City Council

good evening, everyone. Please take your seats. I called to order the July 9, 2019 meeting of the glendale city council. May we have the roll please? >> councilmember devine, will you lead us in the flag salute? >> please stand and join me. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the united states of america and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. >> please remain standing for this evening' s invocation. This past week, our nation celebrated the anniversary of the adoption of our declaration of independence by the continental congress. The seeds of liberty and freedom was sown in the spirit of the columnists long before anyone made an official declaration. We owe a debt to our founders who had the courage and foresight to risk their lives, the lives of their loved ones in defiance of the authoritative rule of the king of england to found a great nation. We draw inspiration from the words of one of those great founders, benjamin franklin, a man who never served as President But had an impact on our nation' s legacy no less than washington, adams, or jefferson. He once said, "the best thing to give your enemy is forgiveness, to an opponent, tolerance, to a friend, your heart, to a child, a good example, to yourself, respect, and to all others, charity. Let us remember these words as they are as important for us today as they were when they were written, a universal code for a life well written. Let us forgive our enemies, show tolerance to whom we disagree, show charity to our friends and neighbors, all without compromising what makes us uniquely american. We pray to keep our members of armed forces safe from harm. >> May we have the report? >> the minutes for the meeting of wednesday, July 3 2019 are posted on the bulletin board outside city hall. >> thank you. Ladies and gentlemen, especially those at home, do not adjust your tv set. You are tuned in to the current glendale city council meeting. [Laughter] We are joined -- the fifth member of the band has finally joined us, and that is none other than former mayor and council member frank quintero. We are glad to have frank on board. We have some tough issues ahead of us in the next six to eight months, and I' m very glad to have a skilled hands steady member back on the council to help us lead this city. Mr. Quintero. [Applause] >> thank you. Thank you very much. I wrote a few words. I will be brief. I want to thank all the councilmembers and the mayor for having confidence in my ability to serve out the remainder of Mr. Sonority in' s term. him very comfortable sitting on the day is this evening. It' s not a stretch to say I' m happy to be on the council this evening, but I' m certainly comfortable. I' m happy working with the council, the staff, and the residents of glendale. Without a doubt I feel that working together as a city, I' m confident we will do what' s best for all the residents of glendale. We' re all fortunate to live in a great city. Finally, let me say that I' m not going to be a candidate in the March election and I will not be in sourcing for campaign for any of the candidates. Thank you very much mayor. It' s actually great to see so many familiar faces and not just the employee is but also other residents that have called and touched base with me, so I' m looking forward to the next eight months working together. Thank you. >> thank you, Mr. Quintero. Let' s move to item three please. >> the regular -- item three, agenda preview for the meeting of tuesday, July 16, 2019. Next meeting scheduled for July 23, 2019. >> thank you, etc.. >> review mayor' s commendation for cruise sponsors. >> thank you. Will the greater downtown glendale association please come forward. Are there any other sponsors here tonight? >> this is our naming sponsor for the event this year, so we have invited the greater downtow glendale association to accept the commendation this evening. >> I' m glad he could make it this year. I know he had some obligations in prior years. Congratulations. Would you like to say something about cruise night and your sponsorship? >> I would like to say something very brief about our sponsorship. We used to be a new organization. We are now operating six years here in glendale as what was the downtown glendale association and is now the greater downtown glendale association. Hopefully, we are improving the city in many, many ways, one of which is that we have the ability, through the efforts of our board members and assess these -- assessess es to be able to sponsor certain indians and we are thankful to be able to sponsor downtown cruise night. >> thank you, and what is cruise night? >> when is it? July 20. >> that' s a saturday night and it starts at 3:00 P.M.? >> I would be happy to give you more information. We are excited to invite the whole community out and the council to our glendale cruise night. It is our 26th annual event. It is saturday, July 20 from 5:30 to 10:30 P.M., and we will conclude the event as we have done the past couple of years, with a wonderful fireworks spectacular. We have live music and a couple hundred cars already registered for the event, so it' s going to be a wonderful event. >> one more thing, for those of us my age and older, we have brian byrne, whom many of us knew as Mr. Rock ' n roll who will beat him seeing the event. >> as great. I know there will be some great cover bands. Let me ask the newest and the senior member of the council to present this proclamation, this commendation. >> thank you. I' d be happy to. One of the requirements is that the new member hit the ground running. There you go. >> they are going to make me work the next eight months. >> I would like to express my sincere appreciation. Your commitment and support to keep this event and -- event alive and thriving is exemplary. Congratulations on the 26th annual cruise night, 26 years. [Applause] >> next item, please. >> next item is mayor' s commendation for the glendale international film festival. >> thank you. Will be home festival representatives come forward -- will the film festival representatives come forward? Congratulations. I do have a proclamation for your international film festival, and it is in recognition of your outstanding and prominent work. We commend your organization. Thank you for appreciating the works of talented individuals. Would you like to say a few words? >> yes, I would. Thank you so much for this great honor. Our goal is to bring filmmakers, screenwriters, and attendees from around the world to this great city, and we have succeeded for the last six years by bringing many more creative people, business people, also it' s a different people. We will have many, many films and events on the paseo. The international aspect of bringing films to glendale and making it a destination for film and creativity is my greatest joy because I love this city and I really love bringing something really good to it for everyone to enjoy. Our mission has been primarily we are a 501(C)(3) C nonprofit and we want to integrate filmmaking and the screenwriting arts in the growth and economic vitality of the city of glendale and it is so exciting to be able to have that opportunity to do so. again, we are honoring the student filmmakers here in glendale this year. We do hope that you will be able to come and visit with all of our events. We are having an opening night on the arts of paseo, and then we will have festivities