Tuesday, May 1, 2012

City Council Meeting Tonight - Tuesday May 1

Please come to tonight's City Council meeting and be heard!  


DEBT

Tonight's agenda includes a revised debt obligation report (Item 3) showing the City's Redevelopment debt at $625,165,719.  MORE THAN HALF A BILLION OF DEBT!  This gem is in the Consent Calendar which means the report can be approved with other actions in one motion.  Ask for Item 3 to be pulled from the consent calendar so that we can tell the City Council that $625,165,719 is too much debt.

BUDGET

Also on the agenda is the Revised Budget for Fiscal Year 2012-13.  The revised budget relies on using City reserves to close the structural deficit of at least $1.5-million and make the broad assumption that your water bill will remain the same or go up.  It addresses the 10% cut by the City Council when they halted the illegal water tax however it assumes that there will be two new "fees" in the tax's place to "recover costs" that do not exist.  You and I will continue to pay more and as soon-to-be-Recalled Councilman Dick Jones suggested, the illegal water tax has two new names: Right of Way Impact Fee and Property Lease Fee.

You would think after the backlash over these artificially created "costs" that they would have forgone the fees and dealt with reality.  No.  Business as usual.

SOCIAL ENGINEERING

The General Plan Update or Fullerton Plan is also on the agenda (Item 7).  Depending on your view of social engineering, the General Plan Update may be great or terrible.

I don't like social engineering and therefore am inclined to disagree with the update.  The update incorporates many of the far left's goals to get people walking and cycling by penalizing those who operate gasoline powered  vehicles.  The word "sustainable" is used about as often as "green".  And we know how well these "green" initiatives have worked for the City with the installation of the Library's solar array.

As the name implies, it's all about "cap & trade".  CAP or Climate Action Plan makes the broad assumption that man has changed the Earth's climate and laws like this will change it back.  For that matter, there are several issues with the CAP but I'll focus on just one today.  The software used to dream up the plan's data for cap and trade, greenhouse gas emissions, and other statistical data was developed and disseminated by the very organization that lobbied for AB32 (the Global Warming Solutions Act- as if we can solve the world's problems with one law in CA).  That sounds like a conflict of interest but I'll let you do your own homework and figure out the particulars.

Tow Trucks and Commercial Routes

After a barrage of complaints of selective enforcement that favored one tow company over another, we have  the issue of "Truck Routes" back on the agenda (Item 8).  According to the staff report, some revisions to the municipal code should resolve the problem.  However, the revisions are minor and do not address the larger problem: are tow trucks "commercial vehicles" and therefor required to adhere to the truck routes?

The revised code references the California Vehicle Code's definition of "commercial vehicle".  Here is the actual language:

260.  (a) A "commercial vehicle" is a motor vehicle of a type required to be registered under this code used or maintained for the transportation of persons for hire, compensation, or profit or designed, used, or maintained primarily for the transportation of property. 
(b) Passenger vehicles and house cars that are not used for the transportation of persons for hire, compensation, or profit are not commercial vehicles. This subdivision shall not apply to Chapter 4 (commencing with Section 6700) of Division 3. 
(c) Any vanpool vehicle is not a commercial vehicle. 
(d) The definition of a commercial vehicle in this section does not apply to Chapter 7 (commencing with Section 15200) of Division 6.
This means that all tow trucks, delivery vans, maid service cars, ice cream trucks, plumbers, general contractors, electricians, or any vehicles that advertise a company or service and weigh 10,000 pounds or more are not permitted to travel in the City except along designated truck routes.

Of course there is a nice exemption for any vehicles being operated by city contractors, such as their contract tow company.  I see no changes that will resolve the issue of selective enforcement.  The municipal code gives tacit approval for Fullerton Police Officers to chase tow truck competition out of Fullerton and disenfranchising private business.  Only the City's contractor has free reign over Fullerton.


Conclusion

Clearly we are faced yet again with an agenda that supports a select few and contains little connection with the reality facing Fullerton's residents and business owners.  

Voters will have an opportunity to make a difference on June 5th by RECALLING Jones, Bankhead, and McKinley.  

Greg Sebourn

The Beauty of a Storm

The Beauty of a Storm
Orange County, Ca.

My Grandma - A Eulogy

LET'S TALK ABOUT 1914 FOR A MOMENT.



FOR STARTERS, GRANDMA WAS BORN TUESDAY, DECEMBER 22, 1914 IN HER FAMILY'S ATWOOD RANCH HOUSE.



IT IS WORTH NOTING THOSE ALSO BORN IN 1914:

JACK LALANNE

JOE DIMAGGIO

DANNY THOMAS



AND WHO DIED IN 1914:

JOHN MUIR, THE FAMOUS NATURALIST FOR WHICH NUMEROUS ROADS, PARKS, HOTELS, AND NATURE RESERVES ARE NAMED.



IT IS ALSO WORTH NOTING THAT IN 1914 WOODROW WILSON SIGNS MOTHER'S DAY PROCLAMATION AND BABE RUTH MAKES HIS MAJOR LEAGUE DEBUT WITH THE RED SOX. MOTHER'S DAY AND BASEBALL- TWO OF MY FAVORITES!! (PERHAPS HER NICKNAME "BABE" CAME FROM BABE RUTH???)



