(Ed: One of my favorite blogs is Friends For Fullerton's Future (click here). I don't know all that much about Fullerton, nor do I have anything whatsoever at stake there, but I sure like the way they deal with local politicos that don't play the game the way it should be played. These guys are masters at artfully skewering unworthy City officeholders. And apparently because of this great talent they do have their share of outraged critics in Fullerton. Which means they must be doing something right. So today I am posting FFFF's pretty brilliant reply to their detractors. It is classic stuff, and truly words to live by. Both in Fullerton and here in Sierra Madre.) Dear Friends: The other day we got an e-mail from a thoughtful friend who said that he agreed with much of what we post about here, but is pained to hear folks attacked for "style and presentation" rather than policy, and that in the end we "have to work together to build a better community and the personal attacks only make that process more difficult in the end."
I have to chuckle just a bit when somebody says "your attacks are personal." That's another way of saying we name names, express our outrage colorfully, and want accountability, something that has been sorely lacking in Fullerton for as long as I can remember. And I, for one, take that personally. Nobody likes to be called stupid, but when you act like you're infallible and yet keep doing stupid or thoughtless things you not only invite ridicule, you deserve it. We use satire, sarcasm, and attempts at humor because these are good tools to get our points across - something you can't do being brushed off at a city council meeting twice a month. We want to get people's attention - everyone's attention.
And so I set out to tell the Fullerton story from my perspective, and the perspective of others who felt the same way I did, and those who had been effectively excluded from the decision making process. We decided that we would tell the truth as we saw it by describing facts and presenting the names of people who made bad decisions or who acted in their own interest instead of the interest of the public.
That sounds like taking on a pretty big responsibility, and I didn't do it lightly. Nor do I believe that I am better or smarter than everyone else. But I have this forum and I intend to keep up the pressure on our elected officials and their staff to take responsibility for their actions. We have invited comment or correction from anybody - something you've never yet seen happen at City Hall.
In closing, it is our intention to help build a better community for Fullerton's future. But we're going to do it our way. Sometimes you've got to knock over a few Sacred Cows to clear the road.
Friends For Fullerton's Future
Amen.
Tim Donnelly's Gun Arrest at Ontario Airport - Campaign Stunt?
I don't see this translating very well here in the far western reaches of Tim Donnelly's current Assembly responsibilities. Being popped at an airport for having a loaded handgun stuffed in your carry-on luggage is something a lot of people living in the more Los Angeles leaning suburban side of his current district might see as being politically disadvantageous. But when he runs for re-election later this year he will no longer be answering to the voters from this part of the political universe.
In Donnelly's newly apportioned 33rd District, which comprises most of San Bernardino County and is decidedly more rural and therefore sympathetic to the challenges of gun ownership, this incident might not be to his political disadvantage. This from an article on the matter in today's San Gabriel Valley Tribune (click here):
San Bernardino Republican Party chairman Robert Rego said he didn't expect a misdemeanor charge to have a significant impact politically for Donnelly during the primary election.
"With respect to the makeup of the district, I think that the constituency of District 33 might say, 'Hey, that's the wrong thing to do, but I could have made the same mistake myself,'" Rego said.
"I think a lot of individuals feel that the right to bear arms is an important constitutional right exercised by more people in the 33rd District than you would find in urban and suburban communities."
Could Donnelly, facing significant opposition in the upcoming Republican primary next April, have been attempting a campaign stunt that he knew would attract a lot of sympathy among his new constituents? After all, there are parts of his new district that are now seeing him for the first time. And who knows, maybe it was designed to distract peoples' attention from his troublesome opposition to ending Redevelopment Agencies.
Or, as one commenter here put it yesterday, maybe he just wanted to make sure that the attendants on his SouthWest flight to Sacramento didn't shortchange him on the free peanuts.
http://sierramadretattler.blogspot.com
How do we know Donnelly is not al qaeda or having a psychotic episode, and was going to hijack the plane? If it were you would you not be in jail? Is our justice system and police force able to employ a sliding scale of punishment and arrest criteria?
ReplyDeleteI thought the same thing about a publicity stunt yesterday. I also thought well maybe it is just becoming a day trip to him unlike some of us that have to book two weeks in advance and pack carefully. I haven't seen free peanuts on the flights for a long time. Just a 6 dollar pack of dried fruit, crackers a morsel of cheese and dessicated meat product.
