Learning About Glendale’s Poor
It may be surprising, but poverty, even extreme poverty, is a real thing in Glendale. Visit the Glendale Central Library any day and you’ll see homeless people sleeping on the grass; visit Glendale Community College and you may see people collecting cans out of the trash bins, not for extra money for an iPod, but for subsistence (i.e. to pay for rent, to feed their kids, etc.). According to city-data.com, 20.8% of Glendale’s population lived below the poverty line in 2009, 5.4% below half of the poverty line. Eighteen and a half percent of youths aged 5-17 in the Glendale Unified School District live in poverty. And in 2000, 11.9% of seniors lived below the poverty line. There are a lot of needy people in Glendale, yet the city council is planning to build affordable housing for artists?

They should be spending that money to help Glendale’s poor instead of on a project to raise property values and bring business to the restaurants, bars, cafes, and high-end shops on Brand Boulevard, which seems to me to be what it’s all about. They could build affordable housing for seniors instead, or affordable housing in general, or even donate the money to local charities. That would help people who need it the most, instead of the people who need it the least.
Morgan Nrykkyyn
Glendale

Urges Participation in CV Town Council Elections
If you live in the L.A. County portion of La Crescenta and Montrose, I would like to encourage you to get out and vote on Saturday for CV Town Council. The election will be at the La Crescenta Library [2809 Foothill Blvd.] from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. There are some great candidates to choose from.

In case you need some help deciding, I wanted to let you know that I strongly endorse both Cheryl Davis who is the previous president and returning for another term, and a newcomer to the field, Kyle Studebaker.

If you don’t already know the long list of accomplishments by Cheryl Davis you probably need to look around and pay more attention! As president of the CV Town Council the last (has it been five?) years, she has developed this group into an effective voice for our community. Having served on the council for three years myself, with Cheryl at the helm I can speak first hand about her leadership and commitment.

I practically camped on Kyle Studebaker’s door asking her to consider running for office this year. I’ve known Kyle for years, probably more like decades now, as we both served on various boards and community groups (she’s currently a director on the board of Prom Plus) and she is an intelligent strong woman who is not afraid to stand her ground. She will make a great council person.

Thanks to all the candidates who are running this year. To those who don’t make the final ballot count, please consider spending some time on one of several committees, which is where a lot of the real work gets done.

The least our residents can do is spend 10 minutes on Saturday voting; the successful candidates will then devote countless hours working on your, and the community’s, behalf.
Steve Goldsworthy
La Crescenta
Editor’s note: Steve was a CV Town Council member for three years and served as the council vice president for two years.

Loudly Supports Beatty
Voting in all elections is such a privilege. We are so lucky to live in the USA … and we are lucky to live in La Crescenta.

Charles K. Beatty is the right candidate for the CVWD district board of directors. He is qualified for the seat that is available. Charles Beatty has served as a town council member and is the former CEO of the Montrose-Verdugo City Chamber of Commerce. He has provided many, many years of dedicated community service and, for many years, was the most efficient, happy and dedicated member of the Ralph’s [grocery store] management team.

He and his beautiful wife and family have lived in La Crescenta for over 65 years. He is so qualified to assess the challenges CVWD is experiencing and has many ideas and solutions to reduce the cost of water and sewer rates.

As residents of La Crescenta, my family shouts loudly: We Need Someone Like Charles Beatty. He is interested in us and our very special community.

Vote vote vote for Charles Beatty; we are privileged to know him.
The Faieta Family
La Crescenta

ANCA-CV Supports Keledjian, Kurdhoghlian
The Armenian National Committee of America, Crescenta Valley Chapter has announced its support of Alex Keledjian and Kevork Kurdoghlian, both young candidates running for PACCD and LCUSD, respectively. Both candidates anticipate bringing fresh perspective and change through their sought positions.

Keledjian is running for the Pasadena Area Community College District Board of Trustees (PACCD) for Area 1, which includes the City of La Cañada Flintridge, West Pasadena and the West Altadena. His goals for Pasadena City College are to increase communication, strengthen fiscal responsibility and improve outreach to the community and affiliated school districts.

Like Keledjian, Kurdoghlian was a youth commissioner on the La Cañada Flintridge Youth Council. In addition, he was the student body president at La Cañada High. Currently, as a student at GCC and as an older brother to two younger siblings who attend public schools in La Cañada, Kurdoghlian is dedicated to his community in pursuit of raising awareness and enhancing the quality of education for all.

Both elections are on Tuesday, Nov. 5. For more information about Alex Keledjian’s campaign, visit http://alexforpcc.com; for Kevork Kurdoghlian visit http://electkevork.com.

ANCA-CV encourages community members to cast their ballots on Election Day as part of its Hye Votes initiative.

The Armenian National Committee of America-Crescenta Valley is one of the most influential Armenian American grassroots advocacy organizations. It works with a network of offices, other chapters, supporters and affiliated organizations, ANCA-CV advances the concerns of the Armenian American community on a broad range of issues.

Drayman & Najarian: Two Peas in the Same Pod
Like John Drayman, [Glendale City] Councilman Ara Najarian, when he cannot defend his public policies, “name calls” his opponents and makes up stories.

In the months leading up to the April 2011 election, I went before the city council questioning former councilman John Drayman about his alleged acceptance of thousands of dollars from the sub-contractors of ADI and the alleged questionable condo makeover by the sub-contractors of ADI.

Councilman Weaver, to the disbelief of many, stated the inside condo pictures shown one night at council were the common area of Drayman’s condo.  Council candidate Sam Engle said, at a candidate forum, he was told by “higher ups” not to report that Drayman had not taken out building permits. Council members did not question Drayman’s acceptance of money from the ADI sub-contractors or his lack of building permits. Instead, they all remained silent, let Drayman name call me and then circled the wagon[s] to protect him.

Today, Councilman Najarian’s actions are no different than his good friend John Drayman. For months, I have questioned his public policies on water and electric rates, bonds and over-development in the downtown area of the city. At council, Mr. Najarian told the public that I had strong-armed the 150 merchants who put my posters in their windows during the recent election.  I have no power; how could I possibly have done that?

These past several weeks, I questioned the structure and policies regarding the over-rated and over-priced Glendale Fire Department EMT program vs. returning back to a more efficient private ambulance service EMT program. Rather than addressing the issue, Mr. Najarian had his brother come before the council praising our fire department and calling a private ambulance service nothing more than a taxi.

At a budget session, our fire chief told council there was no difference in the training for a private EMT program vs. GFD EMT program. Mr. Najarian called me heartless and a monster. He said my wife several years ago had used the GFD to come to her rescue when she had a trip and fall and that I should be thankful for their help. A fabricated story. Yes, Lorraine had a trip and fall, but we never called the GFD or any ambulance service.
Mike Mohill
Glendale