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Week In Review
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| PHOTO OF THE WEEK: I know I’ve said we shoot a lot of sports. So here’s another cool sports shot. I was shooting the Crescenta Valley-Burroughs softball game earlier this week. Normally, we don’t have time to stay for an entire game due to time constraints. However, this game was pretty much a pitchers’ duel, with the innings going fast, so I got to stay for the whole game.
I usually find a shady spot, put a teleconverter on a 300-mm lens and watch the bases or the outfield. I just happened to be focused on this CV player when she made the game-winning catch. I did get shots of her actually catching the ball, but then I followed her with the camera as she ran toward the infield. I just held the shutter release down and shot while she celebrated with her teammates. It was a pretty easy image to capture.
— Roger Wilson |
Just one vacancy remains on Glendale’s executive management team after the City Council on Tuesday unanimously confirmed a new fire chief and director of finance.
Both of the new hires are Glendale residents, despite a nationwide search to fill the positions. Bob Elliot takes the helm of the Finance Department after working as assistant financial services director for Burbank. Harold Scoggins takes over as fire chief after rising through the Glendale Fire Department ranks for the past 18 years.
As Glendale’s first black fire chief, Scoggins takes over a department that has found itself in the cross hairs of several critics who over the past six months have become increasingly vocal in their assertions that current staffing policies fuel overtime costs and organizational inefficiencies.
Possible security enhancements at Glendale parks will undergo a thorough vetting in coming weeks after the City Council on Tuesday requested cost estimates for everything from video surveillance to increased lighting.
The call for more detailed price estimates came after northwest Glendale residents vented frustration at the City Council meeting Tuesday over what they said were unnecessary delays in developing a comprehensive long-term response to crime at Brand Park following a drive-by shooting in June 2007 in which no one was hurt.
While they praised the city’s response immediately after the shooting, including the introduction of a gate at one entrance and a guard at the other, residents bemoaned the 10 months it’s taken to develop a detailed list of long-term fixes, like gates, a permanent guard station, more police patrols and other measures.
Tony Bennett’s voice may be among the many that will emanate from hidden speakers at the Americana at Brand for years, but to herald the opening of the development, Bennett and his band showed up in person.
For an audience of about 2,000 people who had some role in the Americana’s development, Bennett followed the Four Tops, the Temptations and Natalie Cole at an invite-only, black-tie gala on the rooftop of the Americana parking structure on Thursday night.
For many in attendance, the star-studded event represented the start of a new era in Glendale defined by a high-class destination that some still insist is out of place on Brand Boulevard. The Americana at Brand opened to the public on Friday.
A projected $9.4-million budget shortfall for fiscal year 2008-09, together with a general-fund reserve that is $5.28 million less than previously thought, had City Council members on Tuesday warning of salary freezes, department cutbacks and a critical review of overtime pay as potential tools to close the gap.
The budget outlook came as the council and city executives prepare to draft a balanced budget in time for adoption on June 24, a week before the start of the new fiscal year.
Even with a revised $2.39-million reserve and robust overall economic position — including a high credit rating and a $500-million investment portfolio that continues to perform strongly — City Manager Jim Starbird acknowledged that the City Council would face “considerable challenges” in balancing ongoing revenue with persistent community demands.
Those demands are projected to grow to $174 million next fiscal year on revenue of $164.6 million, creating a $9.4-million gap, according to a city report.
The Glendale City Council, acting as the Redevelopment Agency, on Tuesday approved a major design overhaul of the Glendale City Center office building, which the owners say is needed to attract corporate tenants.
Legacy Partners bought the 400,000-square-foot, 20-story office building at 101 N. Brand Blvd. — a prime downtown location that is home to dozens of office tenants and restaurants including Islands, BJ’s and California Pizza Kitchen — in July.
But the property’s outdoor plaza is designed in such a way that the building’s entrance is concealed by a public art feature, and poor signs keep ground-floor retail tenants hidden, said Chris Hylton, a designer with HKS Inc., a Denver-based design firm working on the City Center’s planned improvements.
The redesign calls for moving the white stone water feature, now in the middle of the plaza, to the northern border of the property.
