By Julie BUTCHER

“Whether you’re a Democrat or a Republican, you deserve a roof over your head,” Laura Friedman (D-Glendale) observed, explaining her efforts to garner bipartisan support for legislation that could help spur the building of more affordable housing. Glendale’s new representative to the U.S. Congress addressed the Glendale City Council meeting Tuesday night, sharing an update on the work she has been doing since taking office at the beginning of this year.

Representative Friedman said that her initial priorities – economic development, housing affordability, public safety – were replaced by actions responding to January’s tragic wildfires. The bills she has introduced include one to protect fire victims from price gouging; to address actions by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) in reducing funds victims may have received from charities. from GoFundMe pages or from FEMA grants; and efforts to restore essential healthcare funding.

“I’m proud to be leading the No Masks for ICE Act to do what our public agencies already do here in California,” she reported, proposing that ICE agency representatives are clearly identified (if they’re not working undercover), to reveal their faces to the public and to provide their identify upon request so the public has trust when dealing with federal agencies. 

Friedman also reported working on a national film tax credit “to bring those high paying entertainment jobs back to California.”

She detailed investments in Glendale she helped to secure: more than a million dollars for the Verdugo Communications Center and to help fund Glendale’s new Real Time Intelligence Center; $2 million to create a new park next to the Central Library to augment park space displaced by the Armenian American Museum under construction, “creating an entire civic center there with something for everybody.” 

Locally, the congresswoman noted that U.S. Senators Alex Padilla and Adam Schiff secured $16 million for the Burbank Airport and she spearheaded the restoration of $19.7 million for HIV prevention services.

“When funds are frozen unexpectedly by this administration, it can have real consequences on healthcare providers … a lot of my work has been to fight back against what this administration is doing, particularly to healthcare delivery – with a trillion dollars in cuts to Medicaid, which hospitals and clinics are already feeling the brunt of … and to counter this administration’s very targeted attack on California. We are seeing the defunding of education, transit funds, even money for the Olympics. Across the board, if [it] can make an excuse to not fund California, [it is] doing it.”

Congressperson Friedman shared her contact information locally at (818) 524-4384 and in Washington, D.C. (202) 225-4176 and noted that constituents could find more information at https://friedman.house.gov/.

She thanked the city’s staff for their work, adding “Glendale has the absolute finest staff of any city in California.”

At the beginning of the Council meeting, a proclamation was issued celebrating Women’s Equality Day on Aug. 26. Councilmember Elen Asatryan noted that conscious and unconscious biases continue to exist and that the work to empower women is not solely up to women. She added that sometimes she jokes that “the 1950s called and Glendale answered the call.”

Several local elected officials presented certificates of recognition to Glendale City Clerk Suzie Abajian for her work coordinating the city’s Commission on the Status of Women during the past several years as that work and the administration of the commission transitions to the office of the city manager.

Councilmember Asatryan shared a reminder about the city’s Women’s Equality Day event on Wednesday, Sept. 10 starting at 5 p.m. in the Alex Theatre Courtyard, 216 N. Brand Blvd. For more information or to RSVP, visit https://www.glendaleca.gov/government/departments/office-of-the-city-manager/communications-community-relations/women-s-equality-day.

Mayor Ara Najarian spoke to clarify the city’s work updating the Land Use Element of the city’s general plan. 

“To reiterate my comments from last week, I want residents to know that what the City is proposing with its overlay zones for city-owned properties is the best manner to defend our city from overreach by the state legislature and imposing impossible, unworkable multi-family residential developments throughout the city – I want you all to understand that the state, should they wish to come in, can usurp our local authority, like they have with the ADU issue and with the lot split issue, to SB 9, SB 10.

“I’m concerned that the residents feel the City is trying to put one over on them, that we are in some way lacking transparency, that we’re trying to do some backdoor deals, trying to ram this through. I want the city’s residents to be assured that this is not what we’re trying to do,” Mayor Najarian added, urging the planning staff to extend the comment period beyond the time extension previously announced. 

Community Development director Bradley Calvert responded that the comment period would remain open indefinitely and that “the public will get at least 30 days notice before closing out the comment period.”

The city’s general plan document can be found at https://www.glendaleplan.com/. Drafts of the updated Land Use Element and the new Environmental Justice Element are available for public review and comment at https://tinyurl.com/2u66zx33.

Councilmember Vartan Gharpetian commented on several issues including the general plan amendments: “I was opposed to up-zoning parking lots on Verdugo and in Montrose.”

“I’m against removing traffic lanes and replacing them with bike lanes. When they say ‘council approved La Crescenta Avenue,’ I just want to set the record straight. I was not part of that decision.

“I was against the Bicycle Master Plan as it was proposed, even the draft one because it calls for 90 miles of bike lanes, 50 miles of them Class IV protected bike lanes. I warned that staff would start designing projects based on that document. Right now, staff is working on Verdugo Road, starting from Honolulu [Avenue] all the way down almost to the 134 Freeway and part of that plan is to remove a traffic lane and install protected bike lanes. I was against removing any or all traffic lanes for any purpose,” Councilmember Gharpetian went on.

He described Metro’s outreach regarding the upcoming North Hollywood to Pasadena BRT rapid bus project –“We’re going to meet with the public and tell them what we’re going to build.” 

“I was not for that project,” Councilmember Gharpetian continued. “We need to understand what’s coming to Glendale. People have to wake up and understand what’s being done. I did not vote for any of those projects, the way they were proposed, I was totally against them and I don’t want to be bundled up. When you guys post on social media that Council approved something, make sure you mention who voted for it and who didn’t. I think that the fair thing to do.”

Glendale Water and Power (GWP) Clean Energy Officer Ruzan Soloyan described proposed refinements to the utility’s public benefits fund and updated proposed rebates including possible incentives to encourage the transition to electric heat pumps. 

The utility sets aside a percentage of its revenue, currently approximately $10 million per year, to fund its public benefits fund. More than half the funds subsidize programs for 12,000 low-income households in Glendale. GWP also requested $200,000 to study the possibility of electric vehicles transferring power back to the grid.

Mayor Najarian took exception to offering generous rebates to Glendale homeowners. 

“If you own a home, if the title is in your name, even if you have a mortgage on it, you are wealthy. There’s no way in good conscience that I can vote to allocate this level of subsidy to rich homeowners who decide they need help replacing their air conditioner. People were sweltering in hot apartments last week because they can’t afford to turn on their air conditioners. That’s who should be receiving the bulk of the public benefit funds,” he said.

Najarian also commented on the heat pumps.

“We’ve been misled. We hear that a heat pump is more efficient than a furnace, but that is a trick,” Najarian said. “A heat pump is more expensive to operate because it uses more electricity. Efficiency is defined in terms of physics and thermodynamics, not dollars and cents. When they say it is highly efficient, that does not mean that it’s cheaper.”

Currently, the cost to deliver one therm (a unit of measure for heat) using a relatively new gas furnace is $1.89; when using a heat pump the same therm costs $3.13.

Councilmember Dan Brotman reminded his colleagues that for years they had adopted similar incentives to urge people to transition to solar energy and that the need for those subsidies diminished as the technology matured and costs became more competitive.

GWP head Scott Mellon agreed. 

“It’s never cheap to make a big change,” he said, “but if you’re planning for the future, change is required.”

The Council deadlocked with votes of 2-2 on both issues; they will be reconsidered at upcoming Council meetings.

The Council agreed to adopt standards for new drive-through restaurants, requiring the issuance of a conditional use permit for new drive-throughs.

The Council will next meet on Tuesday, Sept. 9.