By Julie BUTCHER

The Glendale City Council on Tuesday night again expressed its strong condemnation of the aggression of Azerbaijan and Turkey against the independent republic of Artsakh.

“These have been tough weeks for every Armenian,” Councilmember Ara Najarian said before thanking the city’s interim city manager and police chief for their responses to recent “ultra-peaceful” marches and demonstrations in Glendale. These included some that closed down major intersections. “The demonstrations are to bring attention to the Azeri and Turkish armed forces’ attacks on the civilian population of Artsakh, a tiny republic that voted to be independent from the Soviet Union when it collapsed in 1991. Artsakh is the name of the two blocks we renamed Artsakh Boulevard.”

“For many Armenians,” Najarian explained, “this feels like Genocide 2.0. The Turks and the Azeris have made no secret of their goal to annihilate the Armenians of Artsakh, and I don’t think they want to stop there. I think they want to march through Armenia and Yerevan and unite their Pan-Turkic vision. The bombing and slaughtering of civilians is on the mind of every Armenian. Once a cease fire is called, they wait for two hours and drop another bomb, intentionally hurting civilians and rescuers.”

The councilman shared the video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tWp5uSb6snU, a moving performance by Sevak Avanesyan playing the musical piece “Krunk” in the bombed out ruins of Ghazanchetsots Cathedral, also called the Holy Savior Cathedral, in the town of Shusha, in the disputed region of Nagorno-Karabakh.

Najarian made a public appeal for the support of Artsakh and Armenia, issuing the strongest possible condemnation of Turkey and Azerbaijan for their aggression, and calling out the city’s civic and community organizations to make public pronouncements in similar support.

“Maybe no one has asked before. Stand with the Armenian community in condemning these actions,” Najarian said, adding there is “an army of lobbyists working in Washington, D.C. to defend those responsible for the bloodshed.” He added there were several law firms of progressive political note. He urged the city to cease doing business with these firms, if that was happening, and to ban them from city work into the future.

Early in Tuesday’s council meeting, councilmembers heard an update from city and county elections’ staff about the election in progress and various safe ways to vote. Mail-in ballots are in the mail right now to all registered voters in California. Those ballots can be returned by USPS mail and tracked here at https://california.ballottrax.net/voter/ or dropped off at an official ballot box. The first of 15 Vote Centers will open in Glendale for in-person voting on Oct. 24 and will stay open every day from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m.; 14 additional Vote Centers will open the same hours, starting on Oct. 30 until Election Day on Nov. 3 (the hours on Election Day are 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. Voters who are in the line to vote at 8 p.m. must be allowed to vote).

The last day to register to vote in the upcoming election is Oct. 19. However, same-day voter registration is available for voters who miss the deadline; those votes will be counted conditionally, once the information is verified.

County Elections Community and Outreach manager Phillip Verbera briefed the council and answered questions.

“Those boxes are not moveable. They are bolted to the ground. They’re not going anywhere,” he said assuring the council of the security of the official ballot boxes in light of recent news that state GOP representatives have been putting out their own ballot boxes. “These are 32 by 32, large enough for a human, and the slots only fit a ballot.”

Verbera encouraged voters to find complete voting information at https://lavote.net/ including a list of the Vote Centers across Los Angeles County. Voters can vote at any of 70 Vote Centers that will open on Oct. 24 or the 800 Vote Centers that will open on Oct. 30. LA County voters can vote at any of them. “So if you’re in Long Beach, you can pop in to a Vote Center and vote your local Glendale ballot.”

For those voters who will be giving their ballots to someone else to submit on their behalf, Verbera urged voters to only give their ballots to someone they know and trust and advised everyone to vote early. Local election officials are confident in the postal service’s ability to meet the five-to-seven-day goal set in April and the state has eased rules that allow for the counting of ballots for 17 days after the election as well as for the processing (not counting) of mailed-in ballots in advance of Election Day.

In response to a question about the expected timing of final results, Verbera was adamant: “Los Angeles County has a history of running clean and transparent elections. We’ve never failed to meet a certification deadline and we don’t mean to start now.”

Once again, the council considered regulations banning the sale of Mylar balloons because they cause power outages. The council heard from numerous callers opposed to the long-pending ban including from the Balloon Council, which opposes the legislation and detailed the potential loss of jobs and revenue, advocating instead that the city wait until new, non-conductive material is available.

