By Julie BUTCHER

At the beginning of Tuesday night’s meeting of the Glendale City Council, Mayor Ara Najarian announced several upcoming events.

Today, Thursday, Feb. 26 the Glendale Police Foundation is hosting a fundraiser from 10:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. to support the traditional annual law enforcement Baker to Vegas relay run. Today’s event will be held in the GPD Community Room at 131 N. Isabel St. and will feature a taco truck for lunchtime enjoyment.

A new exhibit is opening at the Glendale Central Library, 222 E. Harvard St., in the library’s ReflectSpace, starting with an opening reception on Saturday night from 6:30 – 8:30 p.m. Dreams Gather Here https://www.reflectspace.org/post/dreams-gather-here is a solo exhibition by Rachel Hakimian Emenaker that explores how the cultural memory of diasporic communities is preserved in the history of material objects. The exhibit runs through April 26.

Mayor Najarian also announced a meeting of the Glendale City Council with Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors representative Kathryn Barger on Monday, March 2 in-person (only) from 1:30 to 4:30 p.m. in the GPD Community Room.

Sadly, the mayor asked that Tuesday’s meeting be adjourned in memory of former Glendale mayor Sheldon Baker. A distinguished attorney, civic leader and respected public servant, Baker passed away peacefully at Chester County Hospital in West Chester, Pennsylvania on Feb. 14 at the age of 89, surrounded by his children and grandchildren. Baker served as Glendale mayor from 1996 to 1997.

Filipino American Business Association of Glendale president Edith Fuentes issued an invitation to this year’s Celebrate Youniqueness. She was flanked by representatives of the organizations sponsoring this year’s festival of international food, song, dance, music, arts and crafts, and more that is co-hosted by the City of Glendale, the GUSD, GCC, the YMCA of Glendale and the Foothills, and the area’s Armenian, Latino, Korean, and Filipino American communities. The event is on Saturday, March 21 from 3 p.m. – 7 p.m. at the YMCA of Glendale, 140 N. Louise St. Visit https://www.fabagglac.com/event-details/celebrate-youniqueness-1 or call (818) 240-4130 for more information about the free festival.

Councilmember Vartan Gharpetian wants the City of Glendale to join the City of Burbank in requesting further environmental review of the North Hollywood to Pasadena bus rapid transit (BRT) that Metro is working on in light of recent statewide legislation (SB-79) that would allow for increased housing density along transit corridors. Gharpetian also shared a reminder about the outreach meeting scheduled for Monday, March 9 at Fremont Park in the community room at 600 Hahn St. More information about this meeting and the overall project can be found at https://www.glendaleca.gov/government/departments/office-of-the-city-manager/fact-page/north-hollywood-to-pasadena-bus-rapid-transit-brt-project.

Councilmember Dan Brotman commended the Glendale Educational Foundation for its annual Principal for a Day event. Brotman spent the day shadowing Hoover High School principal Jennifer Hogan.

“Glendale Unified gets slammed from time to time, sometimes from this dais, and absolutely there’ve been some terrible things that have happened that we all know about and the district does need to address them honestly and thoroughly,” he said, “but anybody who spends any amount of time in the schools … sees how amazing that education is and that environment for kids: just the range of choices, the strong academics, the athletics, the arts.” 

Brotman noted observing a class on entrepreneurship where students were creating companies and working on business plans. 

“Seeing just how the staff and faculty, how much they care about the kids – it’s really thrilling. We’re lucky to have the school system we have,” he said. Councilmember Brotman encouraged everyone to consider signing up for next year’s Principal for a Day activities. More information is available at https://www.glened.org/principalforaday.

The Council approved a contract for jail medical services, replacing the existing service provider with a new company, Shield Telehealth Medical Services, to conduct medical clearances and perform required blood draws. It is expected to cost $380,144 in the first year. The goal, interim police Chief Robert William explained, is to minimize the amount of time police officers spend securing medical treatment and services for people incarcerated by the city.

The Council authorized further discussion of a potential program that would transfer development rights for some limited city-owned properties to private developers. This does not currently apply to the city-owned parking lots at the center of much debate.

Montrose Shopping Park Association (MSPA) president GiGi Garcia spoke in tentative support of the approach.

“We support any potential housing units that would be earmarked for the MSPA parking lots to be transferred [for] development to an area that would be more suitable in regard to infrastructure, transportation and that may be outside of a severe fire area,” she said. “This would ensure that hundreds of Montrose businesses would not be without parking and that we could continue to bring important tax revenue and filming revenue – the big film trucks park in our lots – to the City.”

She added, “Our parking is needed to host all of our events – the weekly Harvest Market, Kids & Kritters, the Arts & Crafts Festival, the car show, spring and holiday Wine Walks, Oktoberfest, and, of course, the beloved Montrose Christmas Parade. Thousands of people have come to love these events, and the MSPA has been working with city staff.” Garcia noted support for EV charging stations, solar installations, even potential pay stations in the MSPA lots, acknowledging the need for the city to generate revenue.

Finally, the Council addressed the departure of director of Community Development Bradley Calvert. 

“It has been an absolute honor working with you,” Councilmember Elen Asatryan said. “I know it hasn’t been easy.” 

She commended his tenacity and “the energy that you bring.” 

“It is deeply appreciated,” she said. “You are a visionary leader.”