Redevelopment Archives - Page 10 of 23 - Friends For Fullerton's Future

February 16, 2011February 16, 2011About Us

A New Repuglican Scam

Today the ever-increasingly pathetic OC Register ran an editorial trumpeting the creation of something called the Association of California Cities, a homespun effort to replace the California League of Cities. The Register wants us to believe that anything that replaces the League is a good thing. To which I respond: not so fast.

Here’s a quote from the article, the first couple of paragraphs dutifully and immediately passed along verbatim by Red County repuglican flunky Matthew J. Cunningham:

Orange County cities often have stood for sensible, taxpayer-friendly municipal reform in a state where fiscal sanity is the exception rather than the rule. So, while we applaud the 21 O.C. cities that left the League of California Cities (and its Orange County division) and started their own Association of California Cities Orange County, we also want to ask, “What took you so long?”

We’ve long had a beef with the Sacramento-based League, which is essentially a taxpayer-funded (dues come from city coffers) lobbying organization that tilts toward big government. Currently, the League is battling Gov. Jerry Brown’s sensible plan to close down the state’s 425 redevelopment agencies – those fiscally profligate entities that abuse eminent domain and dole out corporate welfare to companies that build development projects hatched in City Hall.

I can’t remember any OC cities that “stood for sensible, taxpayer friendly municipal reform…” so that’s a load of manure right there. But notice the anti-Redevelopment hook there at the end of the second paragraph. Cunningham obviously did. But he didn’t bother passing along the very next tidbit from the editorial:

Certainly, one finds support for redevelopment among Orange County officials, including some whose cities have fled the League…

Well Jesus H.Crisco, that’s the understatement of the freaking year! Is there a single municipality in OC that isn’t addicted to Redevelopment like a low grade junkie is to black tar heroin?

fartboy — Maybe I can do facebook for the Association @ $200 buck an hour!

The Rag pathetically goes on to cite as some sort of local OC accomplishment the totally discredited Anaheim “Freedom Friendly” policy of “upzoning” property, a conspiracy that put dozens of businesses out of business, hundreds of workers out of work, that was engineered to produce vast profits for Kurt Pringle’s clients, and that has left the Anaheim city scape cratered, dark and dismal. The editorialists who are employed by The Register may think we can’t tell the difference, but boy are they wrong.

Of course you can check out the leadership of the new Association. It doesn’t inspire any sort of confidence. In the roster we find a sad collection of small town political hacks, bag men (and women), and poseurs whose only true resentment of the League is likely based on the fact that it precludes them from cashing in on anything. Oh, yeah we know the sort: the brain dead, yet greedy city council members who make up the boards of things like the OCTA, the Vector Control District, and the Sanitation District: just the perfect sort of drones who can be manipulated to direct “policy” in the direction of the Pringles, Dick Ackermans and John Lewises of the oh, so conservative Orange County.

Cunningham claims the inaugural dinner was the scene of near euphoria. Eu-effing-phoria. For him and people like him who cash in on government largess there was probably every reason to feel giddy.

The real question is why should we poor plantation hands substitute one collection of overseers for another?

February 8, 2011February 8, 2011Boohooism

The Problem With OCCORD

by Mr. Peabody29 Comments

Yesterday Norberto Santana of the Voice of OC (EA) did a post on a report by a group called OCCORD that accused the cities of Santa Ana and Anaheim of “rubber stamp” planning. Among other things the planning commissions in these towns were identified as living preponderantly in small enclaves and it notes the undue influence of out-of-town developers.

I’m having a little trouble separating the message from the messenger. See, the troubles are real all right. We’ve seen the same operation in Fullerton, as with the creeps who are trying to ram Amerige Court and the hideous Jefferson Commons down our throats. Our electeds got their drinkies, and their boat rides and their thirty pieces of silver from slimers like Steve Sheldon; and we got the shaft. Yet while I can’t disagree with thing the obvious OCCORD conclusion that development in Anaheim and Santa Ana is all tied up by goons with financial ties to people like Kurt Pringle and Miguel Pulido, I have to wonder what it is OCCORD is really promoting.

A quick trip to OCCORD’s website rewards visitors with a list of boardmembers and contributors that reads like a veritable who’s who of leftist, labor, and low-income housing advocates. Here’s what they say they are about:

In Orange County, California, top-down economic development policy and institutionalized anti-immigrant sentiment have served to exclude low income, immigrant communities from government decisionmaking processes, and in many cities, rapid demographic changes have created a political environment in which people are increasingly disconnected from their elected representatives. As a result, income inequality is growing faster in our region than in the nation as a whole, and our sense of community is declining.

