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There’s a special meeting today in Anaheim, the public portion of which starts at 4:00. Maybe you ought to go; maybe you ought to speak. Something weird is going on.
And what you see up there isn’t even he weird part.
(1) Sidhupid Is As Sidhupid Does
I came upon the scene of Anaheim politics with the Gardenwalk Giveaway in early 2013, shortly after the end of Harry Sidhu’s earlier tenure on the City Council, so I’ve most taken Vern at his word that Sidhu was some sort of clownish idiot. While I strongly opposed him in this past election, I suppose that I held out some hope that, despite running a campaign apparently based on nothing but his previous business success, he was not likely that stupid. I mean, he has had business success, so he’s not likely a total moron, right?
Well, looking at the agenda for today’s special meeting, it looks like he has gotten off to a bad start. In desperate defense of my former hope, it looks to me like he was likely bamboozled by Trump-level petty narcissistic knave Jordan Brandman into hauling out the spotlights and making the first substantive agenda item of his tenure a disaster for the history books. But maybe that fact that this looks like a Jordan special is just a coincidence, and this is all, improbably, Sidhu’s doing. Let’s all hope not.
But it might really be him. I’m technically a businessman myself, and I know a good opportunity when I see it, so I coined the term “Sidhupidity” and ordered up a “.com” domain for it to auction off to the highest bidder who will do it justice. (I also registered a less common “sidhupidity-dot-domainsuffix for my own use.) I know what you’re thinking, especially if you’re Matt Cunningham getting an uneasy sinking feeling about what the next two years will be like. (Yes, two years. My early bet after seeing this agenda is that Sidhu is successfully recalled in the 2020 general election, the size of which will likely surpass this year’s.)
But hey, you ask: aren’t I of the Kindness Faction and isn’t coining the word “sidhupidity” unkind? Not really, if you remember the bracing effect of the truth in the fable of “The Emperor’s New Clothes.” Someone has to call him on his seeming presumption that he can bamboozle the public as much as he wants while there’s still time for him to change course. When someone does something as absurd and craven and worst of all easily understood as Sidhu has done with this agenda item, it’s a BENEFIT to him to rub his nose into the stinky spot so that he learns never to do this sort of thing again — “this sort of thing” probably but not necessarily meaning “trust Jordan Brandman.”
“Well, WHAT DID HE DO?“, I hear you-the-reader ask with growing impatience. OK, OK, we’re getting there. It’s along the lines of this: he has called a special meeting of the Council to set a million and a half dollars of the city budget on fire, for no good reason other than to spread a lie about who fixed the city’s homelessness problem, and has hidden his rationale for it, which is likely to be “to benefit his cronies.” Not an auspicious start!
(2) Solving a Problem That’s Already Been Solved
In case you haven’t been paying attention, Anaheim is a defendant in the lawsuit before Federal Judge David Carter which, among other things, has led to Anaheim not being able to enforce its anti-camping ordinances. (And if there’s one thing that Anaheimers really love, it’s a good old anti-camping ordinance!) Anaheim has signed a consent decree with the plaintiffs. and it calls for the addition of 325 new shelter beds before the city has “done its part” and can go back to putting homeless sleeping outdoors on sidewalks, parks, etc. into jail (at least if they don’t leave for another city.) So the city has been playing a big game of “Getting to 325!” At that point, the lawsuit is blunted, the homeless officially have decent services, balloons drop, and the city has a victory parade.
That victory was accomplished in the waning days of the Tait Administration. This is the inconvenient track that today’s meeting is intended to blur. To blur very expensively, in fact.
Here’s what happened in the post-election Tait times:
- the Salvation Army agreed to open up 225 new beds as of February (or March, at worst), which would morph into a deluxe new shelter in 2-3 years.
- the City purchased a piano store next to the Bridges at Kramer, which will house 100 new beds, and will also open in February or at worst March). Add ’em up and you get 325 — the magic number that unlocks the city’s right to make homeless people sleep indoors.
So this is great, right? The prior Council majority achieved a workable solution to the problem that has been foremost in its citizens’ minds, and Mayor Sidhu and his new majority can go on to solving new problems.