throughout the week. Thank you again for your honor, great honor. >> thank you. You' re the closest thing we have two a filmmaker, so will you please present the commendation. [Laughter] >> is the whole thing over here? >> yeah, ready? >> thank you, that is great. October 10 through 17. Before we go to item 3d, I want to take an item not on the agenda before us, a presentation by our fire chief. >> good evening, Mr. Mayor, city council. >> I' m sorry, will people stop talking in the back of the room please? Oh, it' s from outside? Can we ask them to keep it down. We are doing the people' s business. Do they have a permit for such noise? I' m sorry, chief, it' s hard to concentrate. I' m sorry for accusing anyone in the room. >> no problem, Mr. Mayor. This evening, I' m before you to speak about tina very important items. As all of us have seen and felt the past few weeks, summer is upon us. California saw the most instructive and devastating year of rush fires in our state' s history. -- brushfires in our state' s history. We' re fortunate to have a premier fire department with some of the hardest working firefighters around, but when it comes to brushfires, we need the public' s help. Like to help residents understand some of the steps they can take to help prepare their home and our community from wildfire. >> I' m proud to be a glendale fire chief. Following a 2018 wildfire season where we saw iris ravaged throughout communities destroyed over 80,000 homes and kill over 100 people, we want to share with our community how you can prepare before a wildfire strikes. The geography, weather patterns, and a number of communities in california make it a state clearly threatened by wildfires. We have developed a communications program called ready, set, go, that breaks down the action needed to be ready for a wildfire. Being ready for a wildfire starts with maintaining an adequate defensible space and by hardening your home by using a fire resistant building. Defensible space is the buffer you create by using -- removing dead plants, grass, and weeds from your home. >> as we can see, this homeowner has done job clearing his brush 30 feet from his home. He has also spaced out his plants which will help prevent rapid fire spread. >> hardening your home means using construction materials that can help your home withstand flying embers, finding weak spots in the construction which can result in your house catching fire. >> it can offer a lot of danger during extreme fire conditions because the windows will eventually break allowing the fire to come inside your home. What you can do is get custom shutters, flame-return shutters alongside large glass windows to help keep fire of day -- at bay. >> we do have an opening here from a vent which should be closed by either this screen or a tight mesh. >> what we have here is bamboo growing into a structure. Any type of plant that will allow a ground fire to come and use as a letter is not safe. >> for a resident to have -- it is essential for a resident to have proper clearance between their home and brush. There are two shrubs and what the resident can do to alleviate the problem is removed all the brush altogether from their home or create a firewall that will protect their home from the brush if it were to catch on fire. >> two zones make up the required 100 feet of defensible space. Zone one extends 30 feet from buildings, desks, etc.. Flying embers can destroy homes. Build your home using amber-resistant building material. Before wildfire strikes, it' s important you prepare yourself and your home from the possibility of having to evacuate. There are three main preparation actions that should be completed and familiar to all members of your household long in advance of a wildfire. Step one is create a wildfire action plan that includes evacuation planning for your home, family, and pets. Assemble an emergency supply kit for each person in your household, and fill out a family communication plan that includes important evacuation and contact information. The last and most important step is go. Remember, when immediate evacuation is necessary, follow these steps as soon as possible to get ready to go. Review your evacuation plan, ensure your emergency supply kit is in your vehicle, and locate your pets and take them with you. For more information on how to be wildfire ready, visit our website at glendalefire.Com and readyforwildfire.Org. For information on ongoing incidents, visit us online. At glendalefire.Ca. >> Mr. Mayor, members of council, we are not immune to devastating wildfires in glendale. We have conducted over -- >> I want to show you something. Go ahead and skip this video if you don' t like gadgets, but I' m a dad and I found the perfect 1 -- [Laughter] >> gadgets was not part of the presentation, Mr. Mayor. Many residents are doing a great job helping us be fire ready. I would like to remind residents to be careful when clearing brush around their homes. We encourage brush clearance to occur before 10:00 A.M. And to always have a water source nearby when doing so. The next item I would like to briefly speak about is disaster preparedness. On the heels of the strongest earthquake california has felt in over 20 years, I feel it is time critical to remind residents that taking steps ahead of an earthquake or other disaster is key to keeping our community safe and prepared. A few basic but important steps every homeowner should take to be prepared ahead of the disaster are building a supply kit, creating an evacuation plan, and developing a family communication plan and staying informed. I encourage residents to visit our website at glendalefire.Com and wildfireready.Org as well as following our social media sites for more information on wildfire preparedness and disaster preparedness. I' m available for questions. >> thank you, chief. any questions? On wildfire prevention or earthquakes? Thank you, chief. Happy you are keeping us alert to all this. Let' s hope we can get through the season without any incidents. >> thank you. [Applause] >> Mr. Quintero. >> I was going to say I assume in addition to channel six, it will also be on social media networks and so forth. >> yes, sir. It will be. >> 3d, the service award, is off the agenda for this meeting. We will let you know when it will be reposted. Let' s move to the next item. >> the following are routine and May be acted upon by one motion. Any member of council of the audience requesting separate consideration May do so by making such request before motion is proposed. >> thank you. Is there a motion for the consent calendar? >> I will move the consent calendar and abstain on the minutes of the different council meetings. >> second. >> roll call, please. >> [Roll call] >> thank you. Next item. >> next item would be city council and staff comments. >> and are there any? Let' s start from the right side. >> first of all, I want to welcome former mayor quintero to the deus -- the dais. It' s good to have you here filling your seat again. A couple of really fun activities occurred during the weeks we' ve been gone. The biggest, of course, was July and I know the council approved the fireworks at oakmont country club, and I just wanted to let everyone know that they went off beautifully. I want to thank the fire chief for okaying the project along with us. Firefighters were there to make sure everyone was safe. Were no incidents. The crowd loved them. I want to