Habitat

As an asthmatic, I was originally pleased to hear of Glendale's program to limit public smoking - I spent 16 weeks in the hospital last year alone as a result of uncontrolled smoking in the building where I live. In order to get away from this activity, I began escaping to a local popular McDonald's restaurant. Regrettably, little effort is made to control smoking outside near the entrances. At intervals, workers in the building, customers and even McDonald's employees light up in the back right under the air conditioning intake vents, flooding the restaurant with smoke within seconds.

The mood, and the lighting, got a little brighter in the 600 block of Geneva Street on Wednesday where volunteer apprentices from a local carpenters union began installing solar panels on the roof of a new five-unit complex to be owned by low-income families. It was the latest step in the $1.1-million Habitat for Humanity project, which kicked off June 2011 and is expected to be completed in late spring. With 1,600 watts per unit, the panels are expected to trim the electricity bill for each family by about 30%, said Scott Payne, a coordinator with the Southwest Carpenters Training Fund.

Josh Kleinbaum A group of Adams Hill residents are fighting a three-family Habitat for Humanity project, arguing that the project's design does not fit with the neighborhood and that a better project would reuse an existing building instead of knocking it down and starting from scratch. The City Council on Tuesday must weigh the competing interests of the residents with the city's shortage of affordable housing. At a 2:30 p.m. joint meeting with the Housing Authority and the Redevelopment Agency, the council will consider a development agreement with Habitat for Humanity.

Buck Wargo CITY HALL -- For Martha Torrez, a chance to own a home would fulfill both a dream and a necessity. The 41-year-old Nicaraguan immigrant has lived in a crowded, one-bedroom apartment on East Lomita Avenue for three years, taking care of her two teenage children and ill sister's three children. Torrez, a preschool teacher in Burbank, said she has been unable to find a landlord willing to rent her a bigger place because of the children.

The Housing Authority of the city of Glendale and San Gabriel Valley Habitat for Humanity will break ground today on four new affordable homes at 401-411 S. Pacific Ave. Building the project will cost about $1.3 million. The Housing Authority will provide $804,000 in local affordable housing funds for the project, according to reports. Four low-income, Glendale families have been selected to live in the homes when completed. The two-story homes are 1,100 to 1,200 square feet, each with three bedrooms, one and one-half baths, a living room, dining room, private patio and an attached garage.

Claudia Peschiutta GLENDALE -- The San Gabriel Valley chapter of Habitat for Humanity will be seeing green Wednesday at a Glendale Chamber of Commerce mixer. The nonprofit group, which is working with the city to build a four-unit housing complex on Orange Street, will receive donations from Aid Assn. for Lutherans and CalFed Bank. The donations will add about $20,000 for the Glendale project, said JoAnne Shepard, Habitat's volunteer coordinator for the effort.

Marshall Allen GLENDALE -- Combined choirs of the Glendale and La Canada Circles of Faith will present ChoirFest 2001 at 7 p.m. Saturday at Glendale Presbyterian Church, 125 S. Louise St. All proceeds from the evening will benefit the San Gabriel Valley chapter of Habitat for Humanity. Children's voices, along with adult choirs, will combine to provide an evening of inspiration. Guest conductor Christopher Curzon will lead the combined choirs and ensembles in two pieces during the concert.

Habitat for Humanities for the San Gabriel Valley is holding its second annual All That Jazz fund-raising dinner gala Sept. 25. The nonprofit group, which sponsors construction of affordable housing units, has completed 29 homes in the past decade, and its past two projects were in Glendale. The dinner, which starts at 6:30 p.m. at Twin Palms Restaurant, 101 W. Green St. in Pasadena, costs $125 per person or $1,000 for a table of 10. The price includes dinner, drinks, dancing and a live and silent auction.

Yared Montalvo stood on a ladder using his hands to smooth out the caulking on a house being built for low-income families. "This is too much," the 17-year-old said as he scraped off the excess water-proofing material. "You just need a little bit." He was one of eight Glendale High School helping Habitat for Humanity build homes in the city on Thursday. They were either part of the school's Habitat for Humanity club, or part of the high school's construction technology academy.

Meatball, the famed Glendale bear, seems to be adjusting to his new life in San Diego County, snacking on Little Debbie strawberry shortcake rolls and peanut butter-and-honey sandwiches - but his new caretakers say they are short of the money needed for a new habitat for the 500-pound bruin. Also known as "Glen Bearian," the black bear spent his first months at Lions, Tigers & Bears in a 15-by-20-foot caged quarantine area, and then in a 12-foot-by-18-foot "safety bedroom" near three other bears.

