Construction

City officials this week got an earful from a group of local residents who said they are fed up with months of noise, dust and traffic associated with construction on the Walt Disney Co.'s massive creative campus. At the City Council meeting on Tuesday, residents on the 1300 block of Truitt Street said they have asked Disney and city officials to ease the effects of construction on a new childcare facility being built a mere 30 feet from their homes. City officials — who told the residents they had passed their concerns to Disney officials and were unaware they had not been resolved — agreed to set up a neighborhood meeting with all stakeholders to address the issues.

Western Avenue will be closed under the Golden State Freeway (I-5) in Glendale for construction work from 10 p.m. to 6 a.m. today. Detour signs will be posted for the work, which is scheduled to close the stretch of roadway each night for the same period through Thursday, according the California Department of Transportation. The construction is part of a realignment of the interchange that is expected to be completed next summer. The majority of the work will be performed at night to minimize traffic impacts, although the construction schedule is subject to change, Caltrans warned.

NORTHWEST GLENDALE ? Despite having been open since the first of the month, Central Piano general manager Nick Martin said customers hardly even know the business exists. His business is in a Glendale Water and Power construction area, where crews are working to move above-ground power lines and cables underground. "We were supposed to have a grand opening with everybody from the city here, the chamber of commerce, the schools, the merchants, but this screwed it up," Martin said pointing to Central Avenue, which is lined with bright-orange construction cones and temporary no-parking signs.

Robert Chacon Construction is almost complete at Deukmejian Wilderness Park, and Glendale city officials are preparing the 700-acre site for a grand-opening ceremony in March. With two phases of the park's construction complete, the latest phase includes construction of a new access lane on Markridge Road, a paved parking lot, an amphitheater, restrooms, picnic areas and water and sewer lines. In order to access the park's trail system, visitors have had to hike a quarter-mile to reach trailheads, said John Pearson, the city's project manager for the most recent construction.

Rima Shah Dust, dirt and construction are driving a new kind of sidewalk sale hosted by a local bookstore owner. Maureen Palacios, owner of Once Upon a Time at Ocean View Boulevard and Honolulu Avenue, is having an ongoing "Un-sidewalk sale" offering 10% off for books that begin with D in response to ongoing construction in front of her store. "For dust and dirt," she said. Although Palacios has come up with an innovative way to deal with the construction, she and other area business owners are still frustrated.

The sound of jackhammers on Brand Boulevard while buying a latte a few yards from an open trench is not the ideal ambience for a lunchtime break. But it's a reality that will be with us for several more months, as crews continue uprooting the main drag, block by block, in order to reconstruct it. It hasn't been pretty. "It affects the business," said Jasmine Nazarian, who works at Brand Boulevard Beauty Salon. "We were against it, but nobody listens to us...

MONTROSE ? Looking out the front window of her shop on the corner of Honolulu and Montrose avenues, Jennifer Grafius isn't particularly pleased with what she sees. "For months, they had signs and barriers out there, but they haven't done anything," Grafius said, gazing at the bright, orange road construction signs and cones scattered in front of Doris' Slender Sweet Shoppe, which she co-owns with her mother, Doris Warthen. "It really hasn't effected our business, but there's so much construction going on around here that you can't escape it no matter where you go in this town."

Janine Marnien Parents of students at Monte Vista Elementary and Rosemont Middle Schools could encounter an additional traffic problem when dropping off or picking up their child in September. The Crescenta Valley Water District will replace water mains on Rosemont Avenue, a two-lane street known for its heavy traffic before and after school. "In the morning, you can see the traffic all the way to Foothill," Rosemont parent Violet Stobaugh said.

First of all, all the merchants in the Adams Square Merchants Assn. want to thank many people responsible for the miraculous rebuilding of the Adams Square District. The City Council, City Manager Jim Starbird, the Redevelopment Agency, and Community Development Housing primarily orchestrated the entire project and made it possible for the city staff to do its job. I'm a general contractor and president of the Adams Square Merchants Assn., and I am doing business in this location, so I am directly affected by business disruption.

As a researcher whose projects depend on his successful grant writing, geophysicist Vahé Peroomian has become adept at attracting funding — a trait that can only help Glendale Community College, he said. The 42-year-old researcher at UCLA was appointed to the board two years ago and said he has a lot to offer with his background in construction, management and space science. "The last two years have given me an opportunity to show what I could do on the board," Peroomian said.

