Buck Wargo
CITY HALL -- To the victors go the spoils - and the right to hoist
their colors.
Such is the case at Glendale's eastern gateway, where theVentura (134)
Freeway intersects with the Glendale (2) Freeway. The backdrop is the San
Rafael Hills for those headed east and the Glendale skyline for those
traveling west.
That scenic view will have another feature now -- three steel poles,
85 to 95 feet tall, and the lighted flags of the United States,
California and Eagle Rock.
Glendale's flag will not be among them.
The new features are the result of a decision Wednesday by the Los
Angeles City Council allowing three cellular towers whose real purpose is
hidden by flags. It's considered a better alternative than a planned
105-foot tower building that Glendale officials had been successful in
stopping last fall.
But not everyone in Glendale is happy about the flags. During a March
14 council meeting, Councilman Dave Weaver and Mayor Ginger Bremberg
expressed their opposition to the flags. However, their three colleagues
did not.
"I was for no flags at all," said Weaver. "Putting up an Eagle Rock
flag is like them shoving their finger in our face, that we showed you.
They are saying welcome to Eagle Rock and forget that Glendale is the
third largest city in L.A. County. They are not being neighborly."
If there are going to be flags, some council members said, Glendale's
should be among them.
Eagle Rock residents pushed for the tower over the poles because some
considered them unsightly. When poles appeared to win out, residents
asked for flags that would identify their forgotten section of Los
Angeles - which Glendale officials say isn't even visible from the site.
The flags will be next to the Rusty Pelican restaurant off Harvey
Drive, 10 feet from Glendale's city limits.
Eagle Rock resident Tim Sanders blamed Glendale for being unwilling to
compromise on the tower and doesn't deserve a flag there.
Sanders said, "Glendale has not been cooperating with anything and I
don't think it is appropriate at all for them to get a flag."
John Koos, a consultant for cellular companies AirTouch Cellular,
Nextel and AT&T, said they would have no problem replacing the state flag
with a Glendale flag. He said Glendale wasn't considered because its city
planning staff opposed all flags.
Weaver and Bremberg said they are concerned the flags will distract
drivers, but Koos said he doesn't expect that to be the case. The flags
must be approved by Caltrans before they go up.
Residents of the Chevy Chase Estates neighborhood won't be happy with
flags, said Gerald Briggs, president of the area's homeowner association.
The residents want the tower to improve cellular phone service but are
concerned about the way it looks.
"It is environmentally insensitive," Briggs said. "It will not look
very good. Flags are for a state, federal or city office building."
