Coalition

Glendale City Councilman Ara Najarian has been elected to lead the San Fernando Valley Council of Governments as the nascent coalition sets out to implement its agenda. Najarian -- who also serves on the board of directors for Metrolink and the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority -- takes over the post held by L.A. County Supervisor Zev Yaroslavsky [ Update : An earlier version incorrectly stated Yaroslavsky was an L.A. councilman]. The council was established to give cities in the San Fernando Valley region a unified voice in lobbying for state and federal entitlements, and to coordinate regional infrastructure projects.

Alex Coolman GLENDALE -- When Sheldon Baker stepped down from the City Council recently, he wasn't only leaving behind local government: He also decided to step down from his role as the leader of the Glendale Human Relations Coalition. The group, which has made headlines recently for its work on the city's antidiscrimination policy and its sponsorship of the "Celebrating Community" art exhibit at the Central Library, doesn't intend to operate without a replacement for Baker.

CITY HALL — City officials from Glendale and Burbank last week voted to join a new coalition of San Fernando Valley government agencies whose members plan to tackle regional issues and coordinate public infrastructure projects. The San Fernando Council of Governments, which has been in the pipeline for years, will bring together elected representatives from Burbank, Glendale, Los Angeles, Los Angeles County and Calabasas, among other cities. Officials from Glendale and Burbank pointed to accomplishments of the San Gabriel Valley Council of Governments, an umbrella agency that lobbies on behalf of each municipality in the San Gabriel Valley, as a viable model.

CITY HALL ? The Lord?s Kitchen, the only program for feeding the homeless in Glendale, will remain shut down after city officials told a coalition of service providers Thursday that the suggestion of using the Glendale train station was unworkable. Lord?s Kitchen operations were suspended March 1 after administrators of the program failed to secure a permanent location amid waning interest from church congregations, which have been hosting the program on a monthly, rotating schedule since 2005.

Josh Kleinbaum A week after pressing the panic button, the Glendale Human Relations Coalition found some steady ground. After more than an hour of brainstorming ideas to make the coalition more relevant and to boost community participation, the 15 people who attended a meeting to discuss the coalition's future made one important decision last week -- there is enough support for the coalition to continue to exist....

Glendale residents and friends Garen Nadir, 20, Alek Bartrosouf, 22, and Ana Khachatrian, 21, say the common passion that unites them is an eco-friendly lifestyle. They shun incandescent lightbulbs in favor of more energy-efficient compact fluorescents, they walk or bike as opposed to drive whenever possible and at the grocery store, their answer to “paper or plastic?” is “Neither.” But for this energized trio of young adults — Nadir and Khachatrian are due to graduate from UCLA and USC, respectively, this spring and Bartrosouf graduated last year from UC Santa Cruz — making steps to reduce their individual carbon footprints isn’t enough.

O fficials and bicycle advocates on Friday gathered for an exhibition ride at the Autry National Center near Griffith Park to highlight the routes for the upcoming L.A. River Ride. Thousands of cyclists of all ages and skill groups are expected to participate in the bike ride on Sunday, which will feature six routes ranging from a free children's ride to 100 miles. A fair and bike giveaway to 22 children will also take place, with proceeds from adult participants benefiting the Los Angeles County Bicycle Coalition, which is hosting the 10th annual event.

My friends, neighbors and fellow members of the Coalition for a Better Glendale are proud of our city for ending its association with the Glendale Gun Show. When the City Council voted 3-2 to adopt the ordinance banning the sale and possession of guns and ammunition on public property, Glendale officially recognized the gun show for the dinosaur it had become. Mayor Frank Quintero, Councilmember Rafi Manoukian and Councilmember Laura Friedman deserve our thanks for resisting the out-of-touch, editorial-page call of this Los Angeles-based newspaper, and for standing up for their community - for our community.

Tim Willert DOWNTOWN -- The patrons inside Giggles Night Club Tuesday may have been underage, but that wasn't stopping them from having a good time. About 300 Glendale students 14 to 18 gathered for an evening of dancing and conversation courtesy of Giggles and the Glendale Youth Coalition, which sponsored the Spring Dance. "The music makes it fun," said Anya Ahmad, a 17-year-old senior at Hoover High who was dressed in a pink leopard print dress and carrying a pink heart-shaped purse.

