The Wall That Heals - Fullerton Observer

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Page 4 FULLERTON OBSERVER CITY GOVERNMENT NEWS EARLY APRIL 2012 Council Agenda cityoffullerton.com April 3: • Water Rate Study Results • Proposal to consolidate police services between Fullerton, Buena Park, Brea and La Habra •Proposal to consolidate fire and EMS services between Fullerton, Anaheim and Orange. •Update on Advisory Boards •Trans Center Elevator Project • Conduit financing for St. Anton mixed use project on W. Santa Fe. April 11: 5pm, Successor Agency workshop at Library April 17: •OCWD update on north county water cleanup project with pipeline running down Orangethorpe. CITY COUNCIL NOTES by Staff The City Council meets on the first and third Tuesdays of each month. Upcoming agenda info and streaming video of council meetings are available at www.cityoffullerton.com. Meetings are broadcast live on Cable Channel 3 and rebroadcast at 3pm and 6pm the following Wed. & Sun. and at 5pm Mon. City Hall is located at 303 W. Commonwealth. Contact Council at 714-738-6311 or by email to: council@ci.fullerton.ca.us COUNCIL REPORT MARCH 20, 2012 Councilmembers Dick Jones & Pat McKinley Absent Girl Scout Troop 1895 led the pledge of allegiance to open the meeting on the 100th anniversary of Girl Scouts. Each was presented with a certificate and Mayor Sharon Quirk-Silva said “These are our future community leaders.” Announcements •Arbor Day: Landscape Superintendent Dennis Quinlivan invited everyone to the March 24th planting of 30 to 40 oak trees at Hiltscher Park on Euclid. •MADD: Mothers Against Drunk Driving victim advocate Helen Maganya and FPD Lt. Scott Rudisil presented certificates to ten officers who had each arrested 25 or more drunk drivers in the past year. Officer Ryan O’Neil won the top spot with 51 DUI arrests. Last year there were 757 DUI arrests in all. Maganya said she became involved in MADD after her father was killed in 1982 by a drunk driver. At that time the punishment for drunk driving consisted of an overnight stay in the drunk tank. Since then “MADD has helped strengthen DUI laws,” said Maganya. •Housing Report: City consultant Joan Wolfe presented an update on the city’s annual required housing element. RHNA (Regional Housing Needs Allocation) for each city is allocated by SCAG (So. Cal Association of Governments) in order that housing for all income brackets is evenly shared by cities. The cities are not responsible for physical construction of units but must, by state law, have policies in place to encourage and facilitate housing. Redevelopment funds were a big factor in the modest number of affordable units Fullerton was able to build. Now, with the dissolution of Redevelopment, that funding method is up in the air and will depend on the outcome of Senate Bill 654 and Assembly Bill 1585 which may at least allow cities to retain existing affordable housing fund balances. To date the city has not approved a formal agreement committing funding to three affordable housing developments already approved. Wolfe said that due to the current economy construction is down but the city is working with private developers. In 2011, 550 units were built; 120 of them were New Police Captains Fullerton Police Lieutenants Lorraine Jones and George Crum (pictured at left) have each been promoted to the rank of captain by Chief Dan Hughes. Jones, a 26-year veteran of the department, is the first female officer to be promoted to the rank in Fullerton’s history. She is a Fullerton native with a master degree from CSU Long Beach. She is a Leadership and Ethics Institute boardmember and was recently recognized for her leadership by US Congresswoman Loretta Sanchez and Mayor Quirk-Silva. Crum, a 25-year veteran, is a CSUF grad and holds a master degree from CSU Long Beach. He is also an instructor at the Fullerton College Police Academy and an administrator and trainer of the OCDA drug recognition training program. POLICE DEPT. UPDATE: Police Chief Dan Hughes updated the council on improvements at the police department including upgraded training on homeless/mentally ill, ethical vs legal use of force, DAR, citizen complaint and other procedures. The new policy manuel is available online at the Police Dept. page of the city website www.cityoffullerton.com and it will be updated quarterly. Chief Hughes announced that an assistant has been assigned to work with the department’s homeless liaison Officer Jay DeCaprio. There will also be a mentally ill/homeless service worker ride-along once a week to provide resources where needed. Other changes include: inviting leaders of all faiths to participate in the department’s chaplin program; development of a Police Advisory Board of 12 to 20 community members; and restarting the community policing strategy meetings to reduce crime. There has been a 23% reduction in crime from Jan-June 2011 which the chief feels is related to the strategy of concentrating more resources to higher crime areas of town. An example is the 9-month gang injunction action which has resulted in 48% fewer crimes. FULLERTON’S AFFORDABLE HOUSING LAG BLAMED ON ECONOMY Fullerton’s RHNA goals & Actual Units Built for 2006-2014 (so far) INCOME LEVEL GOAL BUILT •Very Low: 