Who can forget the cognitive dissonance this whole county felt a couple years ago when it was revealed that Matt “Jubal” Cunningham, the righteous “Christian conservative” defender of “traditional marriage” from the pollutant of gay equality, the recklessly unquestioning champion of pederast-enabling Catholic clergy, had taken a few thousand dollars from the owners of famed OC strip clubs “California Girls“ to help them overcome police objections to a new location in Orange?
In that case, he was defending the putatively “conservative” value of the strip club owners’ property rights, to do whatever they wanted, for profit, with what’s theirs. But this year, when the all-nude “Taboo Gentlemen’s Club“‘s interest is in opposition to the property rights of a nearby building owner who wants to sell to the county for a desperately needed full-time homeless shelter, Matt is making the exact opposite, NIMBY, public nuisance arguments.
Again with the “stunning moral flexibility.”
I haven’t been to the Taboo Gentlemen’s Club at 3025 East La Mesa in Anaheim, right around the corner from the proposed “Kraemer site,” but judging by the Yelp! reviews, SOME guys think it’s the bomb:
“I can’t say enough how much I love this place. Literally the best girls on earth or at least in Orange County or at least in a strip club after midnight.
Really main reason I love this place is cuz I have had the ability to get lucky on several occasions due to my amazing looks, charm, and ability to take a girl out to dinner and pay for it. You should definitely check it out…”
“…Good-looking girls, very sweet. The lap dance booths were very spacious and very private. The lap dances were fairly inexpensive and the songs were “long”. The special was one lapdance for $20, three for $40.“
And others are, eh, not so much:
“Every fifteen minutes terrified customers are subjected to another fearsome minotaur. These bull-headed horrors rustle their knotted manes and stamp their cloven hooves to som erratic unheard music. I don’t know if I’m alive or dead or both. Or neither…”
“Depending on the night, the women could be really hot or inbred ugly….”
“Cover is 10 bucks and they force you to be at least one drink for 6.50 (non-alcholic to boot). The club advertises full nude…however that’s only when the girl is on stage. Private dances are not so private. They consist of a boot[h] and thin transparent curtain in which everyone can see. Private dances cost 20 bucks and they girls dont go nude or topless which is a major rip off!“
“…I bought me and my boyfriend a lap dance from one of the prettiest girls there and the only thing that I didn’t like is when i stepped out so she can give him a more private dance n my boyfriend returned and told me she took his private part out and licked it. He let her touch cuz he didnt think she would really do anything but it gave him asco (spanish for heebie jeebies) that it made him dry heave cuz he thought of how many others she’s probably done that to.. lol”
But apparently to Taboo (as well as other nearby businesses like Piano Empire and Walter’s Electronics) the proximity of a 24-7 all-year 200-bed homeless shelter would be a major cock-blockage, a depressing and menacing death-knell to their heretofore thriving enterprises.
Likewise, once the homeowners on the other side of the freeway caught wind of this development a mere mile away from their neighborhood, they took up a hue and cry as though a platoon of meth-addled Freddie Kruegers was on the verge of staggering across the 91 and the riverbed, and fondling their children.
Into this inviting breech stepped, predictably, Matthew “Blogging doesn’t pay the bills” Cunningham – at first anonymously, just like the way he began his scabrous, Chamber-funded AnaheimBlog three years ago; then unmasked by our own Ricardo Toro.
Just the guy for the job too: Always needing extra cash; living not far away in Orange; nursing a grudge against Kraemer site mastermind Todd Spitzer who had removed him as Parks commissioner over his nauseating Teddy Bear prank; but above all a past master at stoking public fear and loathing of (relatively) powerless minorities – from gays who want to marry, to Latinos and others living in gang neighborhoods, to OC Democrats and liberals in general – demonizing the homeless would be child’s play for Matt Cunningham!
So in rapid order we had the “Orange-Riverdale Homeowners Alliance“ organizing events to share scare stories and tactics, the website/blog Better Solutions 4 Anaheim; and the associated Facebook page (which unavoidably attracts a lot of hostile comments from good people.)
