NEWS
By Brittany Levine, brittany.levine@latimes.com | April 24, 2014
As thousands of apartment units continue to fill downtown Glendale, all five candidates for City Council told about 130 people on Wednesday night at the first election forum this campaign season that they believe in slowing down development. “It's time for us to take a break,” said Chahe Keuroghelian, who came about 350 votes short of clinching a council seat last year, during a candidate forum sponsored by the Northwest Glendale Homeowners Assn. and held at the Brand Library and Art Center.
NEWS
By Brittany Levine, brittany.levine@latimes.com | March 12, 2014
Five people have qualified for the June ballot for a single City Council seat, one that comes with a shortened 10-month term. Of the five candidates, four have run unsuccessfully for City Council in the past. The five candidates, in alphabetical order, are: Rick Barnes, a real estate agent, Paula Devine, a Commission on the Status of Women member, Vartan Gharpetian, a Historic Preservation Commission member, Chahe Keuroghelian, a small business owner, and Mike Mohill, a self-declared community advocate.
NEWS
By Brittany Levine, brittany.levine@latimes.com | February 27, 2014
Come June, Glendale residents will be voting for a new council member to replace an appointed one and following a City Council decision this week, they will also be voting on whether to get rid of the city rules that required the early election in the first place. The current rules for how to fill a seat on the dais after a council member leaves office before the end of their four-year term are costly, confusing, cause voter fatigue, and need to be changed, council members said at a City Hall meeting Tuesday.
NEWS
By Matt Sanderson | February 13, 2014
As city officials try to test the waters about where voters stand on additional taxes, a recent survey revealed that residents are generally pleased with how the city is operating and are not prepared to take on any new taxation measures. Results from the survey, conducted by Los Angeles-based consulting firm Cerrell Associates, were released to the City Council on Tuesday. City officials hired the firm in December to gauge residents' sentiments about possible new taxes. The survey included phone interviews with 501 randomly selected residents.
NEWS
By Brittany Levine, brittany.levine@latimes.com | January 9, 2014
Two Glendale residents who have been trying to kick Councilman Frank Quintero out of office have failed again. This week a Los Angeles Superior Court judge supported California Atty. Gen. Kamala Harris' decision to block residents John Rando and Mariano Rodas from challenging Quintero's April appointment in court. The pair needed approval from the state's top lawyer before filing a suit seeking to oust Quintero. The rule, which applies to public officials, is aimed at curbing frivolous lawsuits.
NEWS
By Brittany Levine, brittany.levine@latimes.com | December 30, 2013
At least two people have decided to run for a City Council seat in the special June election, while others who made an unsuccessful attempt in April plan to sit this round out with an eye toward the general municipal election. Chahe Keuroghelian and Vartan Gharpetian confirmed this week that they plan to run after announcing their intent on Armenian television channels. Both said they're prepared for the long haul that will come with the upcoming election cycle, since whoever wins in June will have to run again 10 months later to grab a four-year term.
NEWS
December 17, 2013
Re: “ The revenue may justify the spending ,” News-Press editorial, Dec. 14. Here we go again. The City Council wants you to tax yourself, give up your right to vote for city treasurer and city clerk, and also vote charter changes that will end their illegal transfer of money from GWP to the general fund. To add insult to injury they want to spend $80,000 to convince you this needs to be done. Didn't they get the message from the last election? I guess they think they can wear us down by constantly having these items on the ballot.
NEWS
December 13, 2013
Glendale voters have not approved a new tax since 2009. In April of this year they were skittish about other items they were asked to consider and turned down three ballot measures that would have determined how the city would issue bonds, how it would account for an annual transfer of millions of funds from Glendale Water & Power and even how it would hire a city treasurer. Mindful of local voters' reluctance to support measures at the polls, and in need of raising some more cold, hard cash to maintain various services during a time in history when state and federal monies continue to evaporate, the majority of the City Council would like to tag on one or more tax measures to the special June election being held to fill the expiring council seat currently held by Frank Quintero.
NEWS
By Brittany Levine, brittany.levine@latimes.com | November 7, 2013
Campaign finance rules that govern regular city elections are now in place for a special election in June to replace Councilman Frank Quintero , following a unanimous City Council vote Tuesday. The council needed to clean up the regulations, which didn't apply to special elections. The rules include a $1,000 cap on individual contributions and a five-month period after the election to pay off campaign debt through fundraising. The council appointed Quintero to an open seat after he did not run for reelection in April.
NEWS
By Brittany Levine, brittany.levine@latimes.com | June 15, 2013
An attempt to boot Councilman Frank Quintero out of office has more to do with his support of a recent ban on gun shows on city-owned property than a misinterpretation of a decades-old revolving-door policy, attorneys for Glendale contend in court documents. Last month, two Glendale residents, John Rando and Mariano Rodas, filed a request with the state attorney general for permission to file a lawsuit that would seek to remove Quintero from his appointed seat because they contend the city is violating a 1982 provision that prevents council members from being employed by the city until two years after they leave the dais.