I notice with satisfaction the name of Lorri Galloway who not only has approved just about every developer-wet-dream megaplex put in front of her in Anaheim, but also supported SunCal’s mammoth project on Anaheim Boulevard with its sham veneer of “affordable housing.” And that may be a telling.

lorripic5_sm — What else will she pull out of her cookie?

So what’s the real deal? OCCORD seems to be promoting authentic, popular participation in land use decision, of the sort promised by Pam Keller when she first ran for Fullerton City Council in 2006. Pam ended up voting for a bunch of megaprojects, herself, so maybe the whole thing is just some sort of make-people- feel-good-about-looking-like-they’re-trying-to-do-something-anything, scam. Or maybe they actually want “immigrant communities” to have input into decision making land use processes – especially the development of subsidized housing projects.

I think the mistake of swapping “top-down” development policy driven by developers, and that driven by the professional houseacrats and do-gooders, and social conscience hand wringers is a distinction without much of a difference. Overbuilt, overbearing, subsidized, architectural monstrosities built on public debt are bound to follow either way. Will OCCORD ever come out against the idiotic Redevelopment housing policies and ethnic cleansing pogroms? Not likely if there’s a jaw-droppingly expensive “affordable” project of some kind, any kind, at the end of the bureaucratic rainbow.

January 29, 2011Local Media

Tonight on the Radio: Steven Greenhut and Ron Kaye on Redevelopment

by Travis Kiger12 Comments

Here’s the details on tonight’s edition of the Martha Montelongo show. Listen live Saturday night on AM870 at 11PM or online at KRLA870.com.

Steven Greenhut, CalWatchDog.com‘s editor in chief and former deputy editor and columnist for the Orange County Register and author of Abuse of Power: How Government Misuses Eminent Domain, joins Ron Kaye, publisher, editor and columnist for RonKayeLA Blog in a discussion on Redevelopment.

And on Education, a Superior Court Judge ruled this month in favor of the ACLU versus The Los Angeles Unified School District over the district’s last hired first fired layoff policy. It is a landmark decision hailed as such by education reformers, but teacher’s unions denounce it as a step toward dismantling tenure policies.

Larry Sand of the California Teacher’s Empowerment Network joins Martha to talk about this ruling, the firestorm it has caused statewide, and you can be sure nationally as well, and what happens next. He’ll also speak with us about a little known law that was passed by the legislature last year, as part of a move to capitalize on the President’s Race to the Top financial incentives for states to adopt certain education reform measures.

January 28, 2011January 28, 2011Bruce Whitaker

Is Bruce Whitaker A Man of His Word?

by admin18 Comments

He sure is.

See, Bruce campaigned on a platform of reforming Redevelopment, recognizing that redevelopment grabs needed funds from schools and other core government functions. And where does it go? To subsidize boondoggle after boondoggle with no accountability; and the creation of “affordable” housing empires in which staffers create fantastically expensive housing for less poor people than the ones they pay off to skeedaddle.

Well, at Tuesday “emergency” Redevelopment/city council meeting Whitaker stood tall and was the lone vote against an 11th hour encumbrance of funds meant to stymie Governor Brown’s long-overdue plan to put Redevelopment in California out of business. His argument is clarity itself, and he opposed the panic mode plan.

On a sad note, Sharon Quirk went a long with the pro-Redevelopment crowd. Well, we obviously have more work to do.

Anyway, here’s Bruce:

January 27, 2011January 27, 2011Behind Closed Doors

Redevelopment. Yes or No?

by admin36 Comments

The Gov has proposed axing Redevelopment in California and redirecting its revenue back to local municipalities and school districts. Of course the Redevelopment camp followers are squealing like stuck pigs.

Today the Register entertained two essays on whether or not to keep Redevelopment. On the no side was Assemblyman Chris Norby who wrote a pretty comprehensive obituary for this misguided government revenue scam. On the pro side? Some unknown stooge from Brea – one of the most heavily Redevelopment bond indebted municipalities in California, and a poster child for Redevelopment havoc and abuse.

January 26, 2011January 26, 2011Behind Closed Doors

A Plaintive Wail

by The Desert Rat14 Comments

And now, back to the letter.

