Coyote Hills Appeal Filed by Angela Lindstrom
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COMMUNITY Fullerto♥ n bsCeALErNDAvR Peage 1r 4-15 O EAR FULLERTON’S ONLY INDEPENDENT NEWS • Est.1978 (printed on 20% recycled paper) • Y 39 #3 • MID FEBRUARY 2017 Submissions: [email protected] • Contact: (714) 525-6402 • Read Online at : www.fullertonobserver.com Fake Grass Installation Forces Move of City 4th of July Event The Fullerton Joint Union High School District board voted to install artifical turf at the Fullerton High School track field where the annual city 4th of July event has been held for the past 25 years. As has been seen with the Lions Field fake grass and food service are not compatible. The move was discussed by the city and dis - trict, bypassing public comment. The city is hoping to confirm a new location with - in 2 months. Short Term Rentals A study session regarding proposed regulations for short-term rentals is scheduled at the regular Tuesday, February 21 council session at 6:30pm at City Hall, 303 W. Commonwealth Ave. Public comment will be taken and the issue will be brought back to a future meeting for approval. Information and background on this issue are available by visiting www.city - offullerton.com and clicking on Government, Community Development, and then Short-Term GIVING HOPE : Volunteers at the Giving Children Hope warehouse fill backpacks for Syrian refugees. The nonprofit also works in Rentals. Also on the agenda should be Fullerton and other local cities. If you would like to help contact them at 714-523-4454 or visit givingchildrenhope.org. PHOTO JERE GREENE a public hearing about creating a Joint Powers Agreement for Fullerton/Brea Coyote Hills Appeal Filed by Angela Lindstrom STUDENTS RESPOND fire departments. On February 2, 2017, The Friends of Hills would have moved forward. But when TO SHOOTING THREAT the Measure W veto passed, the develop - Coyote Hills filed an appeal to uphold the AT HIGH SCHOOL 7 public vote on the Measure W referendum. ment of West Coyote Hills could still move . A 7 S D . 5 C I forward. Heads we lose and tails we lose. Last October, an Orange County judge D 1 by Ashley Fan and Caroline Zhu U A E . N P ruled that Measure W did not overturn the Referendums are an expression of direct T D O O E R R N T City Council’s approval of the development democracy - but in Fullerton, we have a spe - G A Causing a major disturbance on O R T A S D I E of West Coyote Hills. cial coin tossed where the people lose either T E campus, two 16-year-old students were L N S M R L A We disagree. way. O P R arrested Feb. 1 on suspicion of plan - T U P E S F The people of this community don’t want The judge made one literal interpretation P ning a school shooting at Troy High West Coyote Hills to be developed with 760 of what the City wrote in their approval School. houses and a shopping center. ordinances which apparently left a lot of According to the Fullerton Police Over the years, even before The Friends of room for interpretation. However, the peo - Department press release, two students Coyote Hills was formed, residents crowded ple’s intent of Measure W was clear. No at a Jan. 31 sports event were over - city hearings by the hundreds to oppose the development on West Coyote Hills. heard discussing a plot to “shoot up” development. Our neighbors in Orange were not satis - the Troy campus. The students called When the Council didn’t listen, we fied with the “heads we lose-tails we lose” their planned shooting “bigger than pounded the pavement and gathered thou - referendum coin toss. They took their case Columbine,” referring to the T sands of signatures from the community to all the way to the State Supreme Court Columbine, Colorado shooting in N overturn the council approval and get the which sided with the people. 1999 that resulted in 13 deaths. E L L Measure W referendum on the ballot for The Supreme Court explained that when D The reporting party sent a photo of A I voters to decide. residents take action on City information, C S the students to local police, and the 2 E S E 0 R In the 2011 election, 61% of voters vetoed they should be held to the “plain language” I following morning the students were E 4 R T the City Council’s approval of the West understanding of a reasonable person. V 6 detained for conspiracy to commit a R - R T E Coyote Hills Development. Ordinary people can’t be expected to under - E 5 felony. The students had conducted V S N 2 D That people’s veto power was interpreted stand complicated legalese. Furthermore, B internet