And we saw the Aug 5 “townhall” event at the local Embassy Suites, where local residents and politicians could take turns amplifying each other’s fears and trade gross-out anecdotes. (video below by Lou Noble)
And we saw article after article confirming that indeed the typical beneficiary of a shelter would be a disgusting and ungrateful menace to the society around him. And collections of “man on the street” comments like the following gems, written in the high literary style of a Taboo Yelp! reviewer:
“This shelter will attract bad people into the neighboring neighborhoods. Which will drive good people away from this great established area.”
“This proposal is not in the best interest of Anaheim which already has its share of criminal felons, child molesters, and gang violence.. The homeless shelter needs to be placed near wide open areas of the dessert [sic] communities such as east corona away from neighborhoods.”
“Our new bldg will be right by it and will be real bad for us and other businesses. Will see a huge increase in theft, graffiti, drunkards. Also it will bring the property values down in that area as well. Bad bad idea Todd Spitzer. I hear about all the bad, corrupt things you do on KFI.”
And we saw flyers like the following disseminated to the community, a picture of Aqualung being worth a thousand words:
***
Matt Cunningham: An Enigma Wrapped in a Scorched Teddy Bear.
Pity the reader who takes any of Matthew Cunningham’s arguments seriously, if such a person exists, for they must accommodate themselves to dizzying contradictions with alarming regularity:
They must explain to themselves a self-professed “Christian” whose guiding principle is to afflict the afflicted, whether lampooning the grieving rituals of bereaved Latinos, salivating over the prospect of using the transgendered against Democratic politicians, or helping to ensure that homeless men, women and children continue to have no place to lay their heads.
They must explain to themselves the spectacle of a Republican blogger describing himself as “conservative” and railing day and night against “liberal” government excess on his old “Red County” blog, while secretly spending his days pulling in tens of thousands distributing toothbrushes and monitoring media for a big liberal government program – First Five – so disorganized and wasteful that its own founder, Rob Reiner, eventually turned against it.
Again with the “stunning moral flexibility.”
They must explain to themselves a supposed arbiter of conservatism in this county who uses the mantra of “property rights” as a litmus test judging the conservatism of others … while he himself supports property rights when convenient (when being paid by the owners of California Girls or Orange Park Acres) and finds pretexts to OPPOSE them when convenient (when being paid by NIMBYs against homeless shelters or the Ball Basin Power Plant.)
SEGUE ALERT: We are now going to spend a little time discussing assembly candidate Deborah Pauly, and the 2011-12 development attempts in Orange Park Acres, before we get back to our main homeless shelter topic. Think of it as a slow movement, or perhaps scherzo, in a symphony.
Punching Pauly on Property Rights
Sidhu as depicted by the late great “Friends For Fullerton’s Future.”
Cunningham’s horse in the race for termed-out Don Wagner’s assembly seat, his klepto teammate whose praises he sings on his Chamber-funded AnaheimBlog, is the hapless but wealthy assclown Harry Sidhu. Thus, Matt must find ways to bash Harry’s firebrand true-conservative opponent Deborah Pauly, and his favored line of attack thus far is to claim she’s no real “conservative,” because in Orange Park Acres a few years ago, she fought against a developer’s “property rights.”
There’s something personal there too: Cunningham was working as a “consultant” for those developers whose property rights – or right to build condos on Orange’s last remaining open space, in defiance of Orange’s general plan – Deborah and many others of us SUCCESSFULLY thwarted. (What we did see Matt and his wife do as “consultants” was help supporters of the developer find seats in Orange council meetings, and hand them talking points.)
Very uncharitable friends of mine have argued that Matt’s “conservative” principles seem to hinge on who is paying him, and ask what’s the difference between Pauly’s opposition to the OPA developers and Matt’s NIMBY opposition to property rights in the Kraemer and Ball Basin cases? (Beside the obvious fact that Deb’s not being paid by anybody and seems to do what she actually believes is right?)
