Before Hollywood screen icon Elizabeth Taylor was laid to rest at Forest Lawn Glendale, she enjoyed La Cabinita in Montrose while wearing a crazy sweater.
I've added Google AdSense ads to the blog. It'd be nice to actually make money from this project, which has been entirely a volunteer effort thus far - for 3 years and 474 posts! It would certainly be an incentive for me to post more frequently, which can be difficult, especially with a full time job and many other commitments.
After several months I'll evaluate where AdSense lies on the continuum between lucrative and obnoxious and decide whether to keep it or not.
If anyone has had experiences with AdSense or advice about other advertising options let me know. I blocked the first obnoxious ads that popped up and the ones being served now seem pretty well chosen.
I've also added my Twitter feed in the sidebar and will be making a few other refinements and have other exciting ideas percolating in my head.
More volunteers are needed for PATH Achieve's Glendale Registry Week. It's an early morning time commitment but it's only a few days and should be interesting and challenging. I've done various types of volunteering and have found helping the homeless to be the most rewarding. Check out homeless service provider PATH Achieve Glendale's blog for more info. I'm signed up, are you?
On Tuesday night the Glendale City Council finally approved the long awaited Glendale Safe and Healthy Streets Plan, which lays out a framework for improving conditions for pedestrians and cyclists in Glendale (full post on the meeting here). It was a wonderful and energizing moment for Glendale. The only sour note of the entire evening was sounded by Councilman Dave Weaver, who reluctantly voted for the plan, but made these comments about the prospects for safer streets in Glendale. Please watch his comments in their entirety, and read my response.
Councilman Weaver,
Congratulations on your re-election and thank you for your support of the Safe and Healthy Streets Plan last night despite your reservations. I was at last night's City Council meeting (I spoke in support of the plan - the bearded fellow who lost a lot of weight) and there are a number of points you made in your comments regarding the plan that I would like to respond to.
Many of your concerns had to do with redesigning roads to take away traffic capacity.
As you pointed out, most roads in Glendale cannot be widened. As we continue to grow, the roads we have become more congested. Moving people around efficiently with the roads we have is key. Whether by car, bus, foot, or bike. You are certainly correct that most people will still get around by car. It will just get more difficult as more cars continue to clog the roads and gas prices continue to rise. These are both inevitabilities.
I bike to work in downtown Glendale everyday - a little over a mile. It takes me 6 or 7 minutes. It would take me several minutes longer to drive, as I would have to drive up to the third floor of the parking structure on Maryland, walk down, and then walk back up to my office. My bike is a more efficient choice for me. It's also a more efficient choice for the city: every day, my bike is one fewer car clogging up Brand Blvd and one fewer car taking up space in a city parking structure. I am actively reducing transit congestion, and the fact that it makes me healthier, saves money and is fun is just gravy.
There are many others throughout the city for whom riding bikes short distances would also be an efficient choice - if they felt it was safe to do so. I'm not talking about riding across the whole county, or even the whole city - a 1-3 mile trip only takes a few minutes on a bike and can provide some relief from high gas prices and congestion. These are the people whom the city should be courting to make our road networks safer and more efficient.
As you pointed out many times in your speech, being on a bike in Glendale can be very unsafe. This is a situation a great city like Glendale should be ashamed of. Providing a network of bike routes is a public safety issue. I am a tax-paying Glendale resident, and it is a high priority among the services I expect the city to provide. One only needs to look to Burbank, Pasadena, or even the City of LA to see that Glendale has fallen far behind in providing for the needs of its residents in this regard. To neglect to provide basic amenities that can increase the public safety of my fellow residents - your constituents - is not realistic, it is defeatist. I ask that you reconsider your attitude and research the experiences of cities that have had success in creating bike networks.
I look forward to your support on the council as I continue to volunteer my time towards implementing these important public safety improvements in our fair city.