NO, THIS IS TERRIBLE! That Credit was supposed to go to the new majority. Most specifically and especially, it was supposed to go to Jordan Brandman — who, unlike Sidhu, did campaign on Anaheim doing its part to address OC’s homelessness problem. (I don’t remember exactly what he planned to do, beyond “not more than our share” and taking credit for it all, probably because his plan came in the same paragraph where he said that he wanted to bring a Trader Joe’s to Anaheim. (Yeah … WHERE’S THE TRADER JOE’S, JORDAN? We have one here in Brea, and WE LOVE IT!)
(3) This Calls for a STUNT! An EXPENSIVE Stunt!
Here’s what Mayor Sidhu thought was important enough to call a special meeting:
Sidhu’s “urgent” plan is to beat that damned Tait Administration to the punch by setting up two temporarily shelters that will supposedly (more on that below) come into being before (maybe) the Salvation Army temporary shelter and the Piano Shop shelter are online. Then … HE gets the balloons!
The Anaheim Tourism Bureau, “Anaheim Cares,” will put in up to $600,000 to put up an emergency shelter at the corner of S. Anaheim Blvd. and Orangewood, very near Anaheim Stadium, on the spot where a 28-story apartment building has been supposed to be built. Yay, Tourism Bureau! This shelter will last for at least 60 days. After which, umm….
The Illumination Foundation, which I’ve had various people describe to me as “shadowy” and “shady” — which I must say SEEMS VERY UNLIKELY GIVEN ITS NAME, DOESN’T IT? –will spent up to $805,000 to run an emergency shelter that will be up for at least 90 days! (OK, to be fair, while some of its reviews create concerns, most sound PR-quality good. But the main reviewer of nonprofits didn’t have much to go on.) The main thing that seems likely to come of all this is a major boost in the prominence and recognition of this organization. I presume that their shelter will cover 125 (or more?) people — oddly, the agenda doesn’t say.
Until I know more about the Illumination Foundation — I can’t recall what was said about them at the Anaheim Democrats meeting last Saturday — it’s hard for me to judge them … except to say that with the Armory open and the other new services coming online, this doesn’t seem necessary unless Anaheim is pledging to take on more than its share of the homeless. (This seems unlikely given that Brandman said he wouldn’t do it and Sidhu said that he wanted the homeless out of the city. That does suggest looking at all of this through a jaundiced eye, doesn’t it?) But what’s pretty clear already is that the Visit Anaheim project is likely to be a farce: simply a political stunt to make the Resort District look caring.
The temporary shelter is to be built at 2040 & 2050 S State College Blvd. — the “LT Global site,” where a warehouse now sits and 28-story building was (and may still be) planned. So far as I can tell, the land would have to be leased to the city — though again we’re talking about a quite short number of days — but there’s an argument that having it all done by Visit Anaheim shields it from scrutiny. (There’s also an argument that Visit Anaheim is quasi-governmental and subject to public openness laws.) And let’s not forget that, if memory and a little research serve, it funds the Anaheim Chamber of Commerce to the tune of $400,000/year.
(4) This Ain’t Philanthropy
There’s always an angle in Anaheim, and this isn’t likely to be an exception. But one thing that you may gave already misperceived is that this is an act of philanthropy on the part of these organizations. If it were, it might make sense regardless of any misgivings. But it’s not.
Philanthropy is a gift. These organizations get paid back. That’s why you have a “Reimbursement Agreement.”
Not only is it not a gift, but it’s not even going to last! If these structures would be up for three years, then once again this might outweigh other concerns. But it won’t. From the sound of it, Visit Anaheim intends to put beds into an existing building — which, if true, will likely take FAR longer to start up than this scenario suggests.
Consider what concerns you have to have when you plan to put beds into an existing warehouse. People running the place will need training. Will this satisfy the court’s settlement agreement?
Where will their personal possessions be kept? (There’s a already a lawsuit against the city on the topic of storage. Have we figured out whether pets will be allowed? Couples? Families?
How will they comply with fire codes. Will there be sprinklers?
Who will engage in supervision and ensuring safety? Some shelters apparently develop the culture of jails. How do we prevent rapes and murders in the buildents?
You would think that these topics would be addressed in the staff report, Except: it doesn’t look like there is one.
