Dog Park

We’re English speakers, too I am responding to the following paragraph in the Crescenta Valley Sun [“City to set up help line,” July 11]: “Council gadfly Dr. Richard Espiritu, who has adopted the issue of service to limited English speakers as a cause, asked how the service would work for speakers of ‘Lithuanian, Guyanese and Nigerian,’ as three examples.” In response to the above, I’d like to inform you that English is the language spoken by everyone in Guyana.

With 2007 now just a memory, the Crescenta Valley Town Council is gearing up for a year of new projects while continuing to tackle residual issues including trash, graffiti, cell towers, and the need for a community dog park. “I am really excited and looking forward to working with [the county and council’s newly formed] task force and identifying a site for a dog park,” said Cheryl Davis, one of the three newly elected Town Council members. “I hope 2008 is the year of the dog,” Davis said.

Urban growth has emerged as the dominant campaign issue in the Nov. 6 election for the Crescenta Valley Town Council, with candidates calling for stronger local oversight of residential and commercial developments. At a forum Thursday at the La Crescenta Library, candidates criticized the size and aesthetics of several recent projects, with one saying he wants Foothill Boulevard in La Crescenta to "look better than La Cañada. " The group of 10 candidates also took aim at a home on Briggs Avenue that is so large that some neighbors said they initially mistook it for a church.

It is my honor to have been elected by my fellow Councilmembers to serve as the president of the Crescenta Valley Town Council this year. We have twelve members (nine regular and three alternate) that are willing to donate multiple volunteer hours for the unincorporated areas of Montrose and La Crescenta. Events that the Council is currently working on include moving our monthly public meetings to a larger room to accommodate our constituents. On Feb. 15, our first meeting was held at Crescenta Valley High School's Career Center located at 2900 Community Avenue.

It has been reported that the City Council is to consider promoting the use of Mello-Roos districts to purchase land (“City eyes options for open space,” Saturday). This is a complex issue that needs thoughtful consideration and careful structuring, but I strongly support the principle. It puts the control in the hands of local residents, who are directly affected. And it puts financial burden where it belongs, on the beneficiary. There are clearly circumstances where it would be inappropriate, but it is an idea worth exploring.

A new apartment complex in downtown Glendale is betting that young city dwellers will pay a premium for units as small as 375 square feet in order to have access to a variety of amenities and live in the heart of the city. The 208-unit, seven-story Elevé Lofts and Skydeck at 200 E. Broadway is renting the small apartments -- which are about the size of a typical two-car garage -- for $1,500 a month. Huntington Beach-based AMF Development, owners of the Elevé, is targeting the “Gen Y” demographic, members of which are in their mid-20s.

Assemblyman Mike Gatto (D-Silver Lake) has introduced a bill that would limit the liability of local governments that operate dog parks. AB 265 would also require cities and counties to post signs warning users that they enter a dog park at their own risk, Gatto said in a statement. Under current law, cities can be subject to massive liability claims filed by people who they were unaware of the potential dangers, such as dog bites, that can occur at dog parks, according to Gatto's office.

CITY HALL — After postponing the issue last week, the City Council on Tuesday is scheduled for the first time to begin the politically arduous task of deciding which of 40 proposed city improvement projects will get the ax. In a discussion that will pit disability access upgrades against a $3.5-million soccer field, the constituencies represented on the list of capital improvement projects is as diverse as the items themselves. Lesser known projects must also compete with more well known and popular choices for the councilmen.

Dog training evaluations coming Good Dogs are Trained, a dog-training and certification program serving Glendale, Burbank and neighboring communities, will be having an American Kennel Club Canine Good Citizen Evaluations from 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. on Sunday at the Griffith Dog Park, at North Zoo Drive just past the soccer fields in Los Angeles. The dogs have gone through training and have aspirations of becoming therapy dogs. The evaluations are open to any dog and owner with at least intermediate training.