Private Property

GLENDALE — As shoppers began turning out at the recently opened Americana at Brand, the mixed-use megaplex billed as the city’s chief catalyst for downtown redevelopment will stand as an example of the kind of project that might have been impossible to build under a new state law up for voter approval on June 3. The upcoming primary election contains only two ballot initiatives, both of which are viewed as competing eminent domain reforms...

After more than an hour of sparring over the issue of private property rights versus historic preservation, Glendale City Council members this week passed an ordinance giving them the power to designate a property as historic without the owner's consent. Proponents billed the provision as an extra tool to protect historic resources that may be threatened in the future, but Councilman Ara Najarian, who fought to block the measure Tuesday night, likened the move to an overreach of big government.

During the last few months, large amounts of Glendale city government resources have been spent in trying to understand and deal with the deeply flawed, poorly crafted and little understood Indigenous Tree Ordinance (“City to tweak tree law, again,” Monday). This much-criticized ordinance has been an embarrassment to all levels of city government, the City Council in particular, and Glendale as a whole. Our councilmen have indicated that they (and staff members) will spend more time and effort on Tuesday tinkering and tuning the ordinance to try to fix it. Maybe more basic questions have to be asked and answered first, before they once again sail down the path of “perfecting” this questionable, feel-good concept.

Robert Morrison's letter (April 22) expresses his concern about potential rent-control measures in Glendale. He claims that rent-control advocate Ken Carlson's efforts for government to limit the rent he can receive from his private property and investment "is as close to confiscation as he can get without actually grabbing the property deed out of my hands." Can this be the same Robert Morrison who wrote nearly 40 letters to the editor in recent years to support precisely this same kind of government interference that effectively confiscated my property at Oakmont View V for more than 10 years?

In response to your question, any memorial monument commemorating the Armenian Genocide should not be placed on any city-owned property. It should be placed on private property, purchased by the Armenian groups who are so intent on having such a memorial in our city. The city of Glendale is not obligated to provide a location on city property to recognize a single faction of residents in our city. In fact, it would violate the rights of all the non-Armenian residents of Glendale, and only cause more divisiveness in our city.

I found nothing humorous in Joseph Adamian's cartoon, ("We the People," Aug. 27) in the Glendale News-Press. He continues to hatefully label all of the non-Armenian residents as serpents of evil, because we won't bend to his beliefs. Meanwhile he, himself, creates havoc in feeding and contributing hatred toward this controversy that plagues Glendale. No one is questioning the horrible massacre, but the fact remains that this devastation of lives lost is not a part of our American history, and forcing it to be is where the conflict lies.

Josh Kleinbaum As officials from state and federal agencies assessed damage Thursday caused by two weeks of storms and mudslides, Glendale officials upped their damage estimate to $27 million. Recouping that money from state grants and federal loans could take some time, though. The rains that pounded the Los Angeles area from Dec. 26 through Jan. 11 caused mudslides and power outages in Glendale, inflicting $24 million in damage to public property and $3 million to private property.

Wondering what to do with your political lawn signs when Tuesday's municipal election is all said and done? Unless you want them as keepsakes, city officials say the signs are indeed recyclable. The signs can be placed in gray recycling containers, but wood posts should go in the green yard trimming containers, said city spokesman Tom Lorenz. Signs can stay on private property as long as owners want, but if code enforcement officials find signs on public property, they will be removed.

Fences and private property boundaries break up most of the potential trails in La Crescenta, trail builder Peter Schaller told the Crescenta Valley Town Council Thursday. "We need to develop a system of trail easements to let people walk the hillsides," he said, suggesting the Town Council could take the lead in that. Schaller began building foothill trails when he lived in Arcadia, and has carried the job to La Crescenta when he moved here. "I saw a newspaper article about what some people were doing in Arcadia," he said.

Sylmar resident Richard M. Holbrook, in the name of the free market and its invisible hand, wants government to stay out of the way of the rental market in Glendale. Fine. Let the invisible hand stop me from living out of my car when my rent increases beyond what I can afford. The car Mr. Holbrook says is little different from the apartment I rent. Let the invisible hand stop me from squatting on one of Mr. Holbrook's vacant properties in Glendale.

Wondering what to do with your political lawn signs when Tuesday's municipal election is all said and done? Unless you want them as keepsakes, city officials say the signs are indeed recyclable. The signs can be placed in gray recycling containers, but wood posts should go in the green yard trimming containers, said city spokesman Tom Lorenz. Signs can stay on private property as long as owners want, but if code enforcement officials find signs on public property, they will be removed.

After more than an hour of sparring over the issue of private property rights versus historic preservation, Glendale City Council members this week passed an ordinance giving them the power to designate a property as historic without the owner's consent. Proponents billed the provision as an extra tool to protect historic resources that may be threatened in the future, but Councilman Ara Najarian, who fought to block the measure Tuesday night, likened the move to an overreach of big government.

Recently I visited Rick Caruso’s newly opened Americana at Brand. I am a graduate student from San Francisco conducting research for my MFA thesis on thematic design; as such, the stunning architecture of Americana was a must-see. After being on the premises for a couple of minutes, I began snapping a few pictures for my research, and was immediately accosted by an albeit friendly security guard who informed me that all student, commercial, industry and entertainment photography must be pre-approved.

BURBANK — The Burbank Democratic Club held its third annual picnic Saturday at Johnny Carson Park as its members talked politics and received updates from the region’s elected officials. The event, co-sponsored by the Democratic Clubs in Glendale and the northeast San Fernando Valley, featured talks from Rep. Adam Schiff, state Sen. Jack Scott, Assemblyman Paul Krekorian and gave members the opportunity to talk about the June 3 primary. “Were here to get out the vote,” Burbank Democratic Club President Janet Reynolds said.

GLENDALE — As shoppers began turning out at the recently opened Americana at Brand, the mixed-use megaplex billed as the city’s chief catalyst for downtown redevelopment will stand as an example of the kind of project that might have been impossible to build under a new state law up for voter approval on June 3. The upcoming primary election contains only two ballot initiatives, both of which are viewed as competing eminent domain reforms...

Christmas for many, ?holiday? for some For some in Glendale, it?s the so-called ?holiday season.? For many in the city, it?s the Christmas season, celebrating the birth of Jesus Christ, the savior of Christianity. There is an ongoing movement of the secular progressives, a far-left faction, to eliminate the name Christmas in our lives at this time of year, a campaign that has been intensifying over the past several years and continues to mock the beliefs of Christians.

CITY HALL — Another hillside home proposal could soon be appealed to the City Council after the Board of Zoning Appeals on Wednesday failed to reach a decision on the matter, letting an earlier ruling stand that neighbors say is inconsistent with design guidelines. Opposition to the project, which would put a house and garage totaling 7,100 square feet atop a hill at 1650 Hazbeth Lane, hinges on recurring themes surrounding recent appeals to residential additions, including neighborhood incompatibility, view protection and, for the foothills, hillside preservation.

An interim ordinance covering indigenous trees in Glendale is in the process of being revised, after being on the books 25 years without changes. The ordinance was born out of a dispute over tree removal in a La Crescenta neighborhood, with as many as 100 trees cut down in the Mountain Oaks area. Dave Meyers, who is leading the effort to preserve another Mountain Oaks parcel in open space, paid full tribute to the irony. "I guess some things don't change," he stated. The new ordinance, like the old, is intended to protect native California oaks, bays and sycamores six inches or greater in diameter.