Brakes

Two influential Republican lawmakers called Friday for California to slow down the high-speed rail project. The vice chairs of the Assembly Budget Committee and Appropriations Committee asked the head of a budget panel to reject a request to allocate an additional $18 million for work to buy land for the $98.5-billion project. Assembly members Jim Nielsen of Gerber and Diane Harkey of Dana Point said in a letter to a key decision-maker that the California High Speed Rail Authority had not provided a satisfactory explanation of how the system was going to be financed and whether it would be successful if built.

Gov. Jerry Brown was right on track when he told reporters at his budget unveiling that "We've got to bite the bullet. " It was the perfect choice of a word. But, of course, Brown didn't mean "bullet" the way I wanted him to. Brown was talking about sucking it up and again butchering programs for welfare families and the aged, blind and disabled. And if voters refuse to pass his tax increases in November, he'll try to whack education from kindergarten through graduate school while crippling courts and even eliminating lifeguards at beaches.

GLENDALE ? The city wants to ask the state to install temporary signage on the Foothill (210) Freeway near Lowell Avenue dissuading truck drivers from using their engine brakes in that area. The City Council will consider a resolution Tuesday that would direct staff members to submit an application with the California Traffic Control Devices committee requesting a sign be installed for a one-year experimental period, Councilman Ara Najarian said. "Because these signs aren't your typical traffic control devices, which staff would have authority to put up, you have to get approval," he said.

The brakes on a La Crescenta man’s vehicle failed as he was traveling south on Dunsmore Avenue late afternoon Sept. 27, causing him to hit another vehicle and spin into a Foothill Boulevard business. According to a Glendale Police Department report, the elderly La Crescenta man was heading south on Dunsmore Avenue when he discovered his brakes had failed. He, and his wife in the passenger seat, flew through the red signal light at Dunsmore Avenue and Foothill Boulevard.

Responding to complaints from a number of local residents, the Glendale City Council has agreed to study noise problems along the Foothill (210) Freeway from Lowell to Pennsylvania avenues. Former City Commissioner Michael Dickerson, a Montrose resident, said the noise was worse than the Stage 3 jets in Burbank, and he predicted the issue will spread to residents along the Glendale (2) Freeway with a recent move of delivery trucks to that route. Another local resident, Steve Wood, said he is hearing impaired but is even bothered by the noise when he takes his hearing aids out. Wood said on a recent morning he counted as many as a dozen trucks line up on the freeway at 3 a.m. The issue, according to city staff, is the use of "jake" brakes, truck compression brakes that are much noisier than regular air brakes.

PASADENA— Jurors will begin today to decide the fate of a 20-year-old Glendale man accused of paralyzing another driver in the aftermath of a 2009 car race on Glenoaks Boulevard. Deputy Dist. Atty. Susan Navas told jurors during her closing arguments in Pasadena Superior Court that the defendant, Aren Aznavoleh, had treated his car as a weapon against the victim, Rafick Darosee. Darosee, 38, was not racing when his Nissan Sentra was struck. "On January 9, Rafick Darosee lost everything," she told jurors.

Truck drivers traveling through Newport Coast Wednesday morning had to put on the brakes -- and it wasn't because of heavy traffic. The California Highway Patrol, together with local police departments, set up a checkpoint to perform random safety inspections on large trucks. The checkpoint was held in an effort to prevent accidents on steep Newport Coast Drive, where there have been three accidents involving large trucks in little more than a year.

Local resident Michael Dickerson raised issues about the sound survey taken by the city on noise from the Foothill (210) Freeway at Tuesday's meeting of the City Council. Dickerson, a former city commissioner, said the questions were raised by a sound engineer for Parsons Engineering, the consultant who performed a study for the city of La Cañada. Dickerson said he was concerned that the sound meters were placed in back yards when that was not required, were possibly situated wrongly in proximity to the freeway, were not done with state of the art equipment, and were placed at sites chosen by the neighbors instead of by the consultant.

Measurements will be taken over a period of a month along Foothill (210) Freeway between Lowell and Pennsylvania avenues.CITY HALL -- Complaints from residents living along the Foothill (210) Freeway about excessive traffic noise have compelled the City Council to approve a month-long sound study of the stretch between Lowell and Pennsylvania avenues. The council approved the four-week, $11,680-study at its Tuesday meeting. It will be conducted by Laguna Niguel-based Mestre Greve Associates in the next few weeks, city planner Kathy Duarte said.

Out with the old and in with the new. The Glendale Police Department is cycling out its standard Kawasaki motorcycles used for traffic enforcement to bring in a new Honda model with updated equipment and features. “We’ve moved away from the Kawasaki, which has been the mainstay and workhorse of police work out here for a long time,” Lt. Carl Povilaitis said. About 10 of the new 1300SP models are now out on the street, with plans to have all traffic officers on Hondas in about a year and a half.

