Future of GCC and Montrose

I learned about Glendale Community College’s plans for the old bank building in Montrose while attending a recent CV Town Council meeting. The proposal itself was fairly simple. GCC is looking to use the space to train physical therapy and occupational therapy assistants. The conversation that followed was more familiar. Questions about parking. Questions about traffic. Questions about how this might change the character of Montrose.

The old bank building sits in the heart of Montrose in a shopping district many of us love for its walkability and small businesses. It is a solid structure from a time when buildings were meant to last. There is even a large vault still inside, a reminder of an era when safeguarding money felt like one of the most important things a community could do.

GCC’s proposal would bring about 120 students into that building. Those students would be training for jobs where there is a massive – and growing – gap. Physical therapy assistants and occupational therapy assistants are in short supply across the region though demand is rising sharply. These are well paying, stable jobs with clear pathways and real impact. At the same time, there is a growing gap in accessible public community college options that prepare people for this kind of work.

This community is aging in place. Many of our parents and neighbors want to remain in their homes as long as possible. That only works if there are enough trained professionals to support them. PT and OT assistants are not abstract roles. They are the people who help someone regain balance after a fall or relearn how to safely use their hands after surgery. When we talk about aging with dignity, this is what it actually looks like.

Where do we think those people come from?

What struck me during the town council discussion was how quickly the focus narrowed. Parking came up again and again. I understand why. Montrose is busy and space is finite. But it was hard not to notice how little time we spent talking about the benefits, about what it might mean to have an active educational use in a building that has otherwise sat quiet and about the everyday life that students and patients bring with them.

The benefits to business seem obvious. Students eat lunch. They buy coffee. They shop. People who come in for physical therapy appointments often run errands or meet someone nearby. GCC also has a partnership with USC-VHH so that physical therapy happens in the community rather than next to the hospital emergency room. That feels like a thoughtful approach to care and one that fits the scale and rhythm of Montrose.

I left the meeting wondering what we are saying yes to when we say no to projects like this. The alternative is not preservation in some idealized form. The alternative is often emptiness – a building that sits unused, a space that no longer contributes much to the life around it.

This moment is part of a broader pattern. We see similar tensions concerning housing, education and community services. The instinct to protect what we have is understandable. But there is also a risk that by resisting almost any change, we lose sight of how communities stay healthy over time.

We cannot freeze Montrose or La Crescenta and expect everything else to stay the same. People grow older. Needs shift. New generations look for ways to build lives here. If we do not make room for those realities, change still comes – just messier and more disruptive.

There is something quietly fitting about this particular proposal. A building once devoted to safeguarding financial wealth could become a place where people are trained to safeguard physical health. The old vault could remain – not as a relic of what we once valued most but as a reminder that every generation chooses what it invests in.

Montrose and La Crescenta were built by people who believed tomorrow could be shaped with care. The question before us now is whether we still believe that or whether we are slowly becoming a community defined more by what it refuses than by what it is willing to build.

Patrick Atwater’s a husband, father, son, brother, avid cyclist, fervent reader, enjoyer of adventures, lover of board games, and the author of “A New California Dream.” He blogs at PioneeringSpirit.xyz.