398 10 •Low 329 20 •Moderate 376 61 •Above Moderate 806 455 affordable; 430 above moderate. RHNA goal is to build 1,100 affordable and 800 above market. Mayor Quirk-Silva said “Whether you agree or disagree with redevelopment - it was used to build affordable housing. Now it will be more of a challenge.” She also mentioned that an offshoot benefit of redevelopment projects is job creation. Bankhead and Whitaker agreed that the RHNA allocations shouldn’t be an unfunded state mandate. The report is available in the March 20 agenda online and should be posted under Housing Policy Documents soon. Approved 3-0 Continued on page 10 Good News for Bicyclists by Vince Buck Bicyclists in Fullerton and north Orange County have been having a run of good news recently. First, the Puente Bike Path opened (see picture) as reported in the last issue of the Observer. This link provides a safe bicycling route from northern Fullerton and La Habra south into central and eastern Fullerton. Mayor Sharon Quirk-Silva was there to cut the ribbon, along with Councilmember Whitaker and Councilmember Don Bankhead (who had voted against the project). Don acknowledged that the City had done a nice job in building the bridge and path. Also present were Pam Keller who had supported the project when she was on the Council. All of the BUSC (Bicycle Users Sub Committee) members were there, who along with their predecessor activists - most notably Alex Smith, Ralph Kennedy, Alyce Streitberger, Jan Flory and Karen Haluza, worked nearly 20 years to make this happen. Also present were two Council candidates, Jane Rands who chairs the BUSC and Rick Alvarez, both on bicycles. The second item of good news is that OCTA, under the leadership (and aggressive prodding) of Shawn Nelson, released its Fourth District Bikeways Strategy which identifies continuous routes in and between cities in the Fourth Supervisorial District and surrounding areas. This is the sort of leadership that OCTA should have been demonstrating, but until Supervisor Nelson pushed they had resisted. The Strategy not only identifies routes but ranks them and gives them priority in OCTA funding. As a result, in the next few years we should start seeing more and more useful bicycle routes in the area. A third item is that Fullerton has been designated by OCTA as the priority site for a bike-sharing program. This is a program — already in existence in many American and European cities — where riders can pick up a bike at one bike station and drop it off at another. It will be particularly useful for getting between the depot and the University and Fullerton College. There will be 10 stations throughout the city with 15 bikes each in the beginning. Fourth ( and fifth and sixth), the Council passed three items on March 20th, all of which have strong positive implications for bicycle riders. First, in discussing hiring a new design consultant for the State College grade separation at the BNSF tracks, if was promised by staff and the new engineer (from Mark Thomas and Company) that room for safe bicycle riding would be provided in the undercrossing. This had not been promised before. (I would be even more enthusiastic were it not for the fact that The first bicyclists over the new bridge. Mayor Sharon Quirk-Silva and former Mayor protem Pam Keller who both supported the project when it came to council. this company did not provide the same for the Placentia Avenue grade separation which it also designed). The Council also approved an application to submit bids for a “Communitybased Bike and Pedestrian Mobility Study” to provide safe routes across the 57 freeway between Chapman and Yorba Linda. This could possibly result in a recommendation for a pedestrian and bicycle bridge over the freeway. At the very least safer routes ( and there are no safe ones now) will be identified Finally, the Council approved seeking grants to build a “bike boulevard” on Wilshire between Lemon and Acacia. This route is an important part of a high priority route in the Fourth District Plan and is key to the success of the bike share program. Somewhat misleadingly named, bike boulevards provide safe, comfortable routes for bicycle riding by using a variety of traffic-calming measures to reduce the volume and speed of cars on residential streets. They benefit not only bicyclists but residents and pedestrians as well, largely by taking traffic off of residential streets and putting it on arterials, in this case Chapman and Commonwealth. Perhaps even more important than all of the above actions is what it represents: a sea change in the thinking of planners, engineers and other policy makers from the days when the principal — perhaps the sole — goal was to get cars from Point A to Point B in the shortest amount of time. (The first “Purpose” listed in the Transportation Element of the 1980 Fullerton General Plan was to “ Reduce vehicular travel times between selected origin-destination points.”). Now serious effort is being made at all levels in OCTA and Fullerton and other cities to address the needs of bicyclists and to make our streets safer for bicycling and thus make bicycle commuting and recreation a real option. There is still a long way to go, but we have seen the first steps.