An 18-year-old man was shot several times in the torso Wednesday morning in what police believe was a gang-related drive-by, which took place less than a block from Benjamin Franklin Elementary School.
The man, whose name has not been released, was still conscious when police arrived on scene and was taken to Los Angeles County Medical Center, where he was in stable condition at the hospital, Glendale Police Sgt. Tom Lorenz said.
Several witnesses called 911 after they heard about five gunshots ring out in this quiet residential neighborhood, Lorenz said.
Glenoaks Elementary School Principal Bob Modrzejewski will retire at the end of the school year, after six years at the helm as principal of Glenoaks, and 38 years as an educator in school districts in Northern and Southern California.
He started his career as a high school teacher in Northern California, teaching history, English and government for about 15 years before switching to administration. He moved to Southern California 12 years ago and worked as the principal of an elementary school in Thousand Oaks before coming to the Glendale Unified School District.
After going through the motions of a graduation ceremony at Glendale Community College on Tuesday, about 20 students held up pieces of paper displaying printed messages that expressed their fears about the future.
“Now what?” the papers read.
The mock graduation ceremony was organized by a student club called Voces del Manana (in English, Voices of Tomorrow), a group that advocates for expanded educational and employment rights for students who are undocumented immigrants.
Students organized the event to raise awareness about the bind that undocumented immigrants who graduate from high school and try to enter college face: They aren’t eligible for federal or state financial aid that U.S. citizens use to help finance higher education, and even if they manage to pay for college, they can’t legally work after they finish school.
Students who are in high school but could use a change of scenery may have a new option for education come fall 2009.
The Glendale Unified School District and Glendale Community College are looking into the creation of a “Middle College” program that would allow high school students to take a combination of high school and college classes at Glendale Community College.
Students would work toward their associate’s degree while obtaining their high school diploma, and potentially even receive both degrees in four years, said Dick Sheehan, the school district’s assistant superintendent for secondary education.
The school district is interested in creating this specialized program to serve students who score well on standardized tests but struggle academically in a traditional high school environment.
The Crescenta Valley High softball team, ranked No. 1 in the latest California Interscholastic Federation Division III top-10 poll, picked up its biggest win of the season Wednesday with a 1-0 road victory against Burbank. Caitlyn Cox drove in Baillie Kirker with the winning run in the top of the seventh inning to knock off the Bulldogs, who are ranked second in the division.
Crescenta Valley senior boys’ golfer Justin Yu captured his second consecutive individual Pacific League championship Wednesday at Pasadena-based Brookside Golf Course No. 2. Despite not playing his best round of the season, Yu held a 10-stroke lead entering the final round before he carded a seven-over-par 77. Yu and teammates Michael McKinley and Kory Barkley will move on to the CIF Southern Section Northern Boys’ Individual Regional, which will be held May 12 in Camarillo.
The top-seeded Glendale High boys’ tennis doubles team of Nick Daka and Mike Astorian advanced to the championship match of the Pacific League finals at Burroughs on Wednesday. However, Daka and Astorian saw their bid for a league title evaporate when they fell in a tiebreaker to a team from Arcadia. Daka and Astorian finished the regular season at 37-3.
NOTABLE QUOTABLES
“I went to check on him, and the shots were in his back, and his face was all white.”
— Glendale resident Jose Perez on the 18-year-old man who was shot in the back several times on Wednesday in what police believe was a gang-related drive-by shooting less than a block from Benjamin Franklin Elementary School.
“If there’s one word to sum up the design . . . it’s clutter.”
— Chris Hylton, the designer for Legacy Partners, on the current design of the plaza outside the Glendale City Center.
“The only big problem I have with that project is [losing] that art from the fountain. The statues are very iconic to our city . . . . And the residents of this city don’t do well with change.”
— Councilman Bob Yousefian, on Legacy Partners’ plans to move three statues from a public art structure outside the Glendale City Center.
“I just think it’s really important to show and educate kids at a young age about how fragile and important our planet is.”
— Launa Penza, PTA president at Verdugo Woodlands Elementary School, on the new environmental initiatives at the school.
“We want to show that after graduation, we should have something to do.”
— Glendale Community College student Juan Arroyo, on the need for a path to legal immigration status for undocumented immigrants.