GRANDMA WAS BORN INTO A PERIOD OF TIME FILLED WITH TURMOIL. IN JUNE OF 1914 ARCHDUKE FRANZS FERDINAND WAS ASSASSINATED. WITHIN ONE MONTH WORLD WAR I RAGED ACROSS EUROPE. TWO DAYS AFTER HER BIRTH HOWEVER, GERMAN AND BRITISH TROOPS INTERRUPTED WWI TO CELEBRATE CHRISTMAS. (PERHAPS THEY PAUSE KNOWING THAT A GREAT WOMAN WAS BORNE) WORLD WAR I CONTINUED UNTIL THE TREATY OF VERSAILLES IN 1919.



ALTHOUGH SHE WAS ONLY 5 YEARS OLD, SHE SAW THE LEAGUE OF NATIONS CREATED AND THE 19TH AMENDMENT WAS APPROVED BY THE U.S. CONGRESS GUARANTEEING THE RIGHTS OF WOMEN TO VOTE.



SHE LIVED THROUGH MANY NOTABLE EVENTS. LIKE THE 1933 LONG BEACH EARTHQUAKE OR WHEN ATWOOD FLOODED ALONG WITH MOST OF ORANGE COUNTY IN 1938 AND THE FLOOD-WATERS CLAIMED MORE THAN 50 PEOPLE, 43 OF WHICH WERE FROM ATWOOD! ALL OF THIS DURING A TIME THAT WE READ ABOUT IN SCHOOL AND KNOWN AS "THE GREAT DEPRESSION". SOMEWHERE IN ALL OF THAT SHE FOUND THE LOVE OF HER LIFE, GRANDPA LEO, GRADUATED HIGH SCHOOL, GOT MARRIED, AND HAD KIDS!



THEN THERE WAS WORLD WAR II. FROM PEARL HARBOR TO HIROSHIMA, GRANDMA WAS RAISING MY UNCLE BOB AND MOM ARLINE. WITH AIR-RAID SIRENS AND BLACKOUTS SHE WAS A WIFE AND MOTHER. WHAT A TIME TO RAISE CHILDREN! I BET GRANDMA'S PARENTS WERE ABEL TO TELL HER A THING OR TWO ABOUT RAISING KIDS IN WARTIME.



GRANDMA WAS THERE WHEN THE BOY SCOUTS OF AMERICA HELD THEIR 3RD ANNUAL NATIONAL JAMBOREE IN 1953. SHE SAW AIRBASES OPEN IN '42 AND CLOSE IN '99. SHE WATCHED WALTER KNOTT START UP HIS BERRY FARM AND WALT DISNEY TURN ORANGE GROVES AND STRAWBERRY PATCHES INTO DISNEYLAND!



SHE SAW THE HORSE AND CARRIAGE FADE AWAY INTO HISTORY AND SPACE TRAVEL EXPLODE BEFORE HER WITH THE FIRST LUNAR LANDING. JUST IMAGINE HOW MUCH TECHNOLOGY HAS CHANGED OVER THE LAST 100 YEARS. FROM TUBE RECTIFIERS TO SUPERCONDUCTORS; FROM TRANS-ATLANTIC TELEGRAPH CABLES TO SATELLITE TV.



SHE SAW MORE IN HER 93 YEARS THAN MOST OF US WILL EVER READ ABOUT, LET ALONE LIVE THROUGH!



OF THOSE 93 YEARS IT IS MY HONOR TO HAVE BEEN HER GRANDSON FOR 35 OF THEM. SHE WAS MY MOTHER WHEN MOM HAD TO WORK. SHE WIPED MY NOSE AND PUT FOOD IN MY MOUTH. SHE LET ME PLAY WITH GRANDPA EVEN THOUGH SHE NEEDED HIM TO TAKE HER TO THE STORE. SHE WAS MY GRANDMA AND I WILL MISS HER IMMENSELY.



JUST LOOK AROUND THIS ROOM; SHE DID THIS. SHE IS RESPONSIBLE FOR BRINGING SO MANY GOOD PEOPLE INTO THIS WORLD AND TOGETHER TODAY. THIS IS HER LEGACY.



A Dedication To My Loving Wife, Stacey. Thank you for all you do for me!

Brad Paisley - I Thought I Loved You Then


I remember trying not to stare the night that I first met you
You had me mesmerized
3 weeks later in the front porch light taking 45 min to kiss you goodnight
I hadn’t told you yet but I thought I loved you then

Chorus
Now you’re my whole life now you’re my whole world
I just can’t believe the way I feel about you girl
Like a river meets the sea
Stronger than it’s ever been
We’ve come so far since that day
And I thought I loved you then.

I remember taking you back to right where I first met you
You were so surprised
There were people around
But I didn’t care I got down on one knee right there
And once again I thought I loved you then

Chorus
Now you’re my whole life now you’re my whole world
I just can’t believe the way I feel about you girl
Like a river meets the sea
Stronger than it’s ever been
We’ve come so far since that day
And I thought I loved you then.

I can just see you with a baby on the way
I can just see you when your hair is turning gray
What I can’t see is how I’m ever gonna love you more
But I’ve said that before.

Now you’re my whole life now you’re my whole world
I just can’t believe the way I feel about you girl
Well look back some day at this moment that we’re in
And I'll look at you and say I thought I loved you then
And I thought I loved you then...