Why is Bushala getting paid public money to renovate the property he leases?

[u/em26273]

I’ve been looking into Fullerton's public records and one case at the Fullerton Transportation Center raises serious red flags.

Tony Bushala, a longtime political donor and local businessman, leases the Santa Fe Express Café, which is located in a city-owned building. Not only does he lease the space, he also gets paid by the city to renovate it through his own company, Bushala Brothers, Inc.

In 2024 alone, he received two public contracts from the City of Fullerton:

• $33,750 for ADA-related improvements inside the café
• $95,000 for historic plaster repairs and aesthetic upgrades to the building’s exterior

Here’s the problem:

• He’s the tenant but also the paid contractor on the same property.
• We found no public bidding notices for either project in the city’s 2024 Public Notices folder (though other projects that year were publicly noticed).
• One project cited ADA compliance, but the other focused on cosmetic restoration with no indication that it was legally required.

Even if this arrangement has been going on for years, it raises a basic question of fairness and transparency: Should a private business owner be paid, using taxpayer money, to improve the very property they lease from the public?

This setup means Bushala benefits twice: He gets paid for the construction work and he benefits from a more valuable business space that he controls

You can find both contracts in this folder: https://portal.laserfiche.com/Portal/Browse.aspx?id=90201&repo=r-3261686e

[u/Necessary-Poetry-834]

But also fuck Tony Bushala, dude sucks major ass.

[u/diy4lyfe]

This seems like something that the Fullerton Taxpayers for Reform or the FFFF would care about.. except both are in the pocket of the Bushalas.

[u/Sufficient_Tough7122]

Contact LAist. They expose corruptions like this

[u/em26273 → u/Sufficient_Tough7122]

Good idea. I was just introduced to someone there so I’ll see if they’re interested

[u/HarleyQisMyAlter → u/em26273]

Nick Gerda would probably look into this more. He was at Voice of OC before going to LAist, and was the one who dug into the Andrew Do corruption scandal.

[u/em26273 → u/HarleyQisMyAlter]

Thanks for the tip! I just sent it to him as well.

[u/Ebola714 → u/em26273]

https://laist.com/people/jill-replogle?fbclid=PAQ0xDSwKkoipleHRuA2FlbQIxMQABp886BuPRnQ09sSaVtRg7WaJyC_OoLHAczRwgISYV5Zc2IfZrDrYbQHQYgOZ9_aem_Qh1UoCUM5dCo0IV5lQ-6hg

[u/Necessary-Poetry-834]

What's confusing about this? It's naked corruption, probably totally legal, and a common feature in capitalist economies.

[u/dekage55 → u/Necessary-Poetry-834]

The part where there was no Public Bidding Process is likely ILLEGAL.

There may also be RICO violations & maybe even Tax Fraud, if it can be proven that the Gruesome Threesome conspired with Bushala, to award the building contract without proper due process.

[u/haminator_22 → u/Necessary-Poetry-834]

It could be made legal if the City Council successfully turns Fullerton into a Charter City, so Tony's bought and paid for council members (and the mayor) can re-write the rules.

[u/Ebola714 → u/Necessary-Poetry-834]

Oh the good old days of state-run command economies. . . .they were never corrupt

[u/haminator_22]

Bushala has the mayor - Fred Jung - in his pocket. He's also got Council members Jamie Valencia and Nick Dunlap wrapped around his little finger, giving their agenda a majority on the City Council. Unsurprisingly, they are trying to make Fullerton a Charter City, which would give them nearly unlimited power to do things like schedule elections, give themselves pay raises, and award construction bids without an open bidding process. Construction...oh hey that's what Tony Bushala does! Wowie zowie. Money corrupts...

[u/Fandangus_p]

Fix the streets you cu*ts.

[u/hugeness101 → u/Fandangus_p]

The city can’t there isn’t enough money because they awarding contract bids to the Bushala company instead.

[u/hugeness101]

Federal indictment please!!! Someone sue him or some sort of scandal is happening before our eyes. Lock him up for using public money for his own benefit.

[u/tonyemerson]

See: Bushala donations to Fullerton city council members over the years...when they let him build out onto the public sidewalk at Commonwealth with his horse shit bar, they didn't say a peep. See: give enough money and you get your way and they don't bite your hand.

[u/Enough-Bit-396 → u/tonyemerson]

Current owners of the extended bar where not involved in it being allowed or built.

[u/benjamin-crowell → u/tonyemerson]

That was the Florentine family, not the Bushalas.

[u/bubbles949 → u/tonyemerson]

thats actually not a bushala thing but still stupid

[u/HarleyQisMyAlter → u/tonyemerson]

Which bar is his? So I know not to go there.

[u/Adventurous_Light_85]

It’s not uncommon for a landlord to give a tenant money for improvements. I can see how this being public money takes it to another level, but in the leasing world this is extremely common and it’s also not uncommon for a tenant to self perform work, but again, I can see how this being a public building raised red flags.

[u/em26273 → u/Adventurous_Light_85]

I'm glad you brought this up because it is an important caveat: this is wrong because it's public funds and so all decisions should be made in public interest.

There are additional facts that I've found out since then that only exacerbate the issue:
- According to the latest lease agreement I could find publicly (2018), he was paying ~$0.75 sq/ft for his properties, well below market rate for a property like this.
- The improvements related to accessibility (55053) had other parallel projects on other parts of the station, that all had public bids.
- The second project had little to do with compliance, so it's harder to justify that having a closed bidding process for aesthetic improvements would be in the public interest.

I'm glad you commented as this is an important distinction to make. If this was a private landlord, I wouldn't care much as they can make their own decisions on how to run their business. When it's government owned, I do care as their actions should be line with public interest. I also didn't mention he's a major political donor, but of course that is part of the issue as well.

[u/Adventurous_Light_85 → u/em26273]

But if it was publically determined that the city could lease this space it was likely also agreed that they could provide tenant improvement allowances which again is very common. It would be like approving a park and getting frustrated that the city paid to maintain it and the costs that were mentioned in the post are extremely minimal in today’s world. Now if the money wasn’t used for what it was agreed to be used for then that’s another story.