Friends For Fullerton's Future

May 18, 2009January 9, 2010Parks and Trails

Poor Arguments Abound in Bicycle Link Battle

The battle of the Puente Street bicycle path will intensify tonight at a special Parks and Rec commission meeting, giving us an opportunity to examine the silly exaggerations and misdirections shouted from both ends of the table. There are probably dozens of excellent arguments both for and against the 1/4 mile section of bike path that will connect Brea and Fullerton neighborhoods, but sometimes it’s more fun to point out the sillier arguments thrown between the NIMBY’s and the two-wheeled maniacs.

In a (properly labeled) Observer editorial, Barbara Rothbart warns that bicycle users on the bridge will not be protected from flying golf balls while crossing the bridge, as if they were more dangerous than sending bicycle riders onto busy arterial streets.

Members of the bicycle users subcommittee counter by claiming that there are 40,000+ bicycle riders in Fullerton. While there may be that many bikes stored in Fullerton garages, that number probably has no relation to the expected use of the proposed bridge.
40,001 - every bike counts.
Local homeowners are suddenly afraid that we might slip and fall if the city were to pave the 17.7% grade, keenly ignoring the fact that this grade is already open to the public and covered in loose gravel.
Bike riders, we care about you. We really do.
Vince Buck calls the pre-fabricated bridge a “local stimulus project”, though it is unlikely that the bridge will be pre-fabbed anywhere near Fullerton nor installed by Fullerton contractors.
Not quite the pork we were hoping for

We could go on and on, but you get the point. Bike path debaters, please don’t marginalize the argument with this superfluous stuff. If you have a legitimate, sane comment about the proposed bike path, you may want to show up at tonight’s meeting.

May 18, 2009Statewide Stuff

No. No. No. No. No. No.

by Grover Cleveland7 Comments

Here’s how to vote on tomorrow’s state ballot initiatives: No. No. No. No. No. No.

6 No’s.

Vote against all of them. Terminate the Governator’s bogus reform. The whole thing is a fraud.

The only one that really matters is Prop. 1A, which would jack up our taxes another $16 billion by extending recent tax hikes another 2 years. As if Arnold didn’t tax us enough already! We have the highest state sales and income taxes in the known universe. Taxes need to be CUT, not raised.

We, the voters, elected Arnold 6 years ago specifically to get the budget in order — with no new taxes.

That’s what he promised in 2003, when he was first elected, and again in 2006, when he was re-elected: No new taxes.

He lied.

He’s a fraud and we shouldn’t let him get away with it.

So, tomorrow vote against all six propositions.

Next up: Recall Arnold.

Let’s kick that tax-obsessed bum out of office.

May 18, 2009December 30, 2009Chris Norby

The “Paseo Park” Chronicles: The Park That Never Was. Or Is. Part 3

by The Fullerton Shadow7 Comments

So far we have chronicled the story of a city park that nobody needed, with a proposed name no one wanted. Once construction was done, what had heretofore been a waste of time and money was soon to take a new twist.

chubby-checker-twist_l — No, not that kind of Twist, Chubby.

It was discovered that a flume of toxic material contaminated the west half of the park.

Oops. They're all empty. Now that's not very good, is it? — Oops. They're empty. Now that's not very good, is it?

Nobody in City Hall had bothered to do an environmental assessment before buying an old piece of industrial zoned property: not Gary Chalupsky the Redevelopment Director; not Susan Hunt the Community Services Director; not Bob Hodson the Engineering Director. All these Directors and nobody was directing anything. Perched atop of this shaky pyramid of incompetence sat Jim Armstrong, just waiting to bug out for the soonest better deal that offered itself. By the time the park was built Armstrong was gone, and his protege Chris Meyers was in charge – and probably damn glad this was Fullerton, where nobody was ever held accountable for anything.

Since 2003 a fence has been set up around the contaminated half of the park. Meanwhile the City has been wrangling with the Gas Company over clean-up costs. This is now 6 years of embarrassing closure, and counting. Half the park has been fenced off.

A lot of chainlink fence and dead grass. Not much of a park, is it?

Meanwhile, too, the few Fullertonians who were actually paying attention found out how little park $1,500,000 in land and $1,900,000 in construction gets you nowadays: a prefabricated toilet building, among other things. And the City continued its tradition of ludicrous design, for instance a monument sign with its own little roof! How precious!