just let everybody know that it was a huge success. Also, I want to thank steve pierce again for bringing on -- putting on a great show in la crescenta. That fireworks display and affair gets bigger and bigger every year. It takes so much work. It really does take a community to put something like that together. I want to thank steve and all those responsible for those fireworks. Finally, as sent you had a fundraiser at nickelodeon. I have to tell you, it was one of the best fundraisers. They had 80' s music. What a great way to celebrate and to raise funds for the homeless, to celebrate a sincere and raise money for the homeless. They are the best board -- support system we have working with the city, so I want to commend everybody at that organization for putting on a fabulous affair and raising, I think, over maybe $30,000 for the homeless program. That is all I have, Mr. Mayor. Thank you. >> thank you, Mr. Mayor. As my colleague indicated, fourth of July events were very nice. Fireworks right of your head was very nice. What a way to end the fourth of July weekend with our women' s national soccer team winning the world cup for the fourth time. I just want to give them a big round of applause. [Applause] The only team in the world that won the world cup for times and the olympics once. Fortunately -- unfortunately, our men' s team made it to the finals became a little short at the end, but it was a great way of ending our fourth of July weekend. I want to ask staff about the tennis courts project that we have. When we built central park, we had to build maybe two more tennis courts in conjunction with the glendale unified school district. I want to know where we are on that. I know that the mayor and city manager made gus t on a monthly basis. Next time we meet with them, I want to bring up the discussion about also there cas championship pool I think they are trying to build. I think they have some funding issues. We were all talking about building aquatic centers. Maybe we can do it in partnership with them. I mean, we all serve the stadium -- the same constituents. The kids of the ones who are going to use it. Maybe that will be a joint project. We meet with them, we will maybe have another joint meeting with the board like we did two or three years ago. These are the items I want to see the status of where we are and what we can do. >> sure. I' ll have someone touch base with you quickly related to the tennis courts. As it relates to the aquatic center, I believe at glendale high school, that g osd was in the process of building and there are some funding issues. They have had discussions with the city, myself, and the mayor. That' s one of the items we had discussed by way of the budget process and measure s, possibility of funding, if there was any sort of interest in terms of moving down that path. If there is interest by way of the city council to resurrect that conversation, I would be more than happy to provide information to the city council in terms of what that May look like in terms of our partnership with gosd and the funding that would be necessary for us to partner with them, if it was at the glendale high school side or the hoover high school site based on another facility that they are in dire need of replacing as well. >> am very interested to have that conversation. I think it is a good thing to look into it, see if we can have that joint project. >> thank you. The ghs tennis court project is still alive. We are working with facilities and planning administration on the design documents. They are basically updating -- the consultant is updating the design documents, and they will submit any day now. Once it is approved, they will make the tennis court project, they will include it with aquatics. It also includes a restroom and the upgrading of the lights on the tennis courts. Hopefully within the next couple of months, we will come back and give you an update, but we are working on it and the consultant that they hired for the pool has taken over the design of the tennis courts. >> as far as revisiting this issue, how do we go about it, if we want to come back and discuss it? >> on the pool? I would ask to get a second set. I would also provide a memo pertaining to what we found right or to the budget process in terms of costs associated with building certain size pools . What we know from the school district in terms of their needs , in terms of that gap based on what they need at glendale high school and the possibility of partnering with them at hoover, but I leave that up to this body. >> do you want to have a discussion on this item? >> we have been discussion with the pool people -- with the school people about the pool for months. We were discussing earlier about putting measure s funds into this. This should already be something that we are working on. This specific request is to? >> just to get a report as to where we are and if there is a desire to help, we can have a discussion. >> at this time, there are no measure s funds that have been set aside for a joint pool project with the school district . At this time. It absolutely does not mean that in the future or throughout this year, the council cannot give us that direction to move in that direction. That is absolutely something that is possible. Again, I can provide that information to the city council by way of a memo and if there is interest from the city council, we can then bring it forward after that, or you can get a second at this time and we can bring something by way of an agenda item to the city council here. >> by all means, let' s do it here. But we had reports from the school district or glendale was already on the books, and we had all -- almost missed the vote for hoover on their funding cycle. That' s why when we talk about measure s funds, I did not raise the pool issue, and the bulk of it went to affordable housing. Quintero had nothing to do with that, either, for good or for bad. >> the other piece of it is based on what I understand from Dr. King is that they are still in need of funding to help them with the gap as it relates to at least the hoover high school pool, but we are also meeting with the new superintendent this week. We can bring up and bring it back. >> if we can turn that into an action item or policy discussion. >> that' s all I have for tonight, Mr. Mayor. Thank you. >> thank you. I have a few items. First, I did return from a 10-daytrip to armenia, and aside from the cultural rejuvenation that I experienced, I did have a meeting with the President, who raised the suggestion and the encouragement on two subjects, when that will further develop our sister city ties with humor a peer and where already a sister city with them, but I felt that our connection has waned in the past few years. He asked that we consider rejuvenating those ties. The second item he raised is very interesting. He wanted me to convey to the residence of glendale that the city of glendale holds a very special place in the hearts of the entire armenian population because they look to us -- many of their family members and friends have relocated to glendale, and they are very active and keenly aware of what goes on in glendale in terms of our city government and development and the progress and quality of life. He invited the city of glendale to prepare an exposition which will be held at the presidential grounds, which would highlight glendale' s culture -- not