By Julie BUTCHER

“My neighbor wants to grow watermelons,” Mayor Ara Najarian announced at the end of the Tuesday night meeting of the Glendale City Council that included deliberations of existing parkway standards. The Council opted to keep the standards that it had adopted during the depth of the drought in December 2015 governing the area between curbs and the sidewalks. Current rules require that at least half of the parkway be covered with live plant material, allows no non-living material over six inches and prohibits gravel, woodchips or other loose material (except mulch under city trees), artificial turf, fruit and dense ground covers that could attract rodents, and plants that are poisonous to the touch or that have thorns or needles. City staff reported that, compared to similar ordinances in other cities, Glendale’s is not overly restrictive.

Councilmember Paula Devine spoke in favor of further limiting allowable parkway materials to only the most environmentally friendly while Councilmember Vrej Agajanian argued against getting overly involved in “telling people what to do.” City Manager Yasmin Beers noted that enforcement of the City’s parkway standards is complaint-driven.

Also at this week’s council meeting, the mayor recognized July as “Parks Make Life Better” month, celebrating Glendale’s “47 beautiful parks and special-use facilities, including 286 acres of developed parkland and over 5,000 acres of open space.” Park staff listed numerous summer programs, services and events coordinated across the City’s parks, community centers and pools. For instance, Verdugo Park (1621 Cañada Blvd.) will host concerts in the park every Wednesday night from 6:30 p.m. 8:30 p.m. starting July 10, and the City’s 26th Annual Cruise Night is slated for the evening of Saturday, July 20 along Brand Boulevard. It will showcase 350 classic cars, and include live entertainment and a fireworks display.

The Crescenta Valley High School girls’ softball team was honored for its CIF Division 3 state championship.

“You did something very special and remarkable,” Mayor Najarian told the team members and their coaches. “And that has brought great pride to the City of Glendale and to the GUSD.”

Representatives of Metro provided a detailed update on future transportation plans, particularly focused on routes from Los Angeles’ Union Station through Glendale and into Burbank. Metro staff will continue to work through details of possible service improvements such as increasing the frequency of existing transit lines or adding new light rail options. For now, the recommendations are to add late-night service and to insure “30-minute bi-directional” regular Metrolink times throughout the day.

Metro predicts that the region is expected to grow from 19 million today to 22 million by 2040. By 2042, it anticipates completing East San Fernando Valley Light Rail Transit (LRT), Sepulveda Pass Transit, NoHo to Pasadena rapid bus transit (BRT), Regional Connector, and Purple Line Extension public transportation projects.

Najarian shared a video about the upcoming NoHo to Pasadena BRT project and announced an upcoming informational meeting scheduled for Wednesday, July 17 from 5:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. at the Downtown Central Library, 222 E. Harvard St.

Significantly, the Council voted to spend $115,120 to set up an Office of Sustainability. City manager Beers explained the process of selecting a consultant to assist.

“At the end of the day, this office and this contractor will allow us to coordinate all of our efforts–  past, present, and future – under one umbrella and be able to give us a road map to unify all of our sustainability efforts,” Beers said.

Glendale Water & Power general manager Steve Zurn added, “We’re doing a lot. This will allow us to coalesce into a single plan of action.”

He explained that while operating departments would continue to do the bulk of the work, EcoMotion, Inc., the company selected through an RFQ (request for qualifications) competitive bid process, would serve as a liaison to the public, seeking and communicating input from the public.

“I want to make sure we’re not bringing aboard a sixth councilman,” Mayor Najarian commented, noting that policy decisions are made by the council. Councilmember Vartan Gharpetian questioned the interplay of this new operation and existing “Greener Glendale” plans.

“This city has done a lot. We’re at 47% renewables,” he said.

Councilmember Agajanian expressed his concern about “the word ‘office.’

“I want to make sure we’re not creating a giant organization here,” he said.

Councilmember Devine spoke in strong support. “This is an opportunity for us to update our greener Glendale plans and our 2021 climate action plan, and provides for a public voice, an avenue, to hear suggestions from our residents so we can be all working together to keep Glendale a sustainable and environmentally-friendly city.”

A representative of the Glendale Environmental Coalition spoke in support of the proposal while noting several details to be considered including that the office should report directly to the city manager and have the same standing as other departments; it should be tasked with developing aggressive sustainability goals that address the interlink of climate crisis, deteriorating air quality, and the more pressing problems of waste reduction and recycling.

“It should be more than a liaison PR office,” she said.

Once goals are set, the speaker continued, the agency needs the authority to hold city departments accountable to those goals, to “ensure every decision made by the city prioritizes sustainability.”

“Ted Flanigan [principal of EcoMotion, Inc., the company selected] has a good reputation – and he lives in Glendale,” she said. “We fully support the initiative and the plan.”

Finally, the Council reviewed a new agreement between the City and the Glendale Community College (GCC) to jointly set parking policy and to share parking revenue equally under a new “mutually beneficial partnership.” As described by city staff, the new agreement “provides both with a revenue stream neither could achieve on their own” and seeks to resolve problems with spillover parking in the neighborhoods around the college.

Councilmember Agajanian voted in favor of the new agreement while opining that “we have been very generous with GCC because all the students are not Glendale residents, so they have to ask other cities to help. We’ve paid all this time; it should not burden us only. They have to appreciate our generosity.”

Councilmember Gharpetian observed that GCC has been a good partner and he appreciates its good relationship with the city.

  Julie BUTCHER