Setting The Bar Low – Page 98 – Friends For Fullerton's Future

July 11, 2010July 11, 2010Arts & Architecture

When is An Historic Resource Not An Historic Resource?

kung fu — As quickly as you can, Grasshopper, snatch the park from its owners...

When it’s Fullerton’s Hillcrest Park, of course. Then it’s a resource of a different kind: an opportunity for City Staff to play upon the sentimentality of Fullerton’s park and history lovers to destroy the very resource that is ostensibly being saved.

They did it 15 years ago and they are doing it again.

I went to Saturday’s latest public meeting to “save the park” and witnessed something quite remarkable. Just like last time the City staff has employed a consultant to remake the park in its own desired form, replete with new facilities it can market or operate, while ignoring the true needs of the old girl.

But this time the ludicrousness of the whole operation became apparent immediately. A representative of the landscape architect hired to foist the exploitative plan informed us all what was wrong with Hillcrest Park. It has bad chi. And all these years we just thought it was neglect by the parks and police departments. Chi. Hmm.

So what’s the solution to clean up the chi and get things all aligned, nice and proper?

A restaurant, for one thing, down by the duck pond; and a new park entrance; new retaining walls along the Brea Creek and an abandonment of the interior roadways might just get that troublesome chi back in balance, we were informed.

Ye Gods! Chi. What’s next, park feng shui?

obi-wan-kenobi-01-large — Use the Force, Luke...

I don’t know how much we’re paying these yahoos to further destroy our park, but I’ll bet it’s a lot. And I’ll also bet that Redevelopment money is picking up at least part of the tab. And ultimately the only way to pay to comprehensively destroy this historic resouce is to use big piles of Redevelopment money to do it. Redevelopment destroying historic resources. That’s not a new theme.

Hillcrest Park is on the National Register of Historic places but nobody seems to treat it like it were. Only last year the City embarked on massive alterations to the north slope of the park without review by the Landmarks Commission.

Well, good luck Hillcrest. And in the meantime may the chi be with you.

July 10, 2010July 10, 2010Don Bankhead

Ever Get The Feeling…

by admin3 Comments

…that somebody is loading you up with a pile of road apples?

Manure — Be sure to pour it on nice and thick...

Good thing Sharon Quirk-Silva knows when to call for a tow. Had it not been for Quirk-Silva the city may have broken the law (again). Watch and see for yourself when Mayor Bankhead asks the police captain how he is supposed to break the law after the tow truck drivers explained to the city council the state law pertaining to private parties towing vehicles.

The city attorney Elena Gerli sure expends a lot of words, but she manages to evade the main issue: her proposed code amendment was created in a vacuum.

So how much per hour are we paying for this mumbo jumbo?

July 7, 2010Fullerton City Council

Time to Tow Jones & Mayer Away?

by Travis14 Comments

Attorneys are expensive for a reason… they’re supposed to be smarter than the rest of us. But once again our high-priced legal experts from Jones and Mayer have failed to impress.

In haste to find a new revenue generating scheme, the Fullerton Police Department worked with Jones & Mayer attorney Elena Gerli (of former bicycle nuisance fame) to draw up an ordinance that would raise towing fees and create a new “franchise opportunity” within the city. For Fullerton motorists, that translates to more fees for the same ‘ol service. But I digress.

A series of tow operators gave detailed testimony that passing the ordinance would be a violation of several state laws. The City Attorney then gave a sketchy rebuttal (more on this subject in a future post) that failed to mitigate the council’s concerns, Sharon Quirk-Silva quickly took the lead in sending the attorney back to the drawing board and calling for a study session to prevent another legal mess for our city.

Was our attorney outsmarted by a group of tow truck drivers? It seems like it. We’ll find out in a few more weeks, but not until they’ve squeezed out another round of billable hours.

Why do I feel like we’ve been here before? Let’s see… a bureaucracy’s insatiable desire to increase revenue combined with poor legal advice, leading to eventual lawsuits and thus diverting any potential “profits” into the welcoming arms of Jones and Mayer.

