City promotes Yasmin Beers
To the surprise of no one, city manger Jim Starbird Tuesday named a key management official to be his chief operating officer.
Yasmin Beers was promoted to assistant city manager by the council, succeeding Bob McFall who retired June 30.
Beers, who was McFall’s assistant, has served 10 years with management services, and more than 22 years with the city.
Her current post as deputy city manager will be eliminated as part of an ongoing cost cutting effort.

City receives traffic grant
The City Council Tuesday approved a grant of $154,795 for traffic safety from the state of California. The grant will focus on speed enforcement, distracted driving and pedestrian safety, with particular attention on enforcement of cell phone laws. The funds will also be directed to pedestrian education.
The City has a longstanding tradition of proactive enforcement with respect to traffic related issues including efforts directed at both pedestrian and speed related violations. Distracted driving, especially when drivers are talking on cell phones without hands free devices or texting while driving, has also become an issue and the subject of increased enforcement efforts. Past efforts to improve safety in this area have included saturation patrols and task forces, some of which were funded by prior grants.
The police department believes additional education and enforcement will assist in reducing the accident rate in Glendale. This grant will augment the police department’s resources and aid in implementing a comprehensive approach to improving traffic safety. As part of its ongoing efforts, the police department continues to actively seek funding sources to support traffic safety initiatives.
Some of the funding is designated for the purchase of two message trailers for use in both education and enforcement operations, the production of educational materials, and providing information on distracted driving at local high schools. The majority of the grant funding will be utilized for specialized task force operations. Twelve task force operations will concentrate on the dissemination of the pedestrian safety educational material to the public, including people in the areas/intersections where pedestrian related collisions have occurred.
The grant also includes funding for 42 enforcement based task force operations. Of these operations, 22 will concentrate on speed enforcement and other violations in areas where a disproportionate number of collisions occur. The remaining 20 enforcement operations will focus on distracted driving violations. Since California continues to experience an increasing motorcycle related collision fatalities, two motorcycle enforcement task forces will be staffed in an effort to reduce motorcycle collisions.

By Charles Cooper