What kind of genius would put a tile roof on a sign? And how come the tiles are broken?

And as predicted, the half-park attracted just the sort of element you don’t want hanging around your parks and your kids – gang taggers, cholos, and neighborhood borrachos. Fortunately few kids seem interested in playing there anyway.

In the proposed Redevelopment expansion this would be proof of blight!

As this park degenerates we wonder how long it will be and how many consultants hired and studies performed to recommend the re-Redevelopment of this park; or to pave it over for Metrolink parking! Since we know that the City doesn’t like to part with territory once they acquire it, we can only speculate about future foibles in the Never Ending Story.

Read the rest of the Paseo Park Chronicles – Part 1 – Part 2 – Part 3

May 15, 2009January 4, 2010Fullerton City Council

The “Paseo Park” Chronicles – The Park That Never Was. Or is. Part 2

by The Fullerton Shadow6 Comments

Friends, when we left off our dismal tale of “Paseo Park,” the City Of Fullerton had just decided to build itself a park; a park that nobody outside of City Hall asked for or wanted. Susan Hunt, the Director of Community Services, long known for her jealous exclusion of citizens from deciding issues that affected “her” parks, was just shifting into high gear.

In December, 2002 City staff presented the City Council with a name for the new jewel in the city parks crown: Paseo Park – a name, so staff claimed, that was chosen by the assent of some sort of “Advisory Committee.” The only problem was Susan Hunt made the whole thing up. The name was her idea – she just decided that the cliche fit the bill; after all, one of the phony reasons for buying the old right-of-way was to extend Fullerton’s trail system. And you can’t walk on a trail (no matter how truncated) without passing from point A to point B, and it was in the barrio, after all; hey presto: Paseo Park!

Here's a paseo. Maybe if we add a Mariachi... — Here's what a real paseo looks like: Merida, Mexico

Well that foolish Spanishification got shot down almost immediately as Tony Bushala, the next door neighbor, took umbrage at the ignorant oversight of the UP’s role in Fullerton history and the exclusion of the public in the naming process. Later, the City Council fittingly named the new facility the “Union Pacific Park.”

Staff embarrassment should have been acute when it later became apparent that there was no park “Advisory Committee” at all; except that embarrassment presupposes guilt and shame, two emotions not known to exist in abundance in the west 300 block of Commonwealth Avenue.

If you can't see it, it can't hurt you... — Hindsight is 20/20...

In the meantime, the plans and specs were put out to bid, a contract was awarded and construction got underway.

And here the story would have ended, except for the Law of Unintended Consequences that seems to bedevil almost everything our Redevelopment agency puts its hand to.

Read the rest of the Paseo Park Chronicles – Part 1 – Part 2 – Part 3

May 15, 2009January 5, 2010Fox Theatre

Quirk Could Switch Vote on $6 Million McDonald’s Move

by admin19 Comments

Credible community sources report that Councilwoman Sharon Quirk has second thoughts about her vote to commit $6 million in redevelopment funds to move McDonald’s 150 feet east—right across the street from her alma mater, Fullerton High School.

The move is opposed by the HS District due to traffic concerns on congested Pomona Ave. Health-conscious parents point to studies showing kids at high schools within 500’ of fast food outlets have 5% higher obesity rates. Councilman Dick Jones complained that the redevelopment agency is stuck paying for the entire move—that the supersized multi-national McDonald’s Corp is paying nothing.

This is a one-sided deal that deserves to be deep fried!

Quirk is within her powers to re-agenize the item and vote against it. She could join Jones and Nelson to counteract this Big Mac attack on our wallets and waistlines.

Will Fullerton High School’s venerable arches soon be in the shadow of the Golden Arches? Or will Quirk wisely put the $6 million back in the redevelopment kitty to fight blight at some more appropriate location?

FUHS is the only high school with two alumni in baseball’s Hall of Fame (Who are they, bloggers?) So, step up to the plate, Sharon. Get off your sesame seed buns and get this back on the agenda. This is a civic embarrassment that only you can reverse!

