The story of the Bahu family’s ARCO gas station, which SHOULD be on the southeast corner of Imperial and La Palma, though the tale may seem de minimis especially to us flatlanders, is a Microcosm of Corrupt Anaheim, and almost every important character plays a cameo. The tale illuminates our troubled burgh like a gas station exploding in the night.
It’s impossible to compute in how many ways Mayor Harry Sidhu, his allies and loyal Council majority, swindled the people of Anaheim. But one way was, for corrupt and vengeful motives, preventing competition in gasoline prices on that important intersection in the Hills. When Bahu’s ARCO finally returns to that corner, across the street from Navaz Malik’s Shell station, folks in the Hills will be spending a LOT less for fuel.
But first – City Manager James Vanderpool was called “a chameleon” by a City employee, so you should probably listen to this great Herbie Hancock jam while you read this story. HIT PLAY AND CONTINUE READING.
It was 1967. LBJ was President. Muhamad Ali was stripped of his boxing world championship for refusing to go to Vietnam, a war that would last another seven years. The Beatles released Sergeant Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band, and Paul Newman’s “Cool Hand Luke” was in theaters. And an enterprising young Arab named Albert Bahu immigrated from Jordan to Anaheim Hills “with only fifty dollars in his pocket,” where he started an Arco at the corner of Imperial and La Palma.
In the 60’s it was easy for anyone, even an immigrant without much cash, to start a gas station – oil companies were just looking for someone to sell their product! There was a Texaco across the street which later became a Shell that’s still there today. Competition between the two stations kept the gas prices reasonable at the time. The only other business nearby was a hamburger place called Knollwood. There was no 91 freeway. Only 200 or 300 families lived in the area at the time, and all around was the fabled orange groves!
In ’73 and ’78, if you’re old enough to remember, there were severe gas shortages nationwide, and you could only fuel up on “odd or even days,” based on the last digit of your license plate. The Texaco across the street followed that rule, but Albert Bahu made his own rule – anybody could fuel up as long as their driver’s license showed that they lived in Anaheim or Yorba Linda. That’s one way he built so much goodwill in the community. Along with donating playground equipment to nearby Nohl Canyon Elementary School which still sports a plaque thanking him.
Disco came and went, punk rock came and went, and also whatever that stuff was that people listened to in the 80’s. Ronald Reagan was President when the Texaco across the street became a Shell and was taken over by a Pakistani-American name of Navaz Malik. But healthy competition and reasonable prices still held sway.
And around that time Albert Bahu made a bold move, replacing his garage with an AM-PM mini-mart – the first station in Anaheim to do that! They sold beer and wine, and a lot of coffee! EVERYBODY would come in to have coffee with Albert – judges, cops, all the Mayors of that time (just as now, nearly all Anaheim Mayors lived in the Hills.) Carl Karcher would come by for a cup of joe, sometimes bringing presents for Albert’s young son Issa.
And an ambitious if sleazy (I can say that now, right?) businessman named Harry Sidhu used to come in too. He owned a Burger King half mile away and dreamed of creating a “Fast Food Empire!” One time he tried to talk Albert into investing in his Fast Food Empire, but Albert had a bad feeling about Harry and respectfully declined. Harry left in a huff and never came back. (THERE’S a story you didn’t read in the JL Report!)
The 90’s: Anaheim Hills GROWS.
Naturally the population in that area grew and grew, roads had to be widened, and Eminent Domain shaved away at the Bahu property more than once. Indeed, all the years since the mid-90’s have been frustrating and infuriating for the Bahus, but you and I don’t need to suffer through every detail.
As the street widened, the property shrunk, and at one point one of Bahu’s two driveways mysteriously disappeared, and to this day nobody at the City, CalTrans or OCTA can explain how that happened. “What was it, a ghost contractor who removed our driveway?” raved Albert’s son Issa. They should be able to get their extra driveway back, as we’ll get to later. Meanwhile, an OCTA bus stop was placed in front of the property which can also be moved.
For a while the family considered putting retail there but it didn’t make business sense. The Bahus were eventually paid $140K for their loss of business (NOT the millions some folks think they got – that was the original ask but it fell through because of something to do with BP taking over ARCO – see JL Report p. 118-19.)
In 2003 the Bahus were finally able to purchase the property from ARCO, but then they discovered that the site was CONTAMINATED by a large plume that had started with some other station’s leaky tanks. Around this time, sadly, Albert passed away, and Issa took over the business. He had to tear down the station to remediate the property. So it wasn’t till 2015 that he was able to, in earnest, try to bring back his family’s ARCO station – and even the following two years were frustrating with constantly changing city planners he had to deal with – he “had to re-submit like 18 or 20 times.” So we’ll be catching up with Issa Bahu again in 2017.
During those years he made the best use of that property by storing excess inventory for a local auto parts store, renting it out to Christmas Trees 4 Less in Decembers…
…and in Octobers to the Halloween Haunted House.
One hard and fast rule there though – NO GHOST CONTRACTORS!
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Meanwhile Malik Thrives.
Suddenly being the only gas station around for miles, as well as so close to the freeway, really opens up the possibilities of how much you can charge, and the canny businessman across the street quickly raised his prices up to 20-50 cents a gallon over Anaheim’s average.
At the moment of this writing, Malik’s Shell is charging $5.50 a gallon for regular – not as excessive as it’s sometimes been (maybe he’s reading the same tea leaves as us?) but still higher than any other station in the Hills. At that price he is making a profit of 50 to 60 cents a gallon. At an estimated 300,000 to 400,000 gallons a month, he should be clearing 150K to 225K profit per month – very handsome!
In gas-people parlance, there are stations that are low-cents-high-volume, and stations that are high-cents-low volume. Malik manages to be high-cents-high-volume, which experts say is extraordinary. It would not be good for Malik’s heady profits if Bahu’s station re-appeared across the street.
And from 2017 till the FBI bombshells of May 2022, Malik had an ace up his sleeve – he’d had the good judgment or bad taste to have made friends with Harry Sidhu a long time ago – the same Sidhu that Albert Bahu had rejected years earlier. In fact, he had often been overheard boasting to people that he “has Harry under his thumb.” Well…
Who is this Harry Sidhu character?
