At the August 15, 2023, Council Meeting, Councilmembers Jung, Whitaker, and Dunlap voted for the second time to re-approach the state granting agency to see if the $1.78 Million grant could be used for a project elsewhere in town. In explaining his reasoning for that vote, Jung said in his comments to the public, “I have been, for the better part of two years, contacting Union Pacific about either having the right-of-way deeded to the city or sold accordingly – They are unwilling sellers – they have not responded…and that is a big requirement to fulfill the promise of the trail and its extensions.” However, a recent response from UP train officials indicating they would like to talk was discovered in a public records request asking for all correspondence between Mayor Fred Jung and Union Pacific from 2021 to August 16, 2023, as listed below:
1) Jung sent a letter dated November 10, 2022, to UP officials.
Dear Mr. Parker,
With over 28 miles of trails, the City of Fullerton is proud to host an extensive network of transportation and recreational opportunities. However, there are some critical segments missing from our trail network that would further provide safe, walkable, and ridable paths of travel throughout the City and County recreational trail and bikeway systems. Fortunately, there is an opportunity to close this gap with a segment of the Union Pacific Railroad right-of-way located in the City of Fullerton that is no longer in use.
The City of Fullerton is interested in discussing the acquisition of this segment, which is at W. Malvern Avenue and continues north to E. Lambert Road (or to Imperial Highway). This segment has not been in use for over ten years and is frequently used as a pathway by the general public.
The City of Fullerton acquired portions of the right of way south of the Fullerton Transportation Center to the west of Richman Ave. in the late 1990s. The first segment of the right of way has been made into a recreational trail and class 1 bikeway. The intent in acquiring the entire right of way through the City of Fullerton is to create a complete trail system that connects the existing trails in Fullerton to the OC Loop and to the Fullerton Transportation Center, the busiest Metrolink station in Orange County. This project would connect most of the neighborhoods in Fullerton, including the disadvantaged communities in south Fullerton, thereby creating an alternate mode of transportation and outdoor recreation opportunities. It would also provide linkages to multiple community activity centers offering free or low-cost social and recreational opportunities. Lastly, this acquisition would enhance community safety in the area through our Police Department bicycle trail patrol unit.
The City of Fullerton is respectfully requesting the acquisition of the right of way as a donation for the benefit of the general public. The trail section currently owned by the City has been officially named the Union Pacific Trail. In gratitude for the donation, we would consider naming the entire right of way the Union Pacific Trail, as well.
I look forward to hearing from you and working with you and your team in the future. Please feel free to contact me or Eric Levitt, City Manager, at (714) 738-6310. Thank you for your consideration.
Sincerely, Fred Jung Mayor
2) On August. 14, 2023, the City sent a follow-up email request to UP officials:
“Good morning, Mr. Parker and Mr. Goble,
The attached letter was sent to Mr. Parker back in November 2022 regarding the segment of Union Pacific Railroad right-of-way located in the City of Fullerton. To our knowledge, the City never received a response from Union Pacific. At this time, we would like to respectfully request a response to the letter, as the City may still be interested in pursuing this endeavor.
Please feel free to contact me or our City Manager, Eric Levitt, to discuss.”
Daisy Perez, Deputy City Manager City of Fullerton
On August. 16, 2023, UP official Mr Parker answered the inquiry:
“Hello, Ms. Perez; thank you for the email. Would the City be available for a call to discuss this proposed project with Aaron and myself?
As an alternative, we could try to meet in person on our next trip to the area. If that is preferred, we will let you know in advance the week we will be out there next and hope to find time during that week to meet. Thank you again.
Dan Parker, Director – Real Estate | Union Pacific Railroad, Omaha, NE 68179
(Note: Aaron Galley is Senior VP of Real Estate Operations at UP)
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Great, I hope something comes of this. I use some of the UP right of way as running trails. But you have to be careful, the trail is really only worn wide enough for mountain bikers. Plus when they come through you have to get out of their way. Removing the tracks and rocks would make a big difference.
And then when you contacted Council member Jung for an update for your story he said….?
Good question. He said at the August 15 meeting that UP had never responded to his years of reaching out. He has not corrected that.
You report that Fred Jung announced during an August 15, 2023 council meeting that Union Pacific had not responded to him. You then report that on August 16, 2023, the following day, they responded to an August 14 follow message from the asst. city manager.
Am I misunderstanding something in this story? Was Jung expected to know 24 hours ahead of time that the railroad would finally respond to his entreaties? What part of the record is Fred Jung supposed to correct?
No, of course he wasn’t supposed to know the day before but he could have announced that the city had received a request from UP director and VP of Real Estate to either immediately zoom or meet in person to discuss the proposal at any of the following council meetings including January 2024.
So, what record is Fred Jung supposed to correct? Did he claim at any time after August 16, 2023 that Union Pacific had still not responded to the city’s request? If so, it isn’t in your story.
Were there any meetings or discussions between the city and Union Pacific after August 16? Did anyone ask Fred Jung or anyone else on the council, or city staff? Or contact Union Pacific to find out?
This story implies that Fred Jung somehow misrepresented the issue, but provides no evidence for any such thing.
Just another lazy and typically sloppy attempt to make Jung look bad. And this from an “independent newspaper” that published articles under Ahmad Zahra’s name that were actually written, verbatim, by an OCWD PR bureaucrat. And in the intervening years has the Observer ever corrected that?
Jung mentioned that he had reached out to negotiate and had never had a response. This was confirmed by a public records request for correspondence between Jung and Union Pacific Railroad officials. It is not an attempt to make Jung look bad.