ReplyDeleteEven though some politicians annoyed me, and I have a policy of never inviting them to dinner, I am concerned that they are scared for their lives. I am concerned that they think we think enough of them to even want to consider hurting them. It is like the civility wave fueled by unknowns, or the repeated mantra fed to the cities we saw on the redevelopment bemoanings, repeated like a bad script in the papers.
Most of you remember the Gifford shooting right?
There is strong evidence that the judge was the real target, gifford was collateral damage. Didn't hardly hear a word about the judge John McCarthy Roll an excerpt from wiki:
In 1994, Roll was one of several district court judges who held that provisions of the Brady Law violated the Tenth Amendment,[8] a holding upheld by the U.S. Supreme Court in the related case of Printz v. United States.
In 2009, Roll ruled that the case Vicente v. Barnett could go forward. The $32 million lawsuit brought by the Mexican American Legal Defense and Education Fund (MALDEF) against Arizona rancher Roger Barnett on behalf of 16 Mexican plaintiffs charged that the plaintiffs were assaulted, threatened, and held at gunpoint by Barnett and members of his family. After Roll's ruling and prompted by several talk-radio programs, he was the subject of hundreds of complaining phone calls and death threats and he and his family were under the protection of the U.S. Marshals Service for a month.[9][10][11] Roll declined to press charges when some of those who made threats were identified.
Perhaps it was both a publicity stunt and a very guilty conscience on Donnellys part. The whole militia man raised in the open pines in the mountains voting for redevelopment never made any sense to me.
The worst enemy any crooked local politician can have is hard working irreverent bloggers and an informed group of activist residents. The world needs more FFFFs and Tattlers...
ReplyDelete"Fullerton aims to rein in rowdy revelers" that was the headlines in the LA Times for March 16th, 2008 pg. B11. The article said that Fullerton officials realized that downtown had become more trouble than it was worth, costing about $1.5 million annually in police, fire and maintenance costs while bringing in only $560,000 in taxes. We should hope Sierra Madre can learn from other cities mistakes when we try to change our downtown. I will check out the Friends for Fullerton site, thanks Tattler for all that you tattle on.
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
ReplyDeleteThe kid thing, 7:58. We can't go there.
ReplyDeleteWhen a business begins to fail,the auditors are brought in and personnel shuffled about or fired.The same principle should naturally apply to government entities.No one serving or employed is special or are they entitled to special consideration.Step up to the plate folks,take charge and fire away!
ReplyDeleteGood for FFFF! Fullerton's a pretty large town, certainly relative to Sierra Madre, and they've got some nice old areas and a lot of redeveloped, high end real estate (Orange County it is). The trend seems to be that folks are finally getting "mad as hell and not going to take it any more" (borrowed from Network) all over Southern California and across the nation. Politicians should be concerned, not for their lives so much but for their careers, now that they are being held accountable by the constituencies they are supposed to be serving. Disenfranchising the voters is not wise.
ReplyDeleteOff topic, but this is the Tattler ----> if all of the CRA assets in Sierra Madre are to be sold, does that include City Hall?
ReplyDeleteI'm sorry that Donnelly has a new district because then I won't be able to vote against him this time around. I thought he was a lot sharper and more independent than he turned out to be. And I do believe people have the right to bear arms, but c'mon, not in an airplane. He posed a threat to every person on that flight because his firearm could have been used against him and everybody else.
ReplyDeleteDonnelly showed himself to be a Bob Huff kind of Republican when he voted against doing away with RDAs. Assemblyman Chris Norby, on the other hand, stood up against eminent domain and RDAs. Which shows you not all Republicans toe the company line.
ReplyDeleteA lady reviewing a local restaurant for YELP, said she found it in "old town" Sierra Madre. I had to stop and think of the implications of that. Oh, yes, there it is: we don't have a phoney "Old Town"; we have a real town, that despite the Doyle Gang, is still small, charming, safe, and viable.
ReplyDeleteThanks to The Tattler for helping preserve our town.
Hopefully the voters in the new district are getting the message that this guy is too stupid to carry his weapon in the appropriate way.
