By Julie BUTCHER

“It costs $183 an hour to keep the [Pacific] pool open, based on the cost of electricity and three lifeguards paid $18-$25 an hour,” said Amers Goff, an occupational therapist who works with children with severe developmental disabilities who utilizes the pool for aquatic therapy, in detailing the benefits for children with whom she works. She was joined by students from Incarnation Parish Elementary School on Tuesday night to urge members of the Glendale City Council not to close Pacific Pool on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays starting on Nov. 2 (as has been planned) to close a $30,000 budget gap.

“I struggled to find a home for our programs before finding Pacific Pool. It is an important service considering drowning is the leading cause of death for children with autism spectrum disorder,” Goff shared.

Sebastian, a sixth grader and member of the Incarnation swim team, told the council he was honored to come before them again to advocate for keeping the pool open.

“Even when the pool is closed to the public, the pool itself still needs to be heated and treated with chemicals. Those costs do not go away simply because residents are not allowed to use it.

“Glendale has nearly 200,000 residents while neighboring Burbank has 107,000 yet Burbank has multiple city-run pools; Glendale is nearly twice as big, but it only has one aquatics center.

“Pacific Pool is where Glendale residents come for swim lessons, water polo, swim teams, lap swimming, recreational swimming and community aquatics programs. The pool is busy because people need it and use it. 

“A public pool that is closed on weekends for almost half the year is a resource that is not serving the public,” Sebastian concluded to enthusiastic applause from those attending the council meeting.

Much later in Tuesday night’s meeting, after a lengthy and detailed financial update which included good news about a $7.2 million surplus ending the last fiscal year and preliminary deliberations regarding potential future revenue sources, the council instructed the city manager to keep the pool open, at least until another financial report is presented which was previously scheduled for December.

Sebastian’s school posted on social media his speaking at the council meeting and the good news about the pool: https://www.instagram.com/p/DfBofD0SP6N/.

Finance director Jack Liang detailed the budgetary report for FY2025-26; summarized revenue enhancements that are in the works as well as those still being considered or explored; and asked the council to weigh in on longer-term funding options.

Currently the city is increasing its efforts to collect transit occupancy taxes; implementing a development concierge fee; creating revenue-sharing for digital kiosks; increasing parking fees; and accruing valuation from landfill gas used to produce energy. Next under consideration are additional increases to on- and off-street parking fees; providing electric vehicle chargers in the public right-of-way; adding a potential public safety impact fee; and implementing a transportation impact mitigation fee.

Councilmember Elen Asatryan wants the city to also consider a tourism business improvement district, as neighboring Burbank and Pasadena have implemented, a tax collected from visitors as well as the continued consideration of a municipal ice skating rink. She expressed her frustration at the pace of city staff’s acting to implement some of these ideas.

“I don’t want to be the angry councilmember,” she said.

Further potential revenue increases would require an affirmative vote by the public. These include an increase to the city’s sales tax – previously considered but the votes needed for further consideration were unable to be secured; an increase to the parking tax paid by private lots; an increase in the business license tax; a new cannabis tax; a commercial vacancy tax; and a public safety parcel tax. 

Three councilmembers expressed willingness to reconsider cannabis businesses in Glendale as well as possible options for short-term vacation rentals, perhaps on a temporary basis to capture Olympics revenue.

Mayor Ardy Kassakhian was not at Tuesday’s council meeting but his proposal to move to a wide-angle camera viewpoint for council meetings failed to garner support. Changes to the council’s public comment procedures moved forward with three votes to consolidate all of the public commenting periods “front-loaded” at the beginning of the council meetings and to limit the time allowed public speakers based on the number of speakers on a “sliding scale,” such as been recently adopted by the City of Long Beach: three minutes if there are between one and 10 speakers; 90 seconds if there are 11 to 20 speakers; and 60 seconds if there are 21 or more public commenters.

“You’re adopting an ordinance and a system that hasn’t even been tested,” said Councilmember Vartan Gharpetian who voted against the changes. (The “Long Beach plan” was adopted by the City of Long Beach on Oct. 13 and has not yet been implemented.)

Councilmember Alek Bartrosouf wants the council meetings to be run as effectively as possible and he wants commenting on issues of public concern to be as convenient and welcoming as possible, especially for first timers.

Councilmember Asatryan opined that public commenting during the council meeting is meant to address the council and not the public, “and not use it as a platform for social media.”

The council quickly and unanimously approved a project at 340 N. Central Ave. in the downtown specific plan zone that includes 956 square feet of ground level retail space, 20 residential units (15 two-bedrooms and five three-bedroom units) in a six-story building on a 9,064 square foot site. 

Councilmembers commented on the responsiveness of the developer and on the beauty of the ultimate design.

Council critic Beth Brooks appreciated the plans, observing that “architecture is public art.”

Also on Tuesday night, the council approved an $8 million pavement reconstruction project in South Glendale. 

Councilmember Bartrosouf commended the safety improvements included along with planned asphalt rehabilitation and asked that several high-injury intersections be included, acknowledging that typically improvements to the intersections would be made when the larger arterial streets were repaved. 

Public Works staff estimated costs for the intersections at from $150,000 to $255,000 and creativity was urged to reduce the cost, perhaps “striping without scraping.”

The council delayed action on a routine field improvement project at Pacific Park/Edison Field, a facility the city shares with the school district. Councilmember Dan Brotman noted that typically the costs are shared, with the city picking up 85% of the costs based on a calculation of usage but that GUSD is claiming an inability to pay.

“It may seem petty but it’s $291,000 and 15% is $43,650, not an insignificant amount,” said Brotman acknowledging the same budget stresses are experienced by the city.

Councilmember Asatryan agreed that the item should be delayed until an overall discussion can be held with the school district to resolve other funding issues.

Councilmember Bartrosouf shared a reminder that SCAG [the Southern California Association of Governments] is in the process of updating housing requirements which will ultimately be ascribed to California’s cities as Regional Housing Needs Allocation (RHNA) numbers. Constituents often express concerns about zoning and development issues, he noted, and those numeric targets are set in a complex multi-year process, not by the city council. 

“We want more housing,” Shane Lee of Glendale YIMBY (Yes In My Back Yard) told the council. He invited the public to the group’s last happy hour of the year, a Housing Happy Hour, on Thursday, Oct. 29 from 6 – 8 p.m. at the Paperback Brewery, 422 Magnolia Ave. “to celebrate some of the successes we’ve had this year, like the Sears project we made you approve and the Glendale Gardens, and we’re also working on the project on New York and Foothill that people are freaking out about – we need to rally to make sure that gets approved.” Lee offered to buy bulgogi fries for anyone attending the event.

Earlier on Tuesday night, the council proclaimed Oct. 28 as First Responders Day, recognizing the substantial contributions of firefighters, police officers, emergency medical technicians, 9-1-1 operators, paramedics, public works professionals and utility personnel in protecting the health, safety and well-being of the Glendale community. This observance encourages residents to pay tribute to all first responders who serve and protect the City of Glendale in times of crisis and help advance the quality of life for all.