Read the letter

According to commenter Art Brown the plaintive Redevelopment wail signed by Mayor HeeHaw on behalf of all of us was actually scribed by the League of Cities and sent out as a boilerplate template for the incompetent locals who, presumably, couldn’t be trusted to mount their own intellectual and philosophical defense of Redevelopment (think: “we neeeed the muh-nie!”)

Of course there is space at the end of the missive to insert one’s community’s dubious Redevelopment accomplishments. And Fullerton did.

Mr. Brown’s claim certainly has the ring of truth to it. It reminds me of a gang of dope addicts defending their habit.

As to the letter itself, observe the following:

The claims that Redevelopment is a job creator and some sort of economic engine is, of course, utter nonsense. It is indeed a massive boon to subsidized corporations and Redevelopment master planners, consultants and bond salesmen. Redevelopment is simply a zero-sum revenue diversion scheme whose manifest failures are immediately forgotten. The funniest part of the letter may be the way one bent branch of government uses the screw-ups of another (SB 375 and AB 32) to justify itself.

Then there is the hilarious claim that Redevelopment is really poverty-stricken, once the bond holders are paid off!

You would think a letter honestly outlining the effects of Redevelopment in Fullerton would have described just a few of the disastrous quagmires that Redevelopment and it organizers have gotten us into: boondoggles amply illustrated in these pages. But no. No Harbor/Commonwealth; no SRO; no Poisoned Park; no endless succession of useless downtown master plans; no attempt to relocate a McDonald’s 200 feet. Wait. Come to think of it they did: cited as an accomplishment is the idiotic Richman housing project!

Affordable housing. Where poor people are cleared out and replaced by less poor people. And this was never one of the rationales for Redevelopment. The housing set-aside was created to protect the poor from dislocation due to the great Urban Renewal mega projects of the 1950s and 60s.

Well, there you have it. An intellectually and morally bereft letter signed by a clown who cannot grasp anything more complicated than a fried chicken.

Are you surprised?

January 25, 2011January 25, 2011Redevelopment

Pillage and Burn. Emergency Redevelopment Meeting Today!

by Greg Sebourn11 Comments

An urgent meeting is scheduled for this Tuesday afternoon at City Hall. While most meetings are scheduled for 6PM or later, this one is set for 4PM, forcing many to leave work early in order to speak at the meeting.

The urgency of the council/Redevelopment Agency meeting comes after Governor Brown announced his intentions of squashing Redevelopment Agencies as component of saving money and redistributing funds to their normally allocated destinations.

This afternoon’s Agenda has only one item:

CONSIDER APPROVING A COOPERATION AGREEMENT BETWEEN THE CITY OF FULLERTON AND THE FULLERTON REDEVELOPMENT AGENCY FOR (PARTIAL) FUNDING OF CAPITAL IMPROVEMENT PROJECTS, GRAFFITI REMOVAL SERVICES, AND PROFESSIONAL SERVICES

In a nut shell, City Hall sees their glass house shattering and is looking to pull out as much money as possible from the Redevelopment Agency in order to install street lights in the Lemon/Truslow area, stabilize the slopes along Harbor Boulevard just below the YMCA, work on Hillcrest Park, and build a parking garage at the Fullerton Transportation Center.

In all, the City/Redevelopment Agency is looking to move $14,100,000 from the Redevelopment agency coffers to the City of Fullerton coffers to help cover some of the upfront costs associated with these projects.

If any of those mentioned sound familiar it’s because just last Tuesday the City Council decided to ask Congress for some money to address them.

This sounds like the scheme of someone who desperately pulls out every bit of equity from their house ($14.1M from RDA’s tax increment), maxes out all of their credit cards ($29M in tax bonds) for that new sports car (town homes and condos and garages) knowing they are about to get slapped by a court-ordered judgment (governor’s proposed budget) that will surely leave them penniless.

Once again, the lack of leadership has manifested itself by the procrastination of City Hall to tackle our crumbling infrastructure. Water-mains continue to erupt forth from our streets like Old Faithful while the ever-expanding potholes begin to resemble the Grand Canyon. At this rate, residents will be able to sell tickets to the spectacle as our city sinks into the abyss of municipal doom.

January 6, 2011January 6, 2011Chris Norby

Redevelopment on the Chopping Block?

by Chris Norby11 Comments

Dear Friends, I just returned for my first full legislative term here in Sacramento, having gained valuable experience serving for the past 10 months since the special election. One announced reform I can embrace is the new governor’s goal of abolishing redevelopment agencies and restoring their funds to counties and schools. As a longtime critic of these agencies, I’ve been called by numerous media outlets and colleagues on issues related to this little understood level of government.