only the armenian culture, but all the multi-culture that we do have in glendale. Korean, mexican, filipino, and the list goes on. Cuban, etc. Including artwork, music, food items, so it is a thought that I' m putting out. I have given it to staff. A want to give it to the residence, also. If you can think of some ideas about visitation, on exhibition, on the presidential grounds in armenia, let us know. This has no funding source at this point, but it' s merely a concept that the President Encouraged that we look into, so I' m happy to do that. I also went to the republic of arkansas -- of artsah and they were very happy we renamed a straight after them. They were very happy about that and knew all about it. We even got the blessing of the archbishop for having changed the name from marylin, the holy mother, so we are absolved of the scent of the switching the name of mary. One other item is I did run into our former councilmember, the new high commissioner of diaspora and affairs. He sends his high regards. I don' t know if he misses being here, but he has a staff and he has control of so far a staff of 25, and it May go to 50 or even more. He is working hard trying to catch up with a huge workload, keeping connection with armenians throughout the world, so he sends a big hello to everybody. Lastly, I would like to clarify an item that has been a little bit of the skated -- of the skated -- obfuscated for seven years -- six years, and that is the sister city park and sister city relationship group that we have in the city of glendale. We talked about forming the sister city committee, so I want to make clear that any particular sister city that contributes to a fund to promote their sister city relationship with the city will not be used for the maintenance of any other sister city monument display or plaque. The korean sister cities, any funding will be dedicated to their monument. Any armenian sister cities will be dedicated to their sister cities. Any japanese sister cities will be dedicated to them, so those funds will not be combing gold. Each one will be responsible. Also at that time, there was perhaps an understanding that our sister city of hg igoshi osaka would be placing a monument or statute in our sister city park, which is now our central park, and that was not the case. They have not expressed an interest to do so at this time. Of course, in the future, should they express such a desire, we will be appy to accommodate them in their desires. Certainly not at this time. I have no other items. Let' s go to the next item, please. >> next item would be community event announcements, three-minute portion. There is one card submitted. >> ok, is not here. What is our policy on the three-minute general public comment? >> will he take five -- we only take five. There is another item before that, which is community event announcements. >> are there more than five cards submitted, the orange ones? >> no. >> ok, because if there were six, I would have stretched it. Let' s go to the first part. Ariel lopez, please come forward. >> hello. My name is ariel. >> and of April. >> we are here representing the river project and the upper L.A. River and tributaries working group. I don' t know if you are familiar with the L.A. County master plan with the revitalization of the l.A. River that is happening currently, but the exciting part is that tributaries are now being included in this process, which is the working group that we are part of. For those of you not familiar with tributaries, there are creeks and streams that connect into the river and create the river itself, so they are actually really an important body of water, so we are actually doing community outreach to tell people about the upcoming meetings that are happening. One is happening today, but the other is on thursday. It is at dreamworks, and you must rsvp to attend, but you will be able to give community input about what you would like to see, what you imagine being done along the river and the tributaries themselves. It' s very interactive, family-friendly, and this food provided as well. Like I said, we believe it is important for the people of glendale to show up because it will affect them. Different things from adding bike paths, access points, more signage, blood prevention, water quality, habitat, all that stuff that people think are important but are not usually heard, so we encourage everyone to compound and we brought flyers as well as sign up sheets so you guys can keep up to date with future meetings coming up. >> can you announce the time and location? >> flyers are in the back. They are in english and spanish. The next one is on thursday at dreamworks. 6:30 to 8:30. >> he need to let them know you' re coming? >> yes, rsvp. It' s free. Just imagine the future of your tributaries and river. It' s very important. >> thank you. And the next speaker in the three-minute general public comments, peter hotch. >> good evening, mayor and members of the city council. Over four years ago, I purchased a vacant lot in glendale with the intention of building a new house for myself and my family, hired an architect, and embarked on the process of seeking building permits for the future new house. As a property owner and citizen of glendale for over 18 years, I' m here tonight to request redress for an adjustment in the permit process over which I had no control. My original application to build a new house involved payment of fees totaling $4816. At the time of filing, I was informed the application would be valid for one year by which time I would be required to obtain a building permit. Unfortunately, it took four and a half months after submitting my application to receive any communication or corrections, and obviously unreasonable delay. We have made every effort to expedite the process, working through the process of addressing the corrections including their corrections to my response to their original corrections. Although this involve minor modifications as well as expense , I did eventually submit, having made all requested corrections, what I believed to be the final version of land corrections more than two full weeks before the expiration deadline with every expectation that the application would be reviewed and approved within the two weeks remaining before expiration. However, the plan check desk did not complete this final evaluation until over a week after the expiration deadline had expired. Only at this moment was I informed that because I had not requested an extension before the application had expired and extension could only be granted by an additional payment of 50% of the original fees instead of an administrative fee of $156. Since the deadline expiration was a direct result of delays made by the building and safety department and because I was not informed of the requirement to request an extension prior to the one-year deadline expiration until it had already expired, I' m requesting that the city council grant an extension to my application at the rate of $156, for which I would have an eligible had I been informed of the requirement to make this request at the time of final submittal and before the expiration of the one-year deadline. Thank you for your consideration of this matter. >> thank you. Mr. City attorney, I' m not sure if this is an appeal of an administrative dissension or something -- >> I would just say let' s follow-up with staff and get more