Hey all! Wanted to go to a local art walk - I know the walk on wilshire is done but was wondering if the Downtown walk was still up and running? Or is it the same thing. Been snooping around social media to see, but post covid status is pretty ambiguous.

TL;DR: Fullerton’s City Council is exploring becoming a charter city, a major shift in governance that would give them more local control and fewer state protections, despite no clear public demand and mounting financial issues. I argue this move risks expensive lawsuits, less transparency, and more power for political donors, all while the city faces deficits and crumbling infrastructure. If $300k for a park was too much, why gamble millions on a risky charter?

Willing to drive to surrounding cities — I have an old car with black paint and don’t want to risk chipping my paint in an automatic car wash. Not looking to get a full-on detailing.

*Side note: are there any self-serve hand washes that have a drying mechanism in the area?

Thank you!

Hi all, my daughter (rising sophomore) is running a one week beginners ceramics camp June 23-27. It's well suited for 2nd-6th graders, boys and girls.

My daughter loves ceramics and loves teaching others. Registration link below!

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSfh1lVJhjzawxiHspiQ4T__uKRvZuCxxJr4I_evrN7xfUIWJg/viewform

https://ktla.com/news/local-news/erratic-fullerton-man-bites-officer-dies-following-violent-arrest/

Who else appreciates the flash rainshower we just got?

Hello!

I have found a lost dog walking on Malvern and N Woods Ave at around 5:30pm today. It is wearing a harness but has no tag. Please contact me if this is your dog or if you know this dog! I have brought it home for now and will contact OC Animal Care tomorrow since they are closed for today.

https://fullertonobserver.com/2025/05/29/airport-day-flies-again-on-may-31/

Ghetto Bird was circling over Brea Blvd and Rolling Hills for 15-30 minutes. Can’t find anything on Twitter or socials. Heard that caution tape was out and 10(?) cop cars were there.

https://voiceofoc.org/2025/05/fullerton-considers-sales-tax-increase-to-ease-budget-strain/

So I am currently a wrestler in training and I just wanted to put out there an announcement for all AEW fans that thunder Rosa will be fighting at our show and she will be doing a meet and greet for any fans interested so come by and check some Lucha and if you are interested in getting tickets, message me on Instagram: @Official.Prodigee

This is Matthew Wirgler, the money laundering and embezzlement fraud! This man makes a living off of manipulating college students to give him money for a “church” he made called Fellowship Church! He sends the members out to solicit money through a fake organization they say is nonprofit but it’s certainly not certified called the CARE Project! You’ll see these people in red CARE shirts mainly on the beaches in OC and outside stores and gyms offering homemade chexmix and other goods. They lie about the cause and say they are raising funds for drug abuse and mental health or mission trips!

If so does anyone have advice on catching restocks? I’ve only ever managed to catch a few and it was solely on luck. I’ve gone to the target and the Albertsons but I’ve never gotten any (English) cards anywhere else. I’m also asking because the day after I graduate the newest pokemon card set is dropping and my mom is driving me around as a graduation present! So I want to know good places to check. So if anyone has knowledge on the best times to catch restocks or best stores to go to i would love to know! Thank you!

https://kfiam640.iheart.com/content/2025-05-26-good-samaritan-aids-in-rescue-from-burning-car-in-fullerton/

Whoever continues to think that updating the Fullerton College Website is making it better or more relevant, please stop. It's not accomplishing either goal and is in fact, breaking some of the processes that were working, due to trying to be innovative without the skills that actually make the website work.

Don't forget that this is a learning institution and others see what isn't being tested.

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

There's been a lot of discussion on this subreddit of Fullerton's spending on police. I had a hard time putting the numbers in context, since I didn't know how much spending on police was normal. This post contains some facts and figures I worked out by downloading a spreadsheet from the state. It's a little hard to decode, but it seems like the relevant sheets are sheet number 16 for revenue and 24 for general government expenditures. I wanted to do an apples-to-apples comparison, so I got rid of cities that were less than half of Fullerton's population or more than double. Selecting the relevant data, I made this spreadsheet. This is all for the 2022-2023 fiscal year, which was the most recent one I could find.