ReplyDeleteI didn't like Donnelley's position on CRA's. I do like his position opposing the so-called "Dream Act" (AB 131). As tuition at state colleges rises, it is unconscionable to be giving taxpayer money to illegal aliens.
ReplyDeleteIt is not too late to sign the StopAB131 petition. There is a Huntington Drive location in Arcadia with the pettition. Call (626) 447-3534.
I heard on KPCC the deadline is tomorrow. They need 500,000 and it is going down to the wire.
ReplyDeleteOff Topic but very important.
ReplyDeleteThe Development Services Department has posted the ALF/Kensington Specific Plan on line. This is important because the report was only available during regular business hours in City Hall. It was not available to anyone who worked during the day.
Everyone MUST read this document. The report was written by the developer for the developer. It changes all of our zoning and building requirements to meet their needs.
PLEASE READ this DOCUMENT and be ready to speak at the Planning Commission on Jan 19th. This will be your only opportunity. The Planning Commission will determine whether or not the project complies with Measure V. We all know that it doesn't.
Don't forget John Gilbert Grham who killed his mother and a plane full of passengers by blowing up a United Airlines flight out of Denver 1n 1955, for her insurance no less.
ReplyDeleteExplosives, Guns, and airplanes attract weirdos as evidenced by Tim Donnelly. He should be forced to drive to Sacramento and where ever else he wants to go for the next decade. Then review his mental state for "limited flights".
Do the Feds still have a "no fly" list?
ReplyDeleteThanks 10:15.
ReplyDeleteOne more fire that city hall has started for no good reason.
I'm no expert on city or developer documents, but I know what a vote is, and I don't take kindly to being tricked out of it.
So Friends of Fullerton is also attacked for their lack of phony civility. Makes me wonder if that phony civility position is a strategic one, put together in a manual somewhere. How to Defeat the Principled People in a Community. The manual would be brought to you by the pro-development types, and encourage those who covet ridiculous social status as political power.
ReplyDeleteStupid people always see ideas and complex thought as being threatening. Makes them feel inadequate and put upon. Which makes the "we are nice" meme so appealing to them. It requires no thought or ability whatsoever.
ReplyDeleteI'm not proud of this, but when I was a kid my brother used to beat me in fights. That was until I figured out that I could get him to yell something bad loud enough for our dad to hear, and then he'd get in trouble. Very sneaky, but hey, I was getting beat up.
ReplyDeleteThe smear campaigns that the Downtown Investors Club members engage in work the same way. They use every dirty trick they can to sling mud at slow growth candidates, and then weep and wail about being the victims.
In Sierra Madre victims hold political office and have six figure jobs.
ReplyDeleteGreat article on Bob Huff up on CalWatchdog.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.calwatchdog.com/2012/01/05/ca-gop-never-learns/
They get the money for the illegal aliens from the same place they get the money for transit corridors and meaningless "studies." Time to wake up.
ReplyDeletei fly. a lot. it's totally reasonable that anyone who falls into a routine runs on auto-pilot (carrying a disposable razor, for example) forgets what's in the bag, but forgetting about one's firearm shows irresponsibility that even 2nd amendment supporters would find unacceptable. sorry..... if a driver is irresponsible, they lose their license. Donelly should lose his opportunity to fly and his 'right' to have a firearm. it will make him like the rest of us- aware of our surroundings and paying attention. paranoid and forgetful is not a safe flying buddy.
ReplyDeleteFrom the Senate.CAgov page on Huff,
ReplyDeleteHis page:
Select Committees
•Asian Pacific Islander Affairs
•California Job Creation and Retention
•California’s Horse Racing Industry
•Earthquake and Disaster Preparedness, Response and Recovery
•High-Speed Rail
I don't like him, never have, never will. He is like a snake with a head. I am getting really disgusted with men like him and Antonvich, who use their wives as "consultants" It is a conflict of interest and unethical. Oh yes under resources he lists Sierra Madre.
How can Sierra Madre be Huff's resource? Did Ed Roski buy it for him?
ReplyDelete3:29 I think little Fran and Bruce just leased it to him.
ReplyDeleteHow much do you think City Hall is going to go for? I'm thinking of opening a movie theatre in the City Council chambers. Strictly arthouse.