And Matt responds that the big difference is that Debbie when defending Orange’s last remaining open space *gasp* made common cause with environmentalists and liberals. (It’s true! She fought alongside my friends Gus Ayer and Theresa Sears, as did MANY disgusted Orange Republicans.) Guilt by association – another arrow in Matt’s quiver that he never tires of, just as he never tires of saying “This came over the transom.” Is anybody really that stupid, closed-minded and hateful that that sort of argument still works with them?
Anyway, I asked Debbie why she “opposed the property rights” of the Orange Park Acres developers, and as usual she had PLENTY to say:
“Oh, brother. This wasn’t a matter of private property rights, unless you’re talking about the property rights of neighboring residents who will be impacted by these high density developments. I do not have a problem with property owners developing their land to its best, most profitable use. What I do have a problem with is a developer who purchases a piece of property that is zoned one way and then ‘purchases’ a city council majority – with hefty campaign contributions or independent expenditure campaign mailers to get their surrogates elected.
“And then that council proceeds to do the developer’s bidding, and rezone the property to allow for the desired development, usually without regard for the long-time neighboring property owners and residents. These neighbors purchased their property with an understanding of what the surrounding zoning allowed. Changing the rules in this fashion affects THEIR property values.”
… sounding a lot like a politician *I* would vote for, if I were sure she’d knocked off HER bashing of minorities for good.
There’s a lot more to be said about the Orange Park Acres goings on, how it connects with Matt’s removal from the Orange Planning Commission in early 2011, how it led to a completely inappropriate amicus brief being filed by Anaheim City Attorney Michael Houston as a special favor to his former law partner Orange Councilman (and current OC GOP head) Fred Whitaker, and I hope Cynthia is going to write all about it soon. But for now we’d better get back to our topic of the day, OC homeless shelter sites:
The Karcher-Kraemer Kabuki of the Kleptocrats.
Up till now, all confusion expressed in this story has been feigned and disingenuous, as in “What can Cunningham possibly have been thinking?” when we all know he just does what he’s paid to do. But THIS is real: ALL of us did a double-take and scratched our heads when it was revealed that Cunningham was doing his best to sabotage the Kraemer homeless shelter location. Because, to all appearances, he was acting in defiance of a group of people he’s been in lockstep with, and paid by, for at least three years.
That’s the klique we call the Kleptocracy, klustered around uber-lobbyist Kurt Pringle, his loyal Anaheim Chamber of Commerce, his OCBC, his OC Tax Association, his paid propagandist Matt Cunningham at AnaheimBlog, and his three-member Council majority of Murray, Brandman and Kring, between any of whom there is NEVER daylight.
When this council majority voted enthusiastically to approve the Kraemer site, Mayor Pro-Tem Kris Murray gave what seemed like a very heartfelt speech on the virtues of kindness and taking care of our less fortunate neighbors, which many considered her finest moment. Homeless advocates in attendance (most of whom probably hadn’t been paying attention to her for long) hailed her as a heroine.
Meanwhile her perpetual ally Cunningham was sabotaging everything she was purporting to do. Was this really a rare schism in the Klepto ranks? Was Kris that good of an actress, or was she a dupe, out of the loop? Or did the Klepto plans actually change that quickly?
Cynical observers, who generally turn out to be correct with these folks, remind us that Anaheim had ALREADY purchased a property for a shelter, much closer to the center of town where the homeless actually do hang out – this, originally belonging to Carl’s Jr. founder Carl Karcher, is known as the “Karcher property,” and is located not far from NIMBYs much more powerful and well-connected than the ones near Kraemer. (Cynthia, who also lives nearby, was a rare enthusiastic backer of this site and wrote a piece about it back in April called “YES in My Back Yard.”)
And these cynical observers have reason to believe that another use – a more profitable use for certain well-connected investors – had been quietly found for the Karcher site, and that the only purpose of the suddenly exciting Kraemer site was to distract attention from the Karcher site. And, on observing Cunningham apparently having permission to make money on the side sabotaging the Kraemer site, they are putting their smart money on NEITHER site actually happening, Kris Murray’s pretty rhetoric notwithstanding. Demoralizing all around.