I have this sneaking suspicion that Harish “Harry” Sidhu even stole his Origin Myth from Albert Bahu – he likes to say he “arrived in America [from India] with only SIXTY DOLLARS IN HIS POCKET” – something we never tended to believe. The Fast Food Mogul of the 80’s and 90’s somehow came to own one of the most ostentatious spreads in the Hills complete with a menagerie including ostriches and peacocks, bronze giraffe statues looking down onto Santa Ana Canyon Road from his backyard hillside trumpeting his opulence to the world, a bright yellow helicopter illegally registered in Arizona to avoid taxes, and an Imelda-closetful of lengthy garish footwear which led to his being known later as “Mayor Clownshoes.”
What could be next for this man but politics? And somehow Harry got himself elected to two terms on the Anaheim Council (2004-12) where he became a loyal part of the majority showing unquestioning deference and generosity to Disney, the Chamber of Commerce, and Anaheim’s other big moneyed interests.
But in contrast to other Councilmembers, staff found Councilman Harry to have one specific, disquieting trait – tirelessly and inappropriately harassing staff to steer development contracts to FRIENDS of his. [See JL p. 108.] The firm he pushed for the MOST was his “buddies” who owned ADI – an affordable housing developer that was already under FBI investigation for mammoth overbilling, bribing public officials, and “bringing in immigrants from India to work for them and then paying them almost nothing when they got here.” (According to Community Development Director Lisa Stipkovitch speaking to JL.) The owners of ADI eventually fled the country, and I see that in 2016 a couple of them finally got arrested in Mumbai. HARRY’S “BUDDIES” that he went to bat for!
“Imagine if this cat ever became Mayor,” some observers may have wisecracked if they had a morbid imagination and sense of humor. In any case being a mere Anaheim Councilman clearly didn’t satisfy this grasping politician, as he ran for (and lost) so many offices during those years that we citizens started to laugh and call him a “perennial candidate.” In short:
- The 2007-8 State Senate race where he was stomped by racist Republican Mimi Walters. I actually remember criticizing Mimi on this blog for putting out attack mailers that made his face look twice as DARK as it really is, to appeal to her base’s xenophobia. (Yes, in 2008, first time I wrote about Sidhu, I actually stuck up for him!)
- The notorious 2010 race for OC Supervisor, in which – without any legal consequence – Harry faked a residence in a cheap flatlands apartment so he could pretend he lived in the district while EVERYBODY KNOWS exactly where Sidhu really lives! SHAWN NELSON stomped him in that race. (I just came across an embarrassing article in which the entire kleptocratic establishment – Pringle, Ackerman, Spitzer, OCBC’s Lucy Dunn, Disney’s Carrie Nocella – wrongly predicted a longed-for Sidhu victory.)
- In 2013 when County Clerk Tom Daly was elected to Assembly, Harry tried to get the Board of Supervisors to appoint him to THAT plum position, a truly comical episode that I reported on at the time here. (Best part, Harry thought that Moorlach’s mention of “satellite offices” for the Clerk meant offices in outer space, which he reacted to with what he thought was appropriate amazed enthusiasm. The Clerk prize ended up going to Orange Juice favorite Hugh Nguyen, who holds it to this day with distinction.)
- And the 2016 State Assembly race in which he was stomped by the mumbling Dr. Steven Choi. All of these losing races left Harry with beaucoup campaign debt, but no problemo, all of that was paid off by his deep-pocketed supporters AFTER he finally became Mayor. (Spoiler alert.)
The only reason I mention all of this in a Saga of Bahu’s ARCO is because throughout all these doomed campaigns, as well as Harry’s final tragic victory in 2018, Shell station owner Navaz Malik was right there, maxing out to Harry and holding fundraisers, building such loyalty from the power-hungry politician that Malik could boast that Harry was indeed “under his thumb.”
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2018: Creepy Todd Ament Stalks May.
Issa knew Todd Ament back when they were growing up, and didn’t like him. A good friend of mine also grew up with Todd, and says he was always a “bully who used to beat up all the smaller kids,” and threw around lots of racial epithets. Well, some folks grow up to be better people, and some folks don’t.
It’s clear from nearly every page of the JL Group’s 353-page report that there was not a day since Todd took charge of the Chamber in 2004 (after being fired from the YMCA leadership for lying about his college degree) that he didn’t wake up scheming how to defraud Anaheim taxpayers and other ditzy innocents out of their hard-earned cash. The years when Tom Tait was Mayor, and ESPECIALLY when Tait had a majority (2017-18) were frustrating cock-blockage for Todd, but once he realized Sidhu was running for Mayor, the possibilities suddenly seemed endless again! This was to be, indeed, a match made in Swindler Heaven!
It’s not clear exactly when the now-felon Chamber of Commerce head started texting and calling Issa’s sister May Bahu – but it was apparently before the 2018 election, which is interesting – Ament’s golden-ticket Sidhu would have still been running neck-and-neck with Ashleigh Aitken in the existential race for Mayor. But maybe there’s nothing to be learned from the timing; we know from JL and everywhere else that Todd obsessively looked for more money 24/7 for as long as we can remember.
And sure enough he saw an opportunity to wring $50 grand from the Bahus whom he apparently knew to be in a tough predicament before they ever did. Sister May may be a little easier to get a hold of than brother Issa, and may be friendlier. So Todd texted and called her relentlessly for over a year, trying to convince the Bahus that they NEEDED his services if they wanted their gas station approved. Issa couldn’t see why, there was absolutely nothing controversial about his project, and he didn’t feel like paying that kind of money to a guy like Todd. But as May told JL, “Todd was hinting to me, not so much ‘Do you want help?’ but ‘You NEED help.'”
In 2019 Issa’s project sailed through the Planning Commission 6-1, but when that decision was appealed to Council by Sidhu’s longtime friend Malik-from-across-the-street, Issa realized he might have some problems. JL:
Bahu was asked if Ament ever mentioned that he was working directly with Mayor Sidhu regarding this project, and he said, “Not directly, but everyone knew he ran Harry.” Bahu said he spoke with Ament a week before the appeal hearing and asked him, “‘Todd, what do I have to do now?’ and he goes, ‘You’re screwed.’ And I asked, ‘How do you know I’m screwed? So there is no amount of money at this point?’ And Todd said, ‘No. A year ago when I talked to you, yes… If you woulda hired me a year ago, you’d be fine.‘”
JL Report p. 125
But we’re ahead of ourselves now – something big happened in the middle of all that, and it was…
The Great Unthinkable: MAYOR SIDHU!!!
