By Julie BUTCHER

The Glendale City Council at its Tuesday meeting heard but ultimately rejected a request to help fund the Crescenta Valley 2021 fireworks show.

Local civic leader and CV Fireworks Committee member Steve Pierce called in to the council meeting to explain plans for this year and to answer questions. The school district approved the use of Crescenta Valley High School for this year’s show, but it will not be possible to have people on the field. Ticket sales typically bring in $4,000-$5,000, Pierce said. No revenue from food trucks or entertainment for kids at the school, he explained, meant limited ability to generate revenue from the event.

“This year we’re planning for all the fireworks to go up so people can see them from farther away. People come from all over, even from Pasadena this year,” Pierce said. “Without this approval, we’re not going to have a fireworks show. We appreciate what you’ve done in the past and want to honor the United States and our community in this way again this year.”

Najarian offered an alternative motion to fund a city-sponsored fireworks show in the downtown area.

“We do a lot of fireworks downtown,” he said, “and there are a lot of people who would like to see them out of their windows. Glendalians.”

“I like the people in Tujunga and Sunland and La Crescenta and La Cañada,” he continued, “but as we decide to give money to organizations, speaking for myself as a member of the Glendale City Council, with an opportunity to provide fireworks in the City of Glendale for the thousands of people who won’t have to be bused up to La Crescenta. No overtime pay for our police to patrol La Crescenta.”

“La Crescenta is represented by a very able member of the board of supervisors,” Najarian continued. “It would be out of line for the City of Glendale to jump into her jurisdiction and pay for her fireworks. Glendale first. This is a way to help our downtown retailers and others in the area who don’t have a lot of open space options.”

Najarian’s motion to instruct staff to work with the downtown business association to produce a $50-$60,000 event passed on a vote of 4-1.

“I advocate for continuing this tradition. People come from all over, and from all over Glendale, to celebrate the 4^th of July every year. It is a community tradition. Starting from scratch at this time? I don’t think we need dueling fireworks shows either,” Kassakhian voted against the motion. “We’ve had CVHS’ football team here to recognize them for their contributions to Glendale pride. The CV Weekly may be called the Crescenta Valley Weekly but it covers the council and shares information about the City with the entire community. I don’t see how these artificial boundaries are helpful here.”

Devine expressed her “regrets to the Crescenta Valley.”

“I think the best of Steve Pierce, but here’s a chance to do something for south Glendale,” she said.

“We could all go to Oakmont,” Brotman joked. [It was reported that Oakmont Country Club is planning a fireworks show again this year.]

Earlier in the meeting, councilmembers commended President Joe Biden for his formal recognition of the Armenian Genocide on April 24.

“Thanks to the mayor and my colleagues for always standing on the right side of history on this issue – and now thank the President for doing the same,” Councilmember Ardy Kassakhian began. “This is as much a victory, a validation, as much for Armenians as for all Americans.”

“By not speaking openly and reaffirming the historical facts of the Armenian Genocide because of the influence of lobbyists and foreign interests with their own agendas, we deprive ourselves of a very proud chapter in our own history when so many American leaders and missionaries and senators and even the President at the time stepped up to help the people massacred by the Turkish Ottoman Empire. This country alone raised today’s equivalent of $2 billion in assistance through the Near East Relief Fund and it was the first international humanitarian aid effort, ever, by the United States; it put us on the map as a world power that reached across the ocean to help those in need,” Kassakhian added. “Hopefully we’re able to reclaim a proud chapter in American history through this declaration and moving forward as Armenian Americans continue to fight for justice and continue to fight for full acknowledgement by the perpetrators of this crime, the Republic of Turkey, which is the inheritor of the Ottoman Empire. We should remember that this is the floor and not the ceiling.”

“In President Biden’s proclamation, he said the word ‘genocide’ twice. Since Reagan promised in 1981, every President has promised to recognize the Armenian Genocide. Then they use words like ‘atrocities’ and ‘massacre,’ every word except ‘genocide,’” Councilmember Vrej Agajanian recalled.