information and then we can act accordingly. >> ok, can you do that? >> I can say it is built into our code that upon excretion, in six months, you could re-energize the permit with a 50%, so I' m not sure that anybody here in the city council has the authority to grant the request that he wants without changing our code. If you like, I can put the matter into some kind -- into some context as well. >> staff has had numerous contacts with Mr. Hotch. We can give a brief update on that. >> I don' t have anything to tell you, but generally, I want to speak about -- I just realized today that if you missed the date, to have the matter be considered again, you are charging 50% of the fees, which in his case was, like, $2200 he had to pay because he was late one week to refile the permit. Generally, like, for your dmv fees, bring an example. If you are late on your dmv fees, if you are late for one week, if you are late, it is, like, two hundred dollars. For the first week, you pay, like, $20. Then, like, if you are late six months, you pay $100 or $80 or similar figures. If you don' t pay after six months, then the fees or penalties will be doubled. In his case, the penalty or the fee he has to pay to, you know, like, bring the issue back was 2200 dollars. For some strange reason, then, afterward, this fee has been calculated and they ask him to pay something like $1800, which is better than $2200, but I think we have to have a similar policy like that that if they are late for a certain amount, because as he mentioned to me a few hours ago, he did not realize that on top of the permit. This penalty matter is somehow hidden. We have to bring this issue back and say it' s not late one day he would be penalized for $2200. It should be some easy way to raise that phil ting, but all of the sudden, for one day, you realized as he mentioned to me a week later, that he had to renew it. Then he was under the impression that he has to pay $156 to extend the permit for that building permit. I suggest if we consider now or later for this issue and make a softer way to assess a penalty, I would like to see that. >> we could have this be agenda is -- agendized for future discussion. >> couple of questions for point of clarification. This was after the project was approved -- not in this case because we cannot discuss this. let' s say a project is approved, and you have one year to pull your permit or two years? If you have designed approval, you have two years? >> there are two tracks, your design review and your discretionary entitlements, two years. You can ask for one extension up to a year. When you submit for plan check, you need to pull your permit within a year or ask for an extension. Once you get that permit, same timeline. >> before that one year expires, if you ask for an extension, it' s $150, and after that, 50%? >> correct. >> this is one of the things that we look at when we make a budget. >> we have indicated it to be on the agenda and I will leave it to the city leader. >> can I ask a question? Do you notify the residents -- >> microphone, please. >> am sorry. Does plan check notified residents when it is about to expire? >> typically, we do not. Every one of our foms says when it expires, it has a statement that you need to new within a year. Each code checker is handling about 100 cases. The applicant has one, so we rely on the applicant to track that. Most professional -- in fact, all professionals in the development business know of this. we just expect it to be >> you highlighted for them? >> we don' t pointed out and highlight it. That expiration date is on every comment that goes back. It is in several places. Albeit, the notice of when you have to renew it is in small print, but we have a document to work with to get as much information as we can. >> yes. >> I just want to make it clear that has been mentioned by the director, the expiration is written on that page. What I was saying, there are other issues written. Sometimes, a nonprofessional person. The person who was a professional doing this day in and day out, they know this. But a person who comes forward -- I mean, brings an application, a regular person could easily Miss The date because this is not what they do every day. To our staff' s credit, it has been written on top but it is a cluster with other notices and sentences. The ordinary person easily can Miss That date. Thank you. > >> thank you very much, sir. Next speaker is mike mohill. >> welcome our Councilman Frank. My neighbor, peter hatch, brought to me the issue about his permit being late. I' d like to think Mr. Agajanian talking to Mr. Hatch beforehand. Bolting about the date is in small print. Any other part, they would know about this. This is a small developer. I think there should be exceptions to this rule. Another issue I would like to talk about are the tennis courts that was brought up by the Councilman. I remember when Councilman Quintero, they were tearing down the recreation center and the library. They said at that time, nine years ago, 10, I don' t remember, we are going to relocate those tennis courts to glendale high school. Hatever happens to that promise? The other thing that concerns me is the L.A. River project. Councilman Weaver was never one of my favorite counsel people, but one thing he was was a civil engineer. I remember the evening he said, you know what, I know about water and when you change its course, you are looking for trouble. It sounds great, this riverwalk they are talking about. I' m all for it too. But, Mr. Weaver was an engineer with that kind of a background. I wish council would bring him back for a discussion before the city of glendale puts its stamp on that project. Remember? [Laughter] >> bring weaver back. >> there we go. Anyway -- welcome back. I hope we will have a nice business relationship. [Applause] >> thank you. >> thank you. I' m an owner of a house. You can see in the picture, there is a sign for sale by real estate. I got the last year on April 23, a letter from the city. One guy, his name was hernandez, sent me a letter that the paper in front of your house you added. Id didn' t. I bought it just like that. I asked my neighbor, it was like 20 to 25 years old. Seven years I had this at my house. Then, after that, I come to the city to see the guy. I said, I had these pictures with the date on it. The date was there, the date I took a picture. He make a copy of it. I had another issue. Then, he send me to the planning section furthers paper. Part of it was different color. I went there, the guy, I went to go see -- iwas was sitting there and next to me was a nice lady doing her job. This guy comes, complementary, I tell the got you look like persian people. I didn' t mean anything with that. Then all of a sudden, this guy -- I was asked what is this, I had a question about my house. Then, he' s just ignoring me and just, like -- he didn' t let me finish my question. He stand up and say next, next, next. I look behind me and there was just one lady doing there. He left. When I go back, -- by the way, nine years old, I was the only person who was taking care of my mom. My business, I was worried she' d fall. Anyway, when I come back to the guy, with my blood pressure, this guy just told me that -- because -- >> your time is up. But, what I think you are trying to convey to us is you received a code violation for excessive paving in your front yard. And. Are you familiar with this