The Glendale City Council held its sixth public hearing on the issue of district elections as part of its Tuesday night meeting and delayed a decision to its meeting of May 21, possibly beyond that date, as it heads towards a fixed deadline at the end of July for putting any measure on the ballot for a citywide election this November.

“We started this discussion a long time ago as a matter of policy,” Councilmember Dan Brotman detailed his opinion that district elections would provide “better geographical representation, better socioeconomic representation and better constituent services” and could reduce “barriers to running for election.”

Councilmember Ara Najarian advocated waiting for the courts to decide cases that are pending regarding the potential “dilution of the vote” by maintaining at-large council districts. “No law firm is threatening to sue Glendale; there is no outcry for this. We are tone deaf if we don’t hear what residents are telling us, that they don’t want districts. For us to force this issue onto the ballot would be a mistake,” he said.

A consultant hired by the city to develop possible maps of six council districts summarized the “admittedly limited input” received. Thirteen community organizations accepted an invitation to provide feedback and a total of 72 community participants gave their names at stakeholder meetings and two public forums. A long list of various active community groups, including the League of Women Voters, Glendale realtors, tenants, and homeowner associations, all declined to participate. No Glendale organization has taken a position in favor of districting the city, the consultant reported.

Susan Broussalian called into the meeting to comment, “Glendale is not suitable for districting. There are no minority populated areas and no minority groups have raised any concern at not being represented. Glendale has functioned well with an at-large council of five who together represent the entire city and its residents. Districting would forever disrupt the way we know our city today and most residents want to know they can reach out to all five members of the city council when they need something, not just one.”

Mayor Elen Asatryan asked the consultant for a list of the organizations that were contacted, “So I can start dialing.” She expressed concern about the way the census “screws over the Armenian population.” In response to her questioning, city attorney Mike Garcia explained that the costs for putting a single measure on this November’s ballot would be a minimum of $415K, more for each additional item put on the ballot, while it could be considerably less expensive to add a measure to a municipally scheduled election.

Following up on previous discussions regarding the seating of a nine-member Charter Reform Committee, the council appointed twelve Glendalians to the committee, which is tasked with a longer-term review of the city charter. The twelve people appointed to the new committee are:

1. Allan Durham

2. Carl Povilaitis

3. Elizabeth Manasserian

4. Lilit Harutyunyan

5. Rachel Yoo

6. Stephen Meek

7. Ani Garibyan

8. Denise Miller

9. Linda Megerdichian

10. Bryan Smith

11. Paul Karapetian

12. Steven Flower

Earlier in the meeting, the council heard an update from Metro staff on the Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) coming soon to connect North Hollywood to Pasadena, “Metro has plans to make it easier to get around LA that include creating better transit. This project works to provide a new way to ride from the San Fernando Valley to the San Gabriel Valley.” The $317 million project, funded by Measure M and SB1 state grant funds, received final EIR approval in April 2022, and 25% of the engineering design is completed. The BRT is anticipated to attract 30,000 daily riders when it opens in the next two or three years.

“This is a big deal,” said Councilmember Najarian. “Things are going to be different. We’re not going to have the two-lane speedway down Central or the three-lane raceway down Glenoaks. In exchange for fewer vehicle travel lanes, we’re going to have high quality transit. Something the city of Glendale has been working on – with Pasadena and Burbank – for 35-40 years, with Larry Zarian and Joyce Streeter. Many cities would kill to have a high-quality transit project like this in their city.”

“It’s not a subway – it’s a BRT (bus rapid transit). That means much less disruption. Imagine if we had tunnel-boring machines up and down Colorado and Glendale and Glenoaks. That would shut the city down for years. But this allows for the quick implementation of something very much like transit rail with the flexibility to be curb-running or median-running to fine tune the system to what we need as a city. Some people don’t like change, but this is a good change, and I am quite positive this will be a great addition to our city,” continued Najarian.

“I’m going to get in trouble tonight,” Councilmember Vartan Gharpetian said, questioning the need for the BRT, the route, and the underlying calculations, determining that only 904 people utilize public buses, .0045% of the population by his reckoning. “Half the buses we have are empty, driving around town right now.”

Gharpetian continued, “I’m trying to caution everyone if you’re taking out traffic lanes, taking out street parking – you need to talk to merchants, you need to talk to people. The idea that people are going to give up their cars and ride buses all the time, it’s not going to happen – I don’t see it – not in my lifetime at least.”

City manager Roubik Golanian commended the labor and management bargaining teams that worked to negotiate a three-year contract with the city’s employees. Effective July 1, 2024, city workers will see a 6.5% wage increase, with an additional 4% in each of the following years, a new bonding benefit (up to six weeks off following the birth or adoption of a child), a simplified pay scale that shortens nine steps to six, and specific pay adjustments for classifications in industrial and commercial refuse, truck mechanical maintenance, fleet services, and for public works technicians. The overall cost of the agreement will run $30.7 million over the course of the three-year term.

At the beginning of the meeting, the council designated May as Building Safety Month and the second week of May as Lung Cancer Action Week.

During a Tuesday afternoon budget study session, the council reviewed a comprehensive fee study and various potential bond schemes for financing the city’s future pension obligations.

A fee study such as this is conducted periodically to make sure the city is compliant with Propositions 218 and 26 and that current fees do not exceed direct and indirect costs. The city’s director of finance and information technology Jason Bradford summed up the results of the study including plans to eliminate 432 fees. Currently, the city has 1,295 fees, covering all of the possible city services from building permits to the rental of city facilities. The study represents an attempt to capture all reasonably available costs while continuing to subsidize some specific park and library services.

Councilmember Ardy Kassakhian wants to ensure Glendale residents continue to get the best rates and the best times for the use of the city’s sports fields. “You know that Burbank doesn’t have any soccer fields,” he observed.