Town Hall Meeting

Police reinforced the need for community involvement Tuesday night to dozens of residents following a spate of vehicle thefts in the South Glendale area. The spike in vehicle thefts was partly due to residents leaving their keys inside the ignition while they run inside their homes for a few seconds, said the area's lieutenant, Todd Anderson. While police arrested two men who allegedly were responsible for some of the thefts, police still warned residents at a town hall meeting at the retirement community, Windsor Manor, to protect their belongings and to be vigilant.

Alecia Foster LA CRESCENTA -- School, law enforcement and medical officials will address Monday how to respond to children and families in the aftermath of the Sept. 11 attacks. Emergency preparedness, the role of schools, public health and safety, guidance and support for children will be among the issues discussed in a town hall meeting. Panelists will include Glendale Unified Supt. Jim Brown, L.A. Sheriff's Capt. Ralph Martin; Dr. Leonard Baker; Glendale Emergency Operations Center Capt.

Karen S. Kim GLENDALE -- Assemblyman Dario Frommer (D-Glendale) will offer residents a chance to gather information on how prepared city and state agencies are for future terrorist attacks. A town hall meeting Wednesday will feature a panel including representatives from Burbank and Glendale fire and police departments, Glendale Unified School District, Burbank-Glendale-Pasadena Airport Authority, Los Angeles County Medical Assn., Federal Bureau of Investigation, California Pharmacy Board and the National Guard.

BURBANK — Sen. Carol Liu answered questions from residents about education, health care, the state’s budget and deficit, and new tax hikes during a town hall meeting Saturday. Adult education student Alejandro Plata, who lives in Huntington Park, heard rumors in school that it could be closing because funding approved from the state budget only finances kindergarten through 12th-grade instruction, he told Liu. Plata, who is a high school dropout, can’t afford to lose his schooling because he said he wants to graduate.

Sen. Carol Liu will host a town hall meeting Saturday to discuss the latest updates on the state budget, which is again billions in the red. After a protracted three-way battle among the governor, Democrats and Republicans over a projected $42-billion deficit ended in February, the state now faces another gap of about $8 billion due to declining tax revenues. And according to a recent poll by the Public Policy Institute of California, nearly every revenue-generating state proposition in the upcoming special May election lacks the required voter support to pass.

With the threat of the ?next big one? looming overhead, Crescenta Valley residents made a strong showing at Monday night?s C.E.R.T. town hall meeting held at CV High School?s MacDonald Auditorium. C.E.R.T., which stands for Community Emergency Response Team, is a nationwide organization that was started in 1985 by the Los Angeles City Fire Department. The program is endorsed by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), the Emergency Management Institute (EMI) and the National Fire Academy as a way to prepare citizens for a variety of disasters.

[UPDATE] More video footage of the emotional Alhambra town hall meeting has been posted on our main news blog, www.tcnnorth.wordpress.com. There's also more observations from our reporter who was at the scene. ALHAMBRA — Angry faceoffs erupted Tuesday between activists on either side of the debate on health-care reform hours before Democratic Rep. Adam Schiff had a chance to take the stage at an Alhambra town hall meeting. Some pushed and shoved demonstrators with opposing views.

Symphony board plans meeting GLENDALE -- The Board of Directors of the Glendale Symphony Orchestra Assn. will sponsor a Town Hall meeting to gain insight on the future direction of the orchestra at 6:30 p.m. Tuesday at The Alex Theatre. Karen Schmidt, a local arts advocate, will lead participants through a discussion of the symphony's assets, liabilities and conclude with suggestions for how the orchestra, a tradition for the last 78 years, can connect with the diverse community to assure its future.

A coalition of Armenian groups and attorneys are scheduled to hold a town hall meeting tonight to discuss the implications of a U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals decision that struck down a California law allowing insurance claim lawsuits related to the Armenian Genocide. The town hall meeting — to be held at St. Mary’s Apostolic Church, 500 S. Central Ave. — comes as Rep. Adam Schiff filed a legal brief Monday with the appellate court in support of a petition for a rehearing of the case.

