Some interesting recent comments on the post "What the Heck Is Chevy Chase?" -
Tomorrow, May 19th is Bike to Work Day! Ride your bike to work and stop by one of Glendale's seven Bike to Work Day pit stops between 6-9am. I'll be volunteering at the Bicycle Mart pit stop on Brand, stop by and say hello.Location: All over Glendale and L.A. County
Time: From 6:00 a.m. to 9:00 a.m.
Description: Try riding your bike to work today and stop at one or more of the following Glendale locations for free refreshments and goodies.
Glendale Pit-stop locations:
- Montrose Bike Shop - 2501 Honolulu Ave.
- The Bicycle Mart - 1601 S. Brand Blvd.
- Glendale City Hall - 613 East Broadway
- Glendale Cyclery - 1250 W. Glenoaks Blvd.
- Glendale Transportation Management Associates - 400 N. Brand Blvd.
- Flower St. and Sonora Ave. - City of Glendale/LACBC.
- Glendale Community College - Parking Lot F at Verdugo Rd. and Towne St.
Location: Tavern on Brand 208 N. Brand Blvd
Time: 5:00 pm to 7:00 pm
Description: The L.A. County Bicycle Coalition invites you to meet up for a happy hour beverage after you've biked to work today. Ride your bike to Tavern on Brand, meet fellow cyclists, and enjoy the Tavern's usual drink specials. Special deal: cyclists get 10% off all food orders! Remember, you CAN get a citation for riding drunk (plus you can get hurt). Drink responsibly but revel in the company of your fellow cyclists!
A shocker from the Glendale News-Press:
Former City Councilman John Drayman is under investigation for allegedly embezzling money from an unnamed organization in which he had an active role, a Glendale police official confirmed Tuesday.
Police served a search warrant for his Montrose condo on Tuesday, but would not say when the alleged embezzlement took place, how much money was involved, or at which organization.
Drayman did not return calls seeking comment.
Officials cautioned that the investigation was not related to Advanced Development Investments Inc., an affordable housing developer under federal investigation for fraud whose subcontractors performed renovations on Drayman’s condo.
Glendale police opened the investigation weeks ago after following up on information that Drayman allegedly embezzled funds from an organization he was involved with, Sgt. Tom Lorenz said.
“The investigation is at the very early stages,” he said.
Lorenz would not elaborate on who made the allegations or whether the alleged embezzlement occurred during Drayman’s four years in office.
He said the investigation would likely take several months.
“He has not been arrested. It is an allegation,” Lorenz said. “And at this particular time we will wait for the investigation to determine if in fact the embezzlement occurred and when it occurred.”
I would like to respond to the anti-Councilman Dave Weaver letter by Scott Lowe (“A cyclist's open letter to Councilman Weaver,” May 3).
I don’t ride a bike in Glendale, but I would like to see the Glendale Police Department enforce the vehicle code on all the adult bicyclists who ignore stop signs and cut off motor vehicles. I suppose these cyclists believe they are saving the planet by riding a bike and feel that they are above the law.
Maybe if these people are ticketed enough, they will finally grow up and act like responsible adults.
Phillip Pilgram
I would like to correct Phillip Pilgram's mischaracterization of my earlier open letter to Councilman Dave Weaver. Pilgram called my letter "anti-Councilman Dave Weaver," but my disagreement is not with Mr. Weaver personally, merely with his arguments against providing infrastructure to protect the safety of citizens who get around by bike. I strongly agree with Mr. Pilgram that bicyclists who break the law or ride unsafely should be ticketed. Enforcement of traffic laws and well designed streets are absolutely necessary for the safety of cyclists and motorists alike.Scott LoweGlendale
I was taken aback by Phillip Pilgram's letter (“Police should cite errant bicyclists,” May 12) which concludes by stating that bicyclists who break vehicle codes should “finally grow up and act like responsible adults.”
Like Pilgram, I don't like seeing bicyclists who break traffic regulations. However, unlike Pilgram, I have been cycling to work and on errands in and around Glendale for decades, totaling about a thousand miles a year. Bicycling reduces pollution, benefits health and also reduces traffic and road surface wear and tear.
But those are not the issues that motivate me to write.
The big issue is who is doing what to whom. When a car ran the stop sign at the intersection of Chevy Chase Drive and California Avenue and struck me, I was thrown in the air and spent more than a year in doctor's offices and physical therapy getting healthy again. Years later, I still need to do special exercises to keep my foot from hurting.
My wife's brother was not so lucky when he was struck by a car running a stop sign in New York. He died. When a co-worker of mine was struck from behind by a car, he died. When my brother's friend was hit by a truck from behind, he died.