Harry’s famed slogan “Anaheim is Open For Business!” invites much snide commentary and analysis now.
In that fateful election, Harry beat Ashleigh for Mayor by less than 500 votes, and he probably owed his winning margin to a bit of theater he played with Angels owner Arte Moreno – Arte announced he was gonna take his popular ball team and leave town, the populace panicked, immediately Sidhu announced that “ONLY I CAN KEEP THE ANGELS IN ANAHEIM,” and enough dodos fell for that that to swing the election. (So that Harry could immediately get to work giving away the Stadium to Arte.)
According to the Bible (Matthew 27:51) when Christ expired on the Cross, the Curtain of the Temple was torn in two from top to bottom, the earth shook, rocks split, and the dead walked the earth. Here in this town, when Harry Sidhu spread his arms wide to proclaim that we were “Open For Business,” Anaheim’s ethical walls crumbled, like a skyscraper imploding.
And on Election Night, at the Sidhu Victory Party, lined up with all the corrupt politicians (of both Parties), businessmen, union bosses and consultants at the trough, was our friend Navaz Malik, from the Shell station across the street.
Now I’m going to ask you to do something very unpleasant for a minute, and close your eyes, and imagine that you are Mayor Harry Sidhu. And you find out that Issa Bahu wants to re-open his ARCO. And you
- remember that Bahu’s father refused to invest in your Fast Food Empire years ago; and you
- have been hearing your Chief of Staff Todd complaining that the Bahus won’t give him any money either; and
- your dear dear longtime supporter and friend Malik really doesn’t want that competition across the street;
…What are you gonna do? I’m sorry, you can go take a shower now. I will wait here to tell the rest of the story when you get back.
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Yankee Doodle Debacle
Every May and June, the annual Anaheim Hills Fourth of July Celebration, which includes among many other patriotic features a “Yankee Doodle Dog Show,” goes out begging for money. Cuz, you know, it takes a lot.
In April of 2019 the Planning Commission had passed Bahu’s project 6-1 with no controversy, completely signed off on by every relevant staff member. But then that decision was appealed to Council by Malik and a friend, and Issa Bahu thought, wow, maybe I DO need a consultant. So he got a guy named Grant, who’s much more honest and less expensive than Todd Ament or Curt Pringle.
And Grant the Consultant told Issa that, hey, it’d be a cool idea and helpful, if you donated $5000 to the July 4 event, and got yourself a booth, it would build goodwill in the community. Issa thought great idea, I’ll have a table where I can talk to all the locals and explain to them how much better it will be with my ARCO back on the corner.
Issa didn’t realize, and possibly Grant the Consultant didn’t realize, that over the years this event had become one more Chamber slush fund, from which Ament profited, and that what Issa was donating to was actually a fundraising plea from Sidhu himself. In fact since the previous year, the Hills 4th of July event had become inextricably linked with Sidhu, who had supposedly “saved” the 2018 event, in the middle of his Mayoral Campaign, with a staggering $7500 contribution – that amazing story is still trumpeted on the pages of Matt Cunningham’s Chamber-funded Klepto-Blog:
I mean really, who can forget Harry’s appearance in that 2018 Parade – the candidate for Mayor and Savior of the Parade, waving at the crowd from the back of a humvee while dressed up as an Air Force vet? (A lot of real vets got pissed, but voters ate it up, and hey he didn’t wear any Air Force INSIGNIA, he’ll tell you!)
This event was HARRY’S BABY, dammit. And when he and Todd saw the check from the hated Bahu, they filed it away in the circular cabinet. Around the same time Issa stopped payment on it, realizing he wasn’t gonna get his booth. I learned from experience last year what a politicized event the Anaheim Hills July 4 Celebration is – my friend the insurgent Council candidate Hari Shankar Lal spent a month trying to get into the Parade and they would never answer or return his calls until Hari (also a very aggressive lawyer) served them with threatening papers. After THAT it went well.
Stubborn Lal, and the author.
***************
The Appeal of SHAME
I’ve mentioned that Issa’s project passed the Planning Commission (PC) in April 2019, six to one, with hardly any argument, because, duh, there was nothing wrong with it, and everybody on staff vouched for it. (In retrospect, the PC must not have “got the memo” – ordinarily when the establishment is against something it gets stopped at that level.)
And I think I’ve mentioned that the PC’s decision got appealed to the City Council, by two people – competitor Malik himself, and a close friend of Malik’s called DADA – both longtime Sidhu supporters from *cough* Yorba Linda. And just to spare you the suspense, Issa lost – Council overturned the PC’s decision in June, and later refused a rehearing, 5-2.
And man did the appellants pull out the big guns to fight this gas station. Cops and the cop union? Fred Whitaker, the head of the OC Republican Party? Turns out they were all turned out by the powerful lobbyist Peter Mitchell (right) who lobbies for the police union, and whom Malik hired as HIS consultant.
It was ridiculous. Suddenly people were finding all manner of problems with Bahu’s project that never existed before. What was formerly accepted as alleviating traffic by making less U-turns necessary somehow became a traffic problem that would increase accidents. So spake Cop Union Boss Edgar Hampton, but I’ll rake that guy over the coals later. First, a bigger problem than Hampton:
Mindless Council Puppets
These days everyone likes to blame all of Anaheim’s problems on the two villains that the FBI busted: Harry and Todd (just as I write this story, Harry has agreed to plead guilty to four federal felonies, so we’re talking about two prison-bound felons.) Fuck that shit. These two crooks couldn’t have gotten away with anything if it weren’t for pliant amoral staff (unlike fired City Manager Chris Zapata) and, especially, a Council majority that went along with ANY and EVERY little desire of Harry. [Sole exception – on cannabis.]