research on school shootings E 5 A - the Supreme Court emphasized that city R O by the local court as simply denying the and firearms prior to the arrest, but a 4 O R E 1 mayor from signing the development agree - councils are prohibited from taking action warranted search by the police did not T 7 U H ment. That court decision wiped out the "with intent to evade the effect of [a] refer - T uncover any weapons. Still, the possi - C public’s voice because if the Measure W veto endum." N bility of a shooting rattled many stu - I R had failed, the development of West Coyote We agree. dents who were concerned for their O safety. FOX Block Development Ideas Troy Principal Dr. William Mynster Thirty or so residents attended the Fox in a 1990 agreement between the now stated that although the shooting Block meeting at the Fullerton Public defunct Redevelopment Agency and Angelo’s threat was distressing, he was confident Library on February 1st to give feedback and & Vinci's. The agreement requires the park - that students would be safe on campus. hear information on possible plans for sever - ing structure to be built before the Fox “I can speak for all of us when I say al city-owned properties adjacent to the Fox Theater opens. I was shocked, saddened, disappoint - Theater (called the Fox Block), a triangular The State of California ended ed, and concerned for the safety of our property on Ellis, and the public parking Redevelopment in 2011, but because the students and staff when news of Troy 4 students overheard planning a school 3 structure across from the Plummer money was already obligated, allowed the 8 shooting was initially reported to me,” N 2 R Auditorium. city to keep the funds. However, if not used 9 1 O Mynster said in the Feb. 3 edition of 5 E A 0 City planning project manager Matt soon for the purpose of building the prom - T V 7 C the Warrior Weekly newsletter. “I am R Foulkes introduced Dick Hamm of Pelican ised parking structure it is thought that the R X N very grateful for the parent and stu - E E O O Communities, the company selected by the state may require return of the set-aside L S B T dents that saw and heard something, R L B city to build a parking structure behind the funds and the city would still have the obli - O E and reported the incident to the police P U L Fox and Angelo’s & Vinci’s Ristorante. The gation to build a parking structure. O L F and school.” U money to build a minimum 200-parking- F space structure ($6.2 million) was set aside Continued on page 8 Continued on page 2 Page 2OBSERVER LOCAL NEWS & OPINION MID FEBRUARY 2017 Fullerton Joya Scholars’ Observer New Tutors Dear Observer, The Fullerton Observer Community I wanted to let you know that two of Newspaper, founded by Ralph and Natalie the volunteers that contacted us in Kennedy and a group of friends in 1978, is response to the Fullerton Observer staffed by local citizen volunteers who create, September article by Ellen Ballard on Joya publish, and distribute the paper throughout Scholars have made a world of difference our community. This venture is a not-for-profit one with all to our students. ad and subscription revenues plowed back into Both tutors are retired Fullertonians maintaining and improving our independent, and our kids love them! I have been so non-partisan, non-sectarian community news - encouraged by the way the students look paper. forward to seeing their tutors every week. Our purpose is to inform Fullerton residents about the institutions and other societal forces None of it would have been made possible which most impact their lives, so that they may without your help. I'd also like to thank, be empowered to participate in constructive Ellen Ballard, for her contribution. ways to keep and make these private and public At right is a photo of Vanessa Jimenez entities serve all residents in lawful, open, just, and math tutor, Ellen Becker. and socially-responsible ways. Through our extensive local calendar and Sincerely, other coverage, we seek to promote a sense of Laura Macias 714-322-JOYA community and an appreciation for the values of diversity with which our country is so uniquely blessed. Car Thefts Students Respond to Shooting SUBMISSIONS : So many car thefts in Fullerton every Submissions on any topic of interest are single week. For six months at least. Threat at High School Continued from frontpage accepted from Fullerton residents and we Really? Shouldn't there be a "sting" oper - The same day the suspects were following day, along with the additional try hard to get it all in.