By Julie BUTCHER

The Tuesday night virtual meeting of the Glendale City Council meeting was comfortingly routine following a morning budget study session during which councilmembers challenged sales tax revenue projections as overly rosy.

Councilmembers appointed members of the community to several of the city’s boards and commissions: Francesca Smith to the Design Review Board; Ted Flanigan to the GWP Commission; Steven Mateer to the Planning Commission.

City Manager Yasmin Beers introduced a matter she said the council only became aware of three weeks ago: the installation of a 70-foot tower to facilitate data transmission for first responders through the LA-RICS (LA Regional Interoperable Communications System).

Briefing the council, Beers expressed consternation that the joint powers authority had failed to notify the city about its plans for the tower in Scholl Canyon, and worried about the reactions of community members in Glendale’s Glenoaks Canyon neighborhood as well as in Eagle Rock and Pasadena.

“It doesn’t work that way in the city of Glendale,” Beers said. “In Glendale, we take public outreach seriously.”

Representing LA-RICS, Chris Odenthal explained the role of the tower in improving data communications for first and secondary emergency responders across L.A. County (fire, law enforcement, EMS, mutual aid) and as part of the nationwide public-private build-out of the FirstNet network.

Glendale police chief Carl Povilaitis detailed some of the history: After Sept. 11 public safety agencies realized they needed the ability to talk to each other; in 2009 federal grants funded the creation of LA-RICS to help coordinate the effort. Glendale was already in another system (ICI) along with other neighboring cities; in 2012 a block of frequencies was designated for public safety data communications; in 2016 AT&T won the federal bid to build the nationwide system for first responders.

“I was wondering about the timing of this,” Councilmember Paula Devine weighed in. “Do you usually wait until the eleventh hour like this? Is this your usual ‘M.O.’? Our Scholl Canyon residents are very important and very sensitive.”

Councilmember Daniel Brotman agreed.

“I think there’s an incredible level of arrogance to come into Glendale and present this as a fait accompli, to show a set of slides that show visibility from somewhere in Eagle Rock,” Brotman said. “I find it very presumptuous and disturbing, and I’m not in support of this whatsoever. I hope LA-RICS goes and looks for another site.”

Odenthal responded that the land is county-owned, that no community outreach had been done because there are no houses within 500 feet, and that “six weeks ago, Glendale Water and Power approved final power design plans – that’s usually a four-to-six-week process, just to give you a sense of the timeline.”

“What would happen if the council refuses? What if we don’t allow them to use GWP?” Devine asked.

Councilmember Ara Najarian responded, “I think we’d get sued for refusal of service.”

LA-RICS’ executive director Scott Edson offered additional context for the project after the council meeting.

“I just want to emphasize how important this site is for public safety in this region,” Edson said. “The federal government, www.FirstNet.gov, issued an RFP for a national public safety broadband data network dedicated to public safety across this nation. AT&T won the competitive procurement and was awarded billions in tax dollars to build a private data network for public safety.”

He went on to explain that the data network is just now coming online across the nation and is an option for public safety to use as its carrier for police cars, fire trucks and emergency vehicles. It is called AT&T FirstNet.

“Before FirstNet, LA-RICS built a public safety broadband network in the Los Angeles region that included 76 sites. LA Sheriff and LA County Fire Dept. are dedicated to that network along with a few other public safety agencies. When AT&T was awarded the contract from the federal government they agreed to absorb those 76 sites and we agreed to build 26 more for them using federal grant dollars in areas that benefited public safety response, which ultimately better protects the public.

“That’s why the Scholl Canyon site is so important because it fills a gap that is beneficial to public safety, if an agency uses FirstNet. That is an agency decision. FirstNet is the only service in this region that was purposely built to public safety grade, which includes structural integrity, network redundancy and power redundancy. Therefore, LA-RICS highly recommends public safety agencies consider the use of FirstNet as their primary form of data communications as it should be more reliable during a major, emergency disaster or earthquake.”

Edson noted that the CV Sheriff’s Station uses FirstNet network.

Renter protections were also discussed at the council meeting. After hearing public comment from several callers, including from local businessperson Rick Lemmo on behalf of the Downtown Glendale Business District, the council decided to revisit protections it had extended to renters. Najarian urged equity for tenants and landlords, commercial and residential, and asked for support for federal legislation developing to freeze both mortgages and rents together.

“We’ve been helping renters in so many ways,” Devine observed. “Landlords are not getting anything. This has to be fair.”

Councilmember Brotman reported that the organizations Glendale OUT, Equality Armenia, and the Gay & Lesbian Armenian Society [GALA] had been planning next month’s first Glendale Pride event for the promotion, dignity, equality, and increased visibility of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) people. Brotman said they have three specific requests of the city: to proclaim June Pride month on May 26; to light up city hall in Pride colors for the month of June; and to share the overall campaign on the city’s social media platforms.

Finally, Councilmember Ardashes “Ardy” Kassakhian proposed a temporary cap on fees charged by food delivery services to assist local businesses. Similar measures have been adopted or are being considered in other cities. Kassakhian suggested a cap of 20%.

  Julie BUTCHER