I mean, we saw group-think, planned-out shit, and suppression of the Council minority during the KRIS MURRAY YEARS (2010-16) but never anything like the blind unquestioning subservience of Steve Faessel, Lucille Kring, Jordan Brandman and Trevor O’Neil during the SIDHU YEARS. It was like these four people stowed away their brains and consciences (or what brains and consciences they had) in a lockbox as long as Sidhu was Mayor. It was actually creepy.
Back to our Bahu Saga – Kring and Faessel both told Issa they would support his gas station if the Planning Commission and staff did, but when Sidhu made his wishes clear … into the lockbox with those brains and consciences! Former Director of Economic Development (he quit) John Woodhead was “shocked and dismayed” at “how readily the four Councilmembers went along with Sidhu” on EVERYTHING, and expressed that to Faessel, who responded “Oh John, the votes are there, and I can’t stop this.” [JL p. 117] What does that even mean? I should make that a song, in Steve’s honor, “Oh, John.”
Jordan Brandman was grossest of all – I’ve already criticized him many times for literally saying, many times, “I’m going to follow the Mayor’s judgment on this because he was elected at large and I wasn’t” – both depriving his own District 2 of its own thinking, independent representative, and also reminding us of how he viciously opposed Mayor Tait at every turn, Tait who was elected with 60% of the vote while Harry only got 33%.
Grant the Consultant, after making the humiliating admission that he’d been Jordan’s friend for years, helping him in all his campaigns, found himself as disgusted as I, when he witnessed the Boy Wonder up close in action:
[Grant] went on to say, “We met with Jordan, and what he told me was that to get his vote we would have to get the Mayor’s vote, and he was unwilling to vote against the Mayor. I haven’t talked to Jordan since that day. I don’t want a Councilperson that doesn’t think for themselves… To NOT EVEN MAKE AN EFFORT to find a reason to vote against this project and say ‘I’m gonna do what the Mayor tells me to do’ … I didn’t want to be friends any more with somebody that had that point of view on what their responsibility to the City was.”
JL, page 123
Well, a little late, Grant, but welcome to the club.
ASIDE from Brandman’s blind fealty to Sidhu, there’s other reasons Brandman never woulda given Bahu a chance, once Malik hired Peter Mitchell – Mitchell, Brandman’s close friend and former employer, Mitchell who helped him make 400% on stock investments, Mitchell to whom Brandman gratefully “behested” four tickets to Elton John’s farewell tour, worth $1000.
But Brandman’s gone and disgraced. Steve Faessel on the other hand is still on Council. Even today, with the BRAND NEW REVELATIONS about his PARTICIPATING IN MOCK (rehearsal) COUNCIL MEETINGS staged by the Angels. But I’m going too far afield. Let’s get back to the railroading of Issa Bahu.
Officer Edgar Hampton Joins the Fray!
What was the police union (“APA”) president Edgar Hampton doing at Navaz Malik’s appeal, fighting against a little gas station in the Hills, telling Council and all assembled that “The Anaheim Police oppose this” and that it’ll cause traffic accidents, passing on some deceptive “traffic studies” that he obtained inappropriately and then misrepresented? Well, I’m sure his cop-union lobbyist Peter Mitchell told him it’d be good for his cop union.
And it’s not the only time Hampton went above and beyond the call of police duty to bring pleasure and succor to the Chamber crowd – when Ament and Sidhu wanted to pass a cannabis ordinance he wrote a startlingly illiterate piece on Matt Cunningham’s Kleptoblog about how much the police LOVE this new cannabis ordinance! (Props at least for not using a ghostwriter or editor, I guess.)
This union did max out to Harry AND THE REST OF HIS ZOMBIE MAJORITY in the elections. And Harry DID like to call them “My police” (as in, “If you don’t shut up right now I will have MY POLICE escort you out of here and arrest you!”)
But a big missing piece that JL didn’t mention was this: Eight months later, in February 2020, the Anaheim police demanded and got an unaffordable $60 million, six-year contract including a 14% raise – a contract ESPECIALLY SWEET for Hampton himself, who got a 17% raise getting him up to $400,000 a year by the sixth year – paid for by the City ourselves, which VERY few union presidents are! Eat your heart out Gerry Serrano! (Mortifyingly, pretend-conservative Councilman Trevor O’Neil admitted while voting for this contract that “We’ll probably have to dip into our reserves to cover this, but hopefully our revenues will pick up soon.” That very month, something called COVID hit us.)
Just showing you how rewarding it can be, for a police union chief to do things like attack a gas station the Mayor hates, or shill for a cannabis ordinance the Chamber wants. JL questioned Hampton on his puzzling anti-Bahu letter WHICH HE LATER RESCINDED, and oh that was classic:
Hampton was asked about drafting a letter stating the police association opposed the project and later rescinding that letter, and he replied, “No, I don’t recall. It might have been just looking at the traffic…” When asked again if he recalled drafting that letter and then taking it back, he said, “It was probably because of that, because it started to get messy, I didn’t need any headaches like that.” Asked if he felt the issue was becoming too political, he responded “Yeah I just didn’t want that and it’s a bad look, you know what I mean, I didn’t want our reputation linked with stopping something for cronyism… I wasn’t interested in getting down into the weeds on something like this… next thing I know, hey this guy is related to that guy…”
JL, page 129
I will allow Jackie Gleason to translate Hampton’s statements for us laypeople:
Edgar Hampton is retired now. We think he’s the cop who hit a Black Lives Matter protester with his cruiser back in July 2020, but we’re not sure, and then-Chief Cisneros told me it wasn’t him. But now we know from the Jordan Brandman terrorist threat incident that “When it’s an influential individual, we keep that under wraps.” (Cisneros to the Times.) Well, I hope former Officer Hampton doesn’t get mad at me for what I’ve written and hit me with whatever car he’s driving now.
The Reviews Pour in…
What a performance, this successful appeal against Issa Bahu’s ARCO station! And the critics weighed in, from all over City Hall and beyond:
Former City Manager James Ruth:
“… the arguments opposing the project lacked substance and were basically focused more on protecting the ownership of the Shell station (across the street) from competition.”
HR Director Linda Andal:
“I was aghast – it was VERY DIRTY. For the POA (police union) to be involved… I just said to myself, ‘We are going in a different direction.'”