I listen to Chris Vance, and to North OC’s Homeless themselves.
The other day Chris Vance, owner of Piano Empire which is across the street from the proposed Kraemer site, Vance who has become one of the site’s most outspoken opponents, found it worthwhile to talk to me for a pretty long time. “You run a blog – you could SAVE my store!” he exclaimed with startling faith. He might even have a job for me, he said, demonstrating pianos.
Mostly he wanted me to know, and believe, and tell you, that, despite what many say, he is a really nice guy, who on several occasions in his life has tried to help homeless people. But he has learned through observation that most of them PREFER to be homeless. And this is partly because homelessness is made so comfortable for them. Free food everywhere, and a 24-7 shelter would even make things worse, MORE tempting. “Do you know how many homeless people, statistically, are EVER going to pull themselves up from homelessness?” he asks, pausing for effect … “ONE TO TWO PERCENT.” That is NOT true.
The first politician he considers blaming for the Kraemer location is Anaheim Mayor Tom Tait, whom he suspects of profiting off it somehow, when in actuality he had nothing to do with it, having recused himself from all votes and discussions on the subject. “You really DO listen to Cunningham, don’t you?” I asked him, explaining “Matt blames EVERYTHING on the Mayor, but this seems to be more the doing of the Mayor’s enemies.” “Well, I’m not too happy with ANY politicians right now,” Chris allows.
A shelter across the street is going to kill his business slowly and painfully, he is sure of it. He explains that most of his customers are Asian – Korean, Chinese – who live in great concentrations near that area and love to force the piano on their kids (my words not his.) These ARE his words: Asians are particularly uncomfortable around the homeless. That immediately puts me in mind of how Asian distaste for dead people – even heroic dead American soldiers – in their feng shui – is inspiring them to fight tooth and nail against the OC Veterans Cemetery in Irvine. Gentle readers, is there a Politically Correct way in which I can be very irritated at a huge ethnic swath of humanity for THEIR prejudice and intolerance? Please advise.
My friend Eileen Pheland, author of “The Brighter Side of Homelessness”
Meanwhile, I have breakfast every Sunday with several dozen homeless folks from Fullerton, Anaheim, and thereabouts, after playing piano for them at the Fullerton church I work at. Typical overheard conversation is “I hear John’s in jail now. Three tickets.” What kind of tickets do the homeless get? “Sleeping tickets, panhandling tickets, jaywalking tickets, loitering tickets.” You go to the homeless judge, tell them you can’t pay, they let you go. But the police get points, the more useless stupid tickets they give to the homeless.
OJ friends Lou Noble and Roussan Joshua Collins have been filming police harassment of the homeless in Anaheim parks. The cops are not supposed to confiscate their belongings if they have them on them, but they do anyway, they’ll take a backpack right off of you and you’re lucky if you ever get it back.
Sunday mornings at Orangethorpe United
Of course the Karcher site makes better sense than the Kraemer one, being in the populated center of town where the homeless already are and feel comfortable. Still, everyone I talk to prefers the Kraemer site to NOTHING. “We can get down there no problem – straight down La Palma, we have bus passes.” What they need even more than a place to sleep is a place to shower and change, and keep their stuff without it being stolen by cops or other homeless people.
Sure, about half of them have alcohol and drug problems, and have mixed feelings about utilizing a shelter where those vices aren’t allowed. So what. Half of them don’t. And the ones who do can still control themselves long enough to get in an occasional shower shit and shave. Sure a lot of them are mentally ill. But Lou Noble tells me that often that is the RESULT, not the cause, of long-term homelessness.
We Need It All and More.
So, if these “Masters of the Universe,” as Kris Murray half-jokingly calls her gang, are gonna be fucking with us, playing shell games, I say let’s fight for all of it – the Kraemer site AND the Karcher site. And the temporary modular units that David Zenger suggests. And the other four supervisorial districts of the OC need to do their share too. And meanwhile the always-constructive Ricardo Toro suggests:
Ricardo (on left)
“An alternative temporary site, before El Niño arrives, could be in the land next to the Honda auto center in Ball, where the Power Plant was going to be located. It is not that close to residences. Homeless are already in the river anyway. Build it with Zenger’s temporary modular units. This also could be presented as a compromise as the big single shelter is causing so much negative reaction.
