By Julie BUTCHER

“I’m an Armenian American veteran. I love the city that I live in and am happy to be of service to my city,” Robert Adjinian told the Glendale City Council on Tuesday night during its virtual meeting after he was appointed to the city’s Housing Authority.

Councilmember Ara Najarian updated the council with “good news from the Metro board:” $8.4 million was approved for design and infrastructure work to fix the Doran Street crossing, described as one of the most dangerous crossings in Los Angeles County.

“There’s propane storage on one side,” Najarian explained, “adjacent to the 134 [Freeway], around the blind curve the engineer can’t see in advance. Currently both freight and transit trains are required to sound their horns. The fix in progress includes fancy flyover design and active transportation and, once it’s completed, it will become the longest quiet zone in the county.”

The council spent most of its short meeting debating issuing a letter opposing an aerial tramway contemplated for Griffith Park. City staff summarized work done by the City of Los Angeles in a lengthy “Dixon Report” in a presentation that included a slide that listed the goals of the project: 1) Enhance Pedestrian Safety; 2) Improve Traffic Flow and Reduce Congestion; 3) Improve Access to Griffith Park and Trailheads; 4) Improve Emergency Vehicle Access; 5) Increase Parking Efficiency and Compliance Rates; 6) Expand Transit Opportunities; and 7) Actively Manage and Provide Optimized Visitor Opportunities.

Detailing 29 possible strategies, the feasibility study analyzed four possible tram routes including one originating in Travel Town, seen as the most potentially impactful to the Rancho neighborhood. Two routes would start at the Los Angeles Zoo and the fourth from the south side of Griffith Park, near Warner Bros. Studios.

Letters of opposition for the project have been submitted by the Friends of Griffith Park, the Sierra Club, the Los Angeles Audubon Society and the City of Burbank. State Senator Anthony Portantino has written to raise questions about the proposal.

The Martinez Arena would be potentially endangered, commenters noted, harming access to the park for Glendale and Burbank equestrians.

“[T]hat an aerial tram cutting across two miles through the middle of the park, with a viewing platform on Mount Lee, will without question irreversibly degrade unique native habitat that many of these bird species require to persist,” the LA Audubon Society wrote in its letter.

Friends of Griffith Park president Gerry Hans called into the meeting, urging the council to “take the Dixon Strategy Report with a grain of salt. The Dixon Group is a parking consultant from San Diego hired to solicit input from the affected residents where visitors go to the Hollywood sign. Those meetings were about how to mitigate those impacts. An aerial tram was never part of those discussions.”

“Parts of the Dixon strategy report were met with great enthusiasm, such as electric shuttles and better connectivity to public transportation,” Hans said. “An aerial tram would do little to solve access and parking problems. That’s why all of the homeowner associations have expressed opposition to all of the routes. Each would be tremendously destructive to the habitat and wildlife in the park, the largest expanse of contiguous wildlife in the eastern Santa Monica Mountains. It’s high-quality diverse habitat and it does not deserve to be fragmented and degraded by this project.”

“There’s no EIR [Environmental Impact Report]. They’re waiting for more information. I’m concerned that it’s too early for us to get involved,” Mayor Vrej Agajanian remarked.

Joanne Hedge called in, representing the Rancho neighborhood.

“As we’ve already written, joining Burbank in our opposition to the wreckage of this habitat,” Hedge said. “The long-term impact would last beyond the construction, the destruction of the long-used Martinez Arena by riders. We don’t even believe this meets the mandates of the Griffith family for use of the park – it’s mechanical, it’s enormous, it’s for profit, it’s to satisfy Olympics tourism and then we’re stuck with it. We just feel that, given the egregious potential impacts on Glendale and Burbank equestrian and recreational areas, we are vehemently opposed.”

Councilmember Dan Brotman agreed with the callers.

“I’m perplexed that this is being considered and wondering who wants it. The fact that the only way to get there would be to drive and park – there’s no connection to public transportation – I can’t believe anyone would be considering this totally car-dependent project at this time. We know enough to know that this is a bad idea. We don’t need to wait for an environmental review for that,” Brotman said. “I’m on board.”

Councilmember Najarian cautioned premature action.

“I do support process on these kinds of things. I don’t want anyone to be able to say, ‘Look at these NIMBYs [Not In My BackYard]; they didn’t even wait for the EIR.’ Plus it’s not a decision that Glendale will make. This is the 600-pound gorilla Los Angeles,” he said. “There are certainly issues raised that need to be addressed – in the appropriate forum. I’m hearing a lot of ‘Can you imagine what those structures would look like or how they would be put in place?’ I don’t actually know what it would look like or what would be involved.”

He added, “I’m not rooting for this, don’t get me wrong.”

Mayor Agajanian continued to express his concerns: “This is a voluminous report. I don’t know what I’m objecting to.”

“I respect your perspective as the only engineer on the council,” Councilmember Ardashes “Ardy” Kassakhian replied, “but I want to take a step back. This is bigger than the Rancho neighborhood. Griffith Park is akin to Central Park, to Golden Gate Park – it’s one of the most historic and important green spaces in one of the largest metropolitan areas in the country, and we’re fortunate as Glendalians to live next to it. Its natural habitats must be protected. I don’t need to read the whole report to know this is a bad idea. I can’t conceive any way of putting a tram in Griffith Park. Let them try for one at Dodger Stadium.”

The council voted to review a letter opposing the proposed tram.

In additional action, the council approved change orders for $1.8 million and $200,000 to two contracts “for emergency off-site repair of two Pratt & Whitney gas generators.” Interim Glendale Water and Power general manager Mark Young reported that the repairs could preserve the turbines for five to 10 years, “depending on the usage – we don’t plan on using them very often.”

“This gas turbine makes sense,” Councilmember Dan Brotman said. “I know we need it.”