Redevelopment agencies capture 12% of all property taxes statewide-that’s $6 billion annually diverted from school districts, counties and municipal police and fire protection. The funds are largely spent subsidizing private development projects whose promoters acquire land under threat of eminent domain, while 20% pays for low income housing projects.

The government should not be in the business of subsidizing private developers, nor of building housing projects. That’s the job of the private sector. This money needs to be restored to pay for infrastructure and services. Public money should build classrooms, not Costcos.

The agencies cannot be closed, however, until their nearly $100 billion indebtedness is paid off, but a phase-out over time could start, and long-evaded sunset clauses enforced.

While the legislature requires me to be in Sacramento on a weekly basis through June, I’ll keep regular district office hours every Friday. Visit or call 714-672-4734. I’m there for you.

December 30, 2010December 31, 2010Arts & Architecture

Fullerton SRO Developer Under Federal Investigation; Is It Even Safe?

by admin12 Comments

Ajit Mithaiwala — Some day we will all have a cup of coffee and laugh about it...

Last year we posted a magisterial, five-part history about one of Fullerton’s greatest Redevelopment boondoggles, the so-called “City Lights” single-room occupancy project. Our series started here.

As we related, here, in October 2010, questions were being raised about the financial dealings and records of the developer, Ajit Mithaiwala, and the federal government was investigating.

Once again, according to a recent article in LA Times, here, Mithaiwala and his company ADI, are accused of sticking it to the City of Glendale, but good. More evidence is presented suggesting that ADI defrauded the Glendale housing agency out of millions, possibly building substandard po’ folks housing while receiving millions in public subsidy. To top it off, ADI was greasing the axles of local government real well, too, as demonstrated by contributions and favors to city councilmembers in Glendale.

According to the articles ADI has been involved in 40-50 projects across the Southland, so the enormity of the problem is, well, potentially enormous, if in fact, the Glendale experience proves typical.

Which brings us back to Fullerton. When the SRO was built in the late 90s, peculiar construction techniques and prolonged inspection difficulties had some scratching their heads. And now with stories of possible substandard work in Glendale circulating, we are well within the bounds of reason asking our city officials if, in fact, the building is really safe for occupancy.

Where is Mithaiwala? These articles do not say. Maybe the FBI is looking.

And just for fun backwards salute, here’s a timely quote from our current mayor, Ol’ Doc Heehaw who, when the SRO was being proposed in 1997, shot off his big yapper, got threatened with a personal lawsuit by Mithaiwala’s henchmen, and then cowardly changed his vote:

“The city would be at great, I underline great, financial risk if it did not proceed with this project,” Jones said before casting his vote for the settlement. The threatened lawsuit was “a loaded gun against the head,” Jones said.

Risk. Thanks Mr. All Hat and No Cattle.

November 20, 2010November 20, 2010About Us

Fleischman Puts ‘Pug in Repuglican

by Grover Cleveland15 Comments

You remember a fellow named Jon Fleischman, don’t you? Well, of course you do. He starred in the now historic 2007 holiday visit video to Dick Ackerman at the latter’s house inside a “secret, gated community” in Irvine.

tricky dick — I still owe Fleischberg for that. Heh heh.

An alert Friend just forwarded a post that was published on the completely hackish blog-for-sale, The Flash Report, of which Fleischman is proprietor. It’s a rousing condemnation of the practice of bogus non-profit, public benefit corporations staging legislative love-ins at plush resorts on Hawaiian islands. The things are bought and paid for by lobbyists who get to corner state legislators at fraudulent “conferences” that are nothing more than schmooze fests, golf and cocktails on the veranda. The Sac Bee gives more info on the latest scams, here. At the end you’ll read about “The Pacific Policy Research Foundation” that just perpetrated its annual scam on Kauai.

Sound familiar? It should.

We reported about the scam over a year ago, here. And the biggest offender of course was the hideous Linda Ackerwoman, bogus 72 AD candidate, who participated in the sham front known as the Pacific Policy Research Foundation that got her and husband, Dick Ackerman, annual junkets to Hawaii. And of course Ackerwoman was an officer of the bogus “charity.”

And to close the circle we have to recall that Fleischman was a big Ackerwoman cheerleader. Ackerwoman. No record, no accomplishment, no residence, no sale. What a difference a year makes.