Downtown Dash fundraiser lunch at City Hall today

The city’s Community Services & Parks department and Redevelopment Agency this afternoon will host a lunch at City Hall to raise funds for the Glendale Downtown Dash.

The Glendale Downtown Merchants’ Assn. will host the third annual 5K run/walk event this Sunday starting at 8 a.m to raise money for Glendale Adventist Medical Center’s stroke services.

At today’s fund raising lunch from 11:30 to 1 p.m. in the City Hall Plaza, city officials will be serving cheeseburgers, chips, soft drinks and cookies for a $5 donation.

… Continue Reading

Bob Hope Airport figures rise slightly

BOB HOPE AIRPORT — After a year of falling passenger numbers, Bob Hope Airport in January saw a slight increase in traffic compared with the same period last year, officials reported Monday.

Nearly 360,000 passengers traveled through the airport in January, up 1.6% from 2009, according to a report to the Burbank-Glendale-Pasadena Airport Authority on Monday. The passenger increase came despite a 7.1% decline in the number of flights.

Last year’s passenger numbers were the lowest in eight years, falling from 5.3 million in 2008 to 4.6 million in 2009. The volume of passengers peaked at more than 5.9 million in 2007.

… Continue Reading: Airport figures rise slightly

CVWD board to interview applicants for vacancy

The Crescenta valley Water District Board of Directors will hold a special meeting Tuesday night to interview eight residents vying to fill the vacancy on the Crescenta Valley Water District Board of Directors.

The vacancy is left by former director Richard Atwater, who resigned after the Los Angeles County district attorney’s office ruled that his simultaneous seat on the Foothill Metropolitan Water District board represented a potential conflict of interest.

… Continue Reading

Glendale aiming to woo Google

From the Glendale News-Press

CITY HALL — The mayor of Topeka, Kansas, signed a proclamation renaming the city “Google” for the month of March. The mayor of Duluth, Minn., jumped into icy Lake Superior to proclaim his love for the Internet giant in a video posted on YouTube.

Glendale officials this week joined the fray — launching a “Google4Glendale” Website as a part of its campaign to be chosen as a test site for Google’s experimental high-speed Internet system.

Under the company’s “Google Fiber for Communities” pilot program, one or more cities will serve as test locations for the the company’s super high-speed fiber optic network. The high-speed Internet service will be available to all residents and businesses at a competitive price, officials said.

… Continue Reading: City aiming to woo Google

Rain, road closures expected this weekend

Los Angeles County officials have announced that based on storms expected to hit late Friday, public access will be closed on all county roads within the Station Fire burn area starting at 2 a.m. Saturday.

As a result, the Angeles Forest Highway, Big Tujunga Canyon Road and Upper Big Tujunga Canyon Road, will be closed to all traffic except emergency vehicles including Public Works personnel, according to a statement.

Residents living in the burn areas will not be permitted to use the roads until the closures are lifted.

… Continue Reading

Wife blames city for death

Visitors to the Casa Adobe De San Rafael make their way out after taking a tour of the historic structure Sunday.

From the Glendale News-Press

CITY HALL — A wrongful death lawsuit against the city filed by the wife of a man who allegedly died from injuries sustained during a fall at the historical Casa Adobe de San Rafael is scheduled to go to trial this month.

Hasmik Khanbabayan filed the lawsuit in May 2008, a year after her husband, Vahan Karapetian, allegedly fell while stepping off a porch of the historical building at the city’s Casa Adobe park. He was hospitalized for a fractured hip and shoulder, according to the complaint filed in Los Angeles County Superior Court. There were no witnesses to his fall.

Karapetian, who was in his 80s, was treated at Glendale Adventist Medical Center, where he died after being in the hospital for more than two months, according to the complaint.

Khanbabayan is alleging in the lawsuit that the porch her husband fell from was unsafe, and that there were inadequate security patrols, which left him “laying on the ground for 45 minutes in a pool of his own blood.”

… Continue Reading: Wife blames city for death

Glendale City Hall renovations to begin later this month

Glendale officials announced this week that long-awaited City Hall renovations are slated to start Wednesday, March 17.

The $178,000 upgrades, which include replacing the current wall paneling with drywall and installing new carpets, are expected to last through the end of May.

The renovations will take place in the lobby and City Hall Chambers, where the fixed seating will be replaced with 120 new chairs.

During construction all City Council, commission and board meetings will be held in the Municipal Services Building, room 105.

The City Council approved the renovations last year as an interim maintenance plan until funds are available for more widespread improvements, which are expected to cost more than $1 million.

ArcLight Cinemas coming to Pasadena, setting up battle of the high-end multiplexes

From the Los Angeles Times

Arclight Cinemas is opening a new location … in Pasadena.

The premium movie-house operation – which started in Hollywood and now has a location in Sherman Oaks, will move into the Paseo Pasadena cinemas on Colorado Boulevard.

… Continue Reading: ArcLight Cinemas coming to Pasadena, setting up battle of the high-end multiplexes

City rolls out new graffiti response vehicles

Grafitti by two gangs mark the wall of a home in a Crescenta Valley residential neighborhood.

The city of Glendale last month introduced two new graffiti response vehicles.

The trucks, a major component of the city’s graffiti-removal efforts, are equipped with a heated pressure washer, an airless paint sprayer, 120v electricity, 150 gallons of water, eco-friendly removal chemicals, cover-up paint and other tools.

To report graffiti, contact Neighborhood Services at (818) 548-3700 or report it online.

Antonovich seeks $30 million in federal funds for debris flow cleanup costs

Los Angeles County Supervisor Michael Antonovich issued a statement this morning calling for federal reimbursement for the $30 million in expenses that the county has incurred following recent debris flows.

County crews have removed nearly a million cubic yards of mud, rocks and lumber from debris basins adjacent to the Station Fire burn area, according to the statement.

… Continue Reading