“Smaller shelters could be set up throughout the county to diffuse the reaction and it would be better for the homeless population countywide. It could start with two shelters, one in Anaheim in a better location, and Ball is a better location. The second shelter could be the OCTA Santa Ana bus terminal.”
Well, that’s my story, and it’s called “Taboo Jubal.” It rolls off the tongue. And for some reason, along with all this talk of pianos, it makes me feel like hearing Ahmad Jamal. Particularly his irresistible rendition of “Poinciana.” So hit play, enjoy, and think on these things. Peace out.
Matt lives directly across from the proposed homeless shelter in Anaheim across the river from Riverdale.
Well all I could say is that it doesn’t matter where the first city shelter opens
as long as it soon.
The more we wait the worse the homeless problem will become
Chronic homelessness is harder to rehabilitate do to the fact that the longer their homeless the likely they will become mentally ill.
Every year that passes more homeless people will fall victims of Chronic homelessness. Shelters will only help most of them get back on their feet and prevent them from falling into mental illness.
Now if the communities keep opposing the shelters then only the communities will be to blame for a worse homeless problem that we will be facing and the city officials will wash their hands just like Pontius Pilate in the bible.
“Well all I could say is that it doesn’t matter where the first city shelter opens
as long as it soon.”
Don’t you see the inherent contradiction here? The Kramer site won’t help a soul for the better part of least two years, even if it is purchased.
The Karcher site could be up and running in three months from the next Anaheim City Council meeting – in time for the winter rains and cold.
And if it’s primarily the elements that we’re worried about, ARTIC is up right now. Anaheim’s Council should void any loitering ordinances (or whatever they plan to us) for ARTIC during inclement (hot or cold as well as rainy) weather.
The Karcher site is that the one by La Palma park ? I need more info on that shelter David. I moved and being in Anaheim for almost three years and it wasn’t till I meet Josh Collins that I started witnessing the harassment of the homeless by cops kicking them off the parks and alleys and no city shelters ?.
it only makes common sense that if shelters or safe zones would open for the homeless not only would they get off the streets but also have a place to shower and keep their belongings and for some of them they would be able to get back on their feet and find work.
It has already being proven effective and has actually save tax dollars and has decrease homelessness in other states and counties. The solutions are plain and simple if only the people didn’t have the misconceptions just because a few bad apples. We all know that there’s bad apples in every coulture right.
I have meet many good homeless people like veterans, elderly, teens who just want a helping hand to get back on their feet. Many situations why many become homeless. No one want’s to be homeless is not easy specially after a few months.
Lou, the Karcher site is basically flat, undeveloped land – 3 acres! – that the Anaheim City Council bought for a homeless shelter in March 2014. The City paid to have utilities run up to the property line. By the end of the year at least one councilmember had changed his/her mind and the site was suddenly off the table. That’s when they had to cook up another plan, pronto.
The story goes that too many important “Colony” people complained. Well, I’m sure they did. But those folk, as Cynthia can attest, are easily manipulated by PringleCorp – they will drool on command, like Pavlov’s dogs.
So the Karcher site sits there empty and weed-filled, a $3,000,000 indictment of the way Anaheim’s kleptocracy is run through, but not by City Hall.
Poor Joob. It seems to be his lot in life to give lap dances to strip club owners.
“Every fifteen minutes terrified customers are subjected to another fearsome minotaur. These bull-headed horrors rustle their knotted manes and stamp their cloven hooves to some erratic unheard music. I don’t know if I’m alive or dead or both. Or neither…”
BTW, I think you need to find this individual and sign him up to do OJB posts.
So to summarize, Matt Cunningham, when he is not outing sex abuse victims, is a hypocritical douchebag-for-hire who will chirp on behalf of anyone waving even a little money his way and this comes as exactly no surprise to anyone, neither the people who pay him to do what he does nor the people who despise him for it.