The City Council this week agreed to pay $145,000 to settle a breach of contract lawsuit filed by the insurer of a construction company hired to repair slopes in Glendale that were severely damaged by a mudslide in 2005. Hartford Fire Insurance Co. filed the lawsuit Nov. 1, claiming the contractor was underpaid for excavation work that turned out to be much more intensive than what was advertised by the city. In its lawsuit, Hartford Fire originally asked for $450,000 in damages - nearly as much as the city agreed to pay the contractor, Remedial Civil Constructors Inc., in 2009.

Glendale plans to begin construction on two railroad crossings in the San Fernando Road corridor in March, continuing a years-long effort to create a section of railway in which trains won't have to blow their horns. Pushed by residential noise complaints, Glendale officials have been working on improving several railroad crossings, a necessary step before the city can apply for a so-called “quiet zone” from the Federal Railroad Administration. Once all the crossings have adequate safety improvements approved by federal transportation officials, engineers could stop honking their horns when they pass a crossing, a welcome development for Pelanconi Estates residents.

After more than a year of forensic accounting,selling property and fielding legal claims, the man in charge of liquidating the assets of an affordable housing developer that allegedly defrauded Glendale, Los Angeles and other cities has amassed roughly $37 million, including $612,000 in gold. Even after the sell-off of assets belonging to Advanced Development and Investment Inc., there's still more money to collect - and possibly discover - to set aside for the legal claims piling up against the firm, according to the court-appointed receiver.

As part of its expansion plans, the hulking Mercedes-Benz dealership on South Brand Boulevard will soon start building a bridge over East Maple Street to connect its new service center to a four-story parking garage currently under construction. The bridge was approved by City Council members in late 2008 as part of larger expansion plans, but they gave the final OK on Tuesday, including granting permission to build in the space over the street. The bridge is designed to let dealership employees move customer and service vehicles between the two buildings at the third-story level “without disrupting normal vehicle and neighborhood activity on East Maple Street,” according to a city report.

Plans to turn the Jewel City Bowl into a parking lot for a new 110,000-square foot courthouse on Broadway are off the table, according to a state report, but courthouse construction may still jeopardize the longtime facility. Acquisition of the bowling alley proved to be too costly for state court officials, who decided to obtain the Board of Realtors site on Isabel Street for the new courthouse's secured parking structure, said Teresa Ruano, Administrative Office of the Courts spokeswoman.

Construction bids for a new transit center and parking structure at Bob Hope Airport came in under budget this week, a reversal in fortune for a project that was put on a diet last year after the first round of building proposals came in at far more than anticipated. In June, the so-called intermodal transit center - which will include facilities for rental cars and rail and bus lines to better connect passengers to the terminal - was scaled down after bids for the project came in $47 million to $75 million above the originally projected cost of $112 million.

State transportation officials say they are offering contractors millions of dollars in incentives to finish a massive construction project along the Golden State (5) Freeway ahead of schedule. The incentives come after representatives for the California Department of Transportation heard concerns that the work on the I-5 corridor through Burbank would isolate neighborhoods around the Empire Center and limit access to Bob Hope Airport. They hope the incentives will shave up to a year off the project timeline.

A Glendale Unified facilities planner who abruptly resigned last month after roughly seven months on the job got a $27,520 payout upon her departure, according to a settlement agreement released Tuesday by the district. Margaret Brown was hired in June as administrator of planning, development and facilities and was to play a lead role in executing millions of dollars' worth of construction projects funded by Measure S, a $270-million school bond passed last year. Brown resigned Jan. 17 for what Assistant Supt.

A Glendale woman is continuing her battle with the Walt Disney Co. almost two years after the studio damaged her home while building a child-care center on its sprawling campus. Jennifer Pinkerton said Disney officials are offering her $5,000 to cover multiple interior and exterior cracks in the walls of her house, even though an estimate she has filed with the company from Mudd Construction put the repair cost at around $40,000. “It costs thousands of dollars just to paint the house, so what can you do with $5,000?

After utility issues caused a speed bump in plans to construct a new carpool lane along a 2.7-mile stretch of the Golden State (5) Freeway in Glendale and Burbank last year, state transportation officials say work should kick off again this month. To prepare residents for the resurgence in construction, California Department of Transportation officials are hosting a community meeting Wednesday evening in Glendale. But residents take note: the period during which concerns about noise and debris may influence the project has passed.