The council unanimously approved a modified ban “prohibiting the sale of Mylar balloons, made of electrically conductive materials, which are filled with helium or gas lighter than air. The ordinance prohibits the sale of such balloons within the City of Glendale. The ordinance does allow the sale of Mylar balloons filled with air only and attached or mounted to a post or other decorative structure at the point of sale,” detailed City Public Information Officer Eliza Papazian.

“You’re not blaming this unfairly on the squirrels?” Councilmember Najarian queried. (Squirrels are also a cause of power problems. GWP general manager Steve Zurn replied that photographic evidence was available, if desired.)

Zurn then introduced and overviewed the “long awaited” clean energy programs the council had called for in 2019. Three separate prospective agreements were previewed: first, a four-year commercial and residential Electric Demand Response Program for up to $7.5 million with Franklin Energy for energy efficiencies in residential and small commercial properties, including demand reduction audits and a program that would offer customers incentives for  installing a smart thermostat; second – potentially up to $18.9 million to Lime Energy Services for a seven-year Commercial Direct Install Energy Efficiency Program, beginning with energy efficiency assessments and potential efficiencies installed through subcontractors, concluding with a report on energy savings.

Third, the most controversial of the three proposed clean energy agreements was with Sunrun, Inc. for a residential Virtual Power Plant for a term of up to 25 years, providing for solar generation and battery storage for 3,000-4,000 single-family residences and 30-40 multi-family housing properties to generate as much as 25.5 MW. The generation of this energy by connecting rooftop solar collection could greatly help the city’s utility to address peak needs. It would be one of the biggest virtual power plants (VPP) in the country, if not in the world, GWP’s assistant director Mark Young told the council, particularly critical in light of transmission limitations the city faces.

Mayor Vrej Agajanian expressed concerns about entering into long-term contracts.

“Don’t rush,” he told city staff. “It’s too much money for too long. The technology may improve in two years, in five years.”

Councilmember Dan Brotman disagreed.

“We’ve been talking about this for two years. I think we’re going too slow,” he said. “It’s not like we need to put out $240 million on Day 1.”

The proposed VPP is expected to generate 25.25 MW dispatched peak reduction by the end of Year 4, and the combination of all three proposed contracts 38.4 MW. Zurn summarized the potential benefits: clean, non-fossil fuel; local generation; involvement by the community in the solution; provides benefits to customers; creates local jobs. He detailed the challenges: potential reliability, maintaining the baseload generation needed to keep the lights on; distribution impacts that require study; the lack of a pilot phase; and cost and rate impacts, which mandate a new cost analysis.

Once the lines were open for calls to comment on the plan, numerous callers called in support.

“I grew up here and it hurts me to see the increased heat and wildfires. Every year, we have to figure out if we’re going to stay in California. I understand this comes from a place of privilege, but I’m willing to pay a little more if that’s what’s needed – it’s our health and our future that’s at stake,” one caller said.

“If it can be measured, it can be managed,” said another, calling on the council to move forward and to act to eliminate red tape.

“Twenty-three MWs right off the top, that’s that much less we need to build,” a local homeowner referred to the potential clean energy that could be created by the virtual power plant, stringing together solar generating installations across the city.

“As for concerns about cost, one of the mistakes government makes in a recession is to pull back on spending – you need to spend more; that’s what creates jobs – installing solar panels. Maybe the contracts could specify local jobs.”

“I can’t wait to be one of the first to sign up for the vpp,” a caller said enthusiastically.

“Local energy is a cost-effective, smart choice, an investment in the future,” another supporter added.

“There are many potential benefits from this: local capacity and the resulting local economic benefits, plus resiliency benefits – not only for the city but for the thousands of residents who will benefit by having backup power of their own. All three of these allow all of us, homeowners and businesses, to be part of the solution. The suggestion that this would be the largest of these in the nation, that’s the headline we want to see for our city,” noted another.

“Having battery power available as backup in the event of an emergency – I think folks are going to be really excited to participate,” Councilmember Brotman said. “It’s taken too long. I support moving ahead with the recommendations of the GWP commission.”

Finally, the council voted to set the salary for the interim city manager at $22,089.90 per month, 5% above the current monthly compensation.

  Julie BUTCHER