Alert to all Glendale neighborhoods: ADA-mandated sidewalk repairs could result in losing beautiful mature tree shade and canopies along residential streets because of sidewalk repair protocol. Residents’ quick action along Bruce Avenue forced postponement of just this block’s work. Today several trees there are marked with a bright orange “NO” , and the city has agreed to remove only four identifiably dead trees.

Current city policy is that no notice needs to be provided to residents about tree removals. This policy deserves careful review from the city council.
New trees provided by the city will take decades to grow and replenish the shade and character of Glendale’s charming neighborhoods. These were planted on Glenwood at the corner of Bruce Avenue just last week.

Concerns about this issue should be directed to Public Works at (818) 548-3900 and the Glendale City Manager’s office at (818) 548-4844.

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.

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.

Libraries provide free resources for young and old, rich and poor, employed and unemployed, insured and insured, Democrat and Republican – all of whom can use their learning to benefit themselves, develop skills and find jobs, create businesses, and contribute to civic life.

Why are we spending so much money on prison doctors who aren’t even working? News like this appears day after day (thanks, by the way, to the LA Times for making such revelations a priority). Why do state legislators insist the state needs to raise taxes, and why did they propose cutting state library funding almost to nothing, when there is so much inefficiency in the system?

While turmoil and short-term thinking continues at the state level, shouldn’t municipalities do everything they can to preserve libraries, which provide clear benefits to all segments of society?

Yesterday, at the end of a long day of civic meetings, Friends of the Glendale Library President John Steele, and Community Events Chair Leon Mayer both addressed Glendale City Council and asked them to reconsider surveying city residents to see if they would support a parcel tax for local library services (the city council voted 3-2 against a survey two weeks prior).

Steele said, “I think the electorate can be trusted to make a good decision in this matter…I recommend the council reconsider and approve a survey.” Mayer spoke later, urging, “Support the request by the Library Director to spend privately-donated money to conduct a survey to see if there is support for a parcel tax.”

Library Director Cindy Cleary submitted a Library Tax Assessment Survey Proposal to city council two weeks ago. The report shows that Glendale’s budget for its libraries is already lower than those of neighboring cities.

Time: 7 p.m.
Location: Boy Scout Headquarters, 1325 Grandview Ave.
Website, with agenda

Council members were critical of the way wireless permit applications and residents’ concerns had been handled to date. The council agendized consideration of a moratorium (to be heard probably June 8), and authorized drafting of a new ordinance as well as an RFP to select an independent, third-party expert on these matters, to review the ordinance with residents’ concerns foremost.

The city council meeting can be watched via this video archive link – http://calabasas.granicus.com/ViewPublisher.php?view_id=2
Item 5 discussion starts around 7:30 pm.

Glendale Mayor Laura Friedman appeared at the request of Calabasas residents to relate that the ordinance Glendale enacted to regulate cell sites is working well. Many Calabasas residents spoke, calling for stricter rules and citizen oversight, and the city council methodically went through a list of recommendations developed by its commissions and staff. The hearing took about 3 hours.

The league’s public service event will be held in city council chambers, Glendale City Hall, 613 E. Broadway, and will begin at 7 p.m.

The League is currently soliciting questions from the public for the candidates. Questions can be submitted via telephone – (818) 925-4598, or via the League website – www.lwvglendaleburbank.org. The forum is also open to the public and written questions can be submitted that night.

Check the web for other important events: the GUSD candidates forum in the school district board room (March 3), the eco-community gardening day (March 5), the Mayor’s Prayer Breakfast (March 10), and more.

Colin Bogart, coordinator of Glendale’s Safe and Healthy Streets Program, spoke in support and quoted survey comments he’s received about the need for more sidewalks and safe pedestrian access. Bogart is gearing up to present the Draft Safe and Healthy Streets Plan for Glendale to a joint meeting Monday of the Planning Commission and the Parking and Transportation Commission (set for 6 p.m. in City Council chambers, 613 E. Broadway – the public is encouraged to send and send in comments!).

The Glendale News-Press published this feature on the plan’s progress yesterday.

Grandview Avenue leads directly up to Brand Park. A sidewalk ends at Kenneth Road, starts again further north, stops, then starts up again and continues to Grandview’s tricky 3-way intersection with El Miradero and Mountain.

Photos taken yesterday traveling north on Grandview:

The Councilman was impressed with our presentation and receptive to our case. We are thrilled to report that he has committed to the following actions:

•to propose to the city council that better notification and possibly ordinances be required from cell phone companies in the future, making reference to the possibility that changes could be retroactive as was done in the San Francisco case

•to draft a letter within the week listing the concerns of the Albers neighborhood to be presented to T-Mobile requesting an itemized response to those concerns within 14 days

•to provide us with the city attorney’s response to his request asking for a report on the extent of his authority to take action on the current cell tower installation

•to present our case to the other city departments asking for a full analysis of the material

•to reconvene after all the information from his office has been received and analyzed in support of an ongoing dialogue with our neighborhood.

The group followed up with a presentation to Sherman Oaks Neighborhood Council’s Land Use Committee, arguing that the tower was installed in violation of the LA Municipal Code and “with reckless disregard for the neighborhood community.” The Land Use Committee unanimously supported their petition for a city investigation; it went on to receive unanimous approval from the council’s Executive Committee.

Krekorian’s office, Get The Cell Out, and several other Los Angeles neighborhood advocates are still awaiting the release of a promised Los Angeles City Attorney’s report on options for regulating cell sites in the city.

The Wilbur Avenue Road Diet Goes Mainstream on Streetsblog LA, October 13, reports extensively on a road diet controversy in Los Angeles, saying most local residents support the road improvement, while the main arguments against it boil down to two:

1. Lack of notification, and
2. Lack of ability to use Wilbur Ave. as a speedway through the Valley.

Proponents say making a street impossible to use as a speedway gives reckless drivers less opportunities to cause harm. Last week, Glendale city council member Laura Friedman said she was strongly in favor of road diets for Glendale along streets such as Glenoaks, as council members considered a police department Traffic Safety and Speed Enforcement Report and voiced continued frustration at lack of progress in deterring speeding accidents in Glendale.

The road diet for Verdugo Road now being considered is a forward-looking traffic safety and sustainability project for Glendale, for two main reasons:

1. If any street in Glendale should have dedicated bike lanes to make it easier for students to bike safely to school, it is Verdugo Road. Glendale High School, Woodrow Wilson Middle School, Glendale Community College, and Verdugo Woodlands Elementary School all sit in order along a 2.2 mile stretch of this street.
2. The 2 Freeway parallels Verdugo Road at a distance of less than one mile from La Canada down to Eagle Rock. Commuters who want a fast route through Glendale (or any city!) should be educated, trained, and conditioned to use freeways or highways instead of residential streets, leaving those streets for local, unhurried traffic.

The Glendale Safe and Healthy Streets Program is holding the first of two community meetings tonight to discuss its draft plan and receive community input. Tonight’s meeting is at the Glendale Central Library. A second meeting will be held October 27 at Sparr Heights Community Center. Details in the Sunroom Desk Calendar at right or at the Glendale Safe and Healthy Streets webpage. Show up and speak up to make your voice count as Glendale tries to improve bicycling and pedestrian safety and create more sustainable transportation options in the city.