Beautification

Glendale City Council received a bevy of awards this week for waste reduction, graffiti prevention and other beautification measures. Nonprofit Keep America Beautiful presented the council with awards for transforming a desolate lot into a garden, reducing litter, and using social media and marketing to reach out to constituents. Glendale competed with cities across the nation and earned three first place awards and one President's Circle award. -- Tiffany Kelly , Times Community News Twitter: @LATiffanyKelly Photo: Glendale City Council receives national awards for city beautification on January 24, 2012.

I have lived in the foothill area for 38 years and still consider this part of L.A. County a bit of paradise. Before we can discuss the beautification of one offramp, I believe the larger picture of maintaining our current offramps and freeway roadsides should be addressed. The amount of trash that is allowed to accumulate on the Pennsylvania Avenue, La Crescenta Avenue and Ocean View Boulevard exits is a disgrace to the entire area. If I'm correct, I believe that there is an adopt-a-highway sign posted on the 210 Freeway with the name "La Crescenta Town Council" on it. I spend a good deal of time traveling around the L.A. area, and these offramps are without doubt in the worst condition of any in the metro L.A. area.

CITY HALL — An effort to green the San Fernando Road corridor that has been more than 10 years in the making could find itself again postponed after the Redevelopment Agency — acting on neighborhood criticism Tuesday — directed the city attorney to come back with a report on how to reopen negotiations with stakeholders of an additional 4-foot-wide stretch of land. Neighbors of the industrial corridor have stepped up their criticism of the beautification project as crews install the chain-link fence — which will later be covered with vines — on the city’s 3.5-foot-wide right-of-way, saying it falls too short of what they were promised more than 10 years ago. Last year, the scope of the beautification project was significantly reduced from 7.5 to 3.5 feet wide after years of talks with the Metropolitan Transportation Authority — which controls the stretch of land along the railway — and other easement stakeholders broke down over the landscaping.

Trustees approved the creation of a campus beautification that would add more flowers to the college?s campus. WHAT IT MEANS While trustees approved the concept of creating a beautification fund, the details of the fund and its goals have yet to be outlined and will be coordinated with the college?s gardening staff. ? A design was unanimously approved for the expansion project the Garfield Campus. WHAT IT MEANS The college will pay more than $16 million out of its Measure G fund for the project, which would modernize the campus and provide more space for classes.

Gary Moskowitz LA CRESCENTA -- Monte Vista Elementary School's student council has been awarded for excellence. The council -- made up of 25 members who participate in the fall or the spring -- was given an Honor Council Excellence Award by the National Assn. of Elementary School Principals March 25. The school's student council is made up of fourth-, fifth- and sixth-grade students. School Principal Sharon Popolo said the student council was recognized for its community service and school beautification projects.

City gets beautification honors Glendale received two national awards this month for local beautification efforts. In an announcement released Tuesday, officials said Glendale received a secssond-place national affiliate award by Keep America Beautiful Inc. for local efforts in the schools and on community gardens. Waste management programs also contributed to the ranking. Glendale also received the President's Circle Award for efforts to reduce litter, minimize waste and beautify the community.

Sparr Heights merchants to meet MONTROSE -- The Sparr Heights Business District Assn. will meet today from 5:30 to 6:30 p.m. at the Sparr Heights Senior Center, 1613 Glencoe Way. Discussion topics will include reports on marketing, beautification efforts and traffic. For more information, call Heather Dinger at 249-8238. Montrose merchants to meet MONTROSE -- The Montrose Shopping Park Assn. board will meet at 8 a.m. Thursday. The meeting is open to members of the shopping park and will be at Cal Fed Bank, 2350 Honolulu Ave. The Montrose Shopping Park Assn.

SUNLAND — An outgoing Town Council president and long-awaited library were among the honorees Thursday at the Crescenta Valley Chamber of Commerce’s recognition banquet. The annual event honors Crescenta Valley residents, businesses, organizations and law enforcement personnel who have improved the area’s quality of life in the past year. Community members packed a banquet hall Thursday evening at the Angeles National Golf Course and Country Club to congratulate the awardees.

Gary Moskowitz GLENOAKS CANYON -- Sandy Collier has always loved children. When she was 14, she observed her older sister teaching and fell in love with every aspect of teaching, even grading papers. Collier, a fifth-grade teacher at Glenoaks Elementary School, was presented with the John Delmonte Award for Exemplary Teaching Skills by the Glendale Chamber of Commerce Wednesday. The award consists of a $100 honorarium, a plaque, an invitation to the chamber's annual community recognition luncheon and mention in the Chamber's newspaper.

Three cheers for the city's long-awaited beautification plans for San Fernando Road, and frowns to letter writer Tom Harris (Dec. 6) for dismissing people's expectations for that area. Many Rancho property owners living west of the largely bleak, industrial area where the railroad and the interstate divide them from the rest of Glendale have for years been hoping for both cleanup and landscape measures to be taken there under the auspices of the Redevelopment Agency and Public Works.