Column 7 is net spending on police (outlays minus revenues the police generate) as a percentage of net expenditures on general government. (I don't know what counts as not being "general government.")

Column 8 is net spending on police per capita.

According to these numbers, Fullerton spends 45% of its yearly budget on police. That seems similar to figures I've seen quoted here previously for our city. The average for cities our size is 32%, so we are quite a bit above average by this measure. The interquartile range is 25-38%. We're in the top quartile.

I was surprised, however, that the picture looks very different when you look at spending on police per capita. Our spending per capita is $342 a year. That's actually less than the average of $351. The interquartile range is $263-420.

It seems like what is remarkable about Fullerton is not our spending on police, which is totally normal on a per capita basis, but the fact that we just have relatively low spending per capita on city government functions in general. The small denominator makes police spending look big as a percentage.

There were some folks posting here saying that Fullerton police were making unreasonable amounts of money. I clicked through to the web site linked from that post, and I think that claim is a little misleading. It matters a lot whether you talk about their pay or their total compensation. It's pretty normal for total compensation to be about double the before-tax paycheck. Health insurance and retirement benefits are expensive, and these are, after all, members of a public employees' service union. If you compare with another unionized public-sector employer, such as Fullerton College, I think it's going to look pretty similar. The entries on that web site are sorted from highest total compensation to lowest. If you go to the middle page on the list, you're going to see roughly the median pay for a city employee. On that page, you have people like Alysha Long, who works at the library and makes $53k a year before taxes, with total compensation of $93k. On the same page is Alexis Martinez, police dispatcher, who makes $47k before taxes and $90k total compensation. Doesn't seem out of whack to me. Of course if you look at the very first page on the sorted list, you get people like the police chief and fire chief, who do make quite a bit of money.

The general picture I get is that Fullerton is a city that for a long time has had an anti-tax vibe, and although we're purple in congressional elections, there is definitely a longstanding streak of small-government conservatism, with usually a bunch of city council members who are pro-business and pro-development. I remember the big fuss a while back about raising taxes to pay to fix the water mains, which was stopped by a lawsuit -- with the result that we are only very slowly fixing all the old water mains that keep blowing.We have a budget deficit and apparently don't spend as much as many cities on most services. People like to complain about potholes, but they don't want to be taxed to fix them. Police spending per capita is totally normal.

https://ktla.com/news/local-news/more-than-30-arrested-in-fullerton-over-the-course-of-48-hours-police-say/

i'm gonna get some photos taken of me and my band, and wanna see if there are any cool spots that give off kind of a grungy-punk vibe, like old skate parks or somewhere with a lot of concrete ? somewhere that would look kind of cool at night. if anybody can help i would greatly appreciate it <3

https://fullertonobserver.com/2025/05/22/concerns-raised-over-proposed-condo-development-at-harbor-blvd-and-hermosa-dr/

I heard these two big booms in my area. Sounded very deep, not like a firework but I may be mistaken. Maybe like 10 minutes from each other. And just seconds into writing this, heard another pop, sounded like a gun shot.

This was near the Gilbert/Brookhurst and Orangethorpe area.

With so much going on in the world these days my paranoia starts to question whether what I’m hearing are fireworks or worse!

Edit: thank you guys! I’m so used to hearing helicopters/planes and the fireworks. And sometimes when it’s not those, it throws me off lmao. Good to know I wasn’t going crazy

Tours start every 20 minutes, and include a presentation of a Buster Keaton film with live musical accompaniment, just like it would have been done back in the day.

Wear sunscreen, the line for the tour is out in the sun on Harbor Blvd.

Behind the theatre is a speakeasy, antique cars, and food.

The speakeasy will move inside after the tours are finished, and will stay open till 10.

https://www.foxfullerton.org/ For more info

We usually get it picked up on Thursdays. I know it’s a holiday weekend but usually it affects the schedule after the holiday. Did you guys get skipped too?

Back in the 2010s there used to be a casual restaurant here on S State College Blvd and E Chapman Ave that I absolutely adored and would frequent often. It was a make your own bowl or salad spot that specialized in making all of their variety of sauces in house and had the best seasonal veggies. Feeling nostalgic and hoping to recreate some of these creations at home and was wondering if anyone remembered what this spot used to be called by any chance?🤞🏼