ReplyDelete@3:23....your observations about Huff and Antonovich are spot on. And you are only scratching the surface, it is remarkable to me that we have no more public servants. Instead we have a steady stream of individuals running for office to benefit their own personal interests.
ReplyDeleteWhen conflicts of interest were discovered recently over at the Gold Line, Huff was involved in fixing the problem....they just changed the law and exempted Gold Line members from our laws.
3:50 Naw do something different is is already an arthouse. Politicians are performance artists, but you need a new ensemble. Something with a bit more depth, rusty pipe shaking, screaming memes by the recently departed in haste I might add, are so blase. How about a dinner theatre, you walk in with lobster bibs and forks and knives roll your eyes and lick your lips alot, twitching would be a good touch,
ReplyDeletelow growls of dissention at certain points would spice things up.
Seriously though, how about a Tattler investment group, the tattlers buy city hall?
I don't vote for Republicans or Democrats anymore. I just choose the third party candidate with the most interesting story and vote for that one.
ReplyDeleteI like that idea. Let's buy City Hall. What would we do with it?
ReplyDeleteGilman: Thank coming from you that is a true appreciated compliment.
ReplyDeleteDo you mean this from LA times Oct 11?
California Gov. Jerry Brown on Friday signed into law a bill that specifically exempts officials of a San Gabriel Valley light-rail project from another state law that prohibits them from holding multiple public offices with interests that could conflict.
The measure by Assemblywoman Norma Torres (D-Pomona) and five colleagues applies to board members and board alternates of the Metro Gold Line Foothill Extension Construction Authority, which is now building an 11-mile light-rail segment between Pasadena and Azusa.
State law generally forbids public officials from serving on multiple boards, commissions, city councils and other governing bodies with interests that are likely to clash.
Torres’ legislation is designed to neutralize a complaint to the state attorney general filed by Christopher Sutton, a Pasadena attorney who is representing a property owner involved in a condemnation dispute with the rail agency.
After the complaint was filed, three officials resigned from the board, including Los Angeles City Councilman Ed Reyes. Reyes said he did so to protect his position on the council in case the attorney general concluded that he held incompatible offices.
Welcome to the new third world, right in your own back yard (or transit corridor). Poverty, stupidity, corruption, and endless bureaucracy.
ReplyDeleteWhat makes Sierra Madre special is that the stupidity of thoe who are running they place could cost us everything. Buchanan's CRA blunders are astonishing. It is very very bad.
ReplyDelete4:21, I have voted for many a never-can-win candidate, including Ross Perot - along with 20 million others, I thought old Ross could shake things up and bring business sense to the job.
ReplyDeleteHowever - voting for a third party or fourth or fifth or whatever candidate is voting for the Republican or the Democrat who is in the lead. That's all it amounts to. So now I grit my teeth and vote for whoever I think has held on to his or her personal integrity the most from one of the two parties.
It's surprising that Norma Torres is not moving to Sierra Madre and running for council. She' be a great fit for the Dirts.
ReplyDeleteWow lookie who is in suite 200, The goldlinefoothillconstruction authority offices at at 406 suite 202 per their website:
ReplyDeleteChina Manufacturers Alliance, LLC - Review capabilities and get ...
406 East Huntington Drive. Suite 200 Monrovia, CA 91016-3633. Related Research. A Guide to Reducing Fuel Consumption with Vehicle Telematics: ...
www.schoolbusfleetdirectory.com/China-Manufacturers-Alliance-LLC...
So to lighten the mood a bit, thought I would share an email that I got from an online friend who stopped in Sierra Madre on the way home from San Diego. I think it is inspiring and makes me want to work harder to preserve what we have here:
ReplyDelete"Hi,
I recently stumbled upon Sierra Madre on a round-about return trip to Santa Barbara from San Diego and I just wanted to tell you what an absolutely delightful town it was. We stopped there and wandered around town and let the 2 year old run around and play with the snow-man in the middle of town and had ice cream at a cute little shop. My dream is now to live in Sierra Madre and work at JPL or at Cal Tech! (I also love Pasadena). I'm really from the SF Bay Area so acknowledging that LA is something amazing because of little towns like Sierra Madre and old towns like Pasadena is really not something us No. Cal people do very much! I really do love LA though - I love discovering those amazing little neighborhoods like Silver Lake and like your great town. I also just die for the Craftsman architecture and all of the Mid Century Modern and other designed spaces. It's quite amazing."
