Advisory Board

Officer appointed to Probation Commission Glendale Police Lt. Don Meredith has been appointed to serve on the Probation Commission, County Supervisor Michael D. Antonovich announced Tuesday. Meredith has worked with the police department for 33 years in assignments including gangs, narcotics and youth services, according to Antonovich's office. He has degrees from the University of Southern California and the University of Virginia, and he went to the FBI National Academy.

The final total of candidates running for three seats and three alternate seats on the Crescenta Valley Town Council is 14, surpassing last year's record number of candidates by one. Friday was the deadline to file a candidate application. Elections are 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Nov. 1 at the Crescenta Valley Sheriff's Station, 4554 N. Briggs Ave. Grace Andrus, Charles Beatty, William Bodell, Allan Cate, David Drucker, Richard Gilden, Howard Hakes, Sharon Hales, Tim Jagoe, Joe Kong, Brian Ostler, Clair Rawlins, Chris Schmutzer and Scott Solis are the candidates.

Ryan Carter The Crescenta Valley Town Council election will be held today from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. at the Crescenta Valley Sheriff's Station, 4554 N. Briggs Ave. The Town Council is a nine-member advisory board to the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors. It represents unincorporated La Crescenta and Montrose. Eight candidates are running for five seats: Danette Erickson, a volunteer. Jaleen Lunt, a primary caregiver. Jack Kashirsky, retired, and a Town Council member.

TOWN CENTER WHAT HAPPENED The Redevelopment Agency voted to appropriate $5 million to the Town Center project's budget. The agency also approved a nine-month extension of its contract with Caruso Affiliated Holdings. WHAT IT MEANS The city will use the extra $5 million to buy more properties for the site of the Town Center project, which would be bordered by Brand Boulevard, Central Avenue, Colorado Street and the Glendale Galleria. Caruso will use the extra time to move through the process of preparing environmental documents for the project.

I read the article about the need for a police commission in the city of Glendale ("Forum talks police panel," Feb. 15). Though I strongly agree with a new commission, this action requires an amendment to the city charter prior to the City Council being allowed to create a police commission that will act as a real commission and not as an advisory board. I have served for eight years on the Civil Service Commission. I was also part of the committee that reviewed the city charter many years ago and made recommendations that became part of the new city charter.

DOWNTOWN ? Community development officials are evaluating how the federal stimulus bill signed last week might affect their ability to offer more rental-assistance vouchers to the roughly 7,000 people on a waiting list. At a meeting Wednesday for the Section 8 Citizens Advisory Board, city officials said the only way to make any significant headway on whittling down the number of those on the waiting list was to secure more vouchers from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.

Marshall Allen Nanette de Fuentes has an interesting perspective to offer as a member of Cardinal Roger Mahony's new Clergy Misconduct Oversight Board: She's a psychologist, a woman of minority descent and a survivor of clergy sexual abuse. She's also not a member of the Catholic Church. These credentials lead de Fuentes, 50, to believe that the board will not be controlled by the Los Angeles Archdiocese. "There's been a perception in the media that the advisory board is a puppet, but as a psychologist and survivor, I wouldn't allow that," de Fuentes said.

Ryan Carter The city will not be policed by a police commission anytime soon. After several months of discussing whether to create a police commission, the city's Charter Review Study Committee has recommended that such a citizen board not be added to the books. "Los Angeles has had a police commission for 50 years, and it didn't seem to do much to decrease crime there, so we didn't feel like we needed one," said committee member Ginger Bremberg, who is a former Glendale councilwoman and mayor.

A painful decision to close longtime preschool I would like to comment on your article of Oct. 20, reporting the closure of The Salvation Army's preschool in Glendale. As chairman of the Army's Glendale Advisory Board, I would like to report that the decision to close a 30-year-old program did not come easily and was a painful one. However, it should be stated that, for years, aggressive efforts were made to fill the preschool (including ads in the News-Press)

Janine Marnien The flier promises a message from Crescenta Valley Town Council members, and technically delivers just that -- a message from Crescenta Valley Town Council members. Three of them. And that's a problem for some of their colleagues. On the front of a postcard many foothill residents received in the mail this week from Rep. David Dreier (R-Covina), constituents are promised an "important message from Crescenta Valley's Town Council members" on the reverse side.