Gene Autry Way – Curt Pringle’s Folly

Rush Hour on Gene Autry Way

From the OC Politics Blog

About five years ago when he was the Mayor of Anaheim, Curt Pringle dreamed of a regional transportation center for his city — a place they named ARTIC which would be the Orange County station for the equally dreamy California High-Speed Rail system which would be zipping through town on its way to San Diego, or charging northward to LA’s Union Station (over, under or through some of the densest urban residential housing in California) and onto San Francisco and Sacramento.

The Mayor-for-hire, as he was known at Friends for Fullerton Future, or Master of the Universe as he was tagged last year at the union-funded Voice of OC, didn’t stop with just a $184 million train station that would partly be paid for by OCTA’s Measure M where Board Member Pringle sat for years.  From concocted ridership projections, he fantasized that Disney patrons would be coming to ARTIC by the millions, but still needed to be transported to the Mouse’s cash registers Main Gate, miles away from the bullet train, and on the wrong side of the 5 Freeway.  Since Walt Disney already had a world-famous one, Pringle announced in 2007 that he needed a MONORAIL for the Disney visitors.  From his January State-of-the-City speech:

The O.C. Register refuses to run an ad slamming Anaheim Council Members

From the OC Politics Blog

The Orange County Register abruptly altered its advertising policy, barring ads that challenge politicians by name, after two Anaheim city councilwomen complained to the newspaper’s new owners about ads from a local activist that criticized their support of a controversial hotel subsidy, according to the Voice of OC.

The Voice of OC reported that “The ads came from Jason Young, a City Hall blogger who opposes the council majority, which is heavily backed by Disney and other influential local business interests. In December, the Register ran an ad submitted by Young in its Anaheim weekly publications asserting that Councilwomen Kris Murray and Gail Eastman violated state law when they approved a $158-million subsidy for local hoteliers.”