FULLERTON BUDGET VOTE
Or why can’t we get a majority of our council to be concerned with our budget deficits? by Barry Levinson
Barry Levinson
On Tuesday, the 9th of June, the city council split their votes 2 for and 2 against the 2015-2016 and the 2016-2017 budgets that had projected million dollar plus deficits for at least the next two years. Fitzgerald and Flory voted for the budget and Whitaker and Sebourn voted against approving the budget as presented by the city. Council member Chaffee was absent, which created an even number of council members to be present and thus resulted in the budget vote going down to defeat. It will be revisited in the upcoming council meeting on Tuesday June 16th.
I love dead grass, union hacks, 10 story buildings and big developers because my boss is Curt Pringle and I used to be a democrat and now I am a republigan-Heck I even fooled Robyn Nordell.
In voting for it Council member Fitzgerald said that the projected deficits did not consider all the additional revenues that new projects will bring to the city going forward. I am assuming she was referring to the Downtown Core and Corridor Special Project and the College Town Project among others.
That comment was very enlightening because it seems to indicate that not only is Ms. Fitzgerald in favor of these additional large-scale projects but that she expects them to be passed by the council. (She is therefore counting the revenues before the council has taken any action. Does she know something that the public does not know? Has she discussed this with at least 2 other council members, which is a clear violation of the Brown Act?) She said this despite the fact that many citizens spoke out during the previous two council meetings for a moratorium on any major new building as long as the drought restrictions are still in place. I know for sure that these new massive projects will not be “Water Use Neutral”.
It is very curious that Ms. Fitzgerald expects to add major new developments with major new water usage at the very same time the citizens of Fullerton are asked to sacrifice to meet a state mandated 28% water usage reduction.
The above may make perfect sense if the council’s highest priority is ensuring that the city has the necessary money to continue to pay for employee salaries and benefits.
I then remembered that it was Ms. Fitzgerald’s good fortune that shortly after being elected to the Fullerton City Council she also got a new day job as well as Vice President of Curt Pringle and Associates (Consulting and PR Firm). We all know how PR and Consultant firms love major new projects where they can represent various developer interests and make a lot of money in the process.
Let me try to summarize what the city is planning to spring on the public.
First they will pass the budget deficit budgets thereby protecting the jobs and benefits of all their employees.
Second they will approve the College Town and the Downtown Core and Corridor Special Projects to ensure the revenue streams continue to be sufficient to support them in the fashion they have become accustomed to. If Ms. Fitzgerald was not sure these would be approved why did she state at the council budget meeting that those yet to be voted for revenues would in fact reduce the projected budget deficits?
Third, they have already put in place very strict water usage restrictions for Fullerton homeowners, which the Fullerton Water Systems Manager stated must include a 50% cut in homeowners outside water usage in order to meet the state’s mandatory 28% water reduction for Fullerton. They have also identified what they call “passive” city parks that will have its water usage cut by a whopping 85%. Remember we just learned that all city of Fullerton water usage is a pass through cost to the public via higher water rates. A responsible city would accumulate and pay directly for their water usage separately and show it as a legitimate cost of running the city government. What does Fullerton do in contrast? They pass all their water usage directly to the ratepayers in the form of higher water rates.
I hope most of you are realizing that all the above moves and lack thereof (i.e. placing a moratorium on new major development), favors one small group over a much larger group. The small group being the city employees and their representatives and the larger group being the citizens of the city of Fullerton.
If that does not describe a corrupt city, there is no such thing.
I report, you decide.
#1 by Joe Imbriano on June 22, 2015 - 12:58 pm
https://www.facebook.com/linda.whitaker13?fref=ts
Sean Paden No, you are thinking of the North Orange County Community College District (NOCCCD). NOCCC is North Orange County Conservative Coalition. The D makes all the difference in the world.
Like · Reply · 1 · June 19 at 6:05pm
Joe Imbriano Hey Sean how come for the second time in a row, Barry and I were removed from the email list for the invite and this is even after I personally mentioned it to you and made a request to be added back on directly through the portal at the NOCC website? I can understand once being an accident, but twice? This was a joint meeting and we are dues paying CRA members-Who is responsible for trying to edge Barry and I out of these groups? Would that be you?
Like · Reply · June 19 at 6:15pm
Desare’ Ferraro No, Joe, Sean is not the administrator of NOCCC’s Mailchimp blasts; I am.
