Week In Review

CITY HALL

The plan outlines allocations of the funds, the majority of which are aimed at helping the city's most vulnerable residents, including low-income families, youth, seniors and the homeless.

The funds would support employment services at the city's Verdugo Jobs Center, case management and housing through the city's main homeless service provider, PATH Achieve Glendale, and more affordable housing for low-income residents, according to the plan.

With projections for other funding sources taken into account — including $110 million in federal money for Section 8 rental assistance — the plan's five-year budget reaches $215 million.

Moises Carrillo, senior community development supervisor, said despite the high figure, it "still doesn't meet all of our needs for the city."

Half of the $2.7 million in Community Development Block Grant funding for nonprofit and city social service offerings will be allocated for youth programs, including tutoring and after-school programs and the Glendale Police Department's programs for at-risk youth, under the plan.

Meanwhile, the capital improvement funds, which at $10.8 million represents the majority of the city's block grant funding in the next five years, will be focused on upgrades at parks, libraries and recreational facilities.

Officials are moving forward with an environmental study on the potential expansion of the Scholl Canyon Landfill after putting the research on hold to evaluate other options.

The City Council last week allocated an additional $300,000 for the environmental impact report, bringing the city's tab in the joint venture with Los Angeles County to $1 million.

With the landfill projected to reach capacity in 2022, city officials say the study is essential in helping the city to extend the landfill's life and save Glendale from paying market rates for disposing municipal waste.

If the landfill is not expanded, the city could be forced to ship its trash by rail to facilities hundreds of miles away, which would nearly quadruple the cost of trash disposal and likely result in a dramatic spike in trash fees, according to a city report.