The perception of our affordable housing project in Glendale was clouded during the Rossmoyne Council Candidates Forum. The city bought the Geneva property several years before San Gabriel Valley Habitat for Humanity was involved in the project. It was bought at the height of the housing market. Habitat for Humanity has built 34 homes for first-time homebuyers in seven locations in Glendale in the last 20 years. These homes provide affordable housing ownership that the southern Californian market desperately needs.

Several City Council candidates railed against spending on low-income housing in Glendale at a candidate forum Thursday night, specifically pointing to the high costs of a Habitat for Humanity project completed last year. Some candidates compared the cost of the five-unit Habitat for Humanity project at 624 Geneva Street to that of a Ritz Carlton or Buckingham Palace, while longtime City Hall critic Mike Mohill said the city shouldn't even be in the business of building affordable housing.

As an asthmatic, I was originally pleased to hear of Glendale's program to limit public smoking - I spent 16 weeks in the hospital last year alone as a result of uncontrolled smoking in the building where I live. In order to get away from this activity, I began escaping to a local popular McDonald's restaurant. Regrettably, little effort is made to control smoking outside near the entrances. At intervals, workers in the building, customers and even McDonald's employees light up in the back right under the air conditioning intake vents, flooding the restaurant with smoke within seconds.

Habitat for Humanity representatives from Yerevan, Armenia, stopped in Glendale this week, kicking off a two-week, three-city tour to raise $185,000 for affordable housing in Armenia. “The diaspora should worry about what's happening with the housing market in Armenia,” said Seda Arzumanyan, resource development manager for Habitat Armenia. “Habitat for Humanity alone will not be able to fight against housing poverty in Armenia.” A third of homes nationwide, and half of them in the country's rural areas, need improvements, said Executive Director Luiza Vardanyan.

The Glendale bear known as “Meatball” has had to acclimate to new food and a new home during captivity, and by the end of the month, he'll have to adjust to a new neighbor. Since being transported to the Lions, Tigers & Bears animal sanctuary in San Diego County in August, the bear known for his appetite has been living in a 15-by-20-foot quarantine facility while officials raise money to build him a new 4-acre habitat. But that will soon change when he gets a new neighbor later this month - “Sugar Bear,” a male ursine that was rescued in June from a closed sanctuary in Ohio.

L.A. Zoo visitors watched in horror as a baby chimpanzee was killed Tuesday afternoon by an adult male chimpanzee. "Chimpanzee behavior can sometimes be aggressive and violent, and the zoo is sorry that visitors had to be exposed to  this," the zoo said in a statement. "This is a heartbreaking and tragic loss for the zoo and especially the Great Ape Team who have worked diligently to care for the infant and its mother since its birth," the statement said. The chimpanzee, which was born in March, was killed in a habitat with other chimps, the zoo said in a statement.

As Shane Mulholland accepted the keys to his new town home, one in a five-unit complex on Geneva Street recently completed under the Habitat for Humanity model, he warned those present Saturday that his emotions might get the better of him. “This year has been full of great memories for us, including the birth of our son in December,” said Mulholland, flanked by his wife and three young children. “Working on the house has been a transformative experience for us. From digging to framing to the roofing to the painting, we have learned so much along the way. We are here to move in and make this house a home.” It was a moment as sweet as it was satisfying for the young family, their four sets of new neighbors and the nearly 2,000 volunteers who labored for more than a year to bring it to reality.

Local animal control, police and state Fish and Game officials are ramping up efforts to track a California black bear that has been rummaging through residential trash cans in North Glendale. The bear recently gained notice after entering a home garage early Wednesday on the 3700 block of Beechglen Drive and rummaged through a refrigerator in search for food. The bear returned later that evening and was caught foraging by a television news crew. “It's an ongoing saga of us living with bears,” said North Glendale Community Lead Officer Matt Zakarian.

It's great that Habitat for Humanity is putting solar panels on their latest volunteer- and resident-built housing complex, (“Solar panels brighten up Habitat,” Feb. 2). The new homeowners will start out contributing to a sustainable lifestyle for the neighborhood. I'm very pleased that union carpenters are having apprentices volunteer for the installation. It's in the fine tradition of union membership and proudly demonstrates how unions develop competence worthy of a living wage.