If Pilgram were to ride a bicycle, he would understand how many drivers recklessly endanger bicyclists by driving too close to them, running stop signs and not watching where they are going.
All of us in the bicycle community know victims of vehicular manslaughter and assault with a deadly weapon (a car). No matter who is at fault, it is always the cyclist who is injured or killed.
The priority of law enforcement should not be trying to make cyclists behave more responsibly; it should be enforcing laws that reduce the violence against cyclists.
Scott Peer
Glendale
By e-mail: gnp@latimes.comI also recommend writing them regarding any community issues you feel strongly about. If your letters are reasonably cogent, they'll likely be published. And if they aren't, they'll likely be published. Judging from some of the letters that do get published, they must be hurting for well-written letters.
By mail: 221 N. Brand Blvd. 2nd floor, Glendale, 91203.
Letters should be no longer than 275 words and include writer's full name, city of residence and phone number.
The Glendale News-Press reserves the right to edit content. Letters become the property of the News-Press.
Contact City Editor Jason Wells, or (818) 637-3220 for inquiries.
Fun little bit of local history - Griffith Park was the site of a number of hippie love-ins in the 60s! There is a Facebook page dedicated to the memories of those events, and from there I found this page of photos from back then. Their description:Griffith Park, Sunday Afternoon...
The sounds of musicians. The smell of patchouli oil, incense and weed. Pissed off cops. Shady characters. Acquaintances, good friends and lovers. People so high on 2-Way Orange Sunshine with speed in it that they presented a problem for the air traffic controllers at Los Angeles International Airport. What more could a long haired hippie photographer dream of? Did I mention the smell of weed?
Colin Bogart of the LA County Bicycle Coalition/Glendale Safe and Healthy Streets will be leading an ICE CREAM RIDE of Glendale this Saturday, May 14th. I'm out of town this weekend but the ride will be awesome:Time: Saturday, May 14 · 1:00pm - 4:00pmYou can RSVP via Facebook here.
Location: Meet at Verdugo Park, Colina gate
1621 Canada Blvd. Glendale, CA
More Info: Ride with us as we visit Glendale purveyors of unique and delicious ice cream. The ride is free but you will need money to purchase the ice cream. Ride will be at a slow, easy pace with some hills (nothing too difficult). Distance will be approximately 12 miles or less. Meet at the Colina Drive gate at the north end of Verdugo Park at 1:00 pm. We ride at 1:30 pm. Ride will begin and end at Verdugo Park. Helmets required. Minors must be accompanied by an adult. Rain cancels the ride.
This ride is FREE and is part of Glendale Bike Month 2011.
More details about Glendale Bike Month 2011 at www.la-bike.org/glendale/bikemonth
Verdugo Park website: http://www.ci.glendale.ca.us/parks/parks_north.asp
Glendale Bike Month is a collaboration of the L.A. County Bicycle Coalition, Glendale Community Services and Parks, Glendale Public Library, and the Glendale Transportation Management Associates.
Please join us on Saturday, May 14th from 10:00 a.m. – 12:30 p.m. to learn about real cowboys, pioneer families, movie television and recording stars, the Spanish conquest, Mexican ranchos, great steam trains, vast ranches and orchards, land barons, wars, architecture, and much more! Tour highlights include:They recommend a $10 donation. More details here.
- Amelia Earhart Statue
- Security Trust and Savings Bank (1924)
- Amelia Earhart Library (1928)
- El Portal Theatre (1926)
- NoHo Arts District
- NoHo Fire Station #60
- So. Pacific Railroad Depot (1896)
- Commonwealth Savings & Loan Building
- Weddington Family History
- North Hollywood Masonic Temple Lodge 542
- St. Paul’s First Lutheran Church
- Lankershim Arts Center (1939) (S. Charles Lee, architect)
- Commonwealth Savings & Loan Building
- Air raid siren
- Lankershim Elementary School (Marilyn Monroe attended)
I posted this earlier, but it's so cool I'm posting a reminder the day before the event-On May 12, 2011 I will be presenting my slide show on the Pacific Electric’s Glendale Line at the Glendale Public Library’s main auditorium. The poster for the show is pasted in below; my 3 year old self is shown hanging out of the back window of P.E. #5010.
