Councilman ‘out of touch’ with the issues
In your article Friday, “Pruning leaves a fine mess,” you quote Councilman Dave Weaver as saying “We don’t know yet, the whole story.?.?.?. It’s just premature.”
How in the world can a councilman be so out of touch with reality as to not know that the city has levied a fine of nearly $350,000 on a city resident for only pruning 13 indigenous trees without a permit.
The so-called retired civil engineer needs to be prodded awake by someone or removed from the City Council. The latter option is perhaps the best.
After all, he was on the council when the ordinance was passed that permits a city agency to bankrupt a resident for a minor infraction. He, as well as other councilmen, apparently didn’t have a clue as to what the lawyers had cooked up for them to make into law when they passed the March ordinance that permits such outrageous action by a city agency (“Council beefs up tree rule,” March 22).
At least, apparently, Councilman Bob Yousefian recognizes that “there are major flaws in the ways the city does business, and I hope we can fix them.” He should have said, “we will fix them.”
It’s up to the council members to correct their unintended blunders in the way they treat Glendale citizens or be put out of the way so others can do so.
GENE GUSTAVSON
Glendale
The truth of genocide must come out now
Responding to Mary Tyler’s letter on Saturday comparing the Holocaust to the Armenian Genocide (“Jews suffer too, but not seeking same,” Mailbag), I would like to point out that although these two events have similarities in terms of tragic human suffering, there are wide differences in how they are viewed today.
For example, the government of Germany does not deny that the Holocaust took place. But the Turkish government denies that a genocide took place despite a mountain of evidence documenting it.
Germany is not spending thousands on Washington lobbyists like Turkey is currently paying The Livingston Group to convince lawmakers into seeing history through their eyes.
