Mountain Street

GLENDALE — The ballooning cost of a Mountain Street widening project has forced Glendale Community College to call a special meeting today to decide how to pay for $760,000 in unforeseen costs. College trustees will consider three ways to fund the street-widening project, which is tied to the campus' much-anticipated parking structure. The three options boil down to either taxpayers, students or the college bearing the brunt of $760,000 in costs, which have forced the project's total price tag up to $1.7 million.

NORTHWEST GLENDALE — It took a 16-year-old to slam his Lexus into Craig and Tammi Relyea’s brick retaining wall Wednesday night for them to realize that repeated calls to Glendale Police wouldn’t be enough to curb what they say is an increase in speeders along their street. Perched atop a small hill on the corner of Ard Eevin Avenue and Mountain Street, the Relyeas’ home was never in danger of being hit, but the car did leave a scar in their yard Wednesday after the driver lost control of his Lexus LS400 as he came east around the curved intersection at about 11:50 p.m., according to a California Highway Patrol report.

Darleene Barrientos District officials Tuesday will discuss how a mudslide from its hillsides might complicate plans to widen Mountain Street and build Glendale Community College's new parking structure. After three weeks of heavy rain, a slope owned by the Glendale Unified School District gave way after the mudslide, which also shut down Mountain Street for several days. The district, college and city had already been working on plans to widen Mountain Street to accommodate extra traffic expected when the college builds its 1,100-space parking structure.

SATELLITE LIBRARY The council voted unanimously to allow the city clerk to advertise for bids to make improvements to a southeast Glendale storefront that will house a new satellite city library. WHAT IT MEANS Improvements can begin on the storefront to make way for the library. This satellite library — to be at 1100 E. Chevy Chase Drive — will be temporary until a full-scale branch library can be built in the area. VOTE: 3-0 STREET LIGHT SYSTEM The council voted unanimously to contract with KDC Inc. to install a streetlight system along several streets in Northeast Glendale.

Claudia Peschiutta ROSSMOYNE -- The usual peacefulness on Mountain Street was broken Friday afternoon when several Glendale Police officers responded to a call for help. A Glendale man was arrested on suspicion of assault with a deadly weapon for allegedly striking his mother with pool-cleaning equipment, Glendale Police Sgt. Tom Kuh said. The woman refused medical treatment, he said. Kuh could not say why so many officers responded to the woman's call, which was made shortly before 5 p.m. More than an hour later, curious commuters drove slowly down the street looking at the three remaining Glendale Police cars.

Drum Line Competition ? Saturday, April 14 starting at 9 a.m. Pasadena City College will be hosting an all-day drum line competition on Saturday, April 14 that features more than 50 groups from Southern California. The PCC band program fundraiser will begin at 9 a.m. in PCC's Hutto-Patterson Gym. PCC Director of Bands Kyle Luck describes the event as being "very entertaining to watch. Each school puts in countless hours of practice and work each week for a five-minute show."

Recent mountain lion sightings in the hillside neighborhoods of Glendale prompted city officials on Thursday to release a new website that will allow residents to report wildlife sightings and check out other sightings logged in the area. The site, created by city tech staffers, was designed to track public sightings of mountain lions, bears, bobcats, coyotes and deer, but is not a substitute for reporting an emergency. “We still expect you to pick up the phone and call 911 if you feel you are in danger,” said city spokesman Tom Lorenz.

A brush fire that broke out at about 2:15 p.m. today near the Ventura (134) and Glendale (2) freeways that grew to more than 40 acres is now 70% contained, officials reported. Water-dropping helicopters continued to buzz back and forth from Silver Lake in Los Angeles as fire crews from Burbank, Glendale, Los Angeles city and county and Pasadena battled the blaze that had crested over the hillside and threatened homes in the Glenoaks Canyon area. Glendale police have blocked access to the area, and had called for a voluntary evacuation of homes in the 2100 to 2300 blocks of Glenoaks Boulevard.

Buck Wargo CITY HALL -- A Mercedes Benz limosine caught fire on the Glendale (2) Freeway Monday morning, receiving $15,000 in damage. Glendale firefighters were called to the burning vehicle at 9:24 a.m. just north of Mountain Street on the Glendale (2) Freeway. The fire started on the right side of the engine and spread. The limo was headed south when the fire broke out. No one was injured and the cause of the fire remains unknown, said department spokesman Chief Steve Howard.