“I still enjoy what I do. I still enjoy the kids.”
— Glenoaks Principal Bob Modrzejewski, who will be retiring this year after working 38 years in education.
“The reason we’re not celebrating our second anniversary is because we had a neighbor . . . . Everybody’s got somebody in their life. Hillary’s got Bill. I’ve got General Growth.”
— Americana at Brand developer Rick Caruso on Glendale Galleria owner General Growth, and the legal disputes between the companies.
Both of the new hires are Glendale residents, despite a nationwide search to fill the positions. Bob Elliot takes the helm of the Finance Department after working as assistant financial services director for Burbank. Harold Scoggins takes over as fire chief after rising through the Glendale Fire Department ranks for the past 18 years.
As Glendale’s first black fire chief, Scoggins takes over a department that has found itself in the cross hairs of several critics who over the past six months have become increasingly vocal in their assertions that current staffing policies fuel overtime costs and organizational inefficiencies.
Possible security enhancements at Glendale parks will undergo a thorough vetting in coming weeks after the City Council on Tuesday requested cost estimates for everything from video surveillance to increased lighting.
The call for more detailed price estimates came after northwest Glendale residents vented frustration at the City Council meeting Tuesday over what they said were unnecessary delays in developing a comprehensive long-term response to crime at Brand Park following a drive-by shooting in June 2007 in which no one was hurt.
While they praised the city’s response immediately after the shooting, including the introduction of a gate at one entrance and a guard at the other, residents bemoaned the 10 months it’s taken to develop a detailed list of long-term fixes, like gates, a permanent guard station, more police patrols and other measures.
Tony Bennett’s voice may be among the many that will emanate from hidden speakers at the Americana at Brand for years, but to herald the opening of the development, Bennett and his band showed up in person.
For an audience of about 2,000 people who had some role in the Americana’s development, Bennett followed the Four Tops, the Temptations and Natalie Cole at an invite-only, black-tie gala on the rooftop of the Americana parking structure on Thursday night.
For many in attendance, the star-studded event represented the start of a new era in Glendale defined by a high-class destination that some still insist is out of place on Brand Boulevard. The Americana at Brand opened to the public on Friday.
A projected $9.4-million budget shortfall for fiscal year 2008-09, together with a general-fund reserve that is $5.28 million less than previously thought, had City Council members on Tuesday warning of salary freezes, department cutbacks and a critical review of overtime pay as potential tools to close the gap.
The budget outlook came as the council and city executives prepare to draft a balanced budget in time for adoption on June 24, a week before the start of the new fiscal year.
Even with a revised $2.39-million reserve and robust overall economic position — including a high credit rating and a $500-million investment portfolio that continues to perform strongly — City Manager Jim Starbird acknowledged that the City Council would face “considerable challenges” in balancing ongoing revenue with persistent community demands.
Those demands are projected to grow to $174 million next fiscal year on revenue of $164.6 million, creating a $9.4-million gap, according to a city report.
The Glendale City Council, acting as the Redevelopment Agency, on Tuesday approved a major design overhaul of the Glendale City Center office building, which the owners say is needed to attract corporate tenants.
Legacy Partners bought the 400,000-square-foot, 20-story office building at 101 N. Brand Blvd. — a prime downtown location that is home to dozens of office tenants and restaurants including Islands, BJ’s and California Pizza Kitchen — in July.
But the property’s outdoor plaza is designed in such a way that the building’s entrance is concealed by a public art feature, and poor signs keep ground-floor retail tenants hidden, said Chris Hylton, a designer with HKS Inc., a Denver-based design firm working on the City Center’s planned improvements.
The redesign calls for moving the white stone water feature, now in the middle of the plaza, to the northern border of the property.
An 18-year-old man was shot several times in the torso Wednesday morning in what police believe was a gang-related drive-by, which took place less than a block from Benjamin Franklin Elementary School.
The man, whose name has not been released, was still conscious when police arrived on scene and was taken to Los Angeles County Medical Center, where he was in stable condition at the hospital, Glendale Police Sgt. Tom Lorenz said.
Several witnesses called 911 after they heard about five gunshots ring out in this quiet residential neighborhood, Lorenz said.