Fire Chief Patrick Russell:
“It was a little strange that Mayor Sidhu would call me directly [about a certain project’s safety]… I investigated and Bahu was in compliance, there were no issues. I told Mayor Sidhu and he did not seem happy. Later I heard he was friends with the owner of the station across the street.” [This author ran into Chief Russell at an AM-PM recently and he added, “Imagine that, a Mayor NOT BEING HAPPY that a gas station is in compliance!”]
Former APD Deputy Chief / private investigator Craig Hunter:
“It piqued my interest that the appellant was going around town telling everyone that he had the mayor under his thumb. It all just sounded rotten to me. This is not about fairness. This is about the $2 million a year that he’ll lose when people get to pay 35 cents less a gallon.”
Former EDD John Woodhead:
“If there was a public safety concern, it should have been raised by staff, not the owner of the gas station across the street. And why is the Mayor stepping in over his experts?”
Planning Director Ted White:
“Bahu was describing unethical and undue influence, and saying he got ‘screwed.’ The Mayor’s involvement was very suspicious.”
Businessman Bill Taormina:
“That was just wrong, wrong and corrupt – and I’ve seen the exact same thing happen two other times under Sidhu (in different industries) to guys from the same part of the world.”
Perennial Mayor candidate Lorri Galloway:
“Bahu was screwed, screwed, SCREWED! *I* KNOW that guy, Peter Mitchell. Bahu was SCREWED!”
Enough of that.
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Turning the Page
The Bahu property during the 2022 election;
JL spent such an inordinate amount of time on this sign that I thought you might wanna see it.
This drove the other two Mayor candidates crazy –
Lorri Galloway who screamed and cursed at the poor Halloween workers,
and Trevor who used his close Code Enforcement connections to have it removed.
That is all.
At this fraught moment in Anaheim history, after the FBI, the JL Report, and (now) yesterday’s Sidhu Plea Deal, this City’s leadership is dying to “turn the page.” Or at least LOOK like they’re turning the page. Approving Issa Bahu’s long-overdue gas station is like one of the easiest things they can do in that regard. What Mayor Ashleigh would call “LOW-HANGING FRUIT.” (And we need much more.)
We’re talking now, if I hadn’t mentioned, about a station with SIX PUMPS – meaning 12 filling positions – and the adjoining AM-PM, because of the reduced lot size, would be two stories (as several such AM-PM’s are in Anaheim) with the offices upstairs.
I have a good feeling about Natalie Meeks being on Council, as far as this project goes. She had promised the Bahus DECADES ago that they would get back their station. She voted in favor of it on the Planning Commission in 2019. And, even though she is associated with the Chamber/Sidhu crowd, she made a great effort to convince the JL investigators that the Chamber didn’t trust her too much “because she is ethical.” Well, let’s take her at her word!
And of course it’ll be good for drivers in the Hills and Yorba Linda. I don’t know about you, but as soon as the Bahu’s get their ARCO back, I’m-a celebrate by driving the seven miles up there and…
It sounds to me like the Bahia have a slam dunk lawsuit against the shell station owner the city and Harry sidhu as well. As far as Meeks goes isn’t she the one who guided the ARTIC lobster tail of Pride?
Yes on Meeks and ARTIC. But it doesn’t mean she couldn’t make a good vote now and then.
Meeks was just a puppet of Pringle. He was the one that tried to make sure that the Measure M section T would exclude all other sites for a HSR terminal. Except that in the end ARTIC couldn’t even meet those standards. It didn’t expand the existing stop and in fact isn’t a train station at all – just an impediment to the same few hundred folks wanting to get on the Metrolink trains.
An utter $200,000,000 boondoggle. But Meeks was just the one who picked up the worthless awards handed out by the transit mafia.
Damn. Another magisterial post.
And as an interesting side note, there are two fun Fullerton Redevelopment connections I remember from my days there.
First was the protracted embarrassment of the Knowlwood corner (Harbor/Commonwealth) and the second was the devious machinations of Ajit Mithawala to get his hooks into the “City Lights” fiasco a few block east on Commonwealth.
Ajit mithaiwala was an amazing builder and developer. He loved what he did and truly cared and believed in affordable housing. Perhaps you are jealous of his great achievements and all he accomplished. He was never convicted and in this country, I believe you are innocent until proven guilty. There’s a lot of corruption in government going on and people should not believe everything they read. Unfortunately the media loves to showcase a story, but they never follow through on what exactly happened after that so you can take your criticism and shove it up your uneducated butt.
Ajit mithaiwala paid all the people in his employment very well. He hired Indians because we are Indian. And we come from background of freedom fighters. And my family has fought along side with Gandhi. So you better retract that statement or I’m going to sue you for spreading misinformation. Prove that we paid our employees badly because I can guarantee you that we did not in fact we paid them extremely well. And I can bring forth many people that will say so
I can’t stand dirty journalism.
Good article Vern.
When San Francisco and Sacramento Democrats are that corrupt, they are promoted to Washington, DC.
Not if I can help it.
And this ain’t partisan at all. One of the biggest villains is Democrat Jordan Brandman.
Don’t bother. That woman is a Yamster nut.
Excellent post. Who is this Pete Mitchell I keep seeing pop up in this drama? Is he another influence peddler?
Thanks. Most of what I know about the deplorable putz is in this story already.
As disgusting and revolting as these actions are .. there is no crime. It is the nature of the beast.
Actually, not true.
Sidhu is clearly perpetrating honest services fraud. It’s not Tammany, but it’s not legal, even if DAs ignore this kind of shit.
I wonder why you keep defending this shitbag as somehow crime-free.
First of all you spelt your own name wrong, no wonder other people do.
Also, whatever.
1. This piece is not entitled “Crimes committed in the denial of Bahu’s ARCO.”
2. Plenty of ancillary crimes are mentioned in this piece, don’t have time to catalog ’em.
3. Are you becoming a Sidhu Plea Deal Denier?
4. And it’s an ugly look, a Lucille Kring look, to say “Well it wasn’t illegal” every time you get caught doing something wrong.
The only reason I bother responding is because you wrote a good comment about Melahat on Dan’s blog this morning. Damn, that guy’s in the bag for her huh.