Tuesday night was tremendously energizing for advocates of bicycle and pedestrian friendly infrastructure in Glendale. First and foremost, the City Council unanimously passed the long-awaited Glendale Safe and Healthy Streets Plan, which lays out a framework for bicycle and pedestrian-related safety improvements in the city. So a hearty thank you to the city council for that. Additionally, with the exception of Dave Weaver -- who still grudgingly voted for the plan -- all of the councilmembers spoke glowingly about bike infrastructure and their experiences with it in other cities. Mayor Laura Friedman, capably presiding over her first full city council meeting at the head of the dais, set the tone, and Frank Quintero, Ara Najarian, and, encouragingly, newly re-elected Councilman Rafi Manoukian also spoke strongly in favor of bike related projects. Mayor Friedman has been a stalwart supporter from the beginning, and councilman Quintero gave an enthusiastic report about his experiences attending the Velo-Cities conference in Seville, Spain; and about how much he has learned from the bicycle infrastructure projects in other cities such as Chicago, Vancouver and Long Beach. He also spoke firmly about how the city will implement these improvements.
LA County Bicycle Coalition Liason and PLACE Grant Coordinator Colin Bogart gave an excellent presentation, and over ten members of the community came forward to speak in support of the plan.
Including me - here are my comments to the city council:
Mayor Friedman's Comments, followed by some additional comments by Frank Quintero and the Council's vote
Councilman Manoukian's comments
Councilman Weaver's comments
I believe that Councilman Weaver's comments deserved a response, so I wrote a letter to him which I have also posted here.
A Bicycle Master Plan (BMP) is most successful when the members of the community participate in the planning process. In that regard, the City has planned several Community Outreach meetings that will be held at different locations within the City during April and May of 2011. The entire community is invited to participate and we are hoping for a great turnout with many comments and recommendations.
The first Community Outreach meeting is scheduled as follows:
April 28, 2011 6:00 pm Glendale Central Library 222 E. Harvard Street Glendale 91205
Please check back for additional dates to be posted.
The compression required by Twitter's 140 character limit can occasionally lead to unfortunate choices of words. From the City of Glendale via Twitter:
@MyGlendale "Free tickets for Glendale's Armenian Genocide now available in the Alex Theatre Box Office."
The only other items left were romance novels and Jeff Foxworthy desk calendars.
RIP Borders. May your glorious location quickly be repurposed for new and wonderful uses that aren't a Ross Dress For Less, and may your employees find a cultural and economic safe haven elsewhere.
Let us transcend this great loss by loading our arms with great heapings of books at the delightful Brand Bookshop or the Mystery and Imagination Bookstore, both of which are just a block and a half north of the defunct Borders on Brand. Amen.
Please come to the City Council meeting this Tuesday, April 19th at 6pm to encourage the adoption of the Glendale Safe and Healthy Streets Plan. It is very important. The Glendale Safe and Healthy Streets Plan, which LA County Bicycle Coalition liason Colin Bogart has been assembling from public meetings with Glendale residents, is a policy document that is intended to provide a blueprint for making the city a safer place for bicyclists and pedestrians. In the short amount of time that Colin has been working with the city, his presence and energy have already resulted in numerous positive changes for bicyclists and pedestrians in the city of Glendale. Some examples of these changes are improved bicycle parking throughout the city, sharrows on numerous Glendale streets, landscaping, bicycle and pedestrian improvements in the Riverdale-Maple corridor, and safe bicycling education classes being conducted in Glendale schools. I fully endorse the plan and the efforts of Colin, the LA County Bicycle Coalition and the LA County Department of Public Health, whose grant made this project possible. Please come to the City Council meeting on Tuesday to support it.
In addition to the hopeful adoption of the Glendale Safe and Healthy Streets Plan, you will also get to see the re-seating of Rafi Manoukian and the election by the city council of Glendale's new mayor, so it should be an unusually interesting council meeting no matter what. Please come.
Don’t forget, we will be presenting the Safe & Healthy Streets Plan to Glendale City Council on Tuesday, April 19, 6:00 pm in Council Chambers at Glendale City Hall. Please attend the meeting if you can to show your support of the Plan. We need your support! Invite your friends!
