Other panelists will be California Assembly representative Khatcho Achadjian (33rd District) and KPFK Producer and On-Air Host Maria Armoudian. The event’s sponsor, Analysis Research and Planning for Armenia (ARPA), is inviting youth organizations, university student unions and members of the public interested in this subject.

The program begins at 7:30 p.m. and will be held at Merdinian Auditorium, 13330 Riverside Dr. Sherman Oaks.

Event Flyer

The FREE evening lecture was part of the Library’s full schedule of author programs (to support these programs, join the Friends of the Glendale Public Library!).

Former Glendale mayor and current council member Frank Quintero presented Hayden with a city commendation. Quintero mentioned that he and Hayden have had a long acquaintance as their sons attended school together. City council member Laura Friedman and city clerk Ardashes Kassakhian were also in the audience.

Highlights/quotes from Hayden’s talk:

“Most of my life has been about domestic reform.” – The cost of international crises and wars are causing the U.S. to miss opportunities for domestic reform.

The wars we are fighting in Iraq, Afghanistan, and Pakistan are unfunded, “long wars…This is the most expensive project ever undertaken by the U.S.military with the possible exception of World War II…It is unsustainable.”

Skewed media attention, smaller casualty numbers (than Vietnam or WWII), the fact that the war isn’t budgeted, and the absence of a draft are all reasons why youth are largely uninvolved in debate and protest over the war(s).

“Lack of leadership from institutions is what gives rise to social movements.” When those movements become mainstream, politicians look to co-opt them in order to get re-elected.

Political battles are “fought out in memory – I don’t have to tell my Armenian friends the importance of memory.” Hayden stressed that some pivotal events of the 60s have been almost erased from historical consciousness. (In response to a question from Ardashes Kassakhian about Wounded Knee, Hayden deplored the fact that the incident isn’t mentioned in most books on the 1960s – For most Americans, “Native American struggles exist as a reservation in our mind.”

“Its all about location – do you see what other people see, or do you see through it?”

Cities around the U.S. are trying to support small business/retail districts with efforts like this, with varying success. Earlier this week, the Wall Street Journal featured such efforts in communities around the country. Some provide only a short-term boost, while others are producing a “buy local” awareness helping independent businesses survive.

In Kenneth Village, one businessman feared a Farmer’s Market would compete with his shop in terms of items sold. Other merchants opposed the market after plans were set. City Clerk Ardashes Kassakhian advised Development Services and asked them to look into it. After interviews with merchants, and establishing that the market would be held on private property, the city advised organizers that the Farmer’s Market could only take place four times in compliance with city code and if it was deemed a success organizers could apply for a zoning variance.

City Council member Laura Friedman sent the editor this clarification today:

The only permit for a farmer’s market on private property that can be issued without a zoning exemption or conditional use permit is for four events per year. This is to prevent private property owners from operating secondary businesses in parking lots and empty lots on an ongoing basis without public input. The promoters of the market can apply for a zoning variance to allow regular weekly events. If that were to happen, other stakeholders like nearby residents and businesses would have a chance to air their concerns, opposition or support. That testimony would be taken into account by the zoning administrator when she makes her decision about granting a permit. My hope is that the market will be a benefit to the merchants, and that any opposition or concerns will be tempered by the success of the first four events.

City Clerk Ardashes Kassakhian has apprised city departments of communications on this issue from the Kenneth Village Merchants’ Association, individual shopowners and surrounding neighbors, and Scholastic Gardens (the applicant). “We’ve been on top of this from the beginning,” said Kassakhian, “My instruction to city departments has been to work with merchants and organizers to see where else it could be held so it could be held continuously.”

The motive for the event is to attract more customers to a neighborhood shopping district. One neighbor wrote in an email on the subject, “WITH OR WITHOUT THE FARMER’S MARKET…YOU SHOULD STILL STROLL DOWN TO THE VILLAGE AND SHOP, HAVE AN ICE CREAM, CUP OF COFFEE, PIZZA, HAMBURGER…BUY FLOWERS, DROP OFF CLEANING…AND VISIT WITH NEIGHBORS. EVERYONE HAVE A SAFE AND HAPPY FOURTH OF JULY!!!!”

I echo her Independence Day wishes and wish all the best to Kenneth Village as the Farmer’s Market debuts tomorrow.

Stepanian discussed the ANC’s controversial role in assisting with absentee ballots, and stated in his email:

I don’t know whether this is legal or a common practice, but I strongly object to it and firmly believe that it will cast serious new doubts over the fairness or even the legitimacy of the elections.

…In my opinion and for future reference: The practice of allowing so many people to vote either by absentee ballots, or early and outside of official polling stations and on other days than the election day, diminishes the importance of the act of voting. Among other things, it gives the distinct impression that casting the ballot is something one does at his or her convenience and need not be regarded as anything more than a chore that one does when one gets the chance to do it.

The city clerk responded by forwarding two sections of the California Elections Code. The section apparently relevant to “day ahead” voting states:

(7) You have the right to return a completed vote by mail ballot to any precinct in the county.

In a phone conversation this morning, Kassakhian told me that voters can request mail-in ballots at the city clerk’s office, including the day before the election, if they certify that they are unable to vote on election day. He also said his office has no control over how others advertise this fact, although in recent years there has been a big increase in vote-by-mail applications, spurred by campaigns’ and political action committees’ get-out-the-vote programs.

The absentee voting page on the ANC’s website states in its FAQs sections: “You can also just drop by the City Clerk’s office between March 9, 2009 and April 7, 2009 to cast your vote early.”