Was that so hard?
But the details, the details. That’s where the dark fascination lies.
If he did not exist we would have to invent him.
“Oh, brother. This wasn’t a matter of private property rights, unless you’re talking about the property rights of neighboring residents who will be impacted by these high density developments. ”
Because how awful to have those “high density” ONE ACRE lots built next to one’s property.
Please Please Vern no more plugs for Crazy Deb. Many someday soon there will be at least one normal candidate in the 68th.
“the “Karcher property,” and is located not far from NIMBYs much more powerful and well-connected than the ones near Kraemer.”
One potential (and likely NIMBY) at Karcher – and that is Karcher. Their HQ would be next door and the Harbor frontage property would be affected, too. GOALS Academy, too maybe. The other surrounding uses include a trade college and a bunch of institutional and some sort of philanthropic uses on Karcher Way.
So why should the interests near Karcher be free from the censure leveled at the Rio Vista folks? Especially Karcher. When they did their new tract map back in 2012, part of the agreement indicated the intention of a “government entity” to purchase one of the new parcels. What was that supposed to be for?
The City went to a lot of trouble to buy a site for a homeless shelter. My guess is the pringle crew didn’t realize the plum that was being dedicated and threw a wrench in the works.
I started thinking this as soon a word got out (basically via Fullerton, not Anaheim, BTW) that the property had been purchased. Joobal did a very weird post about 16 month ago criticizing CATER for not objecting to the very un-transparent way the property was purchased, casually ignoring the fact that at least two of his beloved kleptocrats must have agreed to buy the property for a shelter.
http://www.anaheimblog.net/2014/04/25/where-are-the-watchdogs/
“Negotiations” with the County dragged on ’til the end of 2014 at which time they were dropped by the County because Anaheim had changed its collective mind about the site.
It was just about this time that somebody found the Kraemer Place site and presented it to Spitzer as a solution to the Anaheim embarrassment.
So in about six months the Anaheim council effectively decided that its $3,112,500 purchase was a complete waste of money – an embarrassment for most of us making an “investment” but not Anaheim, where the council can upzone its own property and sell it at a profit. They can also give away the property to an affordable housing outfit if that outfit hires the right lobbyist.
in downtown los angeles, around sixth and alameda, apparently the cops come by each morning and remove the homeless and then was the street of urine, feces and related incidentals so as to allow business owners to carry on commerce and then, around six thirty, when the white people have left, allow the homeless to come back to the area, reset their tents and conduct their evening business. seems like a fairly reasonable compromise and, as people drive to the trendy eateries around that area, allow for some great entertainment.
as to matts alleged hypocrisy, why do you condemn such an enterprising young man. greg, you especially as an attorney, should be impressed with matts ability to reflect upon, and support, each side of an argument with conviction and passion. I think that you are overlooking his good qualities
This was posted in his website, in the Recent Comments section:
◾”Taboo Jubal: Does Cunningham have a new Strip Club client? (Also, Pauly, homeless shelters & property rights!) | Orange Juice Blog on Local Voices Speak Out On Kraemer Homeless Shelter”
The average resident does not know or care about Matt. The questions still not addressed about the shelter explain the large meeting at the Embassy and the increasing presence of residents at the council meetings.
A new website run by some business owners has been set up:
http://www.canyonbiz.com/
“Canyon Businesses are concerned about the effect a LARGE homeless shelter will have on the perception of Anaheim’s Vision of the “Center for Advanced Technology”. It is encouraging to recently see “Aerospace” return to the new buildings under construction in the “Canyon”
Alternate Site
Mayor Tait and Anaheim City Council have already spend $3 million dollars of taxpayer’s money to purchase a 3 acre site on lemon street (Referred to as the ‘Karcher Site”.)
Purchased specifically for the purpose of a Homeless Shelter.
Utilities have already been installed. Site is ready to use.
Using attractive, contemporary, portable buildings, The homeless shelter could be open within months for a fraction of the cost of the 1000 Kraemer Place site.
The site is ready to go and offers:
•Better location.
•Less cost.