I’ve saved this for the end, but it you’re wondering: the cost of creating these temporary shelters (which will have to be torn down) over the length of their month or few existence. Solving the situation perhaps 30 days quicker — and even that is unlikely — would cost OC about $71.80/person each night. Is there another way that homeless could have shelter for $72/night? I can think of some.
And the per person number is only that low is w fill all of the spaces every night. What if we don’t fill them? Will people still be camping in Maxwell Park? We would still have problems in West Anaheim.
And, again, this is all opposed to waiting for buildings that would already be built in Feb. or Mar. — and built to code.
Why is there no staff report? Why is there so little transparency? What is the rush that required a special meeting? Why are we spending so much on temporary structures rather than spending money where it will be most effective?
Maybe there’s an answer, but Anaheim’s past instances of hurried-up meetings suggest reason for concern. When the council has been this much in a hurry to do something it can’t explain clearly up front, it has generally turned out very badly. And Anaheim can’t afford a return to stupidity — no matter how you spell it.
Anaheim is OPEN FOR BUSINESS!
Right? Every agenda item should be regarded as a potential klepto-swindle.
Last night on my way home I drove down Broadway. It was raining. It was cold. Nylon tents do very little to keep out the wet and cold. Mr. Diamond, do you think we might just possibly be seeing a caring, humane Mayor who wants to bring people in out of the cold and rain? Now, not 3 months from now.
Maybe, at the start of this new administration, we could all suspend our cynicism and need to divide. Anaheim is my hometown. There are really good and caring people who do their best every day to show kindness to their neighbors.
Let’s all try that, shall we? If we have differences with others, how about we all show common respect and discuss those differences rather than fan flames and whip up conspiracy theories. Maybe being united to bring people in out of the cold would be a nice step. One step. Let’s take it together.
“…do you think we might just possibly be seeing a caring, humane Mayor who wants to bring people in out of the cold and rain?”
No, I see a “golden goose” waddling down Broadway unaware of an assclown with a death rictus grin and a hatchet.
Kathy, Harry campaigned on wanting the homeless out of Anaheim! He didn’t want them in the city! So no — we are not seeing a “caring, humane mayor.” But to be fair to him — as I said — the impetus for this nastiness may well have come from Brandman, and if so the bigger the uproar the sooner Sidhu will learn not to trust his “ally.”
I also get the sense that you didn’t read the story and don’t understand that this was already done — with two facilities that will allow Anaheim’s share of homeless to come off of the street in February or at least March, making today’s proposal pointless. That is, pointless unless the Mayor wants Anaheim to take on more than its fair share of the homeless. But inf that’s true, then he should have wanted permanent facilities rather than ones designed to last literally as little as a month or two.
My guess is that you’re shilling rather than gullible, but if you’re on the level and don’t see basis for cynicism about this shoveling away of public money, then you need to study it harder.
So Harry did in a week what Taint couldn’t in ten years.
If you’re referring to getting me to register a web domain with his name on it, yes.
Hell, if you’re referring to making the first act of his Mayoralty a giveaway (I forgot to ask: what interest, if any, accompany the reimbursements?), then you’re right there too.
Otherwise, please read the story again and again until you realize that Tait did accomplish this before he left.
Shitdu sold us out to Disney. So I guess you’re for corporate welfare.
Yes, that’s the PringleCorp® narrative. A nice little gift for the Assclown all wrapped up and bow-tied by other people.
In her defense, Kathy Couture is an awesome human being who really does put herself out there to make the world a better place and tends to see the world through the same rose-tinted lenses. Let’s be cautious and engage in debate without attacking her, she is one of the truly good people Anaheim is blessed with.
On the other hand, Harry spent a ton of money on mail to attack me for wanting to put in shelters and/or temporary shelter until permanent ones were designed. So I am sorry, I do NOT see the potential for Harry to suddenly give a damn about homeless people coming in out of the rain. I think Harry wants to slap together the most primitive of “shelter” so he can start arresting people who refuse to be crammed into a human warehouse, which may, or may not, be built with proper permits, exits, fire suppression, or hygiene standards for that many people.
Running money through Visit Anaheim is the first tip-off. While they do an EXCELLENT job with drawing tourists, when did they become experts in housing anyone, much less the special needs of people with mental and physical health challenges? I smell a deal to funnel money to special friends who share office space with the Chamber. Surprise!
