The Alex is the centerpiece of Glendale’s downtown district, providing cultural resources, creating jobs, and attracting spending by patrons, which benefits local restaurants and retailers.

Glendale Arts currently operates the Alex under an agreement in effect through mid-2015. This may delay the forced sale of the Alex, but will not prevent it. The Alex Theatre could be saved as a “carve-out” project through language that allows cities to retain public facilities built with redevelopment money.

A strong message from the community will make a difference, and go a long way in Sacramento. Write to state representatives, send letters to the editor in the Glendale News Press, and spread the word to others to do the same.

Check out the Glendale Arts fact sheet about the Alex Theatre, Glendale Arts programs and its many events and supporters.

Send messages to elected representatives now!
Local representatives contact information:

Senator Carol Liu – 21st District
(818) 409-0400
Senator.Liu@senate.ca.gov

Assemblymember Mike Gatto – 43rd District
(818) 558-3043
assemblymember.gatto@assembly.ca.gov

Assemblymember Anthony Portantino – 44th District
(626) 577-9944
assemblymember.portantino@assembly.ca.gov

Letters to the editor Glendale News Press
gnp@latimes.com

The No 710 Action Committee comments on SCAG’s Draft 2012 RTP calls for funding zero-emission + electrified rail projects, and multi-modal transportation alternatives, which will reduce pollution, congestion, environmental and health impacts.

Excerpt from the letter: “We oppose SCAG RTP items associated with proposed SR-710 Toll Tunnels because they will increase pollution, truck traffic, congestion, accidents, health impacts and environmental risks in our communities and throughout the region. We oppose related plan items which have the goals of increasing conventional roadway and rail yard capacity for the same reasons…These approaches are outdated, inefficient, and harmful to the region. Better, zero emission proposals for goods movement are available now – we should not wait another 20 years.”

The letter also objects to inclusion of the BNSF Southern California International Gateway (SCIG) rail yard expansion, saying, “SCIG and related Draft Plan components are part of an overall framework which favors conventional goods movement activities that cause significant pollution and negative impacts in neighboring communities and throughout the region.”

The No 710 Action Committee sent a separate letter commenting on the SCIG environmental impact report as well. Excerpt: “The SCIG project is a mere band-aid and will not greatly improve efficiency of goods movement. It will, however, continue to depend on the obsolete method of container movement by truck…Although it has been stated that there is no room for an on-dock system within the existing stretch of land, the Ports MUST eliminate the practice of transfer by trucks to a nearby yard. This transfer process has been damaging to the communities surrounding the Ports. To increase efficiency and to remain competitive into the future, the Ports MUST completely overhaul the transfer at the docks and load directly from ship to rail.”

The Southern California Association of Governments is accepting public comments on its Draft 2012 Regional Transportation Plan, and on the Draft 2012 RTP Environmental Impact Report, through February 14, 2012. SCAG is also holding a public hearing on the plan for LA County this Thursday, February 2, 2012, in downtown LA.

Walk Bike Glendale webpage on the road diet proposal
Glendale city staff report: Proposal to Conduct a Road Diet Test Case
Sunroom Desk Notes on Traffic Safety and Road Diets
Glendale Safe and Healthy Streets webpage explaining road diets and their benefits

Streets named as candidates for the pilot include Honolulu Ave., Pennsylvania Ave., Verdugo Rd., and Orange Ave. Support this city effort to make streets safer and more usable for all! Email council members or attend and speak at the meeting.

The Glendale City Council will tonight consider a proposal by Glendale Water and Power setting smart-meter opt-out fees.

For electric meters, GWP is proposing a one-time fee of $62 dollars to install a radio-off smart meter, and a billing cycle (bi-monthly) charge of $56. For water meters, the proposal is a one-time fee of $55 to turn the radio off, and a recurring $34 billing cycle charge. The fine print, for those who want to opt out of both, or those who currently have an analog meter, is contained in the report. In Glendale, GWP is asking for a decision now, although the CPUC has not come to a final decision.

Meanwhile, the fight against smart meter installations goes on in other parts of the state and around the country. In neighboring Burbank, the Leader carried this update saying city council postponed an opt-out rate decision pending the CPUC’s ruling in February. That ruling is likely to recommend analog meters for customers opting out of the program.

Santa Cruz County’s public health officer just released a smart meter health impact report commissioned by county supervisors. Excerpts (from EMF Safety Network’s summary: “exposure is additive and consumers may have already increased their exposures to radiofrequency radiation in the home through the voluntary use of wireless devices…It would be impossible to know how close a consumer might be to their limit…There are no current, relevant public safety standards for pulsed RF involving chronic exposure of the public…[and] there is no scientific data to determine if there is a safe RF exposure level regarding its non-thermal effects.”

