By Julie BUTCHER

“When I first ran for office, we had to actually discuss issues,” Glendale Councilmember Ara Najarian said in a sit-down final interview last week with the Crescenta Valley Weekly. “Now it’s all about party. If there’s an ‘R’ after your name, they just automatically push the button – ‘Next!’ It’s such a lazy way of campaigning and it doesn’t make anything better.” 

Councilmember Najarian is not termed out. Nor is he “done.” Last year after he announced that he would not be running for reelection, his colleagues selected him to serve the last year of his term as the city’s mayor.

Though Najarian might have won re-election he said he wants to “give someone else a chance.”

“I didn’t want to overstay my welcome,” he said.

He is weighing possible options for future elected office with no plans certain. As expressed in this January interview https://losangelescountypolitics.com/retiring-gop-glendale-mayor-najarian-ive-hit-californias-glass-ceiling/, Najarian worries his party affiliation will keep him from being considered viable, that he has hit “California’s glass ceiling.”

Proud of all that he has accomplished – the projects and process improvements, sister city relationships, ethics enhancements and budget stabilizing efforts – he is happy to leave the city a better place. 

Most of the speakers at last week’s groundbreaking ceremony for the North Hollywood to Pasadena BRT – including Metro CEO Stephanie Wiggins – commended Najarian’s decades-long advocacy for the project and for responsible local transit. 

“Every project needs a political champion in order to succeed,” Wiggins said.

As reported in the Crescenta Valley Weekly (https://www.crescentavalleyweekly.com/news/05/21/2026/council-reduces-trash-fees/) Najarian has been fighting for Glendale’s fair share for as long as he has been in public office. He waxed nostalgic at a recent council meeting: Councilmember Najarian recalled the beginning of his tenure on the Glendale City Council and the work done to make certain the transit needs of Glendale were heard at Metro, particularly in light of the massive county transit agency resources consumed by the City of Los Angeles.

In 2005, the Metro seat held by a councilmember from Lancaster came open. Najarian reported on the campaign he helped organize to secure the spot for ‘what was then the third largest city in the county.’ Controversially at the time, the Metro board was split on how to fund public transportation. County supervisors Don Knabe, Mike Antonovich and Gloria Molina were adamantly opposed to a transit tax, Najarian recounted. 

Ultimately, Najarian cast the deciding vote to put Measure R on the ballot after he secured a commitment to create a dedicated source of funds for cities that had no rail or transit at the time. Following the 7-6 vote, the half-cent sales tax was approved by 67.93% of the voters (a two-thirds majority was required), authorizing the collection of approximately $40 billion over the life of the measure.

Ara Najarian opened his law practice in Glendale in 1998. He served on the city’s Transportation & Parking Commission from 1996 to 2002 and chaired several transit planning committees from 1998 to 2005. He was elected to public office, first to the Glendale Community College board in 2003 and then to the Glendale City Council in 2005. Councilmember Najarian has served as mayor five times during his more than 20 years on the council.

Najarian has been sharing what he terms “exposés” during recent council meetings and he reiterated the advice he gave candidates for council at last week’s meeting: It will be really hard to be on the council and hold down a traditional full-time job at the same time.

He added that the job requires sensitivity – to the workings of local government, to how things get done, to working with people to meet your goals.

“Listen. Listen more than you talk. Don’t be swayed by your own preconceived opinions and biases. Be particularly respectful of city staff. You are not a king or a queen here,” he said. “You can’t just give people orders. You need to work within the system to get things done.”

While he is not convinced that moving to geographically-based districts is a good idea for Glendale – he raises concerns about the potential creation of “fiefdoms” such as exist in cities with districts where a councilmember is unable to help solve a constituent problem in another district –“You can’t even have a fundraiser in their district without talking to them first!” – Najarian thinks Glendale would benefit from having a primary system with elections in June and November. 

And he wants an ethics officer, someone totally independent who can adjudicate ethics issues such as those that arose during the most recent council election regarding the use of the city seal. He thinks it would be helpful to have someone who could investigate and act quickly.

Najarian warns against the continuing loss of local control in zoning and development and cautions state officials that the anger from this erosion will boil up to the “We’re not gonna take it” levels.

Najarian has specific advice for the communities of the Crescenta Valley: Keep advocating – as strongly as ever. Remember that sometimes a smile gets you further than a frown. Rather than striving to separate yourselves from the city – as Najarian sees in some critical anti-city social media communications – commit to being part of it.

“It’s a great city,” he said. “We should all be so proud to live in Glendale.”

The city is hosting a farewell reception on Tuesday, June 17 at 5 p.m. in the Glendale Police Dept. Community Room, 131 N. Isabel St. RSVP at https://www.glendaleca.gov/government/departments/office-of-the-city-manager/ara-najarian-farewell-reception.