case? He has most of a file here. That appears to be the issue, excessive paving. >> it was not only a different color, but when I come to this guy to tell him blah, blah, then he says you have to take off all the paving. >> hold on. >> this is an issue that has been in neighborhood services as well as the city attorney' s office. I believe it was closed, but some modifications and some citation fees are still needed to be paid. Staff will contact the gentleman in terms of some of his questions that May be before you today, to just go over what we have based on what we understand the case to be. and, we can provide that information to you as well so you are aware of it, to make you aware of all the nuances of this issue. >> you understand, this is an individual case. If you appeal it, would it come to council? >> no. >> I understand what you are saying. >> I got a parking ticket. I had four disabled people. They bring the medicine to this guy. I cannot close my shop and go there and put a no parking sign on my property. They give me penalty for the parking. >> it looks like you did get a penalty for that. I cannot speak and I don' t think any of us know the case to answer your question except what the city manager indicated. >> it is about two weeks. >> thank you, sir. Thank you. >> but, I could reach you. >> thank you. Next speaker is robert. >> good evening, mayor and members of the council. I am the director of the voice to recycle project. We pride ourselves in raising standards in what is a mostly invisible, but necessary industry that impacts every single one of us here. Our vision for the waste industry is make sure it were -- it operates in a responsible way. Minimizes pollution, prioritizes food rescue sewer feeding families and not landfills. and we protect the workers. I' m pleased to say I am standing with many brave workers behind me who have been up since 2:00 this morning. They pick up trash in the city of glendale but these issues are so important so they decided to come here tonight. They will get up again tomorrow at 2:00 in the morning to service businesses. All of us are impacted by the waste industry. It stands to reason we are better off when we have a waste agency that is supported by highroad actors. Glendale is embarking on a process to turn into an exclusive franchise system. We are supportive of that model, but we want to highlight that the success of any franchise system is dependent on the type of standards you establish within the policy. And the integrity of the haulers who you choose and ultimately select to service your city. Unfortunately, I' m here tonight with, again, a lot of my colleagues to express concerns we have about services, also known as athens environmental services, one of the companies. They are applying to get one of these exclusive contracts, if not all of them. I also wanted to point out that for the record, we have been canvassing to talk about the issues that are facing these workers. They have not had a raise in two years. Their health care has gone up. Workers and other companies have had the same thing rubbing industry. They have been denied this for two years. We started talking to glendale businesses and sharing what is going on. When these business owners hear about this, they have been signing a petition in support of these workers because they feel like they deserve that given the duties they perform for the actual city. Also because of the fact they realized should this company get an exclusive contract and potential labor strife, what would that mean to that operation. We want to put in record what is happening with one of the companies that wants this exclusive zone. When we speak to business owners, and their eyes, does not make sense to award a waste contract to a company that has a tenuous relationship with his workforce. We support the franchise system you are moving forward with but it will only be as strong as the haulers you select and we want to make sure you understand what is happening with athens environmental. Thank you. >> thank you. Councilmember gharpetian: quick question for you. Who do you represent? Which company are you with? >> I' m not with any company. I' m with a nonprofit organization. We work with environmentalists. We work with community groups, teamsters and with organized labor. We have a multiple, we work with multiple stakeholders and we want to make sure we raise standards in the industry. Councilmember gharpetian: so you are speaking on behalf of of the employees of athens? >> yes, sir. The next speaker could go into more detail. He is a representative from the actual union that will shine more light on what is going on and issues this company is having with the city of los angeles. Councilmember gharpetian: thank you. >> that would be eight in alvarez -- aiden alvarez. >> good afternoon, council and mayor. I work for teamsters local 396. I have been working with athens environmental service workers, workers responsible for picking up commercial waste for scores of businesses in glendale and renewing the contract for the past few years. These workers have been without a union contract for almost two years which means they have not had a raise for two years. I would like to stay for the record that athens environmental services purchased the yard two years ago. Prior to the purchase, there was never any labor strike. As soon , worker tension overnight. As my colleague has mentioned, the city of glendale is currently in the midst of pursuing an exclusive franchise system which will be one of the most boring decisions the body makes and will impact your personal legacies in the lives of residents and visitors for years to come. The waste industry impacts us in several ways. From environmental sustainability to food rescue, infrastructure and community safety. That is why it is important to get it right when you select a hauler. You want to avoid unscrupulous haulers. Sadly, I have two documents which I have copies for your staff but I want to present to you that concerns the parent company of one of the waste haulers bidding. First is a copy of the national labor relations board documents that outlines unfair labor practices committed by athens services in which they illegally intimidated, arrest and even fired an employee for engaging in union activity. They are said to have a hearing on this on August 6. Second, a letter from the city of los angeles department of sanitation in which they are asking athens services for proof of material requirement of their contract read you will note in the letter, this is the third such letter the city has asked for an athens services has not yet complied with this request. That does not speak of a company with a lot of integrity. Please, we ask you take your concerns into consideration as you embark on the decision that will impact the quality of life for every resident, business and visitor in the city for years. We know you want the best for glendale residents and waste companies that push their companies to potential labor disputes is not the way to go. Thank you foryour time. I will give your staff copies of these documents. >> thank you very much. Councilmember devine: I' m confused. Do these gentle and work for athens or don' t work for athens? They all work for athens. You' re telling us that the company is not fair and that we should not look at them for any further business. >> that is right. Based on their behavior