EARLY APRIL 2012 SCHOOL DISTRICT NOTES by Jan Youngman FSD Board meetings are held at 6pm on 2nd & 4th Tuesdays of each month at District Headquarters, 1401 W. Valencia Dr., Fullerton. See www.fsd.k12.ca.us for agenda or call 714-447-7400 FSD MEETING MARCH 13 - NEXT MEETING APRIL 3 AT 6PM CONGRATULATIONS •Robert Clark, a 7th grade student at Nicolas Junior High School won 2nd place in the Middle School Division of the OC Dept. of Ed Spelling Bee. He competed over 4 hours against 56 other students and received a cash prize of $250. •Fisler School received the Apple Distinguished School Award for the 5th Year. •Valencia Park School received the Apple Distinguished Program Award. Only 50 schools nation-wide received Distinguished School Awards and 100 received Distinguished Program Awards. NICOLAS JUNIOR HIGH SCHOOL In a very thorough, fast paced presentation by staff and students, features that make Nicolas a unique school with the motto “Pathways to Success” were highlighted. Students were among the finalists in the Elks Club’s Americanism Essay Competition, recent OC Spelling Bee and the FSD’s Take Flight Competition. The Speech & Debate Team has competed in many competitions and hosted a Speech & Debate Competition at Nicolas on March 23. Some other special student activities include Competitive Dance Team, a Nicolas Honor Band, Avid classes, and the Jog-a-thon that raised over $40,000 over three years for P.E. equipment. Staff has developed a unique Saturday School that focuses on innovative enrichment programs and has recaptured over $10,000 in ADA funds for the District. Their Teacher of the Year is Ms. Jenny Trujillo. Calendar Changes approved 5-0 Current Year 2011/2012: May 29 Staff furlough day- no school June 13 last day for students K-7th June 15 8th grade graduation June 14 Staff furlough day for classified staff on 10 month contract June 18 Staff furlough day for certified and management 2012/13 Attendance Calendar: August 23 1st day for teachers August 27 first day for students No furlough days have been agreed upon yet. Other Business •FETA (Teachers Union) tentative agreement approved 4-1 (Trustee Thompson opposed going into district’s reserve funds). •CSEA (Classified Employees) tentative agreement approved 4-1 (Trustee Thompson opposed going into district’s reserve funds). •2012/13 Tax & Revenue Anticipation Notes: Currently, 42% of this year’s money has been deferred to next year. Orange County has reallocated distribution of taxes and is reducing the money that it gives to school districts. The state is supposed to reimburse this funding. Redevelopment money is also supposed to go to schools, but no one is sure when, hence, there is a shortfall on the horizon. The budget staff is requesting approval to obtain a low interest (usually less than 1%) up to $15 million loan to cover the shortfall. Approved 5-0. EDUCATION •2nd Interim Report: The district is recommending a “Qualified” certification. Due to the uncertainty of the state budget which requires the district to spend down reserves, it may not be able to meet its financial obligations for the current fiscal or subsequent two fiscal years. (Approved 5-0) Finances •Midyear Budget Cuts made by the state resulted in cuts of $52.21 per ADA (student daily attendance money) which equals a cut of $699,821 to the district. The district is currently receiving less ADA money ($4,963 per student) from the state than it did in 2007 ($5,557). The difference in what the district is scheduled to receive and what is actually received becomes “deferred funding.” The state continually promises to release the deferred funding, but continues to cut the education budget instead. Therefore, the district must transfer $1 million from set aside funds; the Deferred Maintenance Funding of $489,000 and negotiated reductions (with staff) of $690,000. This includes adjustments to employee’s salaries and benefits, other income like the Lottery and any Encroachment funding. Fortunately, the district was able to reduce the projected net loss for 2011-12 from $3.231 million to $0.266 million. The district has a projected unrestricted ending balance of $12.38 million (11.5%). These are the reserves that the district is spending down. If the proposed tax increase passes in November, the district will then receive the $52 per ADA that the state cut this year. If the state miraculously decides to fully fund the statutory COLAs (ADA Funding) that the district is supposed to receive it would mean an increase of $17.2 million. For example, according to the state’s projected revenue limit per student (ADA) for 2011/12 the district is supposed to be receiving $6,250 per student. If the tax initiative does not pass, the state will impose mandatory trigger cuts of 7.4% or $370 per student or $4,932,100 in cuts to FSD. Sadly, California schools continue to be among the lowest funded in the county. FSD Superintendent Retirement Mitch Hovey, superintendent of the Fullerton School District announced that this year will be his last as he steps down from the position. He has accepted a position developing a Ph.D program in education at a Baptist university in Riverside. He has had a 40 year career in education (32 years in public school and 8 years in private school) as a teacher, coach, and administrator. With the news that Superintendent Hovey is leaving the district, the Board Members held a special meeting as this issue was going to press, March 30. The meeting was to approve an agreement for the previously selected search firm Leadership Associates for a contract not to exceed $24,000. The firm will begin its services March 30, 2012 to bring in candidates to replace Dr. Hovey. More School News on page 11 FULLERTON OBSERVER Page 5 Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory by Debbie Holland photo by Bob Prochnow This year, Golden Hill Elementary School’s 5th and 6th graders stepped into a “world of pure imagination” as they presented, for their first time ever, an extremely entertaining rendition of Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory. Under the hard working, patient, and dedicated direction of Mrs. Amy Sylvester and Mr. Matt Mankiewicz, over 100 children performed in this production. Ms. Katie Weber beautifully choreographed several numbers along with Mr. Dana Morris’s piano accompaniment leading the play. An astounding twenty musical numbers brought the audience back to their childhoods as everyone clapped along. Family, friends, and Golden Hill students alike enjoyed 5 performances over the course of three days. Some of the stars included Joel Jimenez Parks Jr. High raised $4,473 in donations for Pathways of Hope (FIES). Every year, the Leadership Group at the school runs a program to collect donations for Pathways of Hope, which provides critical support services for homeless families and individuals. The organization was chosen because it (6th grade) as Willy Wonka, David Vergara (6th grade) as Charlie Bucket, and Ty Keel (6th grade) as Grandpa Joe. The remaining cast, including the Candyman, approximately 70 Oompa Loompas, the Cooks, the Squirrels, the Candy Kids, and Reporters were all delightful and very funny. Some favorite scenes included Veruca Salt (played by Sophia Ruesga, 6th grade) singing her version of “I Want it Now,” Violet Beauregarde (played by Sarah Voss, 5th grade) blowing up like a blueberry, Mike Teavee (Daniel Chanderjian, 6th grade) getting trapped and shrunken inside of a T.V., and last but not least - Charlie and Grandpa Joe (Vergara and Keel, 6th grade) flying to the top of the bubble room and having to burp to get down! The costumes added to the ambiance of the show as they were so original, colorful, and intricate. With this kind of talent, Golden Hill truly found the “golden ticket!” Parks Jr. High Students Donate Over $4,000 directly helps the Fullerton community. Park Junior High School students are organized into four different teams: brown, black, white, and gold; with a challenge to raise the most money. The brown team won this year, raising over $2,000 in donations. Way to go, Parks students! - Stephanie Wilmoth
Page 1 and 2: Hazing Update: What Really Happened
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The Wall That Heals - Fullerton Observer

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