nextgen-land-use

There’s so much land to use…and Jennifer Fitzgerald will help you to use it!


Do you know what Fullerton Mayor Jennifer Fitzgerald is doing today? Advising developers about how to get their projects built. Tuesday, October 18, The Building Industry Association of Orange County (who have given Jennifer Fitzgerald’s reelection campaign $ 3,000.00) will offer a workshop about the “Politics of Land Use.” For $ 55, $ 35 for BIA members, prospective developers can listen to a panel of notorious government influencers consisting of:

“Curt Pringle, Curt Pringle and Associates; Former Mayor of Anaheim” and Former CA State Assembly Speaker, now head of one of Orange County’s most influential “public relations” firms, that boasts of, among other things, providing “government affairs” and “land use” services

“Jennifer Fitzgerald, Vice President, Curt Pringle and Associates; Mayor Fullerton” (note that Jennifer Fitzgerald claims to be an independent contractor, but everyone else, including Curt Pringle & Associates’ website calls her a VP in the company). What does she do there? We don’t know, because she won’t release a list of clients so the public would be able to tell for themselves whether or not she has any conflicts of interest between her paid work and her position on the Fullerton City Council.

“David Ellis, Principal, Delta Partners,” a political consultant who once used his position on the Board of the Orange County Fairgrounds to try to sell the property out from under the taxpayers. For more information about him, read Vern Nelson’s excoriating masterpiece on the Orange Juice Blog.

Perhaps it’s supposed to be a self-deferencial joke, but titling the workshop “Sense of Entitlement” isn’t very funny to those of us not amused by the explosive proliferation of high density housing/tiny amount of retail developments going up all over town.

Here is the official description of it:

“The first workshop, Sense of Entitlement, is intended to provide the audience with practical advice regarding interacting with decision makers and stakeholders through the development approval process. Panelists will discuss strategy to address the numerous and conflicting demands of government officials and community stakeholders whose interests always go beyond meeting the technical and legal requirements to develop land.”

In other words, how to “interact with decision makers,” like Jennifer Fitzgerald herself, and “stakeholders,” like you, who might take exception to having their communities turned into mini-Manhattans before their eyes.

Here are some other details meant to entice developers into attending…

“Questions to be Addressed Include:

  • How should stakeholders or government officials be approached when discussing a proposed project?
  • What are elected and appointed officials watching for at a public hearing?
  • As a real estate professional, how active should we be in local government?”

So, if you are a developer and want to know how to “approach” and “engage” the elected officials entrusted by voters to approve projects, learn from one of them herself, Jennifer Fitzgerald. If you are a stakeholder, you’ll just have to wait until Jennifer Fitzgerald and the BIA get around to holding a workshop for you.

 

Thanks for Sean Paden for first writing about this event on Facebook (where you can “Like” The Fullerton Rag’s page!).