Glendale City Council received a bevy of awards this week for waste reduction, graffiti prevention and other beautification measures. Nonprofit Keep America Beautiful presented the council with awards for transforming a desolate lot into a garden, reducing litter, and using social media and marketing to reach out to constituents. Glendale competed with cities across the nation and earned three first place awards and one President's Circle award. -- Tiffany Kelly , Times Community News Twitter: @LATiffanyKelly Photo: Glendale City Council receives national awards for city beautification on January 24, 2012.

City gets beautification honors Glendale received two national awards this month for local beautification efforts. In an announcement released Tuesday, officials said Glendale received a secssond-place national affiliate award by Keep America Beautiful Inc. for local efforts in the schools and on community gardens. Waste management programs also contributed to the ranking. Glendale also received the President's Circle Award for efforts to reduce litter, minimize waste and beautify the community.

Crescenta Valley PTSA will have its upcoming meeting at 7 p.m. Thursday in the cafeteria. After a short business meeting, a presentation on sports injuries and prevention will be given by Dr. Loren Geller and Cynthia Cancelosi, certified strength and conditioning therapist. This program will be helpful to parents of students who play sports at all ages.   Monte Vista Elementary Founder’s Day Master of Ceremonies Roger Sondergaard presented Honorary Service Awards in February to Tracey Black, Rebecca Harvey, Lisa Wilson, Cindy Bradford, Sharon Mayeux and the Crescenta Valley Town Council (accepting the award for them were Steve Goldsworthy and Robbyn Battles)

CITY HALL — The city will be honored next week with a national award in recognition of its community clean-up and beautification programs, city waste management efforts and the city’s first eco-community garden, officials said Tuesday. Glendale was recently named one of six cities nationwide to receive a First Place Affiliate award from Keep America Beautiful, a national nonprofit organization that forms partnerships with cities to create community beautification and other programs.

SUNLAND — An outgoing Town Council president and long-awaited library were among the honorees Thursday at the Crescenta Valley Chamber of Commerce’s recognition banquet. The annual event honors Crescenta Valley residents, businesses, organizations and law enforcement personnel who have improved the area’s quality of life in the past year. Community members packed a banquet hall Thursday evening at the Angeles National Golf Course and Country Club to congratulate the awardees.

Trustees approved the creation of a campus beautification that would add more flowers to the college?s campus. WHAT IT MEANS While trustees approved the concept of creating a beautification fund, the details of the fund and its goals have yet to be outlined and will be coordinated with the college?s gardening staff. ? A design was unanimously approved for the expansion project the Garfield Campus. WHAT IT MEANS The college will pay more than $16 million out of its Measure G fund for the project, which would modernize the campus and provide more space for classes.

CITY HALL — A watered-down landscape plan for the San Fernando Road corridor is expected to gain final approval today from the Redevelopment Agency, eight months after the project was halted to address neighbors who said it was smaller than promised. The $2.2-million beautification project that crews began work on earlier this year was to have included new greenery within a 3.5-foot-wide right-of-way along the roadway, far less than the 10-foot swath residents along the busy industrial corridor said they were promised years ago. But even with the boundary back at 10 feet, city officials said concessions will still have to be made.

Glendale was made more beautiful with 27 trees planted by Glendale Beautiful on July 14 at Casa Adobe de San Rafael on Dorothy Drive. The Podocarpus trees, planted from 15-gallon tubs, are the trees President Gladys Wymore gave each of her board members during the Arbor Day celebration earlier this year. The remainder of the trees honored speakers for the year and deceased members. Glendale Beautiful board members honored with trees and present for the ceremony were Evelyn and Jim Reichgelt, Doris and Alan Twedt , Doyle Kutch, Doris Biggs and Mary Rose Grim.

WEST GLENDALE — A landscape plan for the San Fernando Road corridor that has been in flux for the past 10 years will change yet again after the City Council on Tuesday bowed to long-standing neighborhood pressure, directing city officials in a closed session meeting to restore the project closer to its original scope. The direction came even as crews earlier this week continued to carry out work on the already-approved $2.2-million beautification project, installing fence poles along the perimeter of the current 3.5-foot-deep project boundary that nearby residents have called much too thin compared with the original 10 feet they were promised.

Link fence could use some bougainvillea Wednesday?s Community Forum page contained a picture of the fence being installed on San Fernando Road as part of a beautification project. So my wife and I drove by there looking for the beautification portion. What we saw was some steel poles with rectangular shaped, rabbit hutch-type wire fence in between. I for one would like to come to the defense of the folks who inspired its erection after no doubt obtaining a variance from the fence ordinance the City Council passed a couple of years ago. First, it?