The ACLU is participating in hearings over Vermont state senate bill S214, which would prohibit installation of smart meters without customers’ written consent and allow no-cost removal of smart meters. The Vermont ACLU’s position on smart meter installations includes these points:

• Utility customers should decide for themselves whether they wish to have a smart meter installed at their home. Consent must be renewed every two years but can be revoked by the customer at any time.

• A utility should not charge extra fees if a customer decides not to opt in and have a smart meter installed at his/her home. The savings the customer forgoes because of his/her decision is already a penalty for non-participation. Additionally, extra fees could, because of the classes of people who might decline to opt in, lead to unintentional, and yet still illegal, discrimination.

Nationally, the American Academy of Environmental Medicine has issued a statement against wireless smart meters in a letter to the California Public Utilities Commission.

California SB 659, introduced by Alex Padilla (D-Pacoima), would delay ending redevelopment agencies and allow consideration of a scaled-back program. Glendale City Council agreed to support it last week.

Without quick action, at least $8 million per year will no longer be available for the city of Glendale to balance its own budget, according to Chief Assistant Community Development Director Phil Lanzafame. Redevelopment agencies will have to shut down operations by February 1.

What else is at stake for Glendale? The Alex Theatre and Glendale Arts, a Central Library renovation, downtown live/work developments, and more. In Northwest Glendale, the Casa Verdugo Branch Library renovation, a three-month project that began December 30 (the day after the court decision!) no longer qualifies for redevelopment funds. The city is taking over funding through Public Works, which of course means less money available for other Public Works projects.

It isn’t just time for major editorials, it’s time for a letter-writing campaign to state-level representatives who are looking everywhere to close the state budget gap. They need to be told that local agencies understand how best to deploy funds in local contexts, and that dissolving agencies like Glendale’s will lead to more job losses and problems for this community as well as for the state.

A short, sample letter to state officials:

Dear Governor Brown, State Assembly Representative Mike Gatto, and State Senator Carol Liu,

Please support and sign SB 659 (Padilla), a bill that would temporarily postpone the scheduled February 1, 2012 date to dissolve California’s 425 redevelopment agencies.

Temporarily postponement will allow time to develop a solution that ensures that no further funds are taken from municipalities to close gaps in the state budget, and to provide options for cities like Glendale which have a significant amount invested in cultural and civic projects such as the historic Alex Theatre and library renovations and upgrades.

Once the dissolution process starts, it can lead to lawsuits, endless delays, and ongoing conflict. Thousands of jobs and vital economic development and affordable housing projects will be lost in the meantime.

I support continuation of a redevelopment program in a form that is focused on local community needs such as the arts and our libraries, environmentally sustainable growth, and community improvement and investment.

Please support and sign SB 659 to temporarily postpone the dissolution of redevelopment agencies and work to create a new, scaled-down program that will allow local agencies to decide how to make the best use of funds to create jobs, and build our communities.

Although invitations were extended to all state-level officials representing this area, Portantino was the only one who attended the meeting.

Chief Assistant Director of Community Development Phil Lanzafame provided details on the legislation, and made clear that no additional funds will go to Glendale or other school districts as a result of ending redevelopment agencies. Instead, the tax increment will go directly to the schools and the state will send proportionately less – just as much as is required by Prop 98! (See slide 8 of staff’s AB XI 26 Status report: the net result, it says, is that the state’s contribution to local government is reduced).

Lanzafame also reported that the Friends of the Glendale Library Board, concerned about further cuts to the library budget resulting from loss of redevelopment revenues, and about cancellation of the $10 million Central Library project, would be sending letters of support for the bill. The Glendale Chamber of Commerce, and Glendale Arts and the Alex Theatre, were meeting soon to consider this step as well.

The website’s event page now features Glendale’s Master Bike Plan Outreach meeting, Wednesday (tomorrow), January 18, at 7 p.m. in the Glendale Police Community Room, 131. N. Isabel St. Go to the website page to learn more about the bike plan, download the entire draft, or link to a page where you can make a public comment if you cannot attend the meeting.

From the Glendale Safe and Healthy Streets/Los Angeles County Bicycle Coalition hosted webpage, which also includes a link to the full Draft Plan: “Officially titled the ‘City of Glendale Bicycle Transportation Plan,’ the document will determine the bicycle facilities to be built and programs to be established in Glendale for the coming years….You can help determine the future of bicycling in Glendale!…Tell your friends and encourage them to attend as well! It’s critical that the bicycling public participate in the development of the Bike Plan.”

Congratulations and thanks to the citizens who gathered to form Walk Bike Glendale and establish key coalitions (the group is now a regional chapter of the Los Angeles County Bicycle Coalition), for their work to promote a safe and healthy walking and bicycling environment.