By Julie BUTCHER

At the beginning of Tuesday night’s meeting of the Glendale City Council, three commission appointments moved forward in routine fashion by unanimous vote: Alex Fay was appointed to the board of the Glendale Water and Power; Daniel Paul was reappointed to the city’s Historic Preservation Commission; and Talin Shahbazian was appointed to the Transportation and Parking Commission (TPC). A fourth appointment – of Alek Bartrosouf to the TPC – was more controversial.

“I won’t be voting for Alek Bartrosouf to be on the Transportation Commission,” said Councilmember Ara Najarian. “[It’s] not that he doesn’t have the background – he has a significant background in transportation. It’s just that I am at odds with some of his positions – his aggressive bike lane advocacy, like for the North Brand bike lanes, and it’s nothing personal but I do think we need to bring some balance – in everything we do – to our commissions so we’re not packing them with aggressive advocates, one way or the other.” 

Bartrosouf’s appointment passed on a vote of 3-2 with Councilmember Vartan Gharpetian joining Councilmember Najarian in opposing the selection.

Mayor Elen Asatryan voted with the majority.

“Mr. Bartrosouf and I don’t always agree, and I think that’s healthy, so that’s a ‘yes’ from me,” she said.

Three items allocating Measure R transportation funds were held over from last week’s agenda as the Council voted 2-2 on all three. With the mayor in attendance, the issues were reconsidered and all three were approved on a vote of 3-2.

Measure R is a half-cent sales tax assessed in Los Angeles County that finances new transportation projects and programs. In November 2008, Measure R was approved by two thirds of the county’s voters, committing a projected $40 billion to traffic congestion relief and transportation upgrades throughout the county over its 30-year life span. The city’s share of Measure R subregional funds for highway operational improvements is approximately $98.5 million.

Councilmember Gharpetian reiterated his position regarding the use of the phrase ‘multi-modal transportation.’ 

“Let’s be very clear about what that means,” he said. “It doesn’t just mean multi-modal; it means also Class IV bicycle lanes which require – in most cases – the removal of traffic lanes.”

Gharpetian questioned a proposed $5 million expenditure for the modernization of multi-modal equipment. 

Principal Transportation Engineer Pastor Casanova explained the expenditure would be to upgrade and modernize equipment needed to detect all modes of travel “to better service all modes of transportation: for pedestrians, bicyclists and vehicles.”

Gharpetian went on: “These are large contracts, large projects, and I want to have a discussion,” he said. “I don’t want every project to be like North Brand. The community doesn’t want to fight every project where we take away traffic lanes and street parking. How do we hit the pause button and find out if people want a bike lane?”

In response to the explanation by Casanova of the state’s approach of considering Vehicle Miles Traveled (VMTs) in traffic policy, seeking to reduce VMTs to benefit the environment, Gharpetian exclaimed, “Aha! That was the answer I was looking for. Most of these projects are designed to reduce traffic lanes and remove street parking to push all the traffic into one lane to create unnecessary traffic so people will not drive their cars. The whole movement is to get people out of their cars to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.”

Gharpetian concluded: “I have news for everyone. We have 200,000 people here, the daytime population is 400,000, and they all come here with their cars. They don’t ride their bicycles to Glendale.”

Alan Durham questioned the need to rush to hire a consultant to design alternatives to transform North Verdugo Road into a multi-modal transportation corridor given the recent failure of the North Brand demonstration project. 

“I’ve rarely seen such a level of opposition to a project by the residents of the city,” he said. The vote of the council of 4-1 to remove the demo project after it was installed at a cost of approximately $2 million, and finally the impending construction of the La Crescenta Avenue rehabilitation project.

“Why not wait for this project to be completed before moving forward with the Verdugo Road redesign? I’m sure there will be many lessons to be learned from the La Crescenta project, which will be helpful in designing North Verdugo,” he said. “Last week the city manager stated that a comprehensive survey would be going out to all Glendale residents in the coming weeks including plans to survey residents on issues including questions related to these projects. Why not slow down and wait for community input?” 

Glendale resident Jackie Gish also addressed the Council on the proposed street projects.

“Even though I don’t ride a bike or skateboard or even, surprisingly enough, use a scooter, I am in favor of multi-modal transportation including cars, bicycles and walking. I view Glendale as a diverse city unlike when I grew up here with people from various backgrounds, religions, renters and owners, people of all ages, people with preferences on transportation. I walk often, drive sometimes and sometimes have taken Metro or Metrolink.”

Dr. Gish continued: “I have also been fortunate to travel to many other countries and have never rented a car abroad. Instead, I walked and used buses and subways and trains and the occasional taxi or Uber. I envy the public transportation of these other prosperous cities. Those of you who oppose bike lanes seem to only care that you aren’t slowed down at all or lose a precious parking space, but your comments express a lack of caring about safety for bicyclists and pedestrians because they may slow you down. Bicycle lanes and street improvements are definitely needed in Glendale.”

In other news, the Council has had ongoing discussions about the process by which it chooses a mayor, a largely ceremonial position which rotates among the members of the Council. In anticipation of a new mayoral selection in April, proposals to amend the ordinance for this rotation appear to be too late, City Attorney Mike Garcia reported.

Councilmember Ara Najarian had disputed last year’s mayoral selection process and sued the city. 

“At some point we were supposed to have a discussion,” he said, but that discussion was delayed at the request of the mayor. 

Mayor Asatryan detailed her position.

“I consider it a non-policy policy because there’s an exit clause. My position on how the policy needs to change is to make sure it’s equitable for individuals [who] are newly elected.” 

She noted that the issue has been discussed in closed session.

“My hope is that we can have that discussion after we’ve settled that,” she said.

Gish commented on the issue.

“I am speaking for myself and not for any organization,” she said. “It’s an issue of transparency. As some residents know, Councilmember Najarian filed a lawsuit against the city and the Council because he was not made mayor last year. What many residents likely don’t know but which is in the public record is that the judge ruled for the City of Glendale on all counts. The case continues to come up in closed session and was on today’s agenda. While Mr. Najarian was represented by his son as his attorney, the city hired outside council and hence we, the people, have been paying to defend the city at a cost of $65,000 of which $12,000 may be recoverable.”

Early in Tuesday night’s meeting, Councilmember Dan Brotman shared a “cultural plug,” a run of the Shakespeare play “Twelfth Night” at the Antaeus Theatre Company at 110 East Broadway https://antaeus.org/.

“Even if you’re not a Shakespeare aficionado or if you find Shakespeare kind of difficult it’s a lot of fun,” he said. “It’s hilarious and the acting is amazing. Top quality work, right here in the City of Glendale.”

Finally, the Glendale Association of Realtors distributed donations to three organizations: the YMCA of Glendale and Pasadena, which “continues to be a beacon of hope to survivors of domestic violence and champions of social justice and programs that uplift at-risk youth through mentorships and education,” to the Salvation Army, which “provides vital support to our most vulnerable neighbors ensuring no one in our community is left behind,” and to the Glendale Police Foundation.

There will be no council meeting next Tuesday. The next meeting is set for Tuesday, March 4.