Gov. Jerry Brown was right on track when he told reporters at his budget unveiling that "We've got to bite the bullet. " It was the perfect choice of a word. But, of course, Brown didn't mean "bullet" the way I wanted him to. Brown was talking about sucking it up and again butchering programs for welfare families and the aged, blind and disabled. And if voters refuse to pass his tax increases in November, he'll try to whack education from kindergarten through graduate school while crippling courts and even eliminating lifeguards at beaches.

Two influential Republican lawmakers called Friday for California to slow down the high-speed rail project. The vice chairs of the Assembly Budget Committee and Appropriations Committee asked the head of a budget panel to reject a request to allocate an additional $18 million for work to buy land for the $98.5-billion project. Assembly members Jim Nielsen of Gerber and Diane Harkey of Dana Point said in a letter to a key decision-maker that the California High Speed Rail Authority had not provided a satisfactory explanation of how the system was going to be financed and whether it would be successful if built.

More signs are OK, balloons are out and trees are still up in the air as city officials work to revamp restrictions on car dealerships along South Brand Boulevard. The shift is an attempt to create a more business-friendly environment for Glendale's second biggest tax revenue source. Autos and transportation companies brought $6 million to Glendale last year, with car dealers leading the pack, said Finance Director Bob Elliot. “We have to do everything we can to try to help them increase their sales,” Councilman Frank Quintero said as planning officials laid out proposed zoning changes Tuesday for car dealers along South Brand Boulevard, bounded by West Elk Avenue, San Fernando Road and Central to Glendale avenues.

PASADENA— Jurors will begin today to decide the fate of a 20-year-old Glendale man accused of paralyzing another driver in the aftermath of a 2009 car race on Glenoaks Boulevard. Deputy Dist. Atty. Susan Navas told jurors during her closing arguments in Pasadena Superior Court that the defendant, Aren Aznavoleh, had treated his car as a weapon against the victim, Rafick Darosee. Darosee, 38, was not racing when his Nissan Sentra was struck. "On January 9, Rafick Darosee lost everything," she told jurors.

SOUTH GLENDALE — Business at Glendale Harley-Davidson was on the rise three years ago when it was one of few area motorcycle dealerships to open seven days a week, but the recession has forced the store to backtrack. The dealership switched to a six-day schedule this week, closing Monday following a year when sales have dropped about 25%, General Manager Emily Vindeni said. Slumping sales has forced the store to cut about a fifth of its staff in the last year. It seemed logical to reduce working hours as well when revenues slipped during the recession, Vindeni said.

LOS ANGELES — Attorneys representing at least a dozen victims of the 2005 Metrolink derailment in Glendale that killed 11 people said Thursday that they had uncovered evidence that proved the train’s engineer was at fault for the accident. Juan Manuel Alvarez was sentenced to 11 consecutive life terms last year after a jury found him guilty of parking his Jeep Cherokee on the tracks near Chevy Chase Drive Jan. 26, 2005. The failed suicide attempt caused the derailment, which sent Metrolink 901 off the tracks into a parked Union Pacific freighter, killing 11 passengers and injuring nearly 200 others.

LOS ANGELES — County transit officials Thursday authorized $5 million to expand an automated train-stopping system on the region’s rail lines as an interim safety step until more advanced technology is procured. The Los Angles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority also directed staff members to get aggressive about securing state and federal funding to help offset the potentially staggering cost of implementing the “positive train control” system on Metrolink’s rail lines and trains.

The brakes on a La Crescenta man’s vehicle failed as he was traveling south on Dunsmore Avenue late afternoon Sept. 27, causing him to hit another vehicle and spin into a Foothill Boulevard business. According to a Glendale Police Department report, the elderly La Crescenta man was heading south on Dunsmore Avenue when he discovered his brakes had failed. He, and his wife in the passenger seat, flew through the red signal light at Dunsmore Avenue and Foothill Boulevard.

A Noise Within play is one not to miss Almost every year I write about an outstanding A Noise Within production. This year is no exception with its production of Tennessee Williams’ “The Night of the Iguana.” I was expecting a depressing evening, but it was such an excellent, well-acted performance that it was a joy to watch. Although all the actors did well, there is no question in my mind that the two principal characters, Geoff Elliot, as Reverend Shannon, and Jill Hill, as Hannah Jelkes, gave their best performances in the more than 10 years that we and friends have attended A Noise Within.

The Assembly Transportation Committee passed a bill Tuesday that would increase penalties for speeding drivers in the state. Assemblyman Paul Krekorian, who introduced the bill, was inspired to craft the legislation by recent pedestrian fatalities at the hands of speeding drivers in Glendale, he said. While speeding on residential streets has been a recurrent public safety concern in Glendale and Burbank, Krekorian said the straw that broke the camel?s back was the death of Glendale resident Elizabeth Sandoval in July.