Supports Measure W
Los Angeles County has had a water problem for over a century. Each year there may be too much or not enough rainwater, and an uneven distribution throughout our neighborhoods due to mountains, valleys, etc. We need a consistent, affordable supply of clean and safe water to allow our communities to thrive.
Historically we have depended on water from outside our region – more than 70% – to fill our growing needs. With the increasing statewide demands of agriculture, thirsty populations in other regions, and the serious threat of climate change droughts, our regional water future is uncertain at best. We must make better use of the rain and ground water we have. An important solution is Measure W on our November ballot.
Measure W will provide for specific, well-planned projects, appropriate to the various neighborhoods, for increasing the capture of stormwater and urban runoff and reduce pollution of our local watersheds. This will provide increased water supply and quality, as well as other community investment benefits.
I have been following Los Angeles County watershed issues for a dozen years, participating in public and private meetings and seminars, which included many organizations trying to work out various specific solutions. Measure W will incorporate those ideas and proposals into a prioritized, funded, ongoing set of solutions to address the threats to our water supply and reduce our reliance on external sources of water, the essence of our region’s economy.
I acknowledge that no one wants additional taxes but, as a 65-year citizen of Los Angeles County concerned with solutions to our water crisis, I know that we must invest in our future now, and locally, to prevent even more serious problems in the future. The solutions are unlikely to come from either Washington or Sacramento.
Vote yes on Measure W.
Dave Weeshoff
La Crescenta

Preserving Quality of Life
Having been raised in the City of Glendale, I have attended its schools, participated in its civic life, and started businesses here, investing both my resources and myself. In time, I eventually started my own family and I am raising my own children within the welcoming environs of this great Jewel City.
I have always wanted the best for this city, since it has always given its best to me and so many others.
In my line of work – commercial real estate – I have had great responsibility to evaluate countless communities across our great nation prior to investing. One common denominator to every successful city is, without fail, the quality of its first responders – it is one of the greatest indicators to a community’s future. And, when I have compared these successful communities to our own, the City of Glendale has consistently emerged as having the best police and fire in the nation.
Nothing has a bigger impact on a city’s quality of life than the quality of its first responders.
With Measure S being on the November ballot, I did what I always do for any issue of merit: I did my own research and my own due diligence. When I discovered that we send $90 million in taxes to the county and regional agencies and Glendale only gets $15 million of that, I realized that we need to fix that.
No one likes to pay higher taxes, and neither do I; however, I do know that if we as a community are not able to take this opportunity with the passage of Measure S, the county and other agencies will take this opportunity, will take our resources, and will take our taxes to yet another level. Glendale must continue utilizing these funds to maintain the excellent quality of life that our families deserve for years to come.
Please vote yes on Measure S with me, and so many other citizens of Glendale – it’s what our city deserves.
Sam S. Manoukian
A Proud Glendale Resident

Fatigued at Thought of Debt
Just read the Oct. 18 edition of CV Weekly and appreciate your articles on the upcoming Measure S. I only learned of the Measure from this edition of the paper, so thank you.
I’m conflicted on this Measure. As both [publisher Robin Goldsworthy and reporter Mary O’Keefe] point out, if we are going to be taxed, we may as well keep the money local. However, it almost seems like Glendale doesn’t need an extra $30 million but will somehow find a use for it … and some of the uses might already have other funding sources established.
My other concern is that this tax proposal comes as we are also considering Measure W (a $300M/year proposal), and voters just approved propositions H, M, R, A over the past few years – approximately one billion dollars annually in additional taxes … in just one county of the state!
Will these new tax dollars mean that our children’s schools can stop fundraising? Will parents stop being asked to contribute [money each year] in fundraising to support state-mandated school services that should be paid for by Glendale Unified, such as PE teachers? (As an aside, we pay approximately $9500/year in property taxes already and only $435 +/- goes toward the Glendale Unified School District.)
Add to that the potential for a partial Prop 13 repeal in 2020, the billions in bond measure debt the state has outstanding, and the potential for an additional $12 billion in bond debt on this ballot, reliance on debt and continual tax increases are giving me debt and tax fatigue.
Justin Kennerly
La Crescenta

Found Veteran Help through Vets Corner
I am writing this in the hopes of reaching out to veterans and their families who see expenses adding up quickly due to caring for their veteran. To me it was exhausting and frightening not knowing which way to turn. I first became aware of the CV Weekly last summer when I was sitting in the waiting room at a doctor’s office in Glendale, waiting for my husband who was being seen for one of his medical issues. The Veterans Corner prompted me to think that perhaps the writer of the column could help me sort through some information I had recently received from Veterans Affairs that I had contacted regarding possible help for my husband, who is a retired lieutenant colonel in the Air Force.
When I contacted the VA, they offered a myriad of forms but little else. But getting a service officer from the American Legion (in my case, Blake Hyfield) put the whole process on a one-to-one basis. The first thing he did was explain to me and my husband what the VA had said in its letter (it was Greek to me!) and then explained the purpose of each VA form included in the letter. He then spent the next couple of hours sorting through a myriad of Air Force records my husband had maintained over his 20-year career.
Two piles were created – one deemed important, the other not so much. Included in the important pile were separation papers that showed my husband had service in Vietnam. That started a definitive course of action to deal with the VA, as some of my husband’s aliments were included on the presumptive list of Agent Orange related diseases.
Over the next several months, Blake diligently assisted me in answering one question after another put forth by the VA, many times requesting additional information including 20 years of medical records from a treating physician. At times I thought I was going to cry (and sometimes did) over all the twists and turns dealing with the VA process. Blake was there any time I needed help, assuring me that we would get through this.
And a year after we had first contacted the VA, the VA announced its decision with an award of 100% disability, retroactive to July 2017.
Thank you, CV Weekly, for providing the monthly Veterans Corner, and thank you, Blake, for your assistance and support. My final advice in closing is to apply for veteran benefits, they are rightfully yours; ask for a service officer to help you and, above all else, be patient.
Geraldine Gerry
Glendale

His Take on Prop 7
Here is something CV Weekly readers might want to consider: Prop 7. If the Pacific time zone goes back to standard time and California stays on daylight time, our national TV network and satellite times will be shifted to one hour later (if I figured it correctly). That means that the network prime time hours will be 9 p.m. to midnight. I doubt if every California network station will record and time shift the shows. Definitely Direct TV and Dish will not.
When my wife and I were at Ft. Hood, Texas, our network shows were always on Eastern time. They still are. Look at some show promos where the time is listed as “8 Eastern, 7 Central.” The prime time for us was from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. Not bad for soldiers who had to get up early.
Let us not even begin with airline, train and bus schedules. A flight between San Francisco/Sacramento to Portland could take 10 minutes or 2 hours and 10 minutes, depending on which way you go. Sacramento/SF to Reno/Las Vegas: same thing.
So, how will it work out here if we are one hour after everyone else? Something else our clueless rulers did not think about.
Tom Suter
La Crescenta