By Julie BUTCHER

Dozens of people attended Tuesday night’s meeting of the Glendale City Council including a group of students from sister city Boeun, South Korea, as the council issued a proclamation honoring Jan. 13 as Korean American Day.

Those who attended the first council meeting of 2026 also heard a presentation from the Glendale Police Dept.’s Community Outreach Resources and Engagement Bureau (CORE), a substance abuse and mental health resources program headed by Sona Hovsepian, MSW, LCSW. The program coordinates community resources focusing on “accessible mental health and substance abuse support and resources to strengthen children, youth, families and communities.” More information can be found on the police department’s website https://www.glendaleca.gov/government/departments/police-department/community-outreach/homelessness-mental-health. Hovsepian can be reached at shovsepian@GlendaleCA.gov.

The public is invited to a screening of “Dirty Drugs,” a documentary about the impacts of fentanyl abuse, on Thursday, Feb. 26 at 6 p.m. at the Look Theater, 128 Artsakh Ave. The event will include the film preview plus resource booths and a discussion panel with experts in the field.

Mayor Ara Najarian noted that the council missed celebrating National Law Enforcement Appreciation Day on Jan. 9. 

“I wish I had a proclamation to hand out,” he said, acknowledging his support for law enforcement at every level: “local, county, state and federal.”

Mayor Najarian invited the community to a community breakfast on Thursday morning at the Elks Lodge #1289 at 120 E. Colorado St., honoring the life and work of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. This year’s keynote speaker will be Shannon Bradley, chief officer of USC Keck Medicine’s Equity Inclusion and Community.

Next week’s council meeting will be held on Tuesday, Jan. 20 at 6 p.m. in the community room of the newly renovated Fremont Park, 600 Hahn Ave.The winners of this year’s holiday decorating contest were celebrated with a video showing the various winners and thanking all of the participants for showing off their holiday spirit. A snippet of the video and a list of the winning submissions can be found at https://www.instagram.com/p/DStLLnDktIx/.

Councilmember Dan Brotman reported on the Burbank-Glendale-Pasadena regional housing trust, established to help coordinate the development of affordable housing across the three cities. The trust received $5 million in state grant funds out of which Glendale is due $4 million. Additionally, each city is expected to receive $1.8 million to support first-time homebuyers.

Councilmember Brotman also recognized David Eisenberg of the local chapter of the Sierra Club for organizing a recent four-mile art walk highlighting public art in the Glendale’s downtown.

Councilmember Ardy Kassakhian thanked the Glendale Police Dept. for setting up sobriety checkpoints on Glenoaks Boulevard during the holidays. He also called on the city to act to rein in delivery robots.

“There were four or five of them sitting on Isabel [Avenue] not doing anything,” Kassakhian observed. “We work very hard to maintain a quality of our streets and sidewalks in Glendale. We took pride in eradicating the scourge of abandoned shopping carts only to be beset by these random robot delivery devices.” 

He called for an emergency ordinance banning the delivery robots while the city develops rules governing their use.

Local resident Chris Pratt addressed the council during the first period of public communications. 

“I join my fellow citizens in asking for accountability. We’re the parents and the neighbors and the workers and the taxpayers of Glendale and we’re the people who sit in these seats meeting after meeting because it matters,” Pratt said. “This week we watched a horrifying video out of Minnesota – a woman was murdered during a federal immigration enforcement action. Whether you agree or disagree with the policy, the image shook people to their core – and it could have been anyone of us. Our family has a 6-year-old, too.

“Here in Glendale, we’ve seen what happens when people stand up and say ‘No.’ When residents showed up and demanded the city end its involvement in housing and protecting ICE, that only happened because the watchers spoke up. And that’s why we’re here tonight, to remind us of something uncomfortable. What happens when power goes unchecked always starts small. It starts with process being ignored, with rules being bent – ‘just this once’ – with voices dismissed because they’re inconvenient.

“We’re growing tired of watching power protect itself instead of the public. We’re tired of councilmembers forming LLCs and accepting six-figure consulting fees through international corporations while preaching transparency. We’re tired of wealthy donors receiving special dispensations for noise ordinances while ordinary residents are told to endure it. And, yes – we’re tired of public park contracts being steered away from the winner of free and fair processes towards vendors with friends on this dais.” 

Pratt referenced a discussion of a $5 million traffic camera contract at the last council meeting and the loss of a lawsuit brought against the city regarding contracts for tennis operations at Glorietta Park as the reason for not sending the camera contract out for fair bidding.

“Let that sink in, Glendale!” he implored. “The takeaway wasn’t ‘We broke the law and we must do better.’ It was ‘That was uncomfortable so let’s avoid oversight next time.’ A judge didn’t intervene to embarrass the city. A judge [intervened] because the law was ignored. You can pass an urgency ordinance for robots at city hall, but you can’t release a free and fair public works contract despite being compelled by a California state judge to do so.

“So, we’ll keep watching – every meeting, every vote, every work-around. We’re finding each other and learning the rules. We’re waking up to the power and responsibility we carry as citizens. Glendale is going to get loud and it’s going to stay loud. We’re going to keep watching.”

Finally, the council approved the details of the upcoming municipal election scheduled for Tuesday, June 2 to fill three council seats, and for the city clerk and city treasurer, and allocated $669,882 to pay for the cost of the election.