May 14, 2009January 4, 2010Don Bankhead

Steve Sheldon Gets Around

by The Fullerton Shadow19 Comments

Round round get around
I get around
Yeah
Get around round round I get around
I get around
Get around round round I get around
From town to town
Get around round round I get around
I’m a real cool head
Get around round round I get around
I’m makin’ real good bread

(with apologies to Brian Wilson)

On a previous post we regaled our Friends with the story of lobbyist and cash-conduit Steve Sheldon and his nautical fund raising effort on behalf of Sharon Quirk who later voted to approve his god-awful Jefferson Commons monstrosity.

What we didn’t share is that Sheldon is also a politician – President of The OC Water District and he’s having a “debt retirement” party!

We suppose he didn’t make enough money foisting the loathsome Jefferson Commons on us to pay off his debt himself. Instead he’s asking other lobbyists to do it! What’s really interesting is the names on the “Honorary Host Committee.” These are the politicians who get into the party for free, and thus are actually being lobbied by the irrepressible Sheldon as he high-steps for other lobbyists! See if you recognize any names on the list.

We note that our own Don Bankhead is on the list – another aye vote for JC (no, not Jesus Christ). At least Sharon Quirk had the good sense to stay off that list. With majorities of their city council members on it, we’d be really worried if we were residents of Garden Grove or Santa Ana.

May 14, 2009December 28, 2009Chris Norby

Norby’s Got Real Competition in 2010 For County Clerk

by The Fullerton Shadow9 Comments

A Nineteenth Century Job — The very job title shouts out: "Nineteenth Century!"

H/T to Art Pedroza over at The Orange Juice Blog for this. Apparently our fellow blogger 4th District Supervisor, Chris Norby has a real-life opponent in his 2010 bid to be Clerk-Recorder (say, why is that job elected, anyway?). “Hugh” Nguyen who used to work as a functionary in the Clerk-Recorder’s office is not only running, he’s hired a top-level GOP campaign consultant – Scott Hart and is even having a fund raiser. Hmm.

May 14, 2009January 4, 2010Fullerton City Council

The “Paseo Park” Chronicles – The Park That Never Was. Or is. Part 1

by The Fullerton Shadow9 Comments

This is a story that relates a chain of events that goes back many years, Gentle Readers, so please be patient. For those who don’t think Redevelopment spends half its time fixing mistakes it created with the other half, we promise that you will learn a lot about the way your city has been run – in three bite-size installments.

Way, way back in the 1980s Terry Galvin of the Redevelopment Agency cooked up a deal with the Union Pacific Railroad to acquire their Mission Revival depot on Truslow and Harbor. It was properly seen as a valuable historic resource, but damn the luck! It was on the wrong side of the tracks! Galvin’s plan was to relocate it to its current location on Harbor and Santa Fe, attach a weird-looking wood box addition to it, and present it to his pals at The Spaghetti Factory for $1 a year. The first of Fullerton’s subsidized restaurants offered cheap carbs to the masses, and why not? They weren’t paying any rent!

But how does this narration tie into something called “Paseo Park” you ask? Patience, Friends, patience.

As usual the Redevelopment “experts” created more problems than they solved, for the empty lot created by the relocation was soon to become a permanent dumping ground for trash and junk – right next to Harbor Boulevard in the veritable gateway to Downtown Fullerton! And the painful irony: blight as a by-product of Redevelopment! But it was in the barrio so nobody cared.

Blight in the foreground, blight in the background, Redevelopment style... — The UP site with the Allen Hotel in the distance: blight in the foreground, blight in the background, courtesy of Redevelopment.

But cleaning up junk on railroad property is not nearly so fun as playing Monopoly with other people’s money, and the problem festered for years and years – almost twenty to be exact; until the Union Pacific decided to unburden itself of this section of track and the adjacent depot site. Despite the fact that that the railroad was in negotiations with private citizens to buy the old depot site, the Redevelopment Agency led by Gary Chalupsky intervened, and acquired the property itself – with the ludicrous intention of building a trail and an adjacent park. The “trail” itself was utterly useless since it effectively ended at the Highland Avenue grade separation on one end, and the SoCo Walk project at the other. The park occupied the former depot space between Truslow and the trail. Check out the aerial.

And all the property was removed from the property-tax rolls forever.

How about a Utility Tax Fix? — How about Another Utility Tax Fix?

