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Retail giant on the agenda
Council is set to hash out who will enforce laws at ‘The Greens,’ a park inside the Americana at Brand.
By Jason Wells
CITY HALL — A proposed ordinance clarifying the ability of Glendale Police to enforce no-trespassing laws, spurred mostly by a 2-acre public park inside the Americana at Brand, goes to the City Council on Tuesday for introduction two weeks before the 15.5-acre retail behemoth’s grand opening.
The “urgency ordinance” comes as the city braces for a May 2 opening that is expected to draw tens of thousands of shoppers and lookee-loos that weekend.
While the open space, to be called “The Greens,” is centered on the Americana property, it is owned by the Redevelopment Agency, which could create an enforcement problem for police officers since existing code refers only to “city-owned” property and makes no mention of land owned by the Redevelopment Agency or Housing Authority, city officials said.
The two government bodies are city agencies but considered under state law to be legally autonomous when it comes to financial contracts and land holdings.
“For purposes of clarity, it just makes it abundantly clear that these areas are city-owned, even if separately empowered through state law,” said Senior Assistant City Atty. Gillian van Muyden.
Changing the municipal code language to include “Redevelopment Agency” and “Housing Authority” will erase any potential legal ambiguity over the arrest authority of police officers at the public park, said Glendale Police Capt. Lief Nicolaisen.
“This will allow us to take enforcement action should it be necessary,” he said.
The City Council has little time to consider the amendment ahead of the May 2 opening, since introducing the ordinance still requires a weeklong procedural pause before it can be formally adopted and enforced just a few days before the opening weekend.
The effects of the amendments would apply to all Redevelopment Agency and Housing Authority properties, a welcome development for people like Barry McComb, whose Alex Theatre, a Redevelopment Agency property, has continually dealt with the effects of transients who trespass, he said.
Property thefts, illegal vendors in the theater’s forecourt and makeshift camps have been constant nuisances for theater staff members, McComb said.
The theater filed a letter with the Glendale Police Department giving them permission to enforce no-trespassing laws without a call for service, but McComb said the legal ambiguity stemming from the existing code language prevented it from having the same effect as similar letters filed by other businesses, like the Home Depot on San Fernando Road.
If the council adopts the clarified language, officers would have no doubts over their authority to police the theater’s grounds, he added.
“It’s another set of eyes when we’re not around,” McComb said.
The amended language would also clear the way for police officers to patrol properties owned by the Housing Authority that are often vacant or boarded up as they await development. Those parcels can often attract squatters, trash dumping and thefts of existing materials, according to a city report.
The City Council will take up the proposed ordinance at its meeting at 6 p.m. Tuesday in council chambers, 613 E. Broadway.
JASON WELLS covers City Hall. He may be reached at (818) 637-3235 or by e-mail at jason.wells@latimes.com.
The “urgency ordinance” comes as the city braces for a May 2 opening that is expected to draw tens of thousands of shoppers and lookee-loos that weekend.
While the open space, to be called “The Greens,” is centered on the Americana property, it is owned by the Redevelopment Agency, which could create an enforcement problem for police officers since existing code refers only to “city-owned” property and makes no mention of land owned by the Redevelopment Agency or Housing Authority, city officials said.
The two government bodies are city agencies but considered under state law to be legally autonomous when it comes to financial contracts and land holdings.
“For purposes of clarity, it just makes it abundantly clear that these areas are city-owned, even if separately empowered through state law,” said Senior Assistant City Atty. Gillian van Muyden.
Changing the municipal code language to include “Redevelopment Agency” and “Housing Authority” will erase any potential legal ambiguity over the arrest authority of police officers at the public park, said Glendale Police Capt. Lief Nicolaisen.
“This will allow us to take enforcement action should it be necessary,” he said.
The City Council has little time to consider the amendment ahead of the May 2 opening, since introducing the ordinance still requires a weeklong procedural pause before it can be formally adopted and enforced just a few days before the opening weekend.
The effects of the amendments would apply to all Redevelopment Agency and Housing Authority properties, a welcome development for people like Barry McComb, whose Alex Theatre, a Redevelopment Agency property, has continually dealt with the effects of transients who trespass, he said.
Property thefts, illegal vendors in the theater’s forecourt and makeshift camps have been constant nuisances for theater staff members, McComb said.
The theater filed a letter with the Glendale Police Department giving them permission to enforce no-trespassing laws without a call for service, but McComb said the legal ambiguity stemming from the existing code language prevented it from having the same effect as similar letters filed by other businesses, like the Home Depot on San Fernando Road.
If the council adopts the clarified language, officers would have no doubts over their authority to police the theater’s grounds, he added.
“It’s another set of eyes when we’re not around,” McComb said.
The amended language would also clear the way for police officers to patrol properties owned by the Housing Authority that are often vacant or boarded up as they await development. Those parcels can often attract squatters, trash dumping and thefts of existing materials, according to a city report.
The City Council will take up the proposed ordinance at its meeting at 6 p.m. Tuesday in council chambers, 613 E. Broadway.
JASON WELLS covers City Hall. He may be reached at (818) 637-3235 or by e-mail at jason.wells@latimes.com.
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