What about the calls for resignations due to the proposed, but not actualized, mock “practice” council meeting? As if that kind of shit is not common practice amongst legislatures everywhere. What a crock …
Well you’re fucking wrong about that being nothing, you obviously don’t know as many details as we do, and we only have Trevor’s word that it wasn’t “actualized.” But I’ll be writing a post on that too, it’s not the topic of this one.
Obviously you don’t know all the details either.
I have NEVER heard of mock hearings being held by lobbyists to tell the elected representatives what to do and say.
And what does a tin knocker know about what is “common practice” among legislators, anyhow?
Zapata sardonically said, “Yeah, that’s done in high school government classes, not in real government bodies.” (paraphrased by memory)
“…She acknowledged that she did raise issues about Zenger with [Shawn] Nelson — mainly centering on how he interacted with her staff and that she heard him using the F-word out in the hearing chambers. Bates said she asked Nelson to handle the issue or she would report Zenger to human resources.
“’Not too long after that, he was gone,’ Bates said.”
Seems you like to criticize others. I would wait before throwing stones at somebody else. Clean up your own house first.
Yup, NO CRITICIZING ANYONE ELSE if you were at one point known to cuss, Dave!
Poor bates was so senile there’s no telling what she heard, or what she thought she heard.
Anyhoo, that was a lie. She had it in for me because I refused to look the other way when the County was getting ripped off monthly by PDI at Dana Point Harbor via guaranteed payments whether any work was done or not. Dana Point was her little playground. She knew that much.
I wonder if this person is related to the Mithaiwala who scammed Fullerton and later fled the country after getting busted for fraud in LA.
Apparently. This is the passage (in this long piece) that got her exercised:
“The firm [Sidhu] pushed for the MOST was his “buddies” who owned ADI – an affordable housing developer that was already under FBI investigation for mammoth overbilling, bribing public officials, and “bringing in immigrants from India to work for them and then paying them almost nothing when they got here.” Sounds almost like human trafficking to me! The owners of ADI eventually fled the country, and I see that in 2016 a couple of them finally got arrested in Mumbai. HARRY’S “BUDDIES” that he went to bat for!”
And there was a link: https://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-ln-housing-indictment-20160205-story.html A 2016 piece that does mention this Ajit Mithaiwala as facing federal charges.
Ah! I see Jannki is also in the story, she is the daughter of Ajit, and the guy she got divorced from seems to have been the main culprit. Welcome Jannki!
I see she also commented as Jenni calling Kathleen Heard vindictive, and why does Jannki take an interest in the planned 2021 “mock council meeting” in preparation of the Angel Stadium Swindle? And why her concern with Zenger’s employment history?
How funny.
I certainly wouldn’t want to have the job of cleaning up after Ajit. He blackmailed the City of Fullerton into awarding him the deal to build the SRO on Commonwealth. Old Doc Jones had made some foolish reference to drug addicts at the next-door methadone hand out place and that was being used in a trumped up anti-discrimination lawsuit.
So Doc Donkey caved in.
BTW, someone named Jannki Mithaiwala was not only named, but was a defendant in the LA RICO case and the Glendale lawsuits.
https://www.courthousenews.com/quarter-billion-dollar-rico-scam-allegedin-l-a-glendale-housing-developments/
I wonder where she is now.
Yeah, you love talking about lawsuits. But this fact remains until you are convicted, you are not guilty but of course you seem to have a special pleasure in Making up your own facts Especially since you can’t seem to hold a job of your own, so why not bang on somebody else’ life ? Bitter perhaps Is people like you that make this country a bad place to be in. Your Failures are somehow, everyone else else’s problem, but not yours. Get a life
Great things – chestnuts – come to those who read through the whole JL Report carefully. Like:
Matt Cunningham actually HAD AN OFFICE at the Chamber of Commerce (which of course was also Jeff Flint / FSB office, Visit Anaheim, the mysterious and troubling “nonprofit” Anaheim Economic Development Corporation (also known as “THE FOUNDATION”, and who knows what else.) Doesn’t say WHAT YEARS he had an office there, but he’s been paid by them to propagandize since 2012; they did put “had” in the past tense – but now his wife runs the joint. (And is she really as flaky and dumb as she sounds when she talks to JL? It reminds me of when Walter White’s wife Skylar pretended to be a ditz to get her boss out of a jam in “Breaking Bad.”) [JL p. 297]
ALSO –
In 2010 when Mayor Curt Pringle was termed out, the Chamber spent $132k throwing a “FAREWELL PARTY FOR CURT PRINGLE” at the Galaxy (where is that?) The musical entertainment was – I’m not making this up – “THE MASTERS OF THE UNIVERSE SINGERS” which was OCBC’s Lucy Dunn and new councilwoman Kris Murray singing love songs to Curt! Jeez. I thought Kris came up with that “Masters of the Universe” phrase years later in a drunken e-mail that Adam uncovered. (It’s actually a reference to Tom Wolfe’s Wall Street corruption novel “Bonfire of the Vanities.”) [JL p. 290]
The Missus got herself hired as Bill Campbell’s Chief of Staff his final year at the County. It must have been another Parish Appointment because she had no relevant experience and knew nothing about the County or what was happening.
This was the legacy of repuglican cronyism which has now been eagerly adopted by Democrat Supervisors at the County.
Well, one, anyway, but “one” is decisive.
Meanwhile, on the subject of Pringle I could never help but wonder how many seeds he planted for later harvesting as Chair of the HSR Board and as Mayor of Anaheim.
The FBI should definitely be looking into that.
Ahem, for occasional downloaders and readers, I said: THE FBI SHOULD DEFINITELY BE LOOKING INTO THAT!
JL documents THAT pretty well actually. If you can get past all their typos, little dumb mistakes, and bonkers chronology.
I hate dirty journalism and I will and I have copied all what you have written. And yes, I am Ajit’s daughter.
If you got a write about someone then please get the facts straight first. Like I said, I’m gonna pursue this article And I have Made copies of the slanderous comments made, and I suggest you do the right thing and research before you talk. I don’t understand why people find so much pleasure in writing fiction not facts about others, but I guess this is the time We live in where people sit behind a computer and write whatever they feel like Because they have zero responsibility And no accountability nor Integrity behind their words.