As I have said before, Dr Ahmad Zahra has not written for us since he stopped being on the OCWD board. The Observer has learned from that experience and moved on. Please share this information with the rest of your group as they must be copying and pasting from the same script. Thank you.
Zahra stopped writing for you? HE NEVER WROTE FOR YOU. An OCWD bureaucrat did, though and Zahra took the credit (he never explained what he did). The fact is you never corrected the error either. Was it intentional?
The gullible Jan Flory cited Zahra as an expert because of those articles when he was running for re-election. No, I doubt if you learned anything.
Dear Zenger – I was overseeing the paper in those days – Zahra as the city OCWD representative sent the paper that OCWD update but he did not claim to have written it – an Observer volunteer mistakenly placed that story with a byline for Zahra. That was our volunteer’s error and mine since I didn’t catch it. So sorry about that to both Zahra (who has received endless flack about it) and also to the public. Happily no one was injured.
Zahra never wrote for the paper – though it would be great if he ever wants to.
And Zahra NEVER asked you to correct the error. Either that or he did, and you didn’t do it. I believe the former because I’ve seen his track record.
What do you mean “no one was injured.” How sad. The truth took a beating, but hey, who cares, right? it’s the correct hope that counts.
And Jan Flory took that bait, too, extolling Zahra as water expert because he wrote those articles.
Of course we know she had reason to extol HER appointment to the OCWD. Zahra reneged on a pledge to have a special election and then voted to appoint Flory to Silva’s vacant term. His reward was a paying job (finally) on the water board.
Jung mentioned that he had reached out to negotiate and had never had a response. This was confirmed by a public records request for correspondence between Jung and Union Pacific Railroad officials.
When did Fred Jung claim “that he had reached out to negotiate and had never had a response?” Before or after Union Pacific finally responded?
At the August 15, 2023 council meeting – Jung said, “I have been, for better part of two years, contacting Union Pacific about either having the right-of-way deeded to the city or sold accordingly – They are unwilling sellers – they have not responded…and that is a big requirement to fulfill the promise of the trail and its extensions.”
However, Jung had five council meetings after that to correct those two statements –
1) that he had reached out for two years (should have said he wrote one letter two years ago offering to name the trail after UP if they would donate the right-of-way property from Malvern to Imperial )
2) that UP was an unwilling seller. He got cc-ed on the message that both Director and the VP of UP Real Estate had offered an immediate zoom meeting to talk about acquisition or alternatively an in-person meeting when they came to town. That seems pretty willing.
And what’s up with his asking them for the Malvern to Imperial section? What about the Phase 3 section from Independence Park to the Hunt Library?
Sharon, aren’t you and Saskia tired of correcting your information in these articles? You have corrected several comments in several articles that you have posted. Maybe you should receive all the facts and information before you post your articles.
You talk about the City Council misrepresenting our city but what about you misrepresenting the Fullertonians that are reading your articles with incorrect information?
Do your public records request include phone conversations? Have you reached out to Jung to ask him? No. You would just rather slam him in a pointless article that belongs on a blog and isn’t fit for print.
“And what’s up with his asking them for the Malvern to Imperial section? What about the Phase 3 section from Independence Park to the Hunt Library?”
Maybe because they don’t own it. Which is why the The Trail to Nowhere is at a dead end.
Question, I noticed my comments from yesterday have been deleted. WHY?
Also, someone else is posting as me. Weird!
@Jeff –Have you been hacked?
The approved trail is not a dead end at either end. You have to back out of a dead end to get where you want to go.
Maybe you mean that it can only go as far as it is going to go before you have to switch to the streets / sidewalk to reach your eventual destination. Which is true if nothing changes.
But it’s not true if the ROW can be acquired.
No I do not believe I was hacked because Sharon K, David Z and my comments are deleted. Wonder if someone from The Observer deleted them.
I will look into it. Thank you.
Saskia – I am following up with you looking into my comments being deleted.
I would hope you will give me an update like The Observer wants an update every second.
Practice what you preach!
It took a year for the railroad to respond to Jung. The response they gave is generic and hardly a willingness to do anything but keep him from emailing them again. This isn’t a complete story. But that is common for the Observer and their inexperienced journalists. Try finishing stories before you publish them.
Thank you for the critique.
“The response they gave is generic and hardly a willingness to do anything but keep him from emailing them again.”
They very clearly extended an offer for a call among relevant parties to discuss. I’m not sure what you would call a “willingness to do anything.”
“This isn’t a complete story.”
It is what it is. That the story is not ripe is your opinion. It gives information that we didn’t have before. The Observer had a choice to sit on the information that it acquired and gather more information. That would have been reasonable. Reporting it on its own is also reasonable simply because it’s new information.
Catherine, According to city records – the only contact attempt made by Jung since 2021 was the November 2022 initial letter.
How many times did your precious Ahmad Zahra contact Union Pacific since 2018? Email isn’t the only form of modern communication. Maybe there was a call or two. Maybe. Bottom line at least Jung cared enough to make contact and begin a discussion. No other person did. Give credit where it’s due.
Jung mentioned that he had reached out to negotiate and had never had a response. This was confirmed by a public records request for correspondence between Jung and Union Pacific Railroad officials. It is not an attempt to make Jung look bad.
If it not an attempt to make Jung look bad, then what do you call it? Because that is exactly what you are trying to do.
Jeff – when an officials words and/or actions or inactions make them look bad would you prefer that the paper not report what was said or done? The paper reports on what happened.
I don’t see anything here in the article that’s false. Standing alone it doesn’t make Jung look bad, it just leaves some questions unanswered. If you want to assume the answers and draw that inference, that’s your choice and not anyone else’s responsibility.
It’s a great opportunity for Jung to dunk the ball assuming he didn’t drop it.
The opportunity is right there.