Plastic Bags

I agree with Robert Morrison that plastic bags come in handy in our day-to-day lives (“Those plastic bags do come in handy,” Nov. 1), but like many things that we commonly use that are detrimental to the environment, we really must change our habits when it comes to these items. There are other alternatives for those who feel that plastic bags are the only answer for certain jobs. First, there is really no need to line most waste baskets with plastic bags. In the kitchen, try to compost your vegetable wastes (not meat or bread products)

The Glendale City Council is considering banning plastic grocery and other carryout plastic bags (“Council moves toward bag ordinance,” Oct. 26). I fully agree that these bags are an environmental anathema and should be controlled. Certainly, groceries can easily be transported out of stores with personal reusable bags, replacing plastic or paper ones. But let's not forget that plastic bags can also be very useful in our daily lives and can't be easily replaced. They are good waste basket liners and are particularly useful for holding non-garbage disposal and non-recyclable kitchen waste.

I agree with Robert Morrison that the bags one gets at stores are handy for other uses (“Those plastic bags do come in handy,” Nov. 1). Yes, bags with built-in handles should be available for sale - on a shelf near other useful items like aluminum foil, paper plates, plastic forks, etc. People who want useful items usually spend their own money to buy them. It should be that way with bags, too. They aren't free. The store pays for them and passes the cost along to customers.

Atheists United spent three solid hours last Saturday cleaning up our north Glendale strip of the Glendale (2) Freeway, and by Monday there were already several "witches britches," as the British call plastic bags caught in trees and bushes, fluttering unattractively along the very area we had cleaned. So kudos to Los Angeles County supervisors for banning single-use plastic bags in Los Angeles County ("La Crescenta says goodbye to plastic," Nov. 17), and let's hope Glendale and beyond follows suit.

I've read Paul Caroll's letter ("Government has intruded enough" Nov. 29) several times for signs of irony or humor. Can he really be serious? Surely he can't be equating banning plastic bags, to help our environment, with our 2nd Amendment rights? I agree wholeheartedly with Dan Kimber ("Education Matters: Antonovich's arguments are short-sighted," Nov. 26) that plastic bags are a menace, and I refuse to take them at the grocery store. It's not a burden to take your own reusable bags to the store; it's just a matter of changing one's habits.

If people want to use fewer plastic bags, here's one way. When you buy a gallon of milk at a market, the store usually bags it for you. But really, why do you need it bagged, since it already has a handle? It's actually good exercise to carry it by its handle, rather than in a bag. The fewer plastic bags you get, the less clutter in your house, and you save resources and de-stress nature. When you buy a gallon of milk, tell the bagger, “No bag.” Greg Dahlen Glendale

When California legislated motorists/passengers must wear seat belts, I wasn't a big fan at first, and it took some getting used to, but it eventually became an automatic habit. The ban on plastic bags, like the seat belt law, may be a little inconvenient at first, but it's also well worth the effort ("Education Matters: Antonovich's arguments are short-sighted," Nov. 26). Plastic bags are supposed to be recycled, but many people don't bother to do that. The bags that are not recycled don't always make it into our trash barrels either.

Apparently our City Council is considering a ban on plastic bags given to customers in most Glendale stores. In its place, customers will have to purchase paper bags at 10 cents per bag if they don't have a reusable bag. Our council wants to copy what the unincorporated areas of L.A. County did earlier this year. This ban in Glendale would be a huge inconvenience for all residents of Glendale and should not be the sole decision of just the five City Council members. There should be a referendum so the voters can decide.

GLENDALE — The days of the plastic bag option at checkout stands in Glendale could be numbered, or at least significantly reduced, as city officials consider following in the footsteps of a growing number of cities that have banned the bags. San Francisco County, in a trailblazing move last year, banned nonbiodegradable plastic bags for supermarkets and other large retailers with annual revenue of more than $2 million. Since then, a growing number of cities and counties have been adopting their own restrictions, bans and voluntary measures to reduce the amount of plastic bags generated mostly at grocery store chains.

The final City Council candidate forum Wednesday was perhaps the most direct in calling candidates out on their perceived faults. From having Councilwoman Laura Friedman defend her voting record to asking longtime City Hall critic Herbert Molano how he could work with the very municipal employees he's bashed for years, several of the 10 candidates were forced to defend their reputations as they face the April 2 election. Two candidates, Chahe Keuroghelian and Zareh Sinanyan, were absent from the forum hosted by the Northwest Homeowners Assn.