II am going to report this Slander.
You have my sympathies
Go for it, Jannki.
Where are you now? Still in the US? Did the various entities suing you and you pop, etc. let you off the hook.
Where is dad these days?
You don’t have my “sympathies.”
I’m just glad she’s bringing more eyes to this under-read story of mine, which contains some of my favorite passages about Sidhu, Ament, Brandman, Edgar Hampton, and Anaheim history from 2018-22.
Jannki’s dad plays a pretty miniscule role in this Saga, but she IS drawing attention to it. I wonder if she will also threaten to sue all our sources, from the LA Times and the JL Report to court documents. Sympathies!
I can draw all the attention I want. It doesn’t bother me. I don’t know why people like to put other people down before actually knowing all the facts. It’s really a terrible world we live in. I wonder if it was your family how you would feel about it but then we always think never us always them. Dirty journalism stinks. Probably because none of you guys have ever really worked hard for anything. If you look at what’s going on today, people are being accused of shit They didn’t even do. The justice system is unfair. But who am I to change your opinion on something that you think, regardless of the facts. Facts don’t matter to you guys You all Live on gossip and drama. This is not gonna go well for you
Dad and hubby worked real hard. At ripping off the taxpayers. It’s all been well documented. But work is work, right?
I don’t very much care for your sympathies. I don’t need it. I suggest you look at your own life Before you start doing stones at others. If your issues with Self made people who make money through hard work, makes you jealous , I’m sorry that’s your problem. If only thing you have left is Writing on social media ( airing your greviences ) then I am truly sorry for you. I don’t come from a family of complainers or whiners. But you do have my sympathies for your lack of vision Probably why you’re spending all your time posting on here
I suggest you avoid returning to the States. Stay with Dad in Mumbai.
Yah! Sleazy Sidhu is gone! Long live Bahu’s Arco!
Yeah. You sound like a very vindictive woman.
If we are a little vindictive, it’s because we lived under the rule of Sidhu for three and a half years. Do you still count him as a friend, Jenni/Jannki?
I just don’t like anyone talking vindictively about anyone
Social media has done a lot more harm than good. We don’t know the truth we don’t live their lives nor do we have the right to judge anyone. America biggest downfall has been social media. I’m surprised you don’t understand the effect That it has ha. just looked at the news every day. I don’t care not have any interest, but I do not like Kathleen‘s response. It shows a complete disassociation And completely Uneducated response. I wonder how some people will respond if they would put themselves in other people shoes I doubt we even hear a squeak from them. I can’t stand hypocrisy, and I don’t like spreading misinformation nor do I find pleasure in being gleeful about Another problems. That said I’m going to pursue this article Because I Do not like people that live to slander othere just to feel better about themselves. I hope that answered your question. You will be hearing one way or another from me Or From my associates to deal with this blatant lie written about my father.
Now you have a nice day
Wow, a 4am time stamp. Night owl, or not in States?
P.S. Next time do yourself a favor and try AI.
I am very much in the United States. David zenger , you seem to have many unresolved anger issues. I suggest you seek a counselor. Don’t worry about what I’m doing. I suggest you first take a check on your own life. Your bitterness and anger is gonna be the downfall of your own life.
AI’s for dummies. Perhaps you know about it more than I do since I don’t really use it but it might help you frame your responses in a more productive way and make your responses more coherent and understandable.
I suggest you using AI to fact check your theories. Because you are starting to sound like Trump just blabbering crap out without any basis
Oh, no. Not you again. Are you a fugitive from American justice like your Dad?
You said “Dad and hubby worked real hard. At ripping off the taxpayers.”
I see our new president and collective politicians ripping off all us taxpayers daily. We pay taxes on our earned money , we pay property tax That’s incredible high. Hmm. Looks like we don’t really own anything really cause if we don’t pay they take it.
Prove your statement. If you can. Otherwise shut up. While your banging on a drum that has no relevance and
You can’t seem to connect the dots nor formulate an idea that actually is based on facts not fiction, you are not seeing what actually going on in this country. My father built affordable housing and loved the fact that he could help the people that had difficulty affording a place to live. He felt so much joy at what he did. And regardless of what anyone thinks I am very proud of all my father’s accomplishments and he built his life from hard work. I suggest you try that before tearing down somebody else. Nobody is perfect, but I see our president indicting people one after another. This is America. Being accused of crime does not make you feel guilty. You have to prove it first. And this case that you talk about has zero merit. But I think you feel better putting other people down so it makes you feel like you have some substance.
You have to earn your way in life Nowadays people like you feel better just talking shit online
Because you don’t have no accountability. And I realize that you are a partner with this orangejuiceblog website.
And Vern and you run it.
Quite insightful
Jan
It’s all been well documented. But work is work, right?
Is not for me to decide on someone else’s life or to judge anyone. I do not know the fact of the case Nor do I believe it’s my business.
People should mind their own business
People should not rip off the American taxpayer.
We are American. American people at this country is built on immigrants. So which people are you talking about? people that live in country people that pay taxes. The American taxpayer pay taxes. So which people are you talking about? I’m American citizen. As soon as my father, so why you sit there making racist accusations like calling us (people ) what do you mean by the term people? I am from Indian descent and yes, we are smart people. I’m sorry that perhaps you have Not or Do Not have the brains too make a better life for yourself. I find that people get very angry because some ethnicities have worked hard to get and achieve and earn their money. I’ve seen a lot of whining from “people” ( your choice of words ) that perceive that we smarter brown skin people have taken up jobs that your kind of “people” couldn’t possibly hold and resent us for making you look like idiots.
I’m really sorry for your inadequacies, but still that does not give you a right to smear hard-working folks that have made this country great. We are a country of immigrants here. That is what America was built on. Of course we always have those people that want to crush the others or rule others or enforce their laws against human basic rights. You have made it perfectly clear that you do not stand for equality or justice.