Ah yes, it’s the red light camera disaster all over again.

July 7, 2010July 7, 2010Repuglicanism

Double Losers

by Mr. Peabody15 Comments

We thought you might get a kick out of the list of repuglican losers who decided that backing the despicable carpetbagging scampaign of Linda Ackerwoman in 2009 was just not enough; they decided to double down on the comical carpetbagging perjuror, Hide and Seek Sidhu in 2010. The common denominator? Hard to tell – personal ambition, fear, stupidity, and complete lack of ethical compass all seem to be motivators for these people:

Fullerton Councilman Dick Jones

County Supervisor Bill Campbell

County Supervisor Janet Nguyen

Assemblyman Jim Silva

Congressman Dana Rohrbacher

Anaheim mayor Curt Pringle

Placentia Councilman Jeremy Yamaguchi

Former County Supervisor Cynthia Coad

Brea Councilman Roy Moore

Yes, it’s a pretty exclusive crew, if a bit motley around the edges. It’s not easy to find a collection of folks whose ambition is only outweighed by stupidity or cupidity, so you’ve got to give them some credit of a sort.

There may also be other members of this club. If you can think of any be sure to let us know.

July 5, 2010December 15, 2010Fullerton 2010

The $215,000 Man

by The Desert Rat71 Comments

What valuable piece of manpower is worth paying over $200,000 per annum not to do anything?

If you guessed former Fullerton Police Chief Patrick McKinley you’d be right on the money. If there was ever a poster boy for out of control police pensions it would be Chief McKinley. See, the big guy pulls down a cool $96K a year from his old job at the LAPD that he’s been collecting since he left 17 years ago; then there’s the $118,000 he now rakes in from CalPERS, presumably from his time as Fullerton’s top cop.

Yipes! $215,000 a year in pension receipts; or about $18,000 a month; or $4100 every single week. More than he ever earned actually working. For the rest of his freaking life. If he lives another 20 years that’ll add up to $4,300,000 on top of what he’s already got, not counting cost of living increases.

Why is this important, apart from the obvious illustration of public safety pensions run amok? Because the word on Commonwealth Avenue is that Mr. McKinley is being promoted for City Council appointment to replace Shawn Nelson by Don Bankhead and Dick Jones – two other public pensioneers, one of whom is also a former cop.

In the RINO world of Bankhead and Jones this sort of thing is just hunky-dory. But for a lot of people – liberals and conservatives alike, the thought of this massive double dipper making pension decisions that affect Fullerton taxpayers is reminiscent of the fox guarding the hen house.

And of course we also remember McKinley as the police vest carney and vocal backer of the hideous Linda Ackerwoman creature.

Sorry guys. No sale.

July 5, 2010July 5, 2010About Us

Who Poisoned the Blogosphere?

by admin15 Comments

Not me.

The other day at the self-righteous Blue County Blog, Boy Reporter #1 Dan C-somethingorother, put up a post defending himself in the dust up between him and the OJ Blog’s Art Pedroza. The funniest comment came from our old pal, Boy Reporter #2, Matthew J. Cunningham, the biggest hypocrite in Orange County – you remember, the creep who by day is a mild-mannered Welfare State teat-sucker, but who at night transforms himself into some sort of uber-conservative super hero. Here’s some of what he had to add to the comments thread:

Well said, Dan. As you make clear, “the blog war” is just Pedroza code for the LOC lawsuit against him — and that’s what he wants ended, not the poisonous atmosphere in the OC blogosphere the he, Tony Bushala and others have created.

And Pedroza’s claim today that he doesn’t allow personal attacks on me — that’s just an out-and-out lie. But typical, when you consider the source.

Oh boy what a guy! Somehow it’s my fault that this slime ball who pretends to be some sort of social conservative is actually the biggest, most liberal, whole-village rearing apologist and pond scum skimmer in Orange County, and we’re letting folks know about it. And that’s a personal attack? Funny how I’m “poisonous,” and yet this free loader still hasn’t got the balls to explain to his readers at the Red County blog about his day job passing out toothbrushes at $200 an hour.

fartboy — You can't hurt me. I've got friends in high places...