Now, I was wrong about Tom Tait when he first came to office, because while Jordan and others deep inside the belly of the beast convinced me Tait was the second coming of Mayor Pringle, it turns out Tait didn’t get the memo. I have said many times I have never been so glad to be so wrong in my life. So maybe I am wrong about Sidhu too. I never in a lifetime believed Anaheim would return the man to office, an opinion backed up by the many, many, many voters we spoke with in the campaign who had nothing but bad things to say about him,(note that I did not attack, those opinions were offered by people answering their doors) so my “sniffer” is clearly not infallible, and maybe I have entirely misunderstood Mr. Sidhu. ‘could happen…
But when it comes to Harry Sidhu, we have 8 years of public records to show us who he is, additional footage of video and written statements from his many, many (failed) runs for office, and of course the most recent campaign, which was run on the demonization of the homeless population he seeks to “assist” tonight, and the open, public attack against anyone like myself citing best practices reports on addressing homeless. So please forgive me if I sit in on this meeting without a great deal of hope that the best interests of our most needy population are what Harry is looking after. But again, I could always be wrong, and I challenge Harry Sidhu to prove me wrong tonight and do right by the people of Anaheim and those who live among us without a permanent address.
“So maybe I am wrong about Sidhu too.”
Nope. This greasy creature is all about promoting himself. Being rich is not enough, it seems. Maybe he married into dough and desperately needs to seek validation through elected office. I don’t know and don’t care. The tip off is that he has run for office 9 times in 15 years (if you count his dismal campaign for County Clerk appointment – satellite offices in orbit) and that’s A LOT of incoherent buffoonery to cram into a decade and a half. At no time did he ever exhibit anything other than a peculiar genius for assclownery.
One good thing about the blue wave. It will keep perpetual office hounds like Sidhu out of higher office.
Oh my. First, thank you Cynthia, I appreciate you being willing to see my comment for what it is meant to be. You are right, my rose colored glasses are firmly in place because I choose them to be – I want to believe people are good, individuals can make a difference, and if we respect, listen and really want to solve common problems, we really can.
I grew up in Anaheim and choose to live here still. Politicians come and go, issues ebb and flow…our City is precisely what we each make it. I’d like ALL of us to make it better together. I’m not out to promote any particular elected official…I’d really, really like to see those folks who are getting poured on by the rain and getting chilled to the bone by the cold have a roof over their heads. All the negatives of an imperfect temporary shelter exist on the street right now, I’m happy for ANYONE to get/take credit for helping, and to me personally what our City needs, has needed, will continue to need is the ability to discuss differences with civility and respect.
All “sides” need to set aside their distrust and mutual dislike and get our act together as humans to be better, kinder and more respectful humans. Enough social bullying and bitterness…lead as you want to be led, be open to differences, don’t think others you don’t agree with are inherently evil. Engaging you all here is my attempt to share how I feel our combined energies can work towards a solution here, on this particular issue, to help bring fellow humans out of the cold.
This weighs heavily on me, I hope it does on the folks reading this blog as well. I know it did on Mayor Tait and the previous Council, I know it does on Mayor Sidhu and the current Council. It doesn’t help the folks who are soaking wet and shivering to worry about who gets credit for helping. Let’s just help. It is cold. It is wet.
First, as unconventional, hasty and sudden as this move was, nobody at yesterday’s meeting wanted to oppose it, because – just look outside! – it’s cold, rainy, windy, and we have hundreds of Anaheim homeless without shelter. (All true, though most folks don’t realize more of our homeless die in the summer heat.)
Actually there was one NO vote, from Steven Faessel, who pointed out that ALL the new shelters, including this one, are in his (and my) District 5. (Which was also ironically, as Jose later pointed out, where the riverbed homeless were before getting displaced all the way west to motels in District 1.)
It should be said that this whole production was initiated and driven NOT by either Jordan or Harry, but by BILL TAORMINA, who asked me not to mention that fact, except everybody else already is! Why NOW though, right when councils and mayors change?