Glenoaks Elementary School Principal Bob Modrzejewski will retire at the end of the school year, after six years at the helm as principal of Glenoaks, and 38 years as an educator in school districts in Northern and Southern California.
He started his career as a high school teacher in Northern California, teaching history, English and government for about 15 years before switching to administration. He moved to Southern California 12 years ago and worked as the principal of an elementary school in Thousand Oaks before coming to the Glendale Unified School District.
After going through the motions of a graduation ceremony at Glendale Community College on Tuesday, about 20 students held up pieces of paper displaying printed messages that expressed their fears about the future.
“Now what?” the papers read.
The mock graduation ceremony was organized by a student club called Voces del Manana (in English, Voices of Tomorrow), a group that advocates for expanded educational and employment rights for students who are undocumented immigrants.
Students organized the event to raise awareness about the bind that undocumented immigrants who graduate from high school and try to enter college face: They aren’t eligible for federal or state financial aid that U.S. citizens use to help finance higher education, and even if they manage to pay for college, they can’t legally work after they finish school.
Students who are in high school but could use a change of scenery may have a new option for education come fall 2009.
The Glendale Unified School District and Glendale Community College are looking into the creation of a “Middle College” program that would allow high school students to take a combination of high school and college classes at Glendale Community College.
Students would work toward their associate’s degree while obtaining their high school diploma, and potentially even receive both degrees in four years, said Dick Sheehan, the school district’s assistant superintendent for secondary education.
The school district is interested in creating this specialized program to serve students who score well on standardized tests but struggle academically in a traditional high school environment.
The Crescenta Valley High softball team, ranked No. 1 in the latest California Interscholastic Federation Division III top-10 poll, picked up its biggest win of the season Wednesday with a 1-0 road victory against Burbank. Caitlyn Cox drove in Baillie Kirker with the winning run in the top of the seventh inning to knock off the Bulldogs, who are ranked second in the division.
Crescenta Valley senior boys’ golfer Justin Yu captured his second consecutive individual Pacific League championship Wednesday at Pasadena-based Brookside Golf Course No. 2. Despite not playing his best round of the season, Yu held a 10-stroke lead entering the final round before he carded a seven-over-par 77. Yu and teammates Michael McKinley and Kory Barkley will move on to the CIF Southern Section Northern Boys’ Individual Regional, which will be held May 12 in Camarillo.
The top-seeded Glendale High boys’ tennis doubles team of Nick Daka and Mike Astorian advanced to the championship match of the Pacific League finals at Burroughs on Wednesday. However, Daka and Astorian saw their bid for a league title evaporate when they fell in a tiebreaker to a team from Arcadia. Daka and Astorian finished the regular season at 37-3.
NOTABLE QUOTABLES
“I went to check on him, and the shots were in his back, and his face was all white.”
— Glendale resident Jose Perez on the 18-year-old man who was shot in the back several times on Wednesday in what police believe was a gang-related drive-by shooting less than a block from Benjamin Franklin Elementary School.
“If there’s one word to sum up the design . . . it’s clutter.”
— Chris Hylton, the designer for Legacy Partners, on the current design of the plaza outside the Glendale City Center.
“The only big problem I have with that project is [losing] that art from the fountain. The statues are very iconic to our city . . . . And the residents of this city don’t do well with change.”
— Councilman Bob Yousefian, on Legacy Partners’ plans to move three statues from a public art structure outside the Glendale City Center.
“I just think it’s really important to show and educate kids at a young age about how fragile and important our planet is.”
— Launa Penza, PTA president at Verdugo Woodlands Elementary School, on the new environmental initiatives at the school.
“We want to show that after graduation, we should have something to do.”
— Glendale Community College student Juan Arroyo, on the need for a path to legal immigration status for undocumented immigrants.
“I still enjoy what I do. I still enjoy the kids.”
— Glenoaks Principal Bob Modrzejewski, who will be retiring this year after working 38 years in education.
“The reason we’re not celebrating our second anniversary is because we had a neighbor . . . . Everybody’s got somebody in their life. Hillary’s got Bill. I’ve got General Growth.”
— Americana at Brand developer Rick Caruso on Glendale Galleria owner General Growth, and the legal disputes between the companies.
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