I wish more lawyers would follow the example of Mr. Sutton.
ReplyDeleteThere's a solid career to be made in keeping governments honest.
2:15, I couldn't agree more. If a man is not responsible in taking care of his guns, he shouldn't have them. He "forgot"? Next time he'll forget someplace where the weapon will end up being stolen and used in a crime.
ReplyDeleteI like that, 5:13. I have been here 10 years now, and I can still remember the day we stumbled into Sierra Madre by accident. It was like finding a small unruined island in the middle of a lot of the same old boring stuff that you can find everywhere else.
ReplyDeleteWonder why the propaganda films that play on channel 3 don't mention the Gold Line shenanigans?
ReplyDeleteIt was on last night at 09:24 PM
"Gold Line #4" 00:14:07 Next air date: Fri Jan 06 03:28:02 PM PST 2012
Buchanan rode into town in the blunder bus.
ReplyDeleteWho comes up with those ridiculous films? A consultant? All that is missing is a laugh track.
ReplyDelete4:54, Buchanan always has said one thing while doing another. He pauses, sighs, takes of his glasses, pauses, sighs and then starts his lectures on financial responsibilities and unpopular decisions. So with all the sighing and lecturing, maybe's he's failed to notice his responsibility for the terrible loss of once beautiful hillside land to a wasted development, or the continued destruction of public trust in the lies about the water rate increase and then the slight of hand maneuverings around those petition signature, and the equally duplicitous maneuverings around the proposed units of the ALF and the clear intention of taking away the people's right to vote, and! Yes, the CRA screw ups, the rush to spend every penny no matter how unrelated to blight the projects were. Quite a guy.
ReplyDeleteAnyone know offhand what the Tattler, Friends For Fullerton's Future type blog is for Pomona?
ReplyDeleteNorma Torres looks like she'd provide fine material for the sleaziest use of government.
Arcane?? I think not.
ReplyDeleteFrom wiki: Quo warranto (Medieval Latin for "by what warrant?") is a prerogative writ requiring the person to whom it is directed to show what authority they have for exercising some right or power (or "franchise") they claim to hold
Mr. Sutton you melt my intellectual butter, you go boy
Their Rich and getten Richer! First City Administration and Council (little money perks there); then its on to the appointments on Boards and Associations (like LA Colliseum..SCAG a little more bucks there); them its on to the State Legislature (now were talking biger bucks and pensions); now you've got chips to call in and its the House of Representatives, money grows on trees there; then for the deservedly few its the US Senate where millions await the patiarchs of the dollar. Check out the Net Worth of the Senators appropriately named for their Roman Ancestors. If you think the Republican and Democratic Parties run a "democratic process" then you are soooo naive. You pays your dues and you get your just rewards......millions in the end.
ReplyDelete@4:37...yes that covers the nonsense our elected officials came up with to circumvent their legal obligations.
ReplyDeleteAs for Torres....I could spend hours sharing my thoughts on her. When she took office on the City Council she lived and owned a very modest home in town.....within a few short years she purchased one of the million dollar plus estates up in Ganesha Hills, an area considered by many to be the best in Pomona. No change in jobs, just a change in lifestyle and of course her public service stipend....go figure.
@5:16. exactly. if one can forget that they are carrying their firearm in the first place (!) they can just as easily forget where they left the bag with the firearm in it altogether. (where is my bag? hmmmmm...... did i bring my firearm today, or is it at the office? wait. maybe it's at the last hotel i stayed at. or in my car? wait, is it on the counter....?) totally unacceptable.
ReplyDeleteokay looked at Ganesha hills built by otis and michael and otis lacy c-crest, did a breif political search, saw her bio as born in quatemala and moved her with her parents at 5, but I cannot see if she is a citizen or naturalized or took a test. Of course her parents may have become citizens after they came, but is she legal?
ReplyDeleteI do not know one developer that does not comp the city he goes into build. Is it that? She got a break, I went to the city hall website, and they have locked out a search of lacy or developers. It says 84 percent of her donations have come from outside her "area" It looks like she is reporting a tiny bit of what she is prolly getting. Well rounded diversifaction of contribs, in the union labor area. So is she legal?