Two issues that call out for further debate among Glendale City Council candidates, before the city's April election, are: the “finalized” City Council ban on plastic bags, and the seemingly ongoing plan to try and regain state redevelopment money for Central Library renovations. Two academics, Jonathan Klick and Joshua D. Wright from the University of Pennsylvania Institute for Law & Economics , recently crunched data on their city's emergency room admissionsand found that San Francisco's 2007 initiated ban corresponded with an increase in infections from the increased use of hard-to-clean correctly reusable bags.

By next year, all grocery, convenience and liquor stores in Glendale will have to get rid of their plastic bags and start charging 10 cents for paper ones after the City Council on Tuesday unanimously approved the ban. The vote was expected after all five council members last week voiced support for the ordinance at a public hearing. Glendale now joins several California cities that have enacted similar bans, including Pasadena, Los Angeles and San Jose. Glendale's ordinance is modeled after a ban enacted in the unincorporated Los Angeles County areas in 2011, but will also include farmer's markets and city-sponsored events.

Glendale could become the next major city in Los Angeles County to ban plastic bags at grocery stores after the City Council takes up the matter at its meeting Tuesday night. It's a proposal the city's been mulling over for years, but that only now has come back in the form of an ordinance. Glendale's proposed ban is modeled off a countywide ban that took effect in 2011, but would go a step further by including farmer's markets and all city-sponsored events, as well as any event held on city property.

If people want to use fewer plastic bags, here's one way. When you buy a gallon of milk at a market, the store usually bags it for you. But really, why do you need it bagged, since it already has a handle? It's actually good exercise to carry it by its handle, rather than in a bag. The fewer plastic bags you get, the less clutter in your house, and you save resources and de-stress nature. When you buy a gallon of milk, tell the bagger, “No bag.” Greg Dahlen Glendale

Re: “Treat the hills with respect and care,” Mailbag, Sept. 5: The good writer's apparent lack of finding any larger-size plastic bags - i.e, the so-called single use, carry-out-your-groceries ones that are some five times taller than the 3-inch ones that he mentioned observing - would seem to indirectly support the conclusions of Environmental Resources Planning, LLC, an independent, Gaithersburg, Md. firm that has determined that these bags have...

A 51-year-old Glendale woman was charged Monday with trying to suffocate her daughter to death by placing a bag over her head while at a house in Burbank, police said. The woman, Maral Eulmessekian, was charged with one felony count of attempted murder of her 21-year-old daughter, Pateel Eulmessekian, according to a Los Angeles County Superior Court criminal complaint. Maral Eulmessekian was arrested Sunday after her daughter - who did not suffer any injuries as a result of the alleged attack - ran to a neighbor's home about 8:43 a.m. and pleaded for help, Burbank Police Sgt. Darin Ryburn said.

I decided not to write my annual ode to the springtime beauty of the Verdugo Hills because the hillsides were already turning a desiccated brown in late February because of the lack of winter rains. Fortunately the plentiful March and April rains resuscitated the green and gave good vigor to the wildflowers. I am writing once again about the trash that sprouts everywhere I hike in the hills regardless of the season or the rains. There is the small trash of candy, gum and energy bar wrappers and tissues that could so easily be tucked into the hiker's pocket.

I have a pet peeve: I am dumbfounded by people who steal the little packets of Splenda from coffee houses and restaurants. You all know who you are. And I'm willing to bet that many of you are acquainted with one or two of society's greatest slight-of-hand artists. They are the ones who get a cup of coffee and then, when no one is watching, will grab 20 or 30 little yellow packets and drop them in their bag or stuff them in a pocket. The more creative ones will gingerly wrap them in a napkin before exiting stage right.

I agree with Robert Morrison that the bags one gets at stores are handy for other uses (“Those plastic bags do come in handy,” Nov. 1). Yes, bags with built-in handles should be available for sale - on a shelf near other useful items like aluminum foil, paper plates, plastic forks, etc. People who want useful items usually spend their own money to buy them. It should be that way with bags, too. They aren't free. The store pays for them and passes the cost along to customers.