Y’all were wondering about the TNT contract for a fireworks monopoly? It’s simple: it’s payback time, baby!
The details are out on the sale of fireworks for this coming July 4th celebration. Forget the childhood memories of the local stand on the corner run by the neighborhood scout troop. Anaheim is going to be the recipient of the “super store” located at the Honda Center. Woo. Hoo.
Print out a flyer for your favorite charity, and they get 30% of the gross haul, while 10% of the gross — up to a maximum of $100,000 — goes to a private committee to dole out to whatever favored charity they please. The rest, after expenses, goes to “Anaheim Arena Management.” That, like the Anaheim Ducks, who rent out the Honda Center, is owned by Henry Samueli.
If you forget the flyer, the Honda Center’s tenant gets to keep all of the net profits after that $100,000. Either that, or certain favored non-profits — Anaheim Chamber of Commerce, anyone? — will have flyers there to be used by default.
Is this what voters envisioned when they approved Measure E last June?
Sadly, voters were also told that the City Council could earmark a percentage of fireworks sales to be turned over for enforcement of public safety. But we must remember that we are talking about the Anaheim City Council here, and “COULD” set aside funding does not mean they “must” or they “will.” They didn’t have to — so they didn’t.
Instead, the only enforcement mentioned in the Ordinance approved by Council May 5th is enforcement of SALES of fireworks. (We must protect that single source monopoly after all!) But enforcement of their use? Why bother? They will merely mingle with the illegal fireworks that go without enforcement in my Central Anaheim neighborhood year after year, making my poor dogs miserable, and leaving me in fear for my wooden house that has been baking in the California sunshine for 107 years now.
This anything BUT “safe and sane” arrangement has a slimy underbelly that nobody has discussed. So as usual, we will start discussion of all things Kleptocratic here and now, for the reading enjoyment of our OJB friends. Keep an eye on the quarter in the hands of one Todd Ament, who heads that pesky Anaheim Chamber of Commerce, as he is sure to palm it before this story is over.
For those new to the city of Anaheim (like Council members Murray and Brandman), Anaheim outlawed fireworks in 1986, when it became obvious that the total IQ level of our community remained the same while the population expanded. Nowhere is that drop in the per capita intelligence more clearly defined than on and around July 4th, when Anaheim mixes a complete lack of common sense with copious amounts of alcohol. After a few too many accidents and near misses, the electorate put a stop to the insanity, and despite outlawing the amateur pyrotechnics hour, the use of illegal fireworks has been on the rise.
So what does any red blooded American community do when laws and public safety are being dismissed with impunity? Throw the laws out, of course! Despite NO organic push from the community to reinstate fireworks, they were brought back by the Charter Review Committee. And who CHAIRED the Charter Review Committee? Your friend and mine, TODD AMENT!
http://www.anaheim.net/images/articles/5034/CRC_Minutes_20140109.pdf
STEP ONE:
Chamber of Commerce’s Todd Ament Chairs Charter Review Committee that puts fireworks on the ballot for voter approval.
STEP TWO:
Campaign launches to sell voters on the desire for fireworks. Campaign is funded by TNT fireworks and headed by …TODD AMENT!
http://ballotpedia.org/City_of_Anaheim_Council_Authority_to_Regulate_%22Safe_%26_Sane_Fireworks,%22_Measure_E_%28June_2014%29
STEP THREE:
Anaheim City Council twists what voters believed they were approving, and creates a monopoly single-source contract where their buddies leasing the Honda Center from them have the exclusive permit to sell the fireworks their friend Todd just paved the way to sell. Cozy.
STEP FOUR:
The Honda Center uses their newly approved monopoly on the fireworks market to reward TNT, the company that funded the ballot campaign to get fireworks reapproved….and TNT in turn will fund the July 4th celebration at Peralta Park, a celebration hosted by Canyon Hills Community Council.
“In addition to the monies each nonprofit raises through fireworks sales, Honda Center has also agreed to donate up to $100,000 to the Anaheim Community Foundation, as well as participate as the title sponsor of the city’s annual July Fourth Fireworks Spectacular at Peralta Park. The venue has teamed with TNT Fireworks, the industry leader of wholesale consumer fireworks in the nation, to be its exclusive fireworks vending partner.”
But who are the Canyon Hills people who are about to enjoy TNT’s generosity? Let’s check GuideStar:
CANYON HILLS COMMUNITY COUNCIL
Physical Address: 2400 E Katella Ave Ste 725
Anaheim, CA 92806
EIN: 33-0359254
Web URL: www.chccanaheim.com
Telephone: 714-287-6148
NTEE Category: O Youth Development
O40 (Scouting)
Ruling Year: 1993
WAIT! That address looks familiar….
http://www.guidestar.org/FinDocuments/2014/330/359/2014-330359254-0b371082-Z.pdf
Line 42a “The organization’s books are in the care of …..Todd Ament.”
List of officers, Directors, Trustees….