The Los Angeles County Bicycle Coalition has been working in partnership with The City of Glendale to conduct extensive outreach, build support, and develop the Plan since 2008. The Draft Safe & Healthy Streets Plan has already received unanimous votes from three City Commissions recommending Council approval.
Adoption of the Safe & Healthy Streets Plan would establish programs and policies that will support and encourage biking and walking. The Plan is organized into five main categories (plus a few more):
Education
Encouragement
Enforcement
Engineering
Evaluation
Examples of what you can expect if the Safe & Healthy Streets Plan is approved include:
A Pedestrian and Bicyclist Advisory Committee that will meet regularly to address ongoing concerns for Glendale pedestrians and bicyclists
City-sponsored rides and walks
Safety education classes (and materials online)
Helmet and light distribution programs in lieu of citations
City-sponsored promotions such as Car Free Fridays or Walking Wednesdays
Incentive programs for those who commute on foot or by bike
Walking and biking maps for Glendale
If you can’t attend the Council meeting, please send an e-mail expressing your support of the Safe & Healthy Streets Plan to the City Council no later than 12 noon on April 19. You can e-mail the entire Council at citycouncil@ci.glendale.ca.us . If you send an e-mail, please cc colin@la-bike.org . Once again, here are the details for the Council presentation.
Safe & Healthy Streets Presentation to Glendale City Council Tuesday, April 19, 2011 6:00 pm at Glendale City Hall, Council Chambers 613 E. Broadway Glendale, CA 91206
Manoukian's back, Weaver stays, Drayman is out. That's all, folks. I took these photos at the election center at the Glendale Police Department this afternoon:
Tension in the room as counting of ballots gets underway. The ballots were fed into the counting machine by the guy in the rear of the room, and it was all over within about ten minutes. The final board The vote summary handed out to those in attendance
Do you see homeless people on the streets of Glendale and wish someone would do something to help get them off the streets? Here is an excellent hands-on volunteer opportunity for you to work towards reducing chronic homelessness from PATH Achieve Glendale:
The City of Glendale, PATH Achieve and a growing list of partners, are planning a Registry Week to find and identify persons who are homeless in Glendale. The goal of the Glendale Registry Week is to create a by-name registry of people living on our streets; allowing us to prioritize those who have been out there the longest and who are the most vulnerable. What we learn together during this week will help us reduce chronic homelessness in Glendale and will help assure we are targeting our efforts in ways that are life saving for the most vulnerable homeless.
The campaign is recruiting dedicated volunteers to canvass Glendale’s streets and survey the city’s most vulnerable homeless people. To ensure the most accurate count possible, we will survey individuals during the early morning hours for three consecutive days. Registry Team volunteers must be available May 1st – May 4th
♦ Sunday, May 1st 2-5pm (training) ♦ Tuesday, May 3rd 4-7am ♦ Monday, May 2nd 4-7am ♦ Wednesday, May 4th 4-7am
Other volunteer opportunities are available for those who cannot commit to Registry Teams.
♦ Data Entry May 2-5 and/or ♦ Set up/ clean up May 1-4
Should have clearer results in the city council election tonight. From the Glendale City Clerk:
The following events will take place at the Election Center, located at 131 N. Isabel in the GPD Community Room, and are open to the public:
9:00 am - The post-election day Canvassing of Vote-by-Mail ballots and Provisional ballots (opening the returned vote-by-mail and provisional ballot envelopes, removing the ballots, accurately duplicating any damaged or defective ballots, and preparing the ballots for the ballot count) will commence.
11:00 am - The City Clerk or his designee, will review all Provisional envelopes which have been rejected for deficiencies by the City Clerk.
2:00 pm The post-election count of the 2nd batch of Vote-by-Mail ballots and Provisional ballots will commence.
After a debate with my girlfriend on whether McNuggets were disgusting or delicious, I headed over to the McDonalds on Central and Milford to evaluate. (My verdict: they are both disgusting and delicious, especially when dipped in lots of barbecue sauce.)