David zenger , I am very much here. Are you fugitive? I heard you were fired because you could not control your temper. So is this your new job to besmirch other people that don’t agree with you opinion. I believe in this country we have a right to not allow nor accept defamation and harassment and hateful speech against another person or individual whatever the case may be. Unless you can prove that you are a person that personal knowledge or have a valid fact that can be found or fact checked to somehow make some reasonable sense of this tirade against my family, which I doubt very much, then you are harrassing and attacking my family and making unjust accusations and statements which are being very cruel and disrespectful and insulting. I will hold you accountable for them
The Voice of OC reports that Isa is now suing Anaheim, for losing money due to the city’s corruption.
https://voiceofoc.org/2024/05/a-gas-station-owner-says-city-corruption-cost-him-money-now-he-is-suing-anaheim/
It woulda been nice if they’d linked to this epic of mine, pero no.
Either retract your statements about Adi or prove by facts that you have made your claims by doing your due diligence before publishing a story by showing how you came to such a conclusion that Adi
Hired People from India and didn’t pay them
Well. Because I will produce evidence to the contrary and have already spoken to many employees that are quite frankly upset by this article.
Remove David zenger as a member of your blog. As he seems to think that ( people ) that are of Indian descent are not Americans. That’s a racial and very disrespectful comment that should not be allowed nor tolerated
Or is this blog biased towards certain kinds of people that are considered American selected based on ethnicity and skin color.
I am dark skinned and both my parents are from India. I love India and I was born in America and also love this country but i am
Very proud of my Indian culture that is very rich and so
Diverse. So Many countries have come
to India to trade for spices and understand our culture.
Yoga which is now everywhere in America is from India
Jesus Christ came to India for 14 years to learn from us. That’s a fact, not a opinion
You don’t have to like us, but We all exist on this earth
I hope you remove davids racial comments And your comment on the non-factual and inaccurate statement about Adi.
That would make it right Be a good journalist and write good and accurate stories always remembering the person you write about is a person and you don’t really know nor can you judge somebody, but you can write facts and Show some integrity while you write it.
Perhaps this saying below says it best
Do not do unto others what you do not want others to do to you.
While
you sit here and accuse us of hiring Indians people for nefarious purposes. I believe the reason behind why we hired Indian people, was just that father wanted to give them a helping hand so they would not struggle like he did when he first came to the country. That’s called empathy and kindness and giving back to others He also helped many others( black, white , brown any color that were struggling but wanted to work. My dad was always ready to offer help and money or advice to anyone and . Never expected anything back. That’s what I call a great man. He was someone that I will always love and respect. A great man with a vision to help others and build affordable Housing ( which California needs now since we have so many homeless. ( and no housing is available any more and less developers are willing to deal with so many laws and regulations. ) My father also has earned his P.h.D . In structural engineering and taught at ucla as a teacher as well. He is a self made man who worked hard to earn and achieve his goals. But you guys just wanna Slander people just to make drama and have an article sound better. But yes, perhaps I am bringing more attention to this article. Just because he wanted my dad, A recommended my dad’s company to do a job doesn’t make our company a bad company to do it. My dad was a great builder and He knew how to get a job done.
David and Vern this I say to you.
My father and I are both very happy and we have integrity. David you can’t be so dumb not to know I live here in the usa? But I guess stupidity is something you cannot fix Stop spreading misinformation and lies just to make our miserable life better by putting others down.
Vern I will wait for few days for your retraction and apology.
I don’t need to use AI to formulate paragraph to converse with you. AI is for dummies they need help they can’t think for themselves. Perhaps why you suggested for me or perhaps you suggested for me because you think I am of a racial background that I speak proper English. Let me tell you, my English is probably better than your And I don’t need to use foul language to express myself. I believe grown adults should be converse. But when you have someone that is not grown and resorts using foul language That’s the big red flag that says you have not learnt how to conduct yourself nor have the skills to be able to converse in a productive way. So you resort to using foul language. Apparently, that’s the only skill that you use to get out of a situation Makes for quite a narcissistic, kind of man Probably why you have not been able to really answer any other questions so far that Comes across as intelligent or actually is a answer that is factually accurate.
I’m don’t expect you to believe me
Nor expect that my comment is really gonna move your opinion because I see often that people have a idea or perception that fixed in their mind and no amount of information or data or facts will shake the brainwashed mind that needs to keep a certain idea alive despite everything that is saying the opposite.
I hope that you have the courage to do the right thing.
Americans have enslaved black People and killed so many American Indians and took away their freedom and land.
American history shows Much slavery and inslavement of People by some white ( some not all ) people thinking They are entitled just because of some misguided perception that white skin color has got anything to do with brains. Orange juice blog. Orange County has a reputation of being very stuck on old dogmatic and outdated Updated ideas.
OK OK Jannki, since this is obviously such a big deal to you and keeps you up at night – what I wrote was “staff found Councilman Harry to have one specific, disquieting trait – tirelessly and inappropriately harassing staff to steer development contracts to FRIENDS of his. [See JL p. 108.] The firm he pushed for the MOST was his “buddies” who owned ADI – an affordable housing developer that was already under FBI investigation for mammoth overbilling, bribing public officials, and “bringing in immigrants from India to work for them and then paying them almost nothing when they got here.””
My source for that stuff was the JL report, and I gave the page number. The JL report was an Anaheim-commissioned corruption report performed by two attorneys and former policemen under the direction of a retired judge. We paid $1.5 million for it. You can see it here: https://www.anaheim.net/DocumentCenter/View/50673/Anaheim-redacted-independent-investigation-report-update-notice-8-3-23?bidId=
These three paragraphs are on page 108 of the PDF (actually what’s marked as page 107 in the report) –
““Stipkovitch stated that Sidhu was friendly with the owners of ADI, but she never heard what the final result was with the FBI because the owners had fled the country. Stipkovitch stated that they were told by the FBI that ADI was falsifying documents and charging for products and labor that were never used on those projects in question. She explained that part of the FBI investigation also involved the bribing of public officials and bringing in immigrants from India to work for them and then paying them almost nothing once they got here.”
So, who is this “Stipkovitch” that JL is getting their ADI info from?
Well, on p. 104 (or 103) it says Lisa Stipkovitch was Anaheim’s Community Development director, prior to John Woodhead, while Harry was a councilman pursuing the interests of your dad’s company. I’ll do this much for you – I will add “according to the JL Group’s interview with Lisa Stipkovitch.”
Now calm down and move on. Neither I nor David are racists and I’m not “removing him from my blog.”