (different laws then) until ordered to do so by a judge. Then as now, the incompetent, arrogant Old Guard refused to go quietly into that good night. And Don Bankhead, recalled the first time, got himself elected again.

And here’s a final thought for you Fullerton water rate payers. Every single day that passes costs you all another $7000 in an illegal tax that is still being collected.

Are you angry yet?