Apart from the trail to nowhere, the park project itself was a dubious venture from the start. The location was not auspicious, and nobody from the community really wanted it. Sparsely attended “community” meetings showed that people on Truslow were concerned about on-street parking and getting rid of blight – not creating more. And they weren’t interested in a hang-out for the local gangs and borrachos by creating a “pocket park.” Well the City never let that sort of thing stand in the way of progress.

Skeptical observers noted that vast Richman Park was only a few blocks away, but this did not dampen enthusiasm in City Hall for a land grab: Susan Hunt, the Director of Community Services, was in a facility building mood – and that’s all that counted. Redevelopment money was there to grease the skids.

cashspigot

Read the rest of the Paseo Park Chronicles – Part 1 – Part 2 – Part 3

May 12, 2009January 4, 2010Fullerton City Council

The List – Fullerton’s $100,000 Pension Club

by Travis43 Comments

Fullerton taxpayers are looking down the barrel of a major increase in pension payments next year. The CalPERS agency has lost as much as 37% of its assets in the stock market crash and taxpayers are contractually obligated to make up the difference.

Our Friends at the California Foundation for Fiscal Responsibility just released a report called the CalPERS $100,000 Pension Club. In their handy database, we located the annual pensions of 26 City of Fullerton employees who are bringing home over $100,000 a year post-retirement at our expense. We believe in an open government where the residents of Fullerton know what they are paying for — so here is the list:

Name	Annual Pension	Position
JAMES “JIM” REED	$163,512.96	Fire
MICHAEL MAYNARD	$137,565.84	Police
DANIEL CHIDESTER	$136,680.84	Fire
FRANK PAUL DUDLEY	$131,197.20	Development Services Director
ALLEN BURKS	$131,152.92	Police
ANTONIO HERNANDEZ	$124,902.12	Police
H HUNT	$124,157.88
RONNY ROWELL	$122,712.12	Police
STEVEN MATSON	$121,586.16	Police
GEORGE NEWMAN	$120,332.76
MARK FLANNERY	$118,563.48	Director of Personnel
DAVID STANKO	$117,924.00	Police
ROBERT HODSON	$117,606.60	Director of Engineering
DANIEL BECERRA	$114,625.56	Police
PHILIP GOEHRING	$112,821.12	Police
BRAD HOCKERSMITH	$111,957.96	Fire
JEFFREY ROOP	$111,382.32	Police
NEAL BALDWIN	$110,694.12	Police
ROBERT “BOB” RICHARDSON	$107,643.48	Police
DONALD “DON” PEARCE	$105,858.00	Police
CAROLYN JOHNSON	$105,078.48	Library Director
PAUL TURNEY	$103,674.36
RONALD “RON” GILLETT	$103,431.72	Police
MICHAEL PARKER	$103,069.32	CSUF CIO
ARTHUR WIECHMANN	$102,113.88	Police
JONATHON “JON” MCAULAY	$100,036.32	Fire

Though we did our best to identify the contributions these individuals made to our city, some of the names do not ring a bell. Perhaps our loyal audience can fill in the blanks for us.

Say Fran... we really stuck it to those taxpayers, huh? — Say Fran... we really stuck it to those dumb taxpayers.

We are not against paying market rate for talented and motivated professionals to run our dear city — our disdain lies with the cloud of financial uncertainty that pension plans represent to our taxpayers. Historically, pensions are gleefully spiked in rosy times, with little thought given to potential long-term risks.

Out in the real world, we often use a calculation called “Total Compensation” — the sum of all salary, health benefits, taxes and retirement contributions for a given employee. This number allows both the employee and the employer to calculate the exact compensation of the employee and to ensure that it is comparable to that of similar jobs at other businesses. Businesses can see exactly what they are paying for an employee and thus how that will affect their budget for years to come.

With pensions, no such calculation is possible because an employer is making a future commitment based on unlikely investment forecasts stretching 50 years into the future. As we are about to painfully learn, those forcasts can be incredibly wrong. If we don’t change the way we compensate city employees now, we will continue to foot the bill for a very long time.

May 12, 2009May 18, 2009Dick Jones

Fullerton Redevelopment Agency Working Out the Kinks

by The Fullerton Harpoon4 Comments

This YouTube clip of a recent Fullerton Redevelopment Agency strategy/workshop session is a must see for anyone who wants to see how their decisions are made. The audio has been artfully overdubbed to protect councilmembers from appearing ridiculous and thus preserving the dignity of their office.