Featured will be over 270 views including personal material and comparison shots of line locations as they appear today. P.E. shows are very popular and we expect to fill the auditorium early and have to turn people away. A second presentation is tentatively scheduled for June 1st.
details:
Thursday, May 12, 2011 @ 7:00pm
Glendale Central Library
222 E Harvard Street
admission is FREE and open to the public
More info:
Paul also occasionally does an excellent presentation on early silent film locations in Glendale and surrounding areas.Councilman Rafi Manoukian's nomination of Richard Espiritu to the Traffic and Parking Commission is perhaps the most illustrative example of the new and improved Manoukian.Espiritu'
In a 2008 Glendale News-Press article: “Court records show that Espiritu has been convicted twice for driving on a suspended license in Glendale and, in 2001, for the 'unauthorized entry of a dwelling' — a conviction that led to three years of probation and restitution fines.”
It went on to state, “Even in terms of his advocacy for disabled access, Espiritu appears to have misrepresented himself as a doctor at dozens of City Council meetings over the past two years.”
Manoukian's nomination of Vartan Gharpetian to the parks commission is interesting too. Parks commissioners represent the interests of Glendale residents with regard to recreational facilities and our open spaces. Yet, while serving as chairman of a Design Review Board — tasked with protecting residential and neighborhood integrity issues — Gharpetian did just the opposite, creating a private advocacy group about which then-fellow commissioner John Cianfrini stated in a 2007 Glendale News-Press article “the group was organized to counteract the influence of the city’s 19 homeowners associations.” The conflict of interest led to Gharpetian being unseated.
The new and improved Manoukian also nominated Aram Kazazian for Glendale Water & Power Commission, but in a 1997 News-Press article chronicling Kazazian's circumventing of city ordinances to build a 13,750-square-foot house, “El Tovar” — some 6,000 square feet in excess of the legal limit — the article states: “The City Council referred the mystery to a San Diego law firm, which detailed its investigation in a 36-page report delivered last week. The report assigns much of the blame for the situation to Kazazian, who allegedly used his position on two city building commissions to manipulate normal land-use procedures to his advantage.”
I could go on about Manoukian's nomination of Brian Ellis, a Bob Yousefian retread to the Design Review Board, or Razmik Grigorian to the Arts & Culture Commission, who previously pushed for the creation of a new arts department, or Greg Astorian to the Planning Commission who, as a prominent Realtor and consultant, would be the very perception of conflict of interest, but why continue?
The big question is will Council members Frank Quintero, Dave Weaver, Ara Najarian and Mayor Laura Friedman demonstrate any evidence of having spines and express objections to these nominations by voting “no”?
Mark Lassiter
Glendale
s nomination has since been withdrawn, but the other commissioners come up for confirmation at tonight's City Council meeting. Much of the previous drama referenced in the letter occurred well before I had moved to Glendale, but I've been catching up. Here are some links I found that will get you up to speed on the Kazazian/El Tovar mess. It makes for pretty juicy reading that is quite damning of both Kazazian and the city government at that time.in Kazazian's defense:
- Study Blames City Employees for Overbuilt Glendale House
- Story Of The Decade: El Tovar
- Mansion's a Nice Place to Visit, but . . .
- Huge home, known for its code violations, proves a tour moneymaker for a Glendale school.
- Case of Favoritism Points to Bigger Problems in Glendale
Troubling practices revealed in study need to be addressed- DEVELOPER FAVORED, REPORT SAYS : EX-ZONING OFFICIAL DENIES ABUSING GLENDALE PERMITS IN BUILDING MASSIVE MANSION
- MANSION OPPONENTS SAY IT'S TIME TO END FIGHT
- El Tovar, the Poster Child for Mansionization in Glendale
- Mansionization in Glendale - Glendale’s 15,000 square foot white elephant
Why revisit old, massively embarrassing civic misdeeds by nominating these guys to city commissions? Is this the best we can do? Glendale should accept nothing less than fresh faces and original scandals!
- Design Review Member Unseated
Gharpetian — whose term officially ended Oct. 23 — loses his seat after weeks of public criticism over a perceived conflict of interest for his simultaneous management of a private association that advocates on the behalf of property owners.
- Design Board Member Draws Public Ire
Gharpetian has been the target of critics at numerous recent City Council meetings who have said that, as a reviewer of commercial and single-family home design, his involvement in the Glendale Property Owners Assn. LLC — which asserts on its website that view and privacy protection ordinances may “further restrict and negatively affect” property rights — represents a conflict of interest.
The data gathered in the 100,000 Homes/PATH Achieve Glendale survey of Glendale's homeless population (previously: part 1, part 2) has been compiled and was announced at a community briefing at Glendale City Hall last Friday.
Bike Month continues with a free basic bike repair workshop tonight at the Glendale Central Library. Come learn how to fix your bike!
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