By Julie BUTCHER

Early Tuesday, May 20, the Glendale City Council held its second budget study session. The next budget study sessions are scheduled for June 5 and June 10 with the complete budget expected to be reviewed and adopted by the council on June 24. The city is predicting a $13.5 million deficit for the current fiscal year.

Last week the council heard an update from Glendale Water and Power (GWP) regarding unexpected expenses encountered in the utility’s repowering of the city’s Grayson Power Plant due to the imposition of tariffs. Interim general manager Scott Mellon offered further updated details to the council this week and requested an increase to the contingency budget of $30 million, primarily in light of potential tariffs on the storage batteries the city is planning to use.

Between Feb. 1 of this year when the Trump administration announced tariffs of 25% on imports coming from Canada and Mexico, the utility has analyzed the potential impact of five additional announced tariffs affecting the Grayson project, including a 90-day pause on the imposition of 30% tariffs on goods from China announced on May 11. 

Mayor Ara Najarian asked GWP to figure out how to request a waiver of the tariffs and reluctantly called for the increased contingency to continue the project, which passed on a vote of 4-1 with Councilmember Vartan Gharpetian voting against the measure.

Community Development Director Bradley Calvert updated the council on the city’s Vision Zero Action Plan. The goal is to “make sure that the engineering, education and enforcement components of transportation are all speaking together working toward essentially eliminating serious injuries and fatalities on the roads, across all modes of transportation,” Calvert said.

A consultant hired by the city added to Calvert’s overview, summarizing the last 10 years of accident data. Glendale does relatively well in most categories. However, the city ranks the worst of 60 similar cities in serious or fatal pedestrian accidents involving people over 65 years of age and 15^th of the 60 cities in overall pedestrian crashes. 

Vision Zero aims to integrate all aspects of traffic control to reduce to zero the number of accidents. Councilmember Dan Brotman described it as a systematic framework for eliminating traffic deaths recognizing that there will always be accidents – the goal is “reducing speed because speeding is deadly.”

Councilmember Vartan Gharpetian questioned the need for the program, the data and urged that community outreach include all of the city’s homeowner associations. He questioned if the reported 512 accidents per year – 1.4 accidents per day – is normal or significant.

“To downplay the numbers is irresponsible,” Councilmember Elen Asatryan countered. “If you ask anyone in the city if they feel safe walking, the answer will not be a resounding yes, which tells me there’s a problem.”

Mayor Najarian announced Memorial Day events set for Monday, May 26 starting at 8 a.m. at the Vietnam War Memorial at the corner of Ocean View Boulevard and Honolulu Avenue in Montrose. The 45-minute remembrance is being organized by the Montrose Shopping Park Association and Montrose-Verdugo City Chamber of Commerce.

Then at 9:30 a.m. at the Memorial Wall outside city hall, 613 E. Broadway, the city will host an event that “honors the men and women of the U.S. Armed Forces who gave their lives in service to our country.”

City Manager Roubik Golanian announced that a report on the customer satisfaction survey conducted by the city will be presented to the council on June 3 and that the survey included questions about “bike facilities.”

Councilmember Gharpetian raised concerns about the level of community engagement in Metro’s Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) planned to run 19 miles from Burbank through Glendale, parts of Los Angeles, into Pasadena. Additionally, Gharpetian requested that parts of the La Crescenta Avenue street reconstruction project be piloted as a demonstration project.

The council took up the request by Councilmember Dan Brotman for a $5,000 sponsorship of glendaleOUT’s Pride in the Park event slated for Saturday, June 7. This week Councilmember Brotman announced that his domestic partner is on the board of Glendale Arts, the organization designated as the financial sponsor to accept the funds for the PRIDE event. 

“That disclosure should have been made several meetings ago,” Mayor Najarian commented, putting the item off pending further analysis by the city attorney.

“This is the fourth time we’re discussing this,” observed Councilmember Gharpetian. 

“This has become too messy,” Councilmember Asatryan added.

The council issued a proclamation celebrating the week of May 18 as National Public Works Week and a group of Public Works workers accepted the honor.

The council adjourned in the memory of Urik Ghazalian, beloved Glendalian and proprietor of Urartu coffee on Artsakh Avenue, and of Ok-seon Lee, affectionately known as “Grandma Lee.” Mayor Najarian described her as a “courageous survivor of wartime atrocities” and as a “tireless advocate for justice.” She was one of the last survivors of Japan’s sexual slavery during World War II and came to Glendale in 2014 to defend the city’s statue honoring Korean “comfort women.” A memorial honoring Lee is planned for Saturday, May 27 at 10 a.m. in the park by Glendale Central Library, coordinated by young Korean Americans with the Hwarang Youth Foundation.