Several Glendale and Burbank streets will be closed on Monday as 100 mules make their way from Brand Park to the Los Angeles Equestrian Center in Burbank, the last leg of a roughly three-week trek along the Los Angeles Aqueduct. The mule parade, known as “100 Mules Walking the Los Angeles Aqueduct,” is a mobile art project by Los Angeles-based Metabolic Studio in honor of the 100th anniversary of the opening of the aqueduct. The mules' journey began in Lone Pine, Calif., on Oct. 18.  The following streets in Glendale will be closed for 30-minute intervals from 8:15 to 11:30 a.m. as the mules plod along: Intersections along the Western Avenue route from Mountain Street to Riverside Drive Intersections along the Riverside Drive route from Western Avenue to Main Street The following streets in Glendale will temporarily restrict parking: Western Avenue from Mountain Street to West Glenoaks Boulevard (southbound side only)

I was most disheartened by my fellow drivers on a recent day. As I drove south on Cañada Boulevard, I noticed a pedestrian at the southeast corner of El Rito Avenue waiting for traffic to stop so she could cross to the west side of Cañada. I stopped. The woman tried to wave me on as she saw other vehicles coming that were about a block away. I thought the drivers coming up behind me might realize I was stopped for a pedestrian. I counted no less than 12 other vehicles whiz by me or go around me, never even slowing down.

Recent mountain lion sightings in the hillside neighborhoods of Glendale prompted city officials on Thursday to release a new website that will allow residents to report wildlife sightings and check out other sightings logged in the area. The site, created by city tech staffers, was designed to track public sightings of mountain lions, bears, bobcats, coyotes and deer, but is not a substitute for reporting an emergency. “We still expect you to pick up the phone and call 911 if you feel you are in danger,” said city spokesman Tom Lorenz.

A motorcyclist was seriously injured Sunday after he reportedly led police on a high-speed pursuit that ended when he lost control of the bike and crashed into a BMW, officials said. Adrian Sandoval Perez, 21, of Arleta suffered broken bones and internal injuries as a result of the crash that occurred about 1:04 p.m. in the 2700 block of Verdugo Road, according to authorities. [Note: This story has been corrected, please see note below.] California Highway Patrol officers spotted Perez riding with a group of motorcyclists on the Glendale (2)

The City Council unanimously approved making a northwest neighborhood of 179 homes featuring architectural styles popular in the 1920s and 1940s into a historic district on Tuesday. The final, second vote was all but assured last week when the council expressed unanimous support for the North Cumberland Heights district application. North Cumberland Heights, the city's fifth historical district, is bounded by Grandview Avenue on the west, Mountain Street to the north, Ben Lomond Drive on the east and Cumberland Road to the south.

Fire crews extinguished a two-acre brush fire Friday off the northbound Glendale (2) Freeway, near Mountain Street. The blaze began burning shortly after noon on a hillside off the freeway, and was put out approximately an hour later due a large response, including two water-dropping helicopters, two Los Angeles City Fire hand crews and 20 engines from Los Angeles and Glendale, authorities said. Glendale Fire Capt. Cody Smith said the fire was close to homes, but firefighters were stationed near the residential neighborhoods and no structures were damaged.

I live near the intersection of Royal Boulevard and Mountain Street. Several times a week at 4:30 a.m., somewhere nearby a truck backs up repeatedly, with the corresponding beeping back-up warning. The acoustics of the canyon make it seem extremely loud and also make it very difficult to figure out where the beeping is coming from - my best guesses are the Civic Auditorium or Glendale Community College. Does anyone have any idea where this could be coming from? I'm sick of being awakened at 4:30 and don't want to wear earplugs to bed every night, so even knowing the trucks' schedule would be helpful.

GLENDALE — The black hen near Glendale Community College that became an international story has found itself a new home, at a chicken coop in Simi Valley. On Sunday, Berna Arnold did what animal control officers could not — she caught the chicken on the busy street corner and gave it a home on her ¾-acre rural lot in Simi Valley. She named the hen Lucky. “She is lucky that she didn’t get hit by a car and lucky to have a great new home to go to,” Berna Arnold said.

NORTHWEST GLENDALE — Crime tips from residents led to the arrest Friday of a 16-year-old boy and two men on suspicion of actual or attempted burglary of a vehicle and homes, police said. The arrests came days after residents in northwest Glendale reported 16 burglaries in one day. Residents along Royal Boulevard, Idlewood Road and Prospect Avenue noticed the boy, 30-year-old Highland Park resident Francisco Moncada and 30-year-old Eagle Rock resident Julian Gayona acting suspicious and immediately called police, Glendale Police Sgt. Tom Lorenz said.