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Number one, you ARE going to want to go to the OC Marketplace (or “swap meet”) down on the Fairgrounds, today or tomorrow – the weekend after Thanksgiving – the best time and place to do your first Christmas shopping!
But when you do, don’t forget that if we don’t manage to save the Fairgrounds – which is still looking like a fifty-fifty chance, it all comes down to the next few weeks – this Marketplace will probably not be here next year. Nor the Equestrian Center, nor the Centennial Farm. Nor the Gun Show, you righties! And the Fair itself will probably be unrecognizable and far more expensive.
So when you’re there this weekend, please stop at Bob’s ice cream and buy all the ice cream you can – 100% of the money will go to the Orange County Fairgrounds Preservation Society (of which I’m a member and La Femme Wonkita is president.) I’ll put the OCFPS announcement down below, let me first do some explaining:
Our goal now is to draw this process out, through the use of lawsuits, through the month of December until the first week of January when we’ll have a new governor who will NOT sell the Fairgrounds. Because as much as Arnold pretends his motive is to help ease the budget deficit (with a drop in the bucket) it’s really all about favors to his political allies, and Jerry Brown owes no such favors. Which is why Arnold and Facilities Management West (FMW) are so desperate to seal the deal this month.
But these lawsuits we and our allies are filing are not free! Which is why we would really appreciate you buying Bob’s Ice Cream this weekend, and whatever other donations you can spare. We’ll have plenty of literature and explanations there, and remember, we’re doing this for all Orange County citizens.
A little summary of this past month’s news, if you haven’t been keeping up:
- A lawsuit was filed by three companies – actually pretty much all entities run by Jeff Teller, president of the OC Marketplace – to stop the sale because of the unfair nature of the auction. Judge Horn found the complaints to be serious and substantial, put a “restraining order” on the sale and set a hearing for Dec. 8 in Santa Ana. Boy, is that going to be a show. I’ll get there early for a good seat. There will be horses and crowds outside the courthouse.
- Dave Padilla, the lone dissident on Arnold’s Fair Board, who has always opposed the sale, was suddenly thrown off the Board earlier this month with no explanation. Why at that particular time, we wondered? Well, now he is free and has joined us in our crusade, and we sure are glad to have him! I’ll have an interview with him on the blog next week.
- Oh – this must be why Padilla was fired when he was: At the last Board meeting, it was revealed that FMW has agreed to keep the Board as some sort of “advisory Board” and promised them some unspecified “royalty fees” as compensation. They spent most of that meeting in one of their many and frequent closed sessions, and we have no idea what they discussed. Neither, conveniently, does Dave Padilla.
- Last week, FMW demanded to join in the lawsuit on the state’s side, because *snark* TIME IS OF THE ESSENCE, and if this deal isn’t pushed through this month, CALIFORNIA WON’T GET THE $100 million it desperately needs! (And FMW won’t get the sweetheart deal it’s been pushing for by hook and by crook these 18 months.) They must have noticed what a half-hearted, listless job Jerry Brown’s AG office has been doing defending their and Arnold’s interests in this lawsuit. LOL! I can just imagine what our attorneys, and hopefully the judge, would say to that: “What’s the rush, FMW? If this is such a good deal for the state, why not do it in January or February under the new Governor? Why would Governor Brown not go along if it’s such a good idea? Patience, good sirs…”
- Lobdell passed on a rumor that a lot more people are going to join in the lawsuit against the state and FMW, some time next week. Where did he hear that? Who’s babbling? Didn’t come from me. I know nothink.
Here’s the Orange County Fairgrounds Preservation Society press release, for this weekend – come Sunday and I’ll be there!
Help SAVE the OC Fairgrounds
We are having a weekend of Fund Raising and Outreach
The Orange County Fairgrounds is about to be sold to a private developer, but together we can stop it. We could lose the Orange County Market Place, the Centennial Farm, and the equestrian center. There’s still time to act, but we need your help!
