Buck Wargo
CITY HALL -- The calendar has just reached 2000, but the issues facing
Glendale over the next decade are expected to be some of the same
challenges that confronted the city in the 1990s.
Coping with change remains at the top of the list. It touches many
issues, such as ethnic diversity and business development.
The influx of immigrants from Central America, Mexico and Armenia in
the 1980s and 1990s changed the face of Glendale and created tensions
among older residents.
Glendale, with a population expected to surpass 200,000 with the 2000
census, should continue to be popular for immigrants, especially those of
Armenian heritage. But Sally Iskenderian, executive director of Armenia
Fund, said it won't be as high as earlier periods in which the Armenia
earthquake and Iranian Revolution brought people to this country.
People will leave such countries as Iran, Armenia, Iraq, Lebanon and
Syria, with instability in the Middle East being a key factor on how many
leave, she said.
"There will probably be an increase just because of the central
location. There are Armenian schools, churches and stores, and an older
couple that can't drive can just walk to where they need to go,"
Iskenderian said.
Glendale has a projected population cap of 225,000, which limits its
ability to grow.
Monitoring housing in south Glendale will be keeping code enforcement
officers busy in the decade. The city's housing is aging and apartments
are starting to show their age as well.
"I think we are concerned about the aging housing stock throughout
the city," said Sam Engel, the city's Neighborhood Services
Administrator. "I think that will be the No. 1 housing issue in the first
decade and into the second decade. There was so much new stuff built in
the 1980s and early 1990s. It was built to minimum code standards and is
deteriorating a lot faster than ones built 30, 40 and 50 years ago."
It may become too expensive for owners to maintain the properties and
mnay require them to demolished, Engel said.
Growth will continue to be a dominant issue in the coming decade.
Plans for the Oakmont View V development that calls for 572 homes on
238 acres in the Verdugo Mountains has already generated plenty of public
interest even before its get a formal consideration by the city. The
Glendale City Council will consider the subdivision plans sometime over
the summer.
Other development plans will also likely crop up over the decade,
putting residents against developers.