Councilmember Dan Brotman agreed that it was a proud day for all Americans.

“I grew up as a Jewish American and I remember always hearing about the holocaust of World War II. I can’t imagine what I would have felt if for all those years my government said, ‘Well, that’s kind of what happens in war time, you know, that wasn’t a genocide, it was just the ‘fog of war.’ I would have been livid.”

Councilmember Ara Najarian shared his thoughts. “It is an important piece, going forward, and I’m hoping this signals a change in America’s foreign policy, that we’re not going to be held hostage by the threats of Turkey not letting us use our air base, to bottle up the Straits of Bosphorus – we are now standing on strong moral ground and I hope this extends to other countries that still don’t recognize the Genocide, namely the U.K., and join the many countries that recognize the Genocide.”

Next the council heard an update from Adventist Health Glendale’s director of Pharmacy Services Romic Eskandarian on the progress of the city’s vaccination program. Eskandarian urged all Glendalians to get vaccinated, reminding everyone that the Jewel City Vax Clinic will be open again this week, Thursday through Sunday, 7 a.m. to 5 p.m. each day. Starting on Sunday, appointments will be honored but not required and walk-up vaccines will be available for all those over 16 years.

According to Eskandarian, the vaccination site is a partnership and will continue in the Glendale Community College parking lot through mid-July. Adventist Health Glendale provides the vaccines and staff to administer them.

“You have to come see it,” Dr. Eskandarian urged. “It’s beautifully put together and well-organized, very safe and easy for you to come into to get vaccinated.”

The clinic is slated to administer 2,000-2,500 shots per day and is averaging 600 per day with a 16% “no-show” rate.

Agajanian offered to share that appointments will no longer be required on his TV show. “It is very important that everyone gets vaccinated.”

Moving on, the council unanimously approved the ban it had been considering on the sale of flavored tobacco products. The ban was expanded from initially focusing on electronic tobacco products to include the sale of “combustible, flavored tobacco products including menthol, but excluding traditional hookah and premium cigars.”

Then the council heard a staff report and deliberated at length about how the city enforces code violations and deals with deadlines for residents “who are physically or financially unable to remedy violations.”

In 2013, the city adopted an administrative citation process that replaced criminal prosecution for code violations with a scheme of fines and fees. City staff emphasized that it only assesses fines and fees when compliance deadlines are not met.

“Ours is an extremely compliant community,” staff of the city’s Neighborhood Services Dept. told the council. “Ninety nine percent of the citations we issue are met with compliance.”

According to city staff, the first request for a 30-day extension will be granted automatically, if the request is made in writing. Further extensions may be granted based on circumstances and hardship. The city officially delayed action on “illegal” front fences that were in place before 2005 and on unpermitted window replacements by prior property owners.

Kassakhian urged the council to set up a process, a panel such as the one used to review parking tickets, for instance, “because we don’t have a point-of-sale inspection process,” he explained.

Staff has done everything possible to enforce compliance, Najarian noted, “for 20 years that I know of.”

Brotman added that he hears more from folks concerned about the lack of prompt enforcement.

“We have a very light touch – we’re much easier than other cities,” he said. “We used to enforce these provisions, we’d go around and look for things. Now we’re passive and reactive, what do they call it? Complaint-driven. I fear it creates a sense of arbitrariness.”

But Mayor Paula Devine disagreed.

“It all already exists: full disclosure and due diligence,” she said. “Tell the buyer what’s expected. And it behooves the buyer to check everything.” Devine opted for keeping the provisions as they are though she did add that a problem was a lack of inspectors.

“I am very disappointed that council didn’t want to create a formalized transparent process that provides a clear path to people who find themselves in unique situations with unintended code violations and wish to fix their mistakes and comply with city codes,” Kassakhian said after the vote to maintain the status quo passed, 4-1.