While there, these large displays caught my eye: Why, why, why are these creepy mannequins there!? This is not part of Glendale's recent "put art in vacant storefronts" Gate Project. What do they mean? Why are they so intentionally grotesque? Is it some sort of warning about the dangers of fast food? Is the mustachioed fellow supposed to be Groucho Marx or just an Armenian dude? Why does Ronald appear to be threatening him?
As I finished my gross yet satisfying meal, an elderly couple came over and sat uncomfortably close to me. They sat so close that I couldn't laugh without them seeing me, so I started transcribing their conversation on my phone to prevent myself from cracking up. Here are some overheard snippets of conversation:
old guy, to wife: "this is a handicap spot. you dont walk like a handicap. I'm gonna hit you with my cane"
old guy: "there ain't that many nuts. he made a big deal about the nuts. just like an oriental, always getting too detailed"
old guy: "I remember how beautiful America used to be at one time? now you can't tell the men from the women!"
wife: "you blame everything on the queers!"
old guy: "no I don't, just what they're tryin to get! they got some people feeling sorry for them! that singer you like, he's one!"
wife: "dont you say anything about Clay Aiken, he's my adopted son!"
I broke up in laughter at the Clay Aiken line and made a hasty retreat. So long, McDonalds. See you in two years when I have another inexplicable barbecue sauce craving.
Plant undercover cops wearing the opposing team's apparel throughout the stadium. Armed jerk magnets! Start tazing and arresting those who make threats on the Jumbotron to amusing organ music. It would have the added benefit of being much more exciting than the actual game.
Because of the close results, the City Clerk will begin the aforementioned preparations of counting all remaining ballots on Thursday April 14, 2011 at 9 a.m. This process will occur at the Election Center located 131 Isabel St. in the Police Department’s Community Room. Public viewing will be allowed for the preparations, processing and eventual count of the remaining ballots. Results are expected to be announced the same day.
Spotted on Maple, just east of Chevy Chase by Jen: The sign says:-
"To Glendale and my neighbors:
I am sorry, but I can no longer keep my garden beautiful for you. Someone has been stealing plants right from the front of my home. The only clue I have is that a man was seen leaving my property around 4AM. Please watch for him to keep the rest of the neighborhood safe. Because of this, I will be moving many of my plants away from the front.
This makes me sad because I cannot make Glendale more beautiful. It's all I ever wanted from my garden."
In addition to this sad case, my neighbor Cassandra just had a concrete decorative lion stolen from her front porch. What the hell, Glendale?
Also works well if you lower the sound and watch simultaneously with Metallica's "Orion." (Click play on both videos as quickly as you can, and I've already set Metallica to start playing at 1:36)
The posted figures are the unofficial results of the April 5, 2011 Glendale Municipal Election after the closing of polls. There remain 3153 ballots to be processed which include Vote by Mail (VBM) and provisional ballots. Processing these ballots includes verification of signatures with County Registrar/Recorder records, duplication, and the review of disqualifying requirements of a ballot per the California Elections Code. Following verification, the qualifying ballots will be counted subsequent to the reconciliation of the voting records for Election Day per the California Elections Code.
All results are unofficial until they are certified by the City Clerk and presented to the City Council on April 18, 2011.
Manoukian, Weaver, Drayman. In that order. For now. Only 162 votes separate #1 candidate Rafi Manoukian and #3 John Drayman, and only 27 votes separate #3 Drayman from #2 Dave Weaver...and a council seat. However, according to the Glendale News-Press, "roughly 3,000 ballots are still uncounted, including provisional and mail-ins that were turned in at the polls." With that many votes remaining to be processed, any outcome is still possible.
Having looked at the precinct-by-precinct counts, it appears that voting broke along predictable ethnic and geographical lines, though Manoukian did fairly well everywhere.