My friends, neighbors and fellow members of the Coalition for a Better Glendale are proud of our city for ending its association with the Glendale Gun Show. When the City Council voted 3-2 to adopt the ordinance banning the sale and possession of guns and ammunition on public property, Glendale officially recognized the gun show for the dinosaur it had become. Mayor Frank Quintero, Councilmember Rafi Manoukian and Councilmember Laura Friedman deserve our thanks for resisting the out-of-touch, editorial-page call of this Los Angeles-based newspaper, and for standing up for their community - for our community.

About $17 million in safety improvements at four rail crossings along the San Fernando Road corridor in Glendale could begin next year, officials announced Thursday. Planned upgrades at crossings for Sonora and Grandview avenues, Chevy Chase Drive and Broadway and Brazil Street include new automatic vehicle exit gates, handrails, sidewalks, pedestrian gates, traffic signal advance-preemption technology, traffic blank-out signals and curb and road widening. Crews could break ground at the Broadway and Brazil Street crossing as early as January, officials said.

Local hospitals are ramping up efforts to drive down their readmission rates as an Oct. 1 deadline looms for them to achieve results or face state-imposed penalties. Of all the patients readmitted to the three local hospitals - Glendale Adventist, Glendale Memorial and Verdugo Hills - about 35% return within three days, said Terrie Stanley, vice president of strategy and business development for the Partners in Care Foundation. Even worse, 65% are readmitted within 14 days, she added during a meeting of the Glendale Healthier Community Coalition on Thursday.

From better educating parents aboutdrug use to creating informational fliers, stakeholders with the Crescenta Valley Drug and Alcohol Prevention Coalition on Friday mulled over ideas to reduce substance abuse among youths. Stakeholders from various local organizations, including religious, government, healthcare and education, met at Verdugo Hills Hospital to work on ways to tackle prescription drug, marijuana and alcohol use. “We have to stand together,” Coalition President Matt Zakarian - a Glendale police officer - told the stakeholders.

You might think that having three hospitals in one city - not to mention a slate of nonprofits that all go after the same pool of donors - would create a hotbed of muggy competition. Not in Glendale, where a coalition of hospitals and service providers are teaming up in an effort to cut down on the number of patient readmissions. Now, the collaboration - spearheaded by the Glendale Healthier Community Coalition - has been singled out by the Health Services Advisory Group of California as a model for how stakeholders can work together to solve a shared problem.

A fixture in local politics has been appointed to lead the Crescenta Valley Drug and Alcohol Prevention Coalition as its new executive director to help strengthen community partnerships. Suzy Jacobs, who worked for state Sen. Jack Scott and Assembly members Paul Krekorian and Mike Gatto in their district offices, joined the coalition on Jan. 1 after a month-long hiring process. “I want to make a difference in the community,” she said, adding that she hoped to build on the coalition's goal of building a safe, drug-free community for kids and teens.

Glendale City Councilman Ara Najarian has been elected to lead the San Fernando Valley Council of Governments as the nascent coalition sets out to implement its agenda. Najarian -- who also serves on the board of directors for Metrolink and the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority -- takes over the post held by L.A. County Supervisor Zev Yaroslavsky [ Update : An earlier version incorrectly stated Yaroslavsky was an L.A. councilman]. The council was established to give cities in the San Fernando Valley region a unified voice in lobbying for state and federal entitlements, and to coordinate regional infrastructure projects.

LA CRESCENTA — The Crescenta Valley Drug and Alcohol Prevention Coalition on Tuesday was awarded a major federal grant that will total $625,000 over the next five years as they work to thwart substance abuse among local teens. The Office of National Drug Control Policy selected the coalition and 168 other groups to receive the funding after determining they had show "significant reductions" in substance abuse over a 30-day period for teenagers, said the agency's spokesman, Daren Briscoe.

O fficials and bicycle advocates on Friday gathered for an exhibition ride at the Autry National Center near Griffith Park to highlight the routes for the upcoming L.A. River Ride. Thousands of cyclists of all ages and skill groups are expected to participate in the bike ride on Sunday, which will feature six routes ranging from a free children's ride to 100 miles. A fair and bike giveaway to 22 children will also take place, with proceeds from adult participants benefiting the Los Angeles County Bicycle Coalition, which is hosting the 10th annual event.

A long-planned coalition of San Fernando government agencies on Tuesday took the last major important step to becoming a reality. Burbank and Glendale voted unanimously last year to join the San Fernando Valley Council of Governments, a regional planning group for tackling cross-jurisdictional issues and coordinating public infrastructure projects. Los Angeles, Santa Clarita and San Fernando have also endorsed their respective memberships. And on Tuesday, the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors voted to join the group — the last vote needed before the group can begin meeting.