By Mary O’KEEFE

At last week’s Glendale City Council meeting a presentation was made concerning the City’s bike path plan. The plan is a work in progress and City staff reached out to several organizations for feedback concerning the plan.

“To ensure a comprehensive and inclusive approach, we have formed a dedicated Project Development Team. This team consists of a diverse range of participants, including representatives from citywide departments, engaged community members, regional stakeholders and members of TPC [Transportation and Parking Commission] and Sustainability Commission. Their insights and experiences have played a crucial role in shaping and informing the updated Bicycle Transportation Plan,” according to the City of Glendale.

The issue often brought up during the public communications portion of the Glendale City Council meetings is from a far North Glendale coalition. The coalition members feel that “once again” they were left out of the decision-making process though some of the bike path directly affects their neighborhood.

“They have not contacted us at all,” said Patrick Murphy, a member of the grassroots organization Verdugo Wash Neighborhood Coalition.

Murphy said he just happened to learn the City Council would be discussing the bike path plan on Jan. 9.

“Every week I am emailed the upcoming meeting [information],” he said. However, he did not receive an email concerning the Jan. 9 meeting.

“[The Coalition] is not opposed to the bike path where it is appropriate – from the LA River up to Brand and then stopping,” he said.

The City’s Verdugo Wash Vision plan, which includes the formation of biking and walking paths, is the reason the neighbors formed the Verdugo Wash Neighborhood Coalition. They felt, and still feel, they are left out of a conversation that directly affects them.

The Verdugo Wash Vision plan includes proposed pathways along the wash, and in some areas in Glendale the path is open. But in the area represented by the Coalition the wash butts up within feet of some homes in the area, including the Whiting Woods and Sycamore areas.

The residents have had meetings with City staff in the past but at the request of the Coalition – not because there was any outreach. City staff has said it has sent out mailers of the projects; however, many in Coalition neighborhoods reportedly have not received them.

Then there are projects that appear to have no outreach.

“A woman reached out to [City officials] and said she wanted a path through the [Coalition] neighborhood to Crescenta Valley Park,” Murphy said.

It would be cut from where Cloud Avenue meets Sycamore Avenue in the Coalition area. Murphy said he only found out about this proposed project when he saw surveyors from the City. Through a public records request he found there had been a lot done on creating this cut-through, which would affect properties, without any contact with residents.

Murphy said the residential members of the Coalition would like to be part of any official committee concerning the Verdugo Wash Vision plan and other projects that directly affect their neighborhood. This is especially important because of the unique area of these neighborhoods and the Verdugo Mountains, which are on an extreme fire list.

“My [homeowners] insurance went from $2300 [annually] to $6200 in one year because we are in an extreme fire area,” Murphy said.

Other residents are facing the same issues, including one neighbor who lost his insurance due to the fire danger.

“He was told he could get his insurance back if he cut down all of his trees around his home … the protected trees around his home,” Murphy said.

He understands the desire for more bike paths but wants the City to understand that it is not as simple as carving out a piece of a street or wildlife area to create the bike path. There are a lot of factors that go into this decision and his neighbors, who have attended the four most recent official outreach meetings, would like to have a bigger role in deciding the fate of their own property.

The City’s Project Development Team is composed of several organizations, including AAA, Glendale Unified School District and Glendale Chamber of Commerce. It does not include representation from many neighborhoods although it does have representation from the Glendale Riverside Rancho area. This falls in line with what many Coalition members feel – they were left out of the decision-making process.

“The neighborhoods are primary stakeholders,” Murphy said.