Why couldn’t this have happened a week or a month or several months ago, and would it be happening if Ashleigh had beat Harry? Well, Bill says that his idea was “only possible with the generosity of the building owner and the business community” – the business community being several large contributors to the Anaheim Chamber (who were also big contributors to Mayor Sidhu) including Disneyland Resort and the Angels. So, I guess the timing made sense – seeing their guy get elected gave them a sudden surge of heartfelt generosity, and expectations of bounty to come from the Sidhu Council motivated them to make the new Mayor look like a big, caring, can-do guy!
It was public commenter George Grachen who pointed out that, even if no profiteering or waste is currently happening, the first “emergency” action of the Sidhu council is to steer money to Sidhu’s biggest contributors. And that everyone involved is a “no-bid” contractor. And it was up to Jose to ask all the important questions that most of us had. Mostly he got answers, and that was mostly from either Taormina or Paul Leon, president of the operator Illumination Foundation.
As with EVERY proposed shelter temporary or permanent, there were NIMBYs protesting, and in this case since this was so SUDDEN, there was only one, a local business complaining about no notification, CEQA, anything else that normally happens. Jose got Taormina to promise to cover ANY LEGAL FEES the city incurs for this emergency site.
And since the whole POINT of this emergency shelter is the speed it can be up by – Dec 20 – about six weeks before the more serious temporary shelters are ready at Salvation Army and the piano store – there’s absolutely no point spending this extra 600K-to-$1.4 million unless it’s ready on time. So Jose also managed to ensure that Anaheim will have its investment returned if the shelter’s not ready by then.
Finally as much as Sidhu and others expressed extreme concern-faces about the poor homeless out in the cold rain, we all know that their main concern is being able to enforce Anaheim’s anti-camping ordinance, and “take back the parks!” Unfortunately the numbers STILL don’t add up to them being able to do that, according to various experts, but still hopefully a lot of the park homeless WILL take advantage of this emergency shelter, at least for the winter.
Also, when these corporations (Disney, Angels, other Chamber bigwigs) come back in a month or two wanting new nine-figure giveaways from the Sidhu Council, they’d better not be bringing up the $25K – $50K they chipped in for this emergency winter shelter. Or we may have to provide visual aids showing what the difference is between 9 figures and 5 figures.
I guess this shoulda been its own story maybe.
There’s another story here all right, as you refer to. And that is the chronology of how these fairly complicated maneuvers were teed up for Hairball. There’s no way this deal didn’t gestate for awhile during Tait’s administration, and presumably without his participation (he can correct this assumption if he wants).
And it seems impossible that some City staff were unaware of what was going on in order to process this two-step within two days of the Assclown’s swearing-in.
It reminds me of the squalid 2013 Angels giveaway attempt orchestrated behind closed doors and with the participation of high-level staff.
It will be its own story when I have time. Transcribing the damn meeting — yeah, back to that again! — takes many hours.
Way to affect REAL change, start calling people “Stupid” and accuse the of theft graft and lying…….with NO ACTUAL PROOF.
No wonder nothing ever gets done.
Lots of real chance for the better occurred during the Tait Administration. I’m proud to have been a supporter of it and that my support seems to have been consequential.
What have you ever done besides registering a mildly witty web domain name?
You seem to have a problem with my telling the truth and analyzing the probabilities — or maybe it’s just with my not falling into line with the Kleptocrat narrative at all. I’ll try to make you more miserable — not as a main goal, of course, but just as a side effect of my telling the story straight.
Research has suggested that “Mike Pine” is a false name, making his attacks anonymous attacks, which we discourage here. Until we find out otherwise, he can post in less discerning places. He can complain about my effrontery in shortening the bull-rushing “Chmielewski” to “Chumley,” for example, in the Teddy Bear Murderer’s blog.
*The Anaheim Colonists? Good Grief……does it always come down to “The Bean Hut”
mentality? The Grinder was perhaps the best sandwich shop in America. They had the
best Turkey and best beef Grinders on the planet. Mickey Flynn killed us at FUHS every
year. That little guy was faster than greased lightning. We could be ahead by three touchdowns and he would run back every kickoff for a matching touchdown. Sick City…
face it. A bunch of rank Germans founded that dumb ass city and the only thing good
to come out of it was the Original Phoenix Club! Good beer and great Schnitzel. OK,
those days are gone. OK, so it all amounts to Ducks, Angels and a bunch of paid off
politicians. Ah, but they had that back in 1956 too!