•Closer to the homeless.
•Ready to open in a fraction of the time.
•Property quickly ready for profitable reuse in the future when a better solution is found. (such as small shelters serving the homeless where they currently live.)
While we disagree with the concept of LARGE homeless shelters, if the Anaheim City Council is intent on having one, then the Karcher site is the clear and obvious BEST choice.
(Unless there is some secret reason the public doesn’t know about. (Time will tell, as it always does.)
We will keep watching and reporting.”
Good to see that they understand the advantages of the site on Karcher Way (not Lemon St.).
Hi All,
I would like to have the all year shelter opened so homeless people would have a place to rest right away. They wouldn’t have to be put on a long waiting list and never get into other shelters.
If non-homeless people don’t want it too bad. We don’t run their lives-to me, they shouldn’t have a legal right to say where , how, or when a homeless shelter can be built. They need to give the homeless people more respect, help them with money and food if possible and treat them like human beings! God sees it all!
“…they shouldn’t have a legal right to say where , how, or when a homeless shelter can be built.”
They don’t.
No shelter will be available “right away.” But the one on Kramer Place wouldn’t be open until sometime in 2017.
This e-mail is to ensure you are aware of the upcoming Community Forum.
The County of Orange will conduct a Community Forum on September 30, 2015. The Kraemer Community Forum will be held at Eastside Christian Church located at 3330 East Miraloma Avenue, Anaheim, CA 92806 beginning at 5:30 p.m. The Community Forum is open to the public and will be structured to give residents, businesses and other interested stakeholders the opportunity to receive additional details on the County’s best practice shelter plan, which includes operational and management guidelines as well as public safety and security strategies. After a panel presentation, the public will be invited to submit comments and ask questions.
On June 2, 2015, the Orange County Board of Supervisors approved a purchase and sale agreement for 1000 N. Kraemer Place, Anaheim. The action began a due-diligence process, including environmental site assessments, and structural and physical inspections. The California Environmental Quality Act review process was also initiated. Community Forums are also a component of the due diligence process.
This is the second Community Forum regarding this project. A panel will present an Operations Plan and Public Safety Plan in consultation with Anaheim Police Department, Orange Police Department, Fullerton Police Department and Placentia Police Department that identifies best practices in the operation of a homeless service center and shelter. The Operations and Public Safety Plan are scheduled to be presented by representatives from the Commission to End Homelessness and the Anaheim Police Department, respectively.
Kraemer Community Forum
September 30, 2015 @ 5:30 pm
Eastside Christian Church
3330 East Miraloma Avenue
Anaheim, CA 92806
No vote(s) or formal action will be taken at this meeting. Any future change in use of the Kraemer site would require approval of the Orange County Board of Supervisors at a publically noticed meeting open to the public. This vote would occur after the conclusion of the County’s due diligence process, which at this point is anticipated to occur in November 2015.
For more information please visit the project webpage at: http://occommunityservices.org/hcd/homeless/kraemer/
To sign up to be included on the project interest list or submit written comments, please email 1000NKraemer@occr.ocgov.com or call (714) 480-2998.
I hope the Operations and Public Safety plans will be available to the public before the forum, to ask educated questions and move the process forward.
I hope so, too. However these things generally take the form of “we talk, you listen. We are the experts (not that we’ve ever really accomplished anything but we’ve spent so much time talking among ourselves we MUST have learned something).”
Blast from the past – ran into Chris Vance again. You may have noticed that he closed down his Piano Empire (which was visible from the 91) when he gave up fighting against homeless shelters in the area (they ended up building two – the Kramer and La Mesa.)
Turns out he moved his Piano Empire into “The Village at Orange”, an inside mall on Tustin St. Well, that mall is closing down now, and Chris is moving his shop to a smaller location in Westminster. (What is a good word for a slightly smaller and less grandiose “Empire” that is still pretty cool?)
I ran into Chris this week when I was helping some Anaheim hoteliers find a baby grand for their place. So I didn’t help him keep homeless shelters out of east Anaheim, but at least I got him a five-figure sale!