pattern, that is our opinion, yes. Councilmember devine: thank you. Mayor sinanyan: thank you very much, everyone, for coming forward. I don' t have any other cards. Let me double check. That is correct. That' ll end this portion of oral communications. Let' s move to the next item. >> next item would be adoption of ordinance, 7a. Ordinance -- adding section 10. .40.110, relating to parking meters. >> this item is was before you a couple of weeks ago related to the glendale community college and the city of linda parking agreement, whereby revenues will be split 50-50. Body, glendale community college in the city, would be responsible for our own sites in terms of maintenance. Mayor sinanyan: are there any cards? No cards. Is there a motion? Councilmember devine: I' moving. Mayor sinanyan: moved and seconded. >> yes. Councilmember devine: yes. Councilmember gharpetian: yes. >> yes. >> yes. - next item, action item regarding amendments to the glendale municipal code related to firework permits. Ordinance for introduction. >> we will go directly to the city attorney. >> the item before you is an ordinance to amend the glendale code pertaining to fire permits for fireworks displays. Currently, the code requires a process where the fire chief prepares a report and sent to city council for consideration. It would amend the code to invest authority with the fire chief, utilizing his or her authority. >> you note that the city council knows everything and is always right. But in terms of fireworks and pyrotechnic safety, I personally feel comfortable seeding that authority to the fire chief. That is essentially what this item is. >> I move the item. Councilmember devine: I would like to second that because as successful as it was, we owe that to the fire chief and his crew. i will second that. >> as well as the many other urban firework displays that we have at the americana and other locations throughout. >> an introduction to the ordinance. >> this will be introduction. With a firmly supported by Ms. Devine. Next item. >> next that it would be director of public works regarding highland avenue project. Rejecting all bids dispensing with competitive bidding and authorize the director of public works to negotiate with one or more bidders. In the city manager to construct a construction project in the amount not to exceed $240,000 and a contingency specification number 3795-r. >> yes, we will go directly to public works director. >> thank you. Good evening, Mr. Mayor, members of the council. On April 30 of this year, city council approved plans on specification for the highland avenue rehab project. We received bids back on May 20 9, 5 bids. All of those bids were hired out of the original engineers estimate. Subsequently, staff also identified three additional small but high-priority improvements in the vicinity of this project that we thought of combining with the scope of the original project in order to take advantage of the efficiency. Therefore, we are respectfully requesting rejecting all bids dispensing with competing -- competitive bidding and moving forward with the negotiation with these five firms so that we can get a greater economy of scale in terms of moving forward with this project at this point. >> thank you. Questions or comments? >> second. >> roll call. Councilmember agajanian: yes. Councilmember devine: yes. Mayor najarian: yes. Let' s move to the next item. >> director of public works, regarding hearing to determine if any nonprofit agencies are available to provide public paratransit service as required by the federal transit administration, section 5310 grant application process. Resolution finding there are no nonprofit agencies readily available to provide paratransit services to seniors and disabled in the glendale dial a ride service area. >> this is a public hearing and I will open the public hearing. >> we will go again directly. >> thank you. Mr. Mayor, members of council. The city of glendale operates the dialer ride. We provide this service for seniors over 65 years of age. Currently, the city owns seven federally funded vehicles in the dial-a-ride program. The los angeles county metropolitan transportation authority makes the fta section available to local transit agencies provided for seniors and disabled population. As part of these grant requirements, we are required to have a hearing to ensure there are no nonprofit agencies that can provide the same service to our residents. As part of the requirements. Mayor najarian: are there any nonprofit agencies that are available to provide paratransit services to seniors and disabled in the glendale dial-a-ride service area? Please come forward if there are. I do not see any. Does that suffice, Mr. Garcia? >> just that you opened the hearing. Mayor najarian: that was my first order of business. Therefore, I' m going to close the hearing. And accept a motion. >> so moved. Mayor najarian: roll call police. Councilmember agajanian: yes. Councilmember devine: yes. Councilmember gharpetian: yes. Mayor najarian: yes. 9b, please. >> director of public works regarding approval of the final engineers report and ordering the levy and collection of annual assessments for the north san fernando road landscape maintenance district for fiscal year 2019-2020. Resolution approving the engineers annual levy report. Resolution ordering the levy and collection. This is also a public hearing. Mayor najarian: I will open the public hearing. >> yes, sir. It looks like it is the public works night. I' m not sure if he did that because he is not in the house, but it has worked well. >> thank you. Mr. Mayor, members of the council, on June 18 of this year, city council adopted a resolution that initiated the proceeding for the north san fernando road corridor landscape maintenance district which was formed in January 9 of 2007. This an improvement district that provides long ground coverage care, arts gate maintenance and other amenities that May include trash receptacles and lighting. So, it is respectfully not recommended at this point that the city council approved and adopted a resolution approving the final engineers report and ordering the levy and collection of annual assessments for this landscape maintenance. I' d be happy to answer any questions. Mayor najarian: are there any questions that council has? Would someone like to -- >> move the item. Mayor najarian: I will close the public hearing and ask for a roll call. Councilmember agajanian: yes. Councilmember devine: yes. Councilmember gharpetian: yes. Mayor najarian: yes. Let' s move to the next portion. >> oral communications, five minutes. Discussion is limited to items not part of the agenda. Each speaker will be allowed five minutes. Council May question or respond to the speaker but there will be no debate. The city manager rate referred the matter to the appropriate department for investigation and report. Mayor najarian: the first card I have is little hard to read. Judy ludd? Come forward please. >> good evening, council and the audience. My name is judy lam. I have been in this city for more than 40 years. I see the progress of the city, whether good or bad. I' m very humble and keep myself, but at this time after I retire, I' m a senior and I feel the dangers myself. There is one I have to be here to ask all the council people and policeman to protect me. This is all the way back -- I have been living in the city so long. Usually, I am