My run in with this clown began over a year ago when the supposed conservative paragon started doing his typical lame song and dance for liberal spendthrift and serial mis-manager, Democrat Tom Daly. Then came his back-handed promotions of the carpetbaggers Ackerwoman, and Hairball Sidhu; and the efforts to undermine the campaign of a real conservative – Shawn Nelson.

Well here’s a news flash: I’m going to do my best to clean out OC of its repuglican hypocrites, pharisees, and plantation overseers no matter how long it takes and no matter how much it costs. And that’s a promise.

Besides, I’m having way too much fun.

July 2, 2010July 2, 2010Behind Closed Doors

Pacific Strategies & The Case of the Great Disappearing Agenda Item

by Grover Cleveland12 Comments

A quick perusal of the OC Children and Families Commission meeting for July 7, 2010 might be a bit misleading. Item six talks about a Strategic Communications Work Program and lists the “consultants” – really lobbyists and promoters whom we’ve seen before – Pringle and Associates, and O’ Haren, and the comically named White House Writers Group, that are lining up to line their pockets at the expense of hungry kids.

However, it’s not until you actually look at the agenda item staff report that you see our old friend Matthew Cunningham from Suite C described. Hiding something? The budget item is for “on call” services for a total of $30,000. I’m not sure what on call services amount to, but clearly Cunningham is still to be employed doing whatever it is he does for the Rob Reiner Tax and Redistribute Commission at the princely rate of $200 an hour.

The somewhat ambiguous phrase “a no-cost extension will be executed, and as necessary, modifications within the contract and budget authority” is appended. Apparently “Final” FY 2010-2011 budget actions take place in October.

July 1, 2010July 1, 2010Dead heads

Ye Gods! Now There’s a Disturbing Image!

by admin15 Comments

Once again political whiz kid Billy Turner provides FFFF with fun fodder for our humble blog. Courtesy of a facebook image we are favored with the unsettling image of Orange County’s #1 Repuglican John Lewis being asked to dance by its #1 carpetbagger, Hide and Seek Harry Sidhu.

No, we don’t know who led, but presumably it wasn’t Sidhu, who is widely regarded as nothing but a tool. And oh yes, we see you, too Billy!

June 30, 2010June 30, 2010Boohooism

OC Human Relations Commission Dodges Budget Bullet. Sort of.

by Joe Sipowicz4 Comments

The much-maligned and much-praised Human Relations Commission is still alive, although life signs may be diminishing.

On Tuesday, as part of its annual budget process, the County Board of Supervisors voted to eliminate an unfilled position in the department, thereby reducing its budget by about $100,ooo.

Without anymore editorial comment I have to note that many of the organizations that sent in their kudos for the good offices of this Commission, consistently refuse to contribute a dime from their own budgets to support it.

June 29, 2010Boohooism

Yellowing Submarine Advocates Tax Increase

by Joe Sipowicz12 Comments

the-observer-ostrich4-300x225 — Things are lookin' up!

Well of course they do. That’s what they know.

In the most recent edition of the squalid rag (page 1, 20% recycled paper) known as the Fullerton Observer, an unnamed editorial writer bemoans the fact that “City businesses fees” (sic) “may be outdated and too low.”

Well of course they are too low – for taxers like the Yellowing Observers, whether they are outdated or not.

Then there’s this gem: “While city (sic) employees and residents are being required to help out through layoffs, furloughs, increased fees, and reduced services, nothing has been asked of the business community.”

Huh? If anybody in Sharon Kennedy’s family had ever owned or run a business they would know that the business license is not a “fee,” it’s a thinly veiled tax, levied on businesses, and that it confers absolutely no service to the business owner. It’s just a revenue grab. Then of course the whole thing is pitched in the obligatory “look how small the increase per business is and look how many jobs it will keep!” routine.

If anybody is dumb enough to buy into I’d sure like to hear from them. And thanks Observer for a 2010 campaign issue! Let’s hear it. Whose for the new Observer tax increase?