Like · Reply · June 19 at 6:55pm
Desare’ Ferraro Geesh, Joe…you might want to stop with the conspiracy theories against your fellow club members. I work very closely with Sean Paden and I can tell you that you and Barry are not even close to being on his radar. He is more interested in preserving the Constitution and our liberties and effecting public policy. As I explained to Barry in an email a couple of weeks ago, here’s what might have happened: If you forwarded one of the emails you received from NOCCC and the person you forwarded it to clicked on the link to be removed from the email, it would have removed YOUR email address from our list. If that happened, I cannot go back and add your email address; you have to add it, yourself by signing up on NOCCC’s website. Sorry for the inconvenience, but we don’t charge for NOCCC membership and don’t have a sponsor for a paid email marketing blast.
Like · Reply · 1 · June 19 at 7:13pm
Barry Levinson Then tell me this Desar’e – Why did Sean call me and text almost every day for over two weeks last year “demanding” that I tell him whether or not I was running for Fullerton City Council. I was not only “on his Radar” I felt like I was being stalked!
Like · 3 hrs · Edited
Joe Imbriano
Write a reply…
Linda Whitaker C.g. Carver, please read Sean Paden’s post here on the difference. between NOCCC and NOCCCD. whew… Tahni Hutchins, North Orange County Conservative Coalition. And CG, thanks for the education.
Like · Reply · June 19 at 7:38pm · Edited
Barry Levinson Desare’ Ferraro I went to the NOCCC website and re-signed up immediately after you told me to do so. However, I still got the same result; no invitation to a group that I have been a member of for many years. Can you please explain how this could have happened again?
Like · Reply · June 19 at 11:11pm · Edited
Joe Imbriano I did the same thing and got no result as well. Perhaps there is no conspiracy at all Barry, just a poorly managed site that results in a room full of empty chairs. By the way Des, I am glad to hear Sean is interested in preserving the Constitution, our liberties and effecting public policy. Thus far he has been totally silent on all of the aforementioned with the exception of focusing on politically safe narrow fiscal issues. Video doesn’t lie. We have been missing him at all the council meetings when the issues come up but he just sits in the audience playing with his phone. You know issues like the egregious behavior not limited to the police interfering with the peoples’ rights to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness by murdering and framing citizens as well as by our own elected representatives not being limited to just the police department. There are the crimes being committed against the citizens by their attacks on the first amendment, the poisoning of our water, the geo engineering, Agenda 21, the forced irradiation of neighborhoods and school children, the forced vaccination programs within city limits that the FPD will be enforcing and of course, JADE HELM 2015 which is about as UNCONSTITUTIONAL AS YOU CAN GET that from what I understand, you think is fine. Did anyone talk about any of these issues last night or are they just going to be relegated to the peanut gallery full of the lemmings as more conspiracy theories?
Like · June 19 at 10:39pm · Edited
Desare’ Ferraro Joe, I don’t understand your anger and cheep shot at NOCCC. You might be right about Mailchimp – it’s free and our help is strictly volunteer from good citizens who have full time jobs and families, so give us a break — our meetings are donation only and open to everyone, regardless of ability to pay.
Like · June 20 at 9:24am
Barry Levinson Desare’ speaking about anger; I do not understand your totally uncalled for comment about me. Before I wrote a single word on this Facebook topic, you wrongly attacked me. Even after your gratuitous comments, all I did was set the record straight attacking no one. There are very few people who have worked as hard and spent as many countless hours as I have over the last 6 years in Fullerton. I have put in all this effort for the sole purpose of making my community a better place for all. This includes getting a law passed in Fullerton to help keep our kids safe from child predators. It also includes a just recently organized neighborhood coalition against closing down Laguna Lake. I was the individual who both informed and organized my Laguna Lake neighbors to come to our council meetings through email notification and many days of walking door to door. I have been a leading voice on the need to deal with Police Abuse and to reform every police department in California by greatly changing or eliminated the Pollice Officer Bill of Rights in California, making our police departments more open and transparent. Your organization is supposed to be about espousing conservative ideals. As a conservative I want to continue to be a leading voice for conservatism in Fullerton and Orange County. No one has wrote more extensively locally on those ideals than myself on my Facebook Page, on Fullerton Association for Concerned Taxpayers (FACT), on the Fullerton Informer, and on Union Watch. As always I support my ideas with facts and reason.
Like · June 20 at 4:49pm · Edited
Joe Imbriano Des who says I am angry? I am just telling it like it is.You know you can powder Sean’s nose all you want but that doesn’t change the fact that EVERYTHING that I said is true.