This weekend, November 27 and 28, one hundred percent of proceeds from sales of Bob’s Ice Cream at the OC Market Place will go to the fight against the sale. For a minimum donation can get an ice cream and help save the fairgrounds, too. Look for the booth under the giant Pepsi at the OC Market Place.
Please help support the OCFPS! Come and enjoy an ice cream!!!
Volunteers Needed! We are also looking for volunteers to hand out fliers and work at the outreach booth on November 27 – 28. We are doing short shifts of a few hours. WE NEED YOUR HELP! Please email Lisa at info@ocfpreservationsociety.org
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“The entire sale has been orchestrated by the governor’s office to benefit FMW.” said Costa Mesa Councilwoman Katrina Foley.
Assemblyman Jim Silva has said, “… selling the Fairgrounds just doesn’t make sense.”
Assemblyman Jose Solorio stated, “I and others will continue to fight to preserve the OC Fair, the equestrian facility and the talented staff that run the fairgrounds.”
Legislation action to stop the sale of OC Fairgrounds is also in the works. Stay tuned!
THE OC FAIRGROUNDS MUST NOT BE SOLD!
Just one quick note: from my experience, the board rarely has closed sessions. For some reason it is always on the agenda but it seems to get cancelled when I am in attendance.
Also, if you look at the agenda, it says, in broad legalese, what is being discussed. So, I imagine, if Padilla, or you, read the agenda, you would have an idea of what they discussed.
Sitting on the sidelines, I just feel that the amount of innuendo and wild speculation spewed about the blogosphere seems to have clouded the issue so much that most Orange County residents have no idea about the truth.
Too bad this issue cannot be decided by sticking to the facts.
Well, this particular time they had about a 90-minute closed session. Without the dissident member. And we don’t know what they discussed, it takes a leap of faith to assume that what was discussed was exactly what was on the agenda, given this board’s love of secrecy and sudden convenient Padillalessness.
I guess, at the end of the day, I am just shocked by the desire to put Padilla on a pedestal. I don’t think he was a bulwark against the real or imagined crimes attributed to this board. From my recollection, he often seem to be in tandem with Hayakawa and Young.
I think he is just a guy who wants to be popular and since he was often discounted by the board majority, he turned to whomever would treat him like the belle of the ball, the bloggers.
I don’t put people on a pedestal. Dave did oppose the sale – I think from the beginning, or at least for the past year, I’ll have more details soon.
Your world view and sense of time are kind of skewed. It’s the Board versus “The Bloggers” now? Padilla’s been “discounted by the board majority” for over a year. What he joined – this month – was not “the Bloggers” but the OC Fairgrounds Preservation Society – the Derail the Sale people – at my invitation. TWO of us are bloggers.
No pedestal for Dave, but I do find him funny, knowledgeable and valuable.
And I’ve been thinking today about your constant complaints of “bloggers’ innuendos” toward the Board. My speculations, and those of Sandy Genis, Reggie Mundekis, and gericault, are completely responsible. You would have said it was an innuendo for us to suggest that they might be colluding with Facilities Management West to get the property into FMW’s hands – it’s turned out now to be perfectly true! What else will we discover about the Board in the months to come? Thank God for us bloggers, and for the defection of Padilla.
Did the DA talk to, Padilla?
Just wondering.
No, man! Are you kidding? Do-nothing Tony talked to everyone BUT Padilla. That is his MO. Only talk to folks who won’t say anything incriminating.
Sadly, what you call speculation, I call fabrication. What you call responsible, I call making stuff up off the top of your head. What you call defection, I call Padilla getting booted by the Governor.
The problem as I see it, is that you have no proof of any of your charges, speculative or not, and to continue to speculate without any basis in fact is irresponsible.
How is is “perfectly true” that the board is “colluding with Facilities Management West to get the property into FMW’s hands”?
It seems like you are simply shouting “Fire” in a crowded theater.
My family and I stopped by, but we got our ice cream at the wrong spot.