very pleased with the city' s service. Utilities, public, back to 1991 for the riot, I' m pleased by the individual small businesses. I' m very ordinary. I came from taiwan. I don' t speak english very well. I always bring myself for communication because there is a lot of mistakes by the city too. I let it go because I had to learn to let it go. Raising three children for the generation. I have no time to argue with anything. I don' t because I don' t have time until I retired. Not really retired, still making money. But, I come here today as I say for the personal safety. First, a a few years ago, the traffic is very awful. I' m scared to death. I have got involved in accidents, not my fault. I did not know. I' m really angry with that, which is not supposed to happen. It spoils the driver to keep doing that. Personally myself, just because I live alone. Even you get involved in accident, you cannot win in the court unless you have full coverage. I tell you the truth. That is my experience. Usually, I have full coverage but after I retired, I don' t. I let it go. The person who hit me eventually set thank you. He said I hit him. The reality. This time I come here because I have a new neighbor moving to gain -- moving in, who has been harassing me. Taking the street parking and sexual-harassment, harassing the. At the beginning, I won the case. But later on, the wife knows what is going on. The wife is a lawyer so they keep harassment, her husband. Which I did not do anything. She won because she is a lawyer, simple just like that. I' m telling you my life experience. That was probably five years ago. I let it go. They have restraining order, but I let it go. I' ve been experiencing a lot of things. You don' t see many oriental in this city. More of them about 40 years ago. Not because that, I move away for three years. I cannot stand the insult in my life. I am a good, decent citizen. I don' t need to use anything to cheat on people or harass other people. My life is joy to me. I am very lucky, even struggling to survive. This time I came here because I came back in January, the neighbor again, and it happened this year May 3. The neighbor is actually the one harassing me. The police show up without anything and make a judgment because they saw it as a property issue. Eventually, the wife who filed the restraining order against me again. Because from the lawyers office, they just passed the temporary restraining order. They won because they hired a lawyer. That is why I am coming here. Sorry, it is five minutes. I just want the city to protect me instead of putting me into jail before it is too late. Mayor najarian: thank you. Martin. Martin has left. Valerie. >> Mr. Mayor, members of the city council, good evening. My name is valerie. I' m here tonight on behalf of gap, glendale advocates against planned parenthood. I' m here because there is growing concern among glendale citizens about planned parenthood coming into our community. So, I' m here to ask the following of the members of the glendale city council. I' ve given the documents to your city clerk, a couple of brochures to support this request. So, what we ask is that you enforce all zoning, building code and other regulations on planned parenthood. We also ask that you pass one or more of the resolutions that say the following. The city will not sign any contracts with planned parenthood or provide any direct or indirect funding. No planned parenthood literature will be permitted at any time in any city-owned space. As a condition of employee, no city employee will be committed to refer anyone to planned parenthood for no services. No planned parenthood employees or representatives will be allowed to participate in any task force, workgroup, meeting, health fair or any other activity where city money is involved in any way. No city employee will appear at any planned parenthood event, where that employee is specifically cited for his or her city employee. City employees are free to attend as private citizens as they desire. I want to make it clear the citizens of glendale strongly opposed planned parenthood coming into our community. Mayor najarian: thank you. Next speaker is jackie iko. Is that your real name? >> yes. Hi. I have a terrible ear infection so my voice quality May go up and down a wee bit. I did not expect to be called so soon. Sorry. Ok. Mayor najarian: that is a stage name? >> sorry, what? Mayor najarian: jackie iko? We will talk about environmental? >> I' m talking about grayson. Mayor najarian: you are right. The time is yours. >> ok. So sorry. Ok, I will do the best I can. So, while the recent 7.1 earthquake we had was 11 miles from ridgecrest, they did experience several gas leaks which caused four major fires. With a population of 28,000, we are lucky no one was burned alive. That is a population of 28,000 people compared to glendale' s over 200,000 residents. Statistically, even with a 7.1 magnitude earthquake 10 miles away, we are already more at risk. And, -- so sorry. Glendale has had, in the past 24 hours, eight earthquakes. In the past seven days,, 191 earthquakes. In the past 30 days, 258 earthquakes. In the past 306 the five days, glendale has had 718 earthquakes . So -- according to the southern california earthquake center, natural gas piping and appliances could be damaged during earthquake and it could cause gas leaks. About one in four fires after an earthquake is related to natural gas leaks. This is terrifying. I feel a bit foolish. This is earthquake country. In contrast, the seattle post intelligence says solar panels are not dangerous. They cannot explode when you drop them and they cannot set your house on fire. In fact, solar energy has been limited in repowering after many natural disasters from hurricane maria to the 7.8 magnitude earthquake in 2015. To also help the victims of hurricane hugo all the way back to 1988 because the solar energy was reliable. So, -- sorry, terrible ear infection. I still made it out. Talk about the reliability of energy versus the sensibility of safety. Expanding the gas and siding reliability of electricity for safety, yet be responsible for causing fatal fires and explosions is about a sensible as securing a seatbelt on a drunk driver. Do you think right now that the town of ridgecrest is thinking about expanding their gas? No. They are trying to prepare for more severe earthquakes. We could be ridgecrest. Today, tomorrow, next year, next month. Grayson is apparently a loose asphalt so they are not exactly -- not the best place to expand a gas plant on that location as it is. We don' t want explosions certainly do not want them in our homes. However, just something to think about for the future. Not saying we will do this tomorrow. It is my own observation that perhaps we should look into utilizing more electric ovens and heaters powered by solar in one of the sunniest states of america. I don' t think we want to be fullest and think we can play games with nature, kind of like japan' s fukushima plant which provide reliability until the earthquake and tsunami back in 2011. Fukushima is still a huge, terrible disaster that they are still grappling to get a hold of. Ok, I think that covers my comment. Thank you. Mayor najarian: thank you very much. kim sinclair. >> hi. Good evening. As a health teacher at glendale high school, I would ask that each of you consider moving forward with green energy for grayson powerplant. At