In a nutshell:
Manoukian and Keuroghelian dominated south of the 134
Weaver and Drayman dominated north of the 134, with middling support in South Glendale, and strong support in Adams Hill
In addition to dominating south Glendale, Manoukian did very well with absentees, fairly well in North Glendale (though behind Drayman/Weaver) and even had a fair amount of support in Crescenta Valley
Overall, Weaver did better in South Glendale than Drayman, slightly better in absentee voting, though Drayman's strong appeal north of GCC was enough to make up the difference and bring him to within a few votes
Garen Mailyan has no experience and his only platform is running for Jesus and Anglo-Armenian relations, so he's out.
The fact that Mike Mohill is a "happily married to a woman" gay man makes him a much more sympathetic and complex character than I would have thought previously, and I now like him six times more than before.
Unfortunately, six times zero is still zero. Anyone who has ever endured a grueling, non-consensual conversation with Mike Mohill -- and I have endured several -- knows that it would be impossible for him to work effectively on Glendale's behalf, or on behalf of anything other than the sound of his own voice.
On to John Drayman. In the absence of concrete evidence of wrongdoing in the ADI issue, Drayman's record on the council of bringing development downtown, bicycle/pedestrian issues, historic preservation, arts-related projects, the Museum of Neon Art and his sincere dedication to his hometown of Glendale speak for themselves. In my personal experience (dating to before I had this blog or any larger public voice) John Drayman has been very engaged and responsive to constituent issues. He has my vote.
Dave Weaver...I'm not so sure. I believe Weaver always votes for what he believes is right, but we have very, very different ideas about what an ideal Glendale would look like. His vote against the Laemmle Theater complex at Maryland/Wilson over unrealistic parking concerns is one example.
I was not living in Glendale during Rafi Manoukian's previous two terms as a councilman, but in my research, I couldn't find any substantial dirt on him. That's something! Unless someone can convince me otherwise (and feel free to e-mail me personally and off the record if you'd like), I'm voting for Manoukian over Weaver.
For Board of Education, I'm voting Ingrid Gunnell and Mary Boger. Nayiri Nahabedian is disqualified for me due to the relentless negative mailers I received from her during her campaign against Mike Gatto for Assembly. Ugh. Out of my mailbox, mean lady.
I put this together for my own amusement a few weeks ago and never got around to posting it. Mike at Franklin Avenue has nicely summed up my own sentiments about the whole Caruso-Golden Key mess: downtown Glendale is full of massive, empty retail spaces! Three-quarters of the intersection of Brand and Broadway is gaping, empty retail spaces! Much of the Americana is giant, empty retail spaces! The most prominent street-facing storefront at the Americana -- the long-promised Panini Cafe space at Brand and Colorado -- has been empty since the Americana opened!
6 months after the Americana opened, I called the management of the Panini Cafe chain to see if they were actually coming to the Americana, and they said the deal had fallen through. The space is still empty! And now we need a tacky, expensive hotel in place of the long-standing, unglamorous-but-tidy Golden Key?
Borders is filing for bankruptcy and will close approximately 30% of its stores, including the Glendale location at Brand and Broadway. With the recent closing of the Community Bank at the northeast corner and the closing of Mervyn's several years ago, this will leave the retail locations at Brand and Broadway, ostensibly the heart of downtown Glendale, three-quarters empty. Sorrows can be drowned at BJ's, the only remaining tenant at the intersection.
Some imagery from the EIR of the "Broadway Lofts" project that is slated to replace the former Circuit City site at the intersection of Maryland and Broadway. Demolition of the Circuit City building is progressing at a rapid pace.
Less than subtle, but they're in and out in under 30 seconds. If you watch closely it appears that only one guy on the left side actually breached the case, everyone else is just smashing with hammers but the cases won't break. This was at about 1:30 on Monday at the Jewelry Mart at the corner of Brand and Wilson. 3 of the suspects have been caught, and police are still looking for the other 3.
I have a friend who is considering a move to South Glendale, so I made her a personal map of my immediate neighborhood to illustrate some of the nearby amenities I make use of. One of the reasons I enjoy my neighborhood is because it is dense, urban, walkable and far removed from Glendale's reputation as a homogeneous suburbia.