The following is an email Glendale Community College President/Supt. Dawn Lindsay sent out to the campus community Thursday morning.  I had hoped to keep the following information personal but realize there is a need for me to make a public statement to the campus. As many of you know, I am from Maryland and have strong family ties to the east coast. Glendale News Press learned I was a finalist for a position on the east coast. I had hoped to keep this to myself, and my family, until a decision needed to be made but learned GNP plans to announce this today.

Police reinforced the need for community involvement Tuesday night to dozens of residents following a spate of vehicle thefts in the South Glendale area. The spike in vehicle thefts was partly due to residents leaving their keys inside the ignition while they run inside their homes for a few seconds, said the area's lieutenant, Todd Anderson. While police arrested two men who allegedly were responsible for some of the thefts, police still warned residents at a town hall meeting at the retirement community, Windsor Manor, to protect their belongings and to be vigilant.

Every Wednesday promptly at 1:30 p.m., 50 or more cops and some civilian staffers assemble in the meeting room at the Glendale Police Department for the fastest 60 minutes in crime-fighting. They call it the “Week in Crime.” A glimpse inside what Glendale police are doing with high-tech computers in every car, software that connects them to every database, video surveillance systems on the streets and increasingly sophisticated analytical techniques gives a civilian the feeling he has entered a world that resembles crime-of-the-week TV shows like NCIS.

Members of Congress are coming to Pasadena next week to hear about problems during the Station Fire, but Los Angeles County Supervisor Mike Antonovich already knows what he wants Congress to do. In an interview, he said he wants the U.S. Forest Service to allow night flights to battle blazes, which would require a reversal of current policy. He wants the agency to have more and better mechanized firefighting equipment. He wants the feds to allow Los Angeles County Fire Department to take the lead the next time a blaze breaks out in the local mountains.

As a ninth-grader at Crescenta Valley High School, I felt the need to respond to a letter by Debi Devens concerning President Obama's speech to schoolchildren ("Keep Obama speech out of the classroom," Sept. 14). She claims that the speech should not be shown in classrooms for fear of him influencing our political views. Instead, she believes the speech should be watched only at home, where "family discussions can be held afterward. " On the other hand, wouldn't it be better, as growing individuals, to view a speech in an unbiased environment, such as a classroom, where we can interpret information for ourselves and develop our own opinions?

A coalition of Armenian groups and attorneys are scheduled to hold a town hall meeting tonight to discuss the implications of a U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals decision that struck down a California law allowing insurance claim lawsuits related to the Armenian Genocide. The town hall meeting — to be held at St. Mary’s Apostolic Church, 500 S. Central Ave. — comes as Rep. Adam Schiff filed a legal brief Monday with the appellate court in support of a petition for a rehearing of the case.

Reform might hurt some HMO users HMO members should be aware that Congress is reportedly very seriously contemplating paying for extended Medicaid (MediCal in California), like benefits coverage for large numbers of currently uninsured Americans, by cutting back on higher payment rates to HMOs that offer such plans, which in turn would likely mean a cutback by these insurers in Advantage member savings, etc. Advantage plans generally have, for example, no primary doctor office visit fees, plus, most saliently, no such fees even for seeing an authorized specialist.

Rep. Adam Schiff’s recent town hall meeting on health-care reform did more to highlight vehement distaste with government than the actual proposal, and that’s unfortunate. Instead of an adult conversation on the merits of President Obama’s proposed health-care insurance reform bill, the general public have been blasted with images and footage of people engaged in everything from shouting matches with their Congressional representatives, to holding signs that show Obama in the likeness of Adolf Hitler.

CITY HALL Following days of intense media attention and public support for David Wood’s illegal artificial front lawn, City Council members have been notified that officials will put off enforcement until after the matter comes back to the dais for consideration, Councilman Ara Najarian said Thursday. The issue should come before the council later this year, officials said. City planners are working on an artificial turf display for residents to see samples prior to the issue returning to the dais.

[UPDATE] More video footage of the emotional Alhambra town hall meeting has been posted on our main news blog, www.tcnnorth.wordpress.com. There's also more observations from our reporter who was at the scene. ALHAMBRA — Angry faceoffs erupted Tuesday between activists on either side of the debate on health-care reform hours before Democratic Rep. Adam Schiff had a chance to take the stage at an Alhambra town hall meeting. Some pushed and shoved demonstrators with opposing views.