By Roman INGUANZO
On Tuesday, the Glendale City Council conducted its weekly meeting. The meeting began with air quality updates by Michael Cacciotti, the Vice Chair-Elect of the South Coast Air Quality Management District. Throughout the presentation, Cacciotti emphasized ways that small businesses can benefit from clean air investments. If you are a small business owner interested in learning more, call the South Coast AQMD’s small business assistance line at (800) 388-2121.
The council also urged those who are struggling with the increased cost of natural gas to visit socalgas.com/managehigherbills for assistance. The website offers energy-saving tools, financial assistance programs, and a plethora of other services that can help people save money and use less energy.
Councilmember Dan Brotman nominated Daniel Paul to the Glendale Historic Preservation Commission, citing Paul’s experience as a historian and teacher as reasons for his nomination.
City Manager Roubik Golanian highlighted news regarding Glendale’s housing. According to Golanian, Glendale was able to achieve substantial compliance with the state housing and community laws. This is an advantage for the city of Glendale, as they were able to achieve a level of compliance that two-thirds of cities in California have been unable to meet. Golanian concluded his piece by thanking the teams who worked hard to make this achievement a reality.
The council then turned to discussing the scope of a potential ban on gas-powered two-stroke engines and landscaping equipment, as well as enforcement of the ban. According to Golanian, the city of Glendale has already started transitioning from gas-powered equipment to electric-powered equipment, and he believes that the ban will likely spread to the rest of Glendale over time. The council’s staff recommended that the ban should be implemented in a phased-approach, as it would give community members and businesses adequate time to adapt. It is very likely that the council will adopt the ban – starting with the ban of gas-powered leaf blowers to initiate the process. Discussion of when to implement the ban itself (as well as enforcement of the ban) will take place in a future meeting.