Todd Ament, President
Jeff Farano, Secretary
Ross McCune Treasurer
Lucille Kring, Board member
Kris Murray, Board member
Orin Abrams, Board member
Leslie Swan, Board member
Cindy Torres, Board member
Brian Lambert, Board member
Ament and Councilwomen Kring and Murray! Nice! Let’s read on:
http://www.anaheimhillscommunitycouncil.org/
Who We Are
From building community, to hosting family events…
The Anaheim Hills Community Council is a non-profit organization created to assist in branding and building a strong community in Anaheim Hills. The Anaheim Hills 4th of July celebration creates connections and camaraderie between the thousands of residents and businesses who attend the day’s events every year.
Now in its 27th year, the 4th of July Celebration starts off with the Firecracker run that attracts approximately 3,000 runners, walkers, spectators, vendors and sponsors. Following that is the pancake breakfast, dog show and parade that leads up to the grand finale, the fireworks show at Peralta Park, where more than 20,000 neighbors, friends and families come together to celebrate the birth of our great nation.
During the Christmas Holidays, we also work with the business community to organize the annual Christmas Tree Lighting in the canyon. This great event provides entertainment for our youth to enjoy the spirit of the holidays, with fresh snow provided for their enjoyment, a petting zoo, Santa’s village and horse and carriage rides. In addition, strolling carolers, the arrival of Santa Clause and finally the lighting of the community tree makes this a fun day for the entire family.
On election years, we provide a non-partisan Candidates Forum to provide an opportunity to meet the candidates seeking their vote for Mayor or City Council. This Forum is essential to our residents to understand the vision of the candidates seeking your vote.
Note that BOTH the Christmas tree lighting and the Candidates Forum are hosted at the Influence Church, where Ament and Kris Murray reportedly attend. OJB had quite the discussion recently about how the Candidate’s Forum set up Jose Moreno with a question about “Gate Taxes” that wasn’t otherwise being discussed, and then filmed his answer to use when the Kleptocracy needed a boogie-man.
(That Tree Lighting has been setting off folks for a while now as well. They get government money to host an even on the private property of a religious institution, the “official” Canyon/Hills tree is on the church parking lot, while the trees in Central and West Anaheim are in public locations. But it’s all OK, because the funding goes through the Canyon Hills Community Council. Right?)
What else gets paid for through this money laundering scheme?
Go back to the GuideStar copies of the CC Form 990, and scroll down to Schedule O.
http://www.guidestar.org/FinDocuments/2014/330/359/2014-330359254-0b371082-Z.pdf
$47,291 payable to Anaheim Chamber of Commerce?!
The Form 990 also includes a “Declaration” that the Canyon Hills Community Council did not pay out on a personal benefits contract. But they paid the Chamber, which in turn pays the CEO/President who is also the President of the Canyon Hills Community Council. You may recall that the audit of Chamber funds done for the Enterprise Zone review showed such a commingling of funds the auditor could not tell them apart. http://voiceofoc.org/2014/03/anaheim-enterprise-zone-audit-up-for-city-council-debate/
So it matters little which account the Chamber claims they are funding on behalf of the CHCC: every nickel the Chamber is offered in other funding is money that doesn’t have to be raised to cover the outrageous salary of the President/CEO. (That is as opposed to paying their payroll taxes, which is another subject entirely.)
So Todd Ament creates a situation from which he ultimately benefits, and all of it using public resources to make way for the various scenarios in which either Ament pulls the strings or the City Council pulls the strings on his behalf.
It’s worth noting that donors to the Canyon Hills organization probably don’t even realize that they are in effect simply supporting the Anaheim Chamber of Commerce. But they can enjoy that the fireworks monopoly benefiting the Chamber (and Ament especially) in the flatlands is matched by a smaller monopoly in the Hills, where the Chamber benefits from the sole approved fireworks show in that part of town. In other words, even though the Hills are barred from setting off their own fireworks, they shouldn’t feel left out when it comes to being victimized by smoke bombs.
They say that payback is a bitch. I say that she is one well-funded bitch.
Man, time to flush the cesspool.
AH ! But remember, there is no longer ONE handle, but SIX SMALLER handles, and you CAN ONLY use ONE of them, with ONE HAND !
BOOOM!
City licensed monopolies on fireworks and charity? That’s the Anaheim Way, I guess.
And these were the creeps who tried to whip up the Jose Moreno Big Red Scare.
We really need to make a list, or a flow chart, of all the different ways the Kleptocracy uses public resources to pay off their friends. They think they get away with it because the “leaders” themselves don’t have a direct economic interest in the transactions, but there has to be a consequence when we show that the same cronies score the payola over and over again. Even if that consequences is nothing more than publication for the benefit of voter information, it still needs to be shown.
No we don’t. Here you go.
Any change in Anaheim?
Chamber supports? YES = Chamber is getting paid.
NO = Someone forgot or refused to pay the Chamber
End.
If you want to build a real case, that’s exactly what you need to do, Cynthia.
I know Mr. Overmyer, while Ryan is correct when it comes to those of us who are aware of what is going on, there is an entire city out there that still thinks the Chamber is all about helping business, and they blindly vote for any candidate backed by the Chamber (a trend now finally diminishing thank God) but this last election cycle was an anomaly, and I fear the next one will bring more kleptocracy. People NEED to see how this gift of public funds works, and the cycle of funding what appears to be unrelated projects that line the pockets of special insiders. Anyone who wants to take a crack at creating a list would be most appreciated. Although we DID get some of the work done with this one…it was not an academic piece (nor was it intended to) and sources were not cited which always bugs me.
http://www.orangejuiceblog.com/2015/05/chambers-taste-of-anaheim-desecrated-by-waste-of-anaheim-satirist-hooligans/
Ryan is correct as always. Thank you for saving us the labor, sir.
Could you please find out and publicize how much that 4th of July Fireworks show actually costs? And how much tax revenue is generated by fireworks sales, and how it’s spent, and who decides that?
When Measure E was passed, Anaheim Hills leaders promised Hills residents that a tax on fireworks sales, which would be passed by the Council in due time, would fund the fireworks show (I learned that on this blog of course). Was that tax passed? Is that how the fireworks show was paid for last year?
The cost is hidden in the price of the fireworks, i.e. a hidden tax. Another hidden tax is the amount racked off the top for the Anaheim Foundation, allegedly for their “good works.”
Mr. Lynch, that fireworks show comes with its own long story, one that needs to grace the pages of this fine publication, soon. The Anaheim Hills Community Council has hosted that event, I believe since its inception. (someone let me know if I get this wrong, not my area of Anaheim and full disclosure, repeating second hand.) I think they also run the July 4th parade in the hills. http://www.anaheimhillscommunitycouncil.org/
Once upon a time it was a true grassroots effort by locals, but like many other good causes in Anaheim it has been taken over by the Chamber of Commerce. See story line above. It now appears to be used to launder money into their 501c3 and then into the Chamber where it COULD be used to pay the salary of one Todd Ament, or any other expense of the Chamber, or it could be funneled into the Chamber PAC, which is not illegal, it only makes the money taxable to the Chamber, because they intermingle funds.
In the past the show was a combination of donations/fund raisers and I believe some grant money from the City (?) again, looking for someone who knows directly. This year TNT will sponsor the event, cozy with Ament making sure they got their Charter amendment.
I assume Honda Center will be paying standard sales tax on the fireworks sold, but I don’t see anything in the Ordinance that directs revenues to specific tax funding expenditures. and with the way they structured the deal with percentages to non-profits (ONLY if you qualify for their criteria and only if your support base makes sure you bring your flyer for their credit) and then siphoning off the top for the ACF, God only knows how we will track that funding. The City won’t do it, we can’t get them to report on Resort revenues and TOT vs bond payments. They are not about to segregate out the fireworks nonsense. BY THE WAY…it is now MID MAY. Fireworks have already begun in my neighborhood. nice, huh?
I was on the Board of Directors of the Canyon Hills Community Council and Chair of the Fireworks and Entertainment at Peralta Park for a number of years until two years ago when Karyn Schonherz (the President), I and other Directors were removed from the Board of Directors without any meeting(s) that we were informed of. Then Todd Ament was placed on the Board and the few remaining Directors were all replaced by the Politicos on Cynthia’s list above. At that point the non-profit Canyon Hills Community Council became part of the Anaheim Chamber. It is shameful what has happened to that grassroots local volunteer community group that made all of this happen for the first 25 years. I am so glad that I now live in Park City, Utah and have left the stench of Anaheim Politics and the Chamber Hatchet Squad behind!
Additionally, as far as the Anaheim Hills Candidate Forums go – my wife and I personally paid all the costs to host them as the only other one that was put on was done by Ester Wallace’s group in West Anaheim. The Community Council allowed us to host them under the Council’s name to meet the OUSD School District’s $1,000,000 insurance requirement to rent Canyon High School – AS LONG AS WE PAID ALL OF THE COSTS.
It is also shameful that the City of Anaheim refuses to put on the Candidate Forums and video tape them for rebroadcast on the community cable channel and the web. This contributes to the lack of candidate information available, which benefits the incumbent Council Members by having an uninformed electorate. They say they don’t want to be involved in the political process, but they are by their absence. How can providing widespread access to the candidates’ information that no one else can do be a bad thing?
Cynthia, I really hope you, your supporters and those residents that understand what is happening are successful at straightening Anaheim out!
Hey Paul, if you didn’t chuck your paperwork while packing, I want it, please.
Speaking of fireworks, last night was probably the most embarrassing display I’ve ever experienced. The place degenerated into a dangerous free-for-all with idiots setting off fireworks in the streets with cars going by, virtual bombs and skyrockets going off, illegal fireworks outnumbering the legal.
It was all perfectly predictable, of course, with a bunch of people celebrating their independence to be morons. Too bad Pringle